The $4,000 Cap Explained: What Bean Group Agents Pay eXp vs. the $16,000 Standard
Bean Group agents cap with eXp Realty at $4,000. The standard eXp cap is $16,000. That is the whole headline, and it is the single largest structural difference between joining eXp through Bean Group and joining it on your own.
What follows is the full arithmetic, including the parts that make the gap smaller than the $12,000 difference in cap figures suggests, and the two things a reduced cap costs you. If you are comparing brokerages seriously, you need the net number, not the headline.
How the eXp cap actually works
Every eXp agent starts each anniversary year on an 80/20 split. The 20% you pay the company is called company dollar. Once your cumulative company dollar for the year reaches your cap, you keep 100% of commission for the rest of that year and pay only per-transaction fees.
At the standard $16,000 cap, an agent caps at $80,000 of gross commission income. At Bean Group's $4,000 Mega Team cap, an agent caps at $20,000 of GCI — for most producers, somewhere in the first quarter of the year.
The full 2026 fee schedule
The cap is not the only line item. Here is everything eXp charges, so you can compare like for like against your current brokerage's desk fees, franchise fees and transaction fees.
| Item | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Startup fee | $149 one time | Includes the first month's $85 plus $64 onboarding |
| Cloud brokerage fee | $85 per month | Charged whether or not you close |
| Commission split | 80/20 to the agent | Until cap, then 100% |
| Annual cap — standard eXp | $16,000 | Per anniversary year |
| Annual cap — Bean Group Mega Team | $4,000 | Per anniversary year |
| Broker review fee | $25 per transaction | All transactions |
| Risk management / E&O | $60 per transaction | Capped at $750 per year |
| Post-cap transaction fee | $250 per transaction | Until $5,000 of post-cap fees is paid |
| Post-cap transaction fee, thereafter | $75 per transaction | For the balance of the year |
| Mentor program | Additional 20% split (60/40) | First 3 transactions, for agents with fewer than 3 sales in the prior 12 months |
One correction worth flagging if you have been reading older material: the risk management fee is $60 per transaction capped at $750 a year. The $40 per transaction and $500 annual cap you will still find quoted on plenty of sites is the pre-2024 structure.
The real comparison: three production levels
The scenarios below assume New Hampshire's July 2026 statewide median single-family sale price of $580,000 (New Hampshire Association of Realtors) with a 2.5% side, so roughly $14,500 of gross commission income per transaction. Every fee above is included. The startup fee is excluded because it is a one-time first-year cost for both agents.
| Sides closed | GCI | Total paid to eXp at $16,000 cap | Total paid to eXp at $4,000 cap | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | $87,000 | $17,530 | $6,530 | $11,000 |
| 12 | $174,000 | $19,540 | $8,540 | $11,000 |
| 20 | $290,000 | $21,770 | $10,770 | $11,000 |
| 40 | $580,000 | $24,820 | $13,120 | $11,700 |
Why the saving is about $11,000, not $12,000
The difference between the two caps is $12,000. The actual difference in what you pay eXp is roughly $11,000, and it is worth understanding why, because the $12,000 figure is quoted constantly and it is not right.
Capping earlier means you start paying the $250 post-cap transaction fee earlier. At 12 sides, the standard-cap agent pays that fee on 6 transactions; the Bean Group agent pays it on 10. That is $1,000 of the $12,000 handed back. The gap only widens again at high volume, once both agents have worked through the $5,000 post-cap band and dropped to $75 per transaction.
It is still $11,000. It is just not $12,000, and an experienced agent will catch the difference in about ninety seconds with a spreadsheet.
What the reduced cap costs you
Two things, and neither is usually disclosed in the pitch.
1. ICON status
eXp's ICON award is $16,000 for the year. Qualification is described qualitatively — capping for the year plus additional transactions, or a gross commission income threshold, alongside cultural and event participation requirements. Because qualification runs through capping at the full amount, agents on a reduced team cap are not on the ICON track. If you are a producer who would reliably cap at $16,000 and then meet the additional requirements, the ICON award closes most of the gap between the two caps on its own. That is a real trade-off and it deserves an honest run of the numbers rather than a slogan.
2. A team split sits on top of the eXp split
The $4,000 cap is a Mega Team benefit, and Mega Team membership carries a Bean Group split in addition to the eXp split. That split varies by where you sit on the partnership ladder, and it moves as your production moves. Anyone who quotes you the $4,000 cap without telling you the team split alongside it is showing you half the equation. Current splits by level are published on Bean Group's partnership plans.
The partnership ladder runs eight levels: Associate 1 through Associate 5, then Partner, Senior Partner and Executive Partner. Managing Partner and Growth Partner are separate leadership paths that sit alongside the production ladder rather than being rungs on it — those are covered under team growth.
What the reduced cap does not cost you
Three things carry over unchanged, and they are the ones agents most often assume they will lose:
- Revenue share eligibility. Bean Group agents earn revenue share on agents they sponsor on the same terms as any other eXp agent. The mechanics are covered in our guide to how eXp revenue share works — including the part where the median payout for a typical Tier 1 agent is $0.
- The Agent Equity Program. Agents can elect to have 5% of each commission withheld to purchase stock, and receive a 5% discount on the purchase price. Those are two different 5% figures and they are frequently conflated. Since June 2026 the shares purchased are in AGNT, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGNT), the renamed parent company; the eXp Realty brokerage brand itself is unchanged.
- The full eXp platform. Training, transaction management, the cloud campus and broker support are not tiered by cap.
Comparing against your current brokerage
Cap comparisons only mean something once you convert everything to a single number: what percentage of your gross commission income you kept last year. Pull your 1099 and your brokerage statements and work out the actual figure, including desk fees, franchise fees, technology fees, transaction fees and anything deducted at closing.
Two structures to watch for when you do:
- Uncapped percentage splits. A 70/30 with no cap costs a $290,000 GCI producer $87,000 a year. The same producer at Bean Group pays $10,770. The split percentage is almost irrelevant next to whether there is a cap at all.
- 100% models with monthly desk fees. These are genuinely competitive for high-volume, low-support agents. The comparison turns on whether the per-transaction and monthly fees plus what you pay separately for tools, E&O and marketing exceed the capped model. Run it at your actual transaction count, not a hypothetical one.
The earnings calculator does this comparison across both caps and each level of the partnership ladder. If you are mid-way through evaluating a move, the page for agents switching brokerages covers the transfer mechanics — pending transactions, listing agreements, license transfer timing in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Frequently asked questions about the Bean Group $4,000 cap
What is the eXp Realty cap in 2026?
The standard eXp Realty cap is $16,000 in company dollar per anniversary year, reached on an 80/20 split at $80,000 of gross commission income. Bean Group agents operate under eXp's Mega Team model with a $4,000 cap, reached at $20,000 of GCI.
How much does the $4,000 cap actually save me?
About $11,000 a year in what you pay eXp, not the $12,000 the cap difference implies. Capping earlier means you begin paying the $250 post-cap transaction fee earlier in the year, which gives roughly $1,000 back. The saving is before any Bean Group team split, which is a separate line.
Can Bean Group agents earn ICON status?
No. ICON qualification runs through capping at the full $16,000 for the year, so agents on a reduced team cap are not eligible. The ICON award is $16,000, which means a producer who would reliably qualify should model both paths before choosing.
Do reduced-cap agents still earn eXp revenue share and stock?
Yes to both. Revenue share eligibility and the Agent Equity Program are unaffected by the team cap. Note that because the revenue share pool is funded from company dollar, an agent on a reduced cap generates a smaller pool for whoever sponsored them.
What fees do I pay after I cap?
$250 per transaction until you have paid $5,000 in post-cap fees, then $75 per transaction for the rest of the year. The $25 broker review fee, the $60 risk management fee capped at $750 annually, and the $85 monthly cloud brokerage fee continue year-round.
Is the cap per calendar year or per anniversary year?
Per anniversary year, running from your start date with eXp rather than from 1 January. This matters if you are timing a move — joining in the back half of a strong year means you may cap twice inside a short window.
Run it against your own 1099
Nothing on this page is worth as much as your own numbers. Take last year's gross commission income and transaction count, run both caps, subtract what you actually paid your current brokerage, and see what is left. If the gap is small, the cap is not your reason to move. If it is not, start a conversation and we will run the comparison with you, including the team split, rather than around it.
Everything above reflects the fee schedule as it currently stands. eXp revises these terms from time to time, and out-of-date versions are easy to find online, so confirm the current cap, fee and ICON figures at eXp's own reference, exptoolkit.com/revenueshare, before you run your comparison.