Two published fee schedules, side by side, with the month
Real Brokerage vs eXp Realty: What Does Each Charge a Houston Agent?
Updated
Bottom line: Real Brokerage and eXp Realty charge the same shape: a split until an annual cap, then 100 percent with per-transaction fees, plus revenue share and stock. The numbers differ, and both sets below come from each brokerage's own published page.
What does each brokerage charge, line by line?
Eight charges, side by side. The Real Brokerage column is the schedule this site states on its cost page, confirmed with Houston Properties Team in September 2026. The eXp Realty column comes from eXp's income disclosure page, read in September 2026, which labels its figures as 2025 performance data and dates the disclosure itself to 2026.
One cell carries no figure and says so. The cost page states three charges beyond the split and a startup fee is not among them, so that cell says not stated rather than zero. Nothing in either column was worked out here, and no figure came from a summary of either brokerage written by somebody else.
| What is charged | Real Brokerage | eXp Realty |
|---|---|---|
| Split before the cap | 85/15. You keep 85 percent and the brokerage takes 15 percent. | 80/20. Agents retain 80 percent until the cap. Agents in the eXp Mentor Program carry an additional 20 percent split on their first three transactions. |
| Annual cap | $12,000 for an individual agent. $6,000 on a team. $4,000 on a team with over $100M in volume. | $16,000. |
| Startup fee | Not stated on the cost page. | $149, one-time onboarding. |
| Monthly fee | No monthly office or desk fee. The standing charge is $900 a year. | $85 a month, the cloud brokerage fee. |
| Per-transaction fees | $50 on each transaction. | $25 broker review and $60 risk management on each transaction. |
| Fee after capping | The brokerage's share drops to 0 percent, and a $285 fee applies on each sale. | 100 percent of commission for the rest of the anniversary year, subject to standard transaction fees. |
| Revenue share | Five tiers at 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 percent, paid by the brokerage out of its own share of a commission. | A revenue share program, listed among the fixed brokerage fees at $0. The cited page states no tiers. |
| Stock | Stock awards tied to production. No figure published. | ICON: up to $16,000 in stock. |
What do the two schedules have in common?
The shape. Both brokerages take a percentage of every commission until an agent has paid a fixed amount for the year, then stop taking a percentage and charge per transaction instead. Both run a revenue share program. Both pay agents in stock as well as in commission. Both reset on the agent's anniversary year rather than on the calendar year.
That shared shape is why these two get compared at all. An agent weighing them is weighing figures in the same slots rather than two different business models.
Where do the numbers differ?
In four places. The split before the cap is 85/15 at one and 80/20 at the other. The cap is $16,000 at eXp Realty, and at Real Brokerage it is $12,000, $6,000 or $4,000 depending on how you join. The standing fee is $85 a month at eXp Realty against $900 a year at Real Brokerage. And the per-transaction charge is $50 at Real Brokerage against $85 at eXp Realty, which is the $25 broker review and the $60 risk management added together.
Two eXp Realty charges have no line in Real Brokerage's published schedule: $149 once at onboarding, and an additional 20 percent split on an agent's first three transactions inside the eXp Mentor Program.
The arithmetic from there is yours. Run your own gross commission against each split until each cap, multiply your own sides by each per-transaction figure, add the standing fee. This page states the published numbers and stops, because which schedule suits a practice depends on volume, average commission and when in the year the cap arrives.
Who sponsors you, and does it move any of this?
No. At Real Brokerage the split, the caps, the fees and the revenue share tiers are set and published by the brokerage, so naming one sponsor rather than another moves nothing in the table above. What the name decides is who answers you afterwards, for as long as you are there.
That is the question most agents finish a comparison with. The sponsorship library on this site works through how to choose one, and the page on naming a sponsor sets out how the field works and why it cannot be changed.
Questions & answers
What else do Houston agents ask?
Does eXp Realty charge a monthly fee, and does Real Brokerage?
eXp Realty charges $85 a month, which its income disclosure page calls the cloud brokerage fee. Real Brokerage charges no monthly office or desk fee at all, and its standing charge is $900 a year instead. Both also charge on each transaction, at $50 and at $85.
The two per-transaction figures are built differently. At Real Brokerage it is one $50 charge. At eXp Realty it is a $25 broker review plus $60 for risk management, which is where the $85 comes from. Add a one-time $149 onboarding charge at eXp Realty and the standing costs are complete as each brokerage publishes them. What Real Brokerage takes beyond the split, in full and with the month, is on the cost of joining page.
What is eXp Realty's cap, and what is Real Brokerage's?
eXp Realty publishes one annual cap of $16,000, after which an agent keeps 100 percent of commission for the rest of the anniversary year, subject to standard transaction fees. Real Brokerage publishes three: $12,000 for an individual agent, $6,000 on a team, and $4,000 on a team with over $100M in volume.
Which Real Brokerage cap applies is decided by how you join rather than picked on a form. After capping there, the brokerage's percentage drops to 0 and a $285 fee applies on each sale, while eXp Realty's page states 100 percent subject to its standard transaction fees. Both caps run to the agent's anniversary date rather than to the end of the calendar year, so an agent moving mid-year is starting a new one.
Do Real Brokerage and eXp Realty both pay revenue share?
Both run a program. Real Brokerage pays five tiers at 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 percent, out of the brokerage's own share of a commission rather than the sponsored agent's. eXp Realty lists a revenue share program among its fixed brokerage fees at zero dollars, and its income disclosure page states no tiers.
That zero is a fee rather than a payout: eXp Realty charges an agent nothing to take part. What either program pays depends on who an agent sponsors and what those agents close, which is why no page can tell you in advance what it is worth. Real Brokerage's five tiers, and the rule that the money comes out of the brokerage's side of the split, are set out on the revenue share page.
Does my sponsor change what Real Brokerage charges me?
No. The split, the caps, the fees and the revenue share tiers are set and published by Real Brokerage, so they read the same whoever you name and the same if you name nobody. What the name decides is who answers your questions once you are inside the brokerage.
Worth knowing before a comparison turns into a recruiting conversation, because a sponsor who hints they can move one of those numbers is describing something the brokerage does not allow. Naming one is optional, and once the Independent Contractor Agreement is signed the name cannot be changed. How the field works, and what a sponsor may and may not offer for it, is on the page about naming a sponsor.