Which brokerage split actually pays you more?
A cap beats a flat split — but only above a certain production level, and a 100% brokerage only beats a cap above a higher one. This finds your crossover points instead of arguing about the percentages.
No cap — the brokerage share never stops growing
Caps at $80,000 GCI — you are capped
No cap — the brokerage share never stops growing
Take-home across every production level
Each line is what you keep after splits, caps and fees as your annual GCI grows. Closings scale with GCI at your average commission, so the per-deal fees grow honestly with volume.
Your crossover points
The GCI level where one plan overtakes another. Below it you are paying for a structure you have not grown into; above it you are donating the difference.
| At your GCI | To the brokerage | You keep | Vs. best |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional 60/40 | $72,000 | $108,000 | −$55,938 |
| 80/20 to a $16k cap | $21,400 | $158,600 | −$5,338 |
| 100% + desk fee | $16,062 | $163,938 | best |
How the math works
Every brokerage compensation plan on earth is four numbers. Once you can see them side by side, the marketing around them stops mattering.
closings = GCI ÷ average commission company dollar = min( GCI × (1 − split), cap ) ← cap of 0 means no cap fees = monthly × 12 + per-closing × closings you keep = GCI − company dollar − fees
The whole argument lives in that min(). Without a cap, the brokerage’s take is a straight line that grows forever — the more you produce, the more you hand over, with no ceiling. With a cap, their take is a line that stops. Two lines that grow at different rates, where one of them flattens, will always cross. The only real question is where, and whether you will get there this year.
Why a 100% brokerage can cost you money
Flip the shape around. A desk-fee model charges you a fixed amount whether you close twelve deals or zero, so its cost per deal is enormous at low volume and trivial at high volume. That is the opposite curve to a percentage split, which costs you nothing when you close nothing. An agent doing six deals a year at a 100% brokerage is often paying a higher effective rate than a 60/40 agent — they just never do the division.
The three numbers nobody puts in the brochure
Watch for these when you compare an offer, because none of them appear in the split percentage: a royalty or franchise fee skimmed off the top before your split, usually with its own separate cap; a per-transaction fee that continues after you cap; and whether the cap resets on your anniversary date or the calendar year, which decides whether a strong fourth quarter carries over or evaporates. Add a royalty into the split field and the transaction fee into the per-closing field, and the lines above will tell you the truth.
Common questions
What is a commission cap in real estate?
A cap is the maximum a brokerage will collect from an agent in a year. On an 80/20 split with a $16,000 cap, the agent pays 20% of every commission until the brokerage has received $16,000 — reached at $80,000 of gross commission income — after which the agent keeps 100%, usually minus a small per-transaction fee. The cap year resets annually, on either the calendar year or the agent’s anniversary date.
At what GCI do I actually cap?
Divide the cap by the brokerage’s share of the split. A $16,000 cap against a 20% brokerage share is reached at $80,000 of gross commission income. A $21,000 cap against a 30% share is reached at $70,000. The calculator shows this on each plan, so you can see whether you will realistically get there before the year resets — capping in November is worth very little.
Is a 70/30 split good for a real estate agent?
It depends entirely on volume and on what the 30% buys. Uncapped, a 70/30 split costs an agent with $300,000 of GCI about $90,000 a year, far more than any capped plan would take. For a newer agent closing three or four deals, the same split may cost $8,000 and come with training, leads and a desk. The split percentage alone tells you almost nothing; the number to compare is annual dollars paid to the brokerage.
How do I compare eXp, Keller Williams, Real and a 100% brokerage?
Put each one in a column using its four numbers — split, annual cap, monthly fee and per-transaction fee — then read the crossover points. Include franchise or royalty fees, which are charged separately from the split and often carry their own cap, or the comparison will flatter whichever plan hides more of its cost there.
Does a higher split make up for losing brokerage-provided leads?
Only if you replace the lead flow. Moving from a house that feeds you deals to a 100% brokerage that does not is a pay cut unless your closings hold. To find the break-even, take the annual dollars you save at your current GCI and divide by your average commission after the new split. That is the number of deals a year you would need to source yourself just to stay level.
Your split is fixed. The number it multiplies is not.
Every plan above is the same shape: a percentage of whatever you close. The lever with real travel in it is the GCI, not the split — and that comes down to how fast leads get answered and how few deals fall apart between contract and close. RealTeaCRM tracks both, with every outbound message waiting on your approval before it sends.
Start freeIllustrative only — confirm every figure against your own independent contractor agreement. To work out how much production it takes to reach a given GCI in the first place, see the lead calculator.