An activation fee is a one-time payment charged after you pass a challenge, before your funded account is switched on. It is separate from the challenge fee you paid at the start. Some firms charge it, some do not, and the amount varies by plan and account size.
This fee is why the headline price of a challenge is not always the full cost. A plan advertised at a small entry price can carry a much larger activation fee, and the total only becomes clear when both numbers are added together. The firms we track include plans built this way, where the entry fee and the activation fee are listed separately.
The fee matters most when you compare plans. Two $100,000 challenges with the same headline price can differ by hundreds of dollars once activation is included, and a cheap entry fee with a large activation fee can cost more than a dearer plan with none.
The common trap is budgeting only for the challenge fee and then being surprised at the funded stage. We recommend adding the activation fee to the challenge fee before you compare any two plans. Prop trading can cost you every fee you pay.