Ten Questions to A​​sk Any Prop Tech Vendor Before Signing

Most prop firm operators evaluating infrastructure vendors ask about features. The more useful questions are about operations. Features look good in a demo. Operations show up after the contract is signed.

Here are ten questions worth asking before signing any vendor agreement. The answers tell you more than any sales deck.

1. Do you take revenue share, commissions, or any percentage of firm earnings?

Some vendors operate on a transparent licensing model. Others take a slice of your revenue forever. The structure determines who benefits as the firm scales, and the more growth you create, the more this question matters.

2. What is your average support response time during weekends and off-hours?

Prop firms operate around the clock. Support that only works business hours is not support. Ask for actual response time data, not promises, and pay attention to how the vendor treats off-hours coverage in their answer.

3. How is trader data exported if we need to move platforms in three years?

If the answer is unclear or evasive, the vendor is betting on lock-in. Data portability is a strategic capability that protects the firm's optionality, and serious vendors document the export process clearly.

4. Can we modify challenge rules without engineering support from your team?

If every product change requires a support ticket, the firm's speed to market is determined by the vendor's backlog. Operators competing on challenge design need full control over rules, parameters, and conditions without external dependencies.

5. What is your uptime over the last 12 months, with documentation?

Promises are easy. Documented track records are harder to fake. Ask for actual uptime figures across the past year and pay attention to how the vendor handles edge cases, planned maintenance, and unplanned downtime.

6. How easily can the platform produce a full account history on request?

Even before formal regulation arrives, prop firms regularly need to produce account histories for internal audits, payment provider reviews, banking partner due diligence, and partner integrations. The question is whether the platform can produce a complete six-month account trail in minutes or requires days of manual reconciliation. If the vendor cannot answer this clearly, the firm will absorb the operational cost every time a request comes in.

7. Which trading platforms are you integrated with today, and which are on the roadmap?

Platform diversity matters. Trader preferences shift, regional demand changes, and new platforms gain traction in specific markets. The firm needs optionality, and vendors locked to a single integration limit that flexibility.

8. How does your product development cadence balance new features with platform stability?

Constant releases are not always a good sign. They can mean unstable infrastructure, half-finished features, or product roadmaps driven by demos rather than operator needs. The healthier signal is a vendor that ships meaningful updates on a clear cadence while also investing in refactoring, performance, and quiet optimisation work. Ask how they communicate roadmaps, how they prioritise stability, and how they manage the trade-off between new features and core reliability.

9. What does onboarding actually look like in the first 30, 60, and 90 days?

The onboarding period determines how quickly the firm gets value from the platform. Ask for the structured plan, the named people involved, and what success looks like at each milestone. Vague answers signal weak onboarding processes.

10. Who is the dedicated point of contact post-launch?

If the answer is the support inbox, the vendor is not set up for partnership. Serious vendors assign serious people, and the named contact tells you how much weight the vendor places on long-term success.

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A final note

The vendors who answer these questions clearly and directly are the ones worth working with. The vendors who deflect, hedge, or change the subject are signalling something important. Listen carefully.

We would encourage you to ask these questions of every vendor on your shortlist, including us. If you want to put Axcera through this checklist, we are ready to answer all ten plus more directly: https://axcera.io/book-a-demo

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