No Revenue Sharing, No Lock-In: Why Tech Autonomy Matters for Prop Firms

For many prop trading firms, the platform is the business. Yet too often, firms find themselves sharing revenue with their tech providers or locked into restrictive contracts. If you’re giving up a slice of profits or feel trapped by a vendor’s rules, you’re not in full control of your own operation. This post explores why true tech autonomy – owning your platform and keeping 100% of your revenue – is vital for prop firm success, and how to achieve it.

The Hidden Cost of Profit-Sharing Platforms

Some prop tech providers entice with low upfront fees, only to take a percentage of your firm’s revenue or traders’ profits. This revenue sharing model might seem manageable at first, but it balloons as you grow. Consider a platform charging a 10% profit share: at $500K monthly profit, that’s $50K/month siphoned away – $600,000 a year that could have been reinvested in your business. These arrangements directly eat into your margins. CEOs of prop firms have called such profit-sharing demands “exorbitant,” noting it’s increasingly hard to succeed when your provider is taxing your upside. Bottom line: if your tech partner makes more money as you pay out more to traders, your incentives are misaligned. Forward-thinking firms are ditching the profit-split platforms for flat-fee or license-based solutions. Keeping that extra 10–20% of revenue in-house can be the difference between healthy profits and breakeven as you scale.

Breaking Free of Vendor Lock-In

Beyond monetary costs, vendor lock-in is the other autonomy killer. This is when your entire prop firm infrastructure – challenge software, CRM, broker bridge, etc. – is so tied to one vendor that switching becomes too costly or technically disruptive. You’re handcuffed to their roadmap and pricing. Need a new feature or integration? You wait (and often pay extra). Want to leave for a better solution? Multi-year contracts, data migration nightmares, and retraining headaches stand in your way. It’s no surprise many firms feel stuck with status quo tech even as their needs outgrow it. One prominent example is the prevalence of a few white-label platforms in the industry – if your website and offering look like everyone else’s, you’re likely in what some call the “FPFX club.” The risk isn’t just looking generic; it’s that you can’t execute your ideas because your platform won’t let you. True autonomy means having the freedom to pivot – to adjust pricing, add products, or change partners – without a stranglehold contract. If your current provider dictates how you operate, it’s time to re-evaluate that relationship.

Own Your Platform, Own Your Profits

Tech autonomy starts with owning (or fully controlling) your core platform. This doesn’t necessarily mean building software from scratch; it means using solutions that don’t claim a stake in your revenue and give you full administrative control. For instance, Arizet’s Prop OS follows a flat subscription model – no profit cuts, ever. Your firm keeps 100% of earned revenues, so scaling up traders and payouts doesn’t incur a “success penalty.” Equally important, you maintain ownership of your data and accounts. Autonomy-oriented platforms often allow self-hosting or at least easy data export, ensuring your trader and performance data isn’t held hostage. When you own your platform configuration, you can set the rules and adjust as needed – without begging a vendor. The result? More agility, more profit retained, and no surprise fees. That predictable, transparent cost structure lets you plan investments confidently and improve ROI on each trader acquired.

Integration Freedom and Open Ecosystems

Another pillar of tech autonomy is integration freedom. If a provider forces you to use their in-house broker or payment system, that’s a red flag. You should be able to plug in the brokers, liquidity, CRM, and tools of your choice via open APIs. Modern prop tech emphasizes interoperability: for example, Prop OS integrates with any MT4/MT5, cTrader, or custom trading engine, and works with popular KYC and payment vendors. Why does this matter? Because it future-proofs your business. Markets and trader preferences evolve – today’s must-have crypto exchange or risk add-on might be something else tomorrow. With an open architecture, you can continually optimize your stack without needing a whole new platform. Tech autonomy means you choose the components and can swap them at will. As one fintech CEO noted, firms need “open, modular infrastructure that gives them true ownership and the power to evolve”. In practice, that looks like open API documentation, module-based design, and no proprietary roadblocks to integrate or innovate. If your current system limits which trading servers or services you can use, you’re playing by the vendor’s rules, not your own.

Long-Term Growth Through Independence

At the end of the day, maintaining autonomy over your platform is about positioning your prop firm for long-term growth. When you’re not bleeding out a cut of your profits, your margins improve as you scale – meaning a larger war chest to reinvest in marketing, trader support, and R&D. When you’re not locked into one vendor, you can adapt to industry changes (or regulatory shifts) with agility. You can negotiate better rates for ancillary services, plug into new opportunities, and even build custom enhancements on top of your platform to differentiate your brand. Tech independence also signals strength to potential partners or investors: it shows your business isn’t at the mercy of a third party’s whims. Many of the top prop firms eventually develop hybrid or proprietary systems as they grow, precisely to gain this control The good news is you don’t have to wait until you’re “top firm” size to prioritize autonomy. From day one, choose platforms and partners that empower you rather than restrict you. Insist on no revenue sharing, transparent flat pricing, and open integration. Your bottom line – and your COO – will thank you for years to come.

‍

Ready to break the shackles? No revenue sharing, no lock-in isn’t just a tagline – it’s a sustainable business philosophy. Firms that control their tech destiny can scale faster and sleep better at night. Arizet Prop OS was built on this principle: your firm, your profits, your control. If you’re tired of paying “tech taxes” or feeling boxed in by a vendor, it’s time to explore an autonomy-first solution.

‍

Schedule a demo of Arizet’s Prop OS and Prop Risk to see how a no-revenue-share, no-lock-in platform can boost your margins and free your operations. Own your platform – and your future growth.

‍