B2Core vs BrokerTech: total cost of ownership breakdown
Line-by-line 3-year TCO comparison of B2Core vs BrokerTech covering license, setup, PSP fees, IB module, mobile app, PAMM and hidden costs.
The short answer
Over three years, a mid-sized brokerage pays roughly $411,000 to run B2Core and roughly $216,000 to run BrokerTech. That is a 47% difference, or $195,000, and it ignores the opportunity cost of the 2-4 month B2Core implementation versus a BrokerTech deployment measured in days. The gap comes from four places: the base license, mandatory setup fees, per-module add-ons, and contract minimums that prevent you from downgrading mid-term.
Below is the full arithmetic. We assumed a broker with 5,000 active clients, one MT5 server, 8 PSPs, an IB program with 300 partners, and a white-label mobile app.
Year-one cost comparison
| Line item | B2Core | BrokerTech |
|---|---|---|
| Base CRM license | $84,000 | $72,000 |
| Setup / onboarding fee | $20,000 | $0 |
| MT5 bridge / plugin | $12,000 | Included |
| IB module | $18,000 | Included |
| PAMM / copy trading | $15,000 | Included |
| White-label mobile app | $24,000 | Included |
| PSP integrations (8) | $16,000 | $0 |
| KYC vendor pass-through | $6,000 | $6,000 |
| Data warehouse / BI | $9,000 | Included |
| Year 1 total | $204,000 | $78,000 |
Year one looks like a 62% gap. It narrows in years two and three because B2Core waives setup and re-integration fees after the initial term.
Three-year rollup
| Period | B2Core | BrokerTech |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $204,000 | $78,000 |
| Year 2 | $108,000 | $72,000 |
| Year 3 | $99,000 | $66,000 |
| 3-year TCO | $411,000 | $216,000 |
BrokerTech year 3 is lower because volume tier discounts kick in at 5,000+ clients. B2Core year 3 is lower than year 2 because the PAMM and IB modules move from metered to flat.
Hidden costs most brokers miss
Contract minimums
B2Core standard contracts are 12 or 24 months. If your volume drops 30% in month four, you still pay the full minimum. BrokerTech is month-to-month with a 30-day notice clause. On a $137,000 annual spend, a 24-month lock-in is a $274,000 commitment you cannot unwind.
Per-seat fees
B2Core charges per CRM user. A 40-person ops team at $35 per user per month adds $16,800 per year. BrokerTech bundles unlimited internal users.
Custom report builds
B2Core charges $150-$250 per hour for custom SQL reports. Most brokers end up spending $8,000-$15,000 per year here. BrokerTech ships a self-service report builder plus raw SQL access to your tenant warehouse.
PSP change fees
B2Core charges $1,500-$3,000 per new PSP integration after the initial bundle. If you add three PSPs per year, that is $6,000-$9,000. BrokerTech charges nothing and delivers in 3-5 business days.
SLA credits
B2Core contracts cap SLA credits at 10% of the monthly fee. BrokerTech caps at 25% with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. On a $6,000 monthly spend with one bad month, that is $600 back with B2Core versus $1,500 back with BrokerTech.
Switching costs: the honest version
Migrating off B2Core is not free. Budget for:
- Data extraction and cleansing: 80-160 engineering hours on your side.
- Parallel run of two CRMs for 2-4 weeks: roughly $8,000-$15,000 in double licensing.
- Staff retraining: 20-40 hours per team member.
- PSP re-certification: 3-5 days per PSP, usually in parallel.
A realistic total switching cost sits between $25,000 and $45,000 for a 5,000-client broker. At a $130,000 annual saving, the payback period is roughly 3 to 5 months.
Where B2Core is worth the premium
We will not pretend otherwise. If any of the following apply, B2Core's price tag may be justified:
- You run more than 50,000 active clients and need their enterprise tier.
- You rely on B2Broker's liquidity and want a single vendor relationship.
- Your compliance team requires a specific certification that only B2Core holds in your jurisdiction.
- You already have a multi-year B2Core contract with significant sunk cost in customisations.
For everyone else, the arithmetic favours a switch.
What the $195,000 saving buys
A few concrete examples of what brokers have reinvested the savings into:
- Two additional dealers at $65,000 fully loaded.
- A 12-month paid media campaign in a tier-2 market.
- A second MT5 server for regional latency.
- A compliance officer plus a KYC analyst.
- A 3-year runway for a prop-firm product line.
Key takeaways
- Three-year TCO: B2Core $411,000 vs BrokerTech $216,000 for a 5,000-client broker.
- Year-one gap is widest because B2Core charges setup, module and PSP fees BrokerTech includes.
- Contract minimums and per-seat fees are the two hidden costs brokers most often under-budget.
- Realistic switching cost is $25,000-$45,000, paid back in 3-5 months.
- B2Core is still the right call for 50,000+ client brokers or those tied to B2Broker liquidity.
- Month-to-month contracts reduce commercial risk by hundreds of thousands of dollars over a typical term.
Next step
We will build a TCO model for your specific client count, PSP list and IB footprint. Send your last renewal invoice and we will turn it around in 48 hours, with no sales pressure.