Best Property Tax Protest Companies: 2026 Fee Comparison

There are two ways a property tax firm can charge you, and the difference matters more than which company you pick.

Contingency firms take a cut of what you save — 25% to 50% of your first-year tax reduction. You pay nothing if they lose. Flat-fee services charge one price whether the win is $200 or $6,000.

Contingency is cheaper on a small win. Flat fee is cheaper on a big one. The crossover sits around $500 in annual savings. Everything below is the same question asked with real numbers.

Every fee, as each company states it

These are quoted from each company’s own pricing page, with the date we checked at the bottom of this page. Rates can vary by region and by property type, so confirm yours before you sign.

What each fee costs on a real reduction

Say your appeal knocks $40,000 off your assessed value. In a Texas district with a 2.2% combined rate, that is about $880 off this year’s tax bill.

Two notes on our own numbers, because you will spot them anyway. Abode is cheaper on this case — it is a $99 annual membership, and if an appeal is all you want from it, it costs less than we do. And TaxDrop Pro is priced off the assessment reduction rather than the tax savings, so on a Texas bill it lands near a 45% contingency. That buys you someone running the entire protest, hearing included. If price is your filter, TaxDrop One is the cheaper TaxDrop.

The break-even, in one line

A $129 flat fee beats a 25% contingency once your annual savings clear about $516. It beats a 40% contingency at about $323, and a 50% contingency at about $258.

Below those numbers the contingency firms are genuinely cheaper, and you should use one. A percentage of a small win is a small number.

What the fee does not tell you

Price is the easy comparison. These four differences decide how the year actually goes.

• Who keeps the evidence. A contingency firm hands you a result. The working file — the comps, the adjustments, the math — usually stays with them. Next year you start from nothing.
• Whether you sign an authorization. Full-service firms become your agent of record for the property. That is how they file on your behalf, and it is also how enrollment rolls forward automatically.
• Who decides to settle. If the district offers a small reduction, someone has to accept or push. On contingency, a quick acceptable number closes the file and books the fee.
• What happens if you are already assessed fairly. Roughly 30–60% of properties are over-assessed, which means a lot are not. Ask what a firm does when yours is one of them.

The companies, one by one

TaxDrop

Two products. TaxDrop One is $129 flat per property, per tax year: we build the evidence packet — sales comps, equity comps, the adjustments and a defensible number — and you file it and speak for yourself. TaxDrop Pro is full-service in 17 Texas counties at 1% of the assessment reduction we win, with no fee unless we reduce it.

Best for: anyone whose expected savings clear roughly $500, and anyone who wants to keep the evidence and stay the owner of record.

The catch: with One, you do the filing and the talking. On a small expected win, a contingency firm costs less.

Ownwell

25% of your first-year tax savings, nothing if they get no reduction. They file for you, in multiple states.

Best for: small-to-mid expected savings, and anyone who wants it fully off their plate with no downside risk.

The catch: the fee grows with your result and returns each year they win again. They also sell insurance and energy plans alongside the appeal. Full TaxDrop vs. Ownwell comparison.

Home Tax Shield

$30 a year plus 30% of tax savings, Texas only. A hybrid: a small subscription with a lower-than-typical contingency on top.

Best for: Texas owners who want full service and a contingency below the 40–50% norm.

The catch: the $30 is charged whether or not the protest wins.

Five Stone

40% of actual tax savings, Texas only, full service.

Best for: owners who want an established Texas firm handling the ARB hearing.

The catch: 40% is at the higher end of the market, and it repeats each winning year.

Texas Protax

The greater of three calculations: 40% of tax savings, $2.50 per $1,000 of market value reduction, or a $50 per-parcel minimum. Texas only, full service.

Best for: owners who want a long-established Austin and Houston firm with in-house licensed agents.

The catch: the greater-of structure means the fee is hard to predict before the season closes, and the minimum applies even on a small reduction.

O’Connor

50% of your first-year savings, the highest contingency on this list, and the deepest bench — they pursue binding arbitration and judicial appeals that most residential firms will not.

Best for: difficult or high-value cases where the extra escalation is worth half the first year.

The catch: half. Full TaxDrop vs. O’Connor comparison.

Abode

$99 a year ($149 concierge) for a membership that bundles a tax appeal with other homeowner money services.

Best for: people who want the whole bundle, not only an appeal.

The catch: you are buying a subscription, not an evidence packet for one property. Full TaxDrop vs. Abode comparison.

Filing it yourself

Free. The form takes about twenty minutes and nobody can file it better than the owner. What it costs you is the evidence: pulling comparable sales, adjusting them for size, age and condition, and knowing which ones a board will throw out.

Best for: anyone with the hours, and anyone whose expected savings are under about $129. The honest math on DIY versus paying for the evidence.

How to choose

• Expected savings under ~$300? Use a contingency firm, or file it yourself. A percentage of a small number is a small number.
• Expected savings over ~$500? A flat fee costs less, and the gap widens every dollar above that.
• Want it completely off your plate? Full service. Accept that the fee scales with your win and recurs each year.
• Want to keep the evidence and stay in control of the settle-or-push decision? Flat-fee evidence, filed by you.

Outside Texas, the words change and so do the rules

Most of the firms above are Texas-only, and Texas is the only state that calls it a protest. California, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey and Maryland all call it an appeal, and each has its own deadline and its own evidence standard. The unequal-appraisal argument that wins Texas cases is a Texas and Georgia statute; it does not exist elsewhere.

New Jersey deserves a specific warning. New Jersey decides appeals on the Chapter 123 ratio test rather than market value. If your assessment sits below the common level range, the county board is required by statute to raise it. New Jersey is also the one state here that charges to file — $5 to $150 up front by assessed value, non-refundable. Never file there without checking the ratio first.

Where TaxDrop lands

We are the flat-fee option: $129 per property, per tax year, in Texas, California, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey and Maryland. You keep 100% of the reduction, this year and every year it carries forward. If we do not find you a case worth making, we tell you before you pay.

Check what your property is really worth — free, about two minutes →

How we verified these fees

Every figure above is taken from the company’s own published pricing, checked in August 2026, except O’Connor’s, which was last confirmed in July 2026. Contingency rates can vary by region, property type and product tier, and companies change them. Treat this as a starting point and confirm the current rate for your property before you sign anything. Dollar examples are illustrations built on a $40,000 assessment reduction at a 2.2% combined Texas rate, not predictions about your property.

Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.