Property tax appeal comparison · 2026
Five Stone Tax vs AppealMyTax
Five Stone keeps 40% of your savings, every year. We charge $49 flat, one time, you keep 100%, in Houston and every other Texas metro they do not cover for homes.
What 5 years of protests costs you
Drag to your annual tax savings. Contingency firms charge a cut of your savings every single year. We charge a flat fee and you keep all of it.
Assumes you protest every year for 5 years: our $49 protest kit each year, Ownwell at a contingency fee starting at 25% of savings per year (ownwell.com pricing example, retrieved June 2026), and O'Connor at 50% of current year savings per their published residential terms (poconnor.com, retrieved June 2026). Ownwell's rate varies by region, so we use their own 25% example as the conservative case.
Them
Five Stone Tax
Contingency: 40% of your tax savings, with a flat minimum (whichever is greater)
$900/yr on a $2,250 saving
Using Five Stone's own example: a $100,000 value reduction saves about $2,250 a year, they keep 40% ($900), you net $1,350. Every year you hold the lower value. Their residential page markets it as "no savings, no fee," but their own invoice-explainer page says they charge "a service fee or a success fee, whichever is greater" (fivestonetax.com, retrieved July 2026), so a flat service fee can apply even in a year the reduction does not cut your bill. Five Stone does not publish that minimum; the only dollar figure on record is a $79 service fee cited in a 2024 BBB complaint. AppealMyTax is a flat $49, one time, and you keep 100%.
Coverage
Texas only, about 7 residential counties (Travis, Hays, Williamson, Burnet, Bell, Tarrant, Denton); commercial statewide (Five Stone). 7 states with real parcel data (Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas), about 22.7M properties, including Harris and Dallas (us).
Us
AppealMyTax
Flat-fee packet, no contingency, no recurring cut.
$49 flat
One time. You keep 100% of your savings every year. Ownwell keeps 25-35%, O'Connor keeps half. See your exact overpayment free first, no signup.
Coverage
Real per-parcel assessment data in 7 states, about 22.7M properties: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas. Deepest in Florida (all 67 counties) and Texas (HCAD iFile-ready), plus a full statutory appeal guide for Georgia.
Feature by feature
An honest side by side. Both get you a real protest, the difference is what it costs and what you see along the way.
Price
Us:$49 flat, one time
Five Stone Tax:40% of savings, service fee or success fee whichever is greater (fivestonetax.com, retrieved July 2026)
Your savings
Us:You keep 100% of your savings, every year
Five Stone Tax:40% goes to the firm every year; about $900 on their own $2,250 example
Coverage
Us:7 states with real parcel data, about 22.7M properties, Harris County (Houston) included
Five Stone Tax:~7 Austin-area and DFW residential counties; Harris (Houston) not on their list
Who files
Us:You file online in about 10 minutes with an iFile-ready packet
Five Stone Tax:Fully hands-off: they file, prepare, and attend the hearing for you
No-reduction risk
Us:Free check first: see your overpayment and real comps before paying a cent
Five Stone Tax:Marketed "no savings, no fee," but a flat service fee can still apply (whichever is greater)
Real-world cost comparison
Austin-area home, $100K value reduction, about $2,250/yr savings (Five Stone's own example)
Annual savings on appeal
$2,250
Five Stone Tax cost
$900 (40% × $2,250)
$1,350/yr after their cut, repeating every year
AppealMyTax cost
$49 one-time
$2,250/yr, every year
Multi-year math
10-year math: at flat savings Five Stone collects roughly $9,000 in contingency fees over a decade. Our $49 one-time fee captures the same reduction, and because Texas reassesses every year you re-run the protest each cycle and still keep 100%, so the gap widens the longer you hold the lower value.
Five Stone Tax: pros & cons
Strengths
- ✓ Established Austin firm, founded in 2008, with a strong local reputation and an A+ BBB rating (accredited since 2013)
- ✓ Fully hands-off: they file, prepare, and present your protest and attend the hearing for you
- ✓ Also a full tax firm (income tax and IRS resolution), useful if you want one provider for everything
- ✓ Strong claimed results (their own marketing cites a 98% success rate and 2X industry-average savings)
Limitations
- ✗ Takes 40% of your savings every single year, so the more you save the more they keep, and it repeats every cycle
- ✗ Their invoice page says "a service fee or a success fee, whichever is greater," so a flat service fee can apply even with no tax savings, which sits awkwardly against their "no savings, no fee" marketing (fivestonetax.com, retrieved July 2026)
- ✗ Residential coverage is limited to about 7 Austin-area and DFW counties (Travis, Hays, Williamson, Burnet, Bell, Tarrant, Denton). Harris County (Houston) is not on their residential list.
- ✗ You do not own the filing record or see which comparables they used
Why AppealMyTax wins
- ★ Flat $49, one time, you keep 100% of the savings every year. Five Stone keeps 40% every year.
- ★ We cover Harris County (Houston), which is not on Five Stone's published residential list, plus 7 states with real parcel data, about 22.7M properties.
- ★ No contingency, no flat-minimum games, no recurring charge, and a refund if the protest has not been filed yet.
- ★ See your exact overpayment free in 30 seconds, no signup, no email, then keep 100% of it.
Where Five Stone Tax genuinely wins
Five Stone is an established Austin firm, founded in 2008, with an A+ BBB rating and a full-service model: licensed pros file, prepare, and present your protest and attend the hearing, and it is also a full income-tax and IRS-resolution practice if you want one provider for everything. In its Austin-area and DFW counties, if you want the whole thing handled and accept giving up 40 percent of your savings, it is a legitimate, well-reviewed choice.
Our case is narrower and far cheaper: a 10-minute online filing with the same class of comparable evidence, $49 flat instead of 40 percent every year, you keep 100 percent, and we cover Harris County (Houston) and six other states Five Stone does not handle for homes.
Five Stone Tax vs AppealMyTax: common questions
How much does Five Stone Tax charge?
Five Stone charges a 40 percent contingency on the residential tax savings it secures, marketed as "no savings, no fee" (fivestonetax.com, retrieved July 2026). Its own invoice-explainer page adds an important nuance: it bills "a service fee or a success fee, whichever is greater," so a flat service fee can apply even in a year the reduction does not lower your bill. Five Stone does not publish that minimum; the only dollar figure on record is a $79 service fee cited in a 2024 BBB complaint. On a typical $2,250 Austin-area saving, the 40 percent success fee is about $900.
Is AppealMyTax cheaper than Five Stone Tax?
Yes, in any year your savings clear about $125. AppealMyTax is $49 flat and you keep 100 percent of the reduction. Five Stone keeps 40 cents of every dollar it saves you, every year you hold the lower value. On Five Stone's own $2,250 example that is about $900 to them versus $49 to us, and the gap repeats each cycle.
Does Five Stone Tax cover Houston or Harris County?
Not for homes. Five Stone's published residential coverage is about seven Austin-area and DFW counties (Travis, Hays, Williamson, Burnet, Bell, Tarrant, Denton); Harris County (Houston) is not on that list, though it serves commercial clients statewide (fivestonetax.com, retrieved July 2026). AppealMyTax has real assessment-roll data across seven states, Harris and Dallas included, and the free check tells you instantly whether your address is covered.
Will Five Stone charge me if they don't lower my taxes?
Possibly. Their residential page says "no savings, no fee," but their invoice-explainer page says they charge "a service fee or a success fee, whichever is greater" (fivestonetax.com, retrieved July 2026), and a 2024 BBB complaint describes being charged a $79 service fee in a year without a tax reduction (Five Stone confirmed it waived that fee after the complaint). With AppealMyTax there is no contingency and no service fee: you see your over-assessment and real comps free first, and you only buy the $49 packet in the years you choose to protest.
Can I protest my property taxes myself instead of hiring Five Stone?
Yes. Texas law lets any homeowner file their own protest, and filing through your county's online portal takes about 10 minutes. The $49 packet gives you the same class of evidence a firm would bring, a comparable table from your county's own appraisal roll and an unequal-appraisal argument under Tax Code Section 41.43(b)(3), and you keep the filing record and every dollar of the savings.
Try it free
Search your address. Get your specific overassessment estimate in 30 seconds. No credit card.
Check my address · FreeThe free check is genuinely free: no signup, no email. Optional $49 packet only if you want a pre-filled iFile-ready protest letter, and you keep 100% of your savings.