ERISA Data Providers
ERISA data providers: what they sell, who buys it, and how to evaluate them.
ERISA data providers package the regulatory filings required of U.S. retirement and welfare plans — primarily Form 5500 + schedules — for advisors, asset managers, recordkeepers, attorneys, and fiduciary-process tools. Quality of normalization and depth of supplemental data is what differentiates them.
Why it matters
- →ERISA-covered plans cover ~150 million participants and ~$10T+ in assets. Every plan with 100+ participants files annually under ERISA Sections 103 and 104.
- →The data is public, but raw filings require parsing — bulk CSVs from DOL EBSA cover Form 5500, 5500-SF, and Schedules A/C/H/I/R as separate downloads with year-over-year column changes.
- →Most ERISA buyers don't care about all of it — they want narrowed filters (industry, size, fee grade) and enrichment (decision-maker contacts) layered on the regulatory data.
- →Schedule C — service-provider compensation disclosures — is the highest-value but most underused field, because the DOL bulk file historically required tying together eight sub-files to get the full picture.
What to look for
- ✓Schedule coverage: every ERISA data provider has Form 5500; not all have full Schedule C provider/fee detail. Schedule H (large-plan financials) and Schedule I (small-plan financials) are table stakes.
- ✓Refresh cadence: DOL refreshes monthly; the better providers re-ingest weekly. Stale data is a real problem at the long tail.
- ✓Decision-maker enrichment: Form 5500 lists the Plan Administrator + Sponsor Signer. Real buying committees require third-party data layered on top.
- ✓Pricing model: pay-as-you-go ($25 entry) at the modern end; annual seat-based licenses ($2k–$8k/seat/year) at the incumbents; enterprise data feeds ($25k–$100k+/year) for asset managers.
- ✓Compliance audit trail: useful if you're an attorney or fiduciary-process tool; less important for prospecting advisors.
Vendor landscape
401kHunter
Modern advisor prospecting tool with full Schedule C provider compensation detail (P1I2 + P1I3 from DOL bulk). Pay-as-you-go.
Judy Diamond
Longstanding ERISA data licensor for advisors. Annual seat-based pricing.
Larkspur Data
Enterprise ERISA + advisor-mapping platform.
BrightScope
ERISA data with proprietary plan ratings; consumer-facing search at brightscope.com.
FreeERISA
Free single-plan ERISA lookup; paid premium for bulk access.
Frequently asked
Is Form 5500 the only ERISA data source?
No, but it's the largest. ERISA also requires Summary Annual Reports (SAR) and Summary Plan Descriptions (SPD), but these are not centrally filed. Schedule C, Schedule A (insurance contracts), Schedule H (large-plan financials), and Schedule I (small-plan financials) are filed alongside Form 5500 and form the bulk of usable ERISA data.
Are ERISA data providers regulated?
No. The underlying filings are public regulatory documents (DOL EBSA), so anyone can build a database from them. The vendors are commercial software companies, not regulated entities.
What's the deal with Schedule C complexity?
DOL's bulk Schedule C is split into eight separate sub-files (Part 1 Item 1, 2, 3 + service codes; Part 2 + codes; Part 3). Most data providers only ingest the summary file, which only contains exclusion indicators — not actual provider compensation. 401kHunter ingests all eight to surface provider names, comp amounts, and indirect-comp formula text.
How recent is the data typically?
DOL refreshes the bulk dataset weekly as new filings arrive. The "Latest" file from DOL is generally 1–2 weeks behind real-time. Most data providers re-ingest monthly; weekly is better but rarer.
See ERISA data done right
Form 5500 + Schedules A/C/H/I/R, full Schedule C provider compensation with formula text, and decision-maker enrichment. $25 to start.
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