Gold IRA Fee Benchmarks

Every number on this page comes from a custodian's own published fee schedule, with the revision date noted per source. That matters because most fee comparisons online quote ranges without saying where the numbers came from or when. We reviewed the fee pages of five widely used custodians for this benchmark; four publish complete schedules and appear below, one does not publish pricing online. The four — STRATA Trust, GoldStar Trust, Equity Trust, and The Entrust Group — are benchmarked across setup, annual maintenance, storage, and termination fees. The totals are then worked at two account sizes.

All figures were pulled from the linked schedules on July 31, 2026. Custodians revise fees; treat this page as a benchmark for comparison and request the current written schedule before opening any account.

What do Gold IRA custodians charge in 2026?

Published Gold IRA custodian fees in 2026 range from $90 to $500 per year for account maintenance at balances up to $200,000, plus $110 to $225 for storage. The table below shows what you would pay under each published schedule, with its revision date. Storage comes in two forms: commingled, where your metals share vault space with other investors, and segregated, where your exact bars and coins sit apart at a higher rate.

† GoldStar segregated storage adds $1.80 per $1,000 of metals value above $125,000. ‡ Equity Trust tiers for balances up to $200,000; higher balances pay more, up to $2,250 at $2 million or more.

How do the custodian fee models differ?

Three fee models appear across the four schedules: flat annual fees, asset-based tiers, and hybrid pass-through pricing. The model matters more than any single line item because it determines how your costs behave as the account grows.

Flat fees (STRATA, GoldStar) stay level regardless of balance. A $250,000 account pays the same maintenance as a $25,000 account, so the percentage cost falls as the account rises. Asset-based tiers (Equity Trust) step up with account value: $225 per year below $15,000, rising through five steps to $425 between $50,000 and $100,000 and $500 between $100,000 and $200,000. Hybrid pricing (Entrust) starts flat at $199 and adds 0.15% on value above $50,000, capped at $2,299 per year — asset-based behavior with a ceiling.

We call the pattern the $50,000 crossover. Below that balance, GoldStar, STRATA, and Entrust price within roughly $110 of each other, while Equity Trust's tiers start higher at every level. Above it, the flat-fee custodians hold their price and the tiered and hybrid structures keep climbing. On a $200,000 account, the published gap between the cheapest flat schedule and the highest tier reaches roughly $400 per year before storage.

What does each custodian cost at $50,000 and $100,000?

The table below totals the published maintenance and commingled storage fees at two account sizes, so you can compare like with like. The totals exclude dealer markups and buyback spreads — dealer costs, not custodian costs, and they usually exceed everything below.

Two caveats keep these numbers honest. First-year totals add the setup fee ($0 to $50) and any transaction fees ($0 to $40 per trade). And the segregated storage option adds $50 to $100 per year below $125,000 in metals value — our Gold IRA depositories overview covers those trade-offs.

Why do dealer quotes differ from published schedules?

Dealer quotes differ from custodian schedules for three reasons: promotional waivers, bundling, and revision lag. None of them changes what the custodian charges — they change who appears to pay it.

• Promotional waivers. Dealers advertise “fees waived for up to 10 years” on qualifying balances. The custodian still bills; the dealer covers it — and recovers the cost through the markup on the metals you buy.
• Bundling. Some quotes merge maintenance and storage into one number, which makes a high storage rate invisible. Compare line items, not bundles.
• Revision lag. Schedules carry revision dates for a reason. STRATA's current schedule takes effect September 2026; Entrust's published document dates from 2022. A quote built on an old schedule understates current costs.

Not every custodian publishes a schedule at all. Several well-known names provide fees only by phone or after an application — which makes independent comparison impossible until you ask. Treat an unpublished schedule as a question to raise, not a defect.

How should you use these benchmarks?

Use the published numbers as your negotiating floor and verification tool, in three steps. Each step takes minutes and works with any custodian, published schedule or not.

• Request the written schedule for the exact account type you are opening, and compare it line by line against the published version linked in our sources.
• Add all four layers — setup, maintenance, storage, and transaction fees — before comparing custodians. A low headline fee with high storage can cost more than the reverse.
• Check the evaluation criteria beyond price: regulatory status, processing times, and reporting quality, covered in our Gold IRA custodians overview.