Retirement Plan Data Providers
The retirement plan data provider landscape: who sells what, and to whom.
Retirement plan data providers package Form 5500 filings + supplemental sources (advisor records, ERISA litigation, plan ratings) for buyers across the wealth-management and recordkeeping industries. The market splits roughly into prospecting tools (financial advisors), institutional research (asset managers), and process-documentation tools (fiduciary monitoring).
Why it matters
- →Different providers are built for different customer types — a tool great for an advisor pitching plan takeovers may be useless to an asset manager building marketing collateral.
- →Pricing models vary by 100x: some are free with paid tiers ($25–$500/mo); others are sales-led enterprise contracts ($5k–$50k+/year per seat).
- →The underlying data (Form 5500, Schedule H, Schedule C) is identical across providers. What you pay for is the normalization, scoring, enrichment, and workflow integration.
- →Recent market consolidation matters: Judy Diamond + FreeERISA are owned by ALM; BrightScope is part of ISS Market Intelligence; fi360 is part of Broadridge. Vendor independence varies.
What to look for
- ✓Customer fit: prospecting (advisors) vs research (asset managers) vs process (RIAs documenting fiduciary work)
- ✓Coverage: every provider sources from the same DOL bulk files, but Schedule C depth varies — only a few surface provider-level fee/comp detail
- ✓Pricing transparency: pay-as-you-go and listed prices are rare; most enterprise vendors require a sales conversation
- ✓Independence: providers owned by larger media or research conglomerates may have product-roadmap incentives that don't align with end users
- ✓Workflow fit: standalone CRM or export to your existing one (HubSpot, Salesforce); API access if you're building tooling
Vendor landscape
401kHunter
Pay-as-you-go advisor prospecting. $25 minimum, listed pricing, no contract. Built for solo and small-team advisors.
Judy Diamond Associates (ALM)
Longstanding incumbent for advisor prospecting. Annual seat licenses, sales-led. Strong CRM features.
Larkspur Data
Enterprise platform with advisor-to-plan mapping. Used by recordkeepers and large broker-dealers.
BrightScope (ISS Market Intelligence)
Plan ratings + Beacon API + flat-file data licensing. Enterprise pricing for institutional buyers.
fi360 (Broadridge)
Fiduciary scoring and investment monitoring — different category, used for advisor-side process documentation rather than plan prospecting.
FreeERISA (ALM)
Free single-plan lookup; paid premium tiers for bulk access. Same parent as Judy Diamond.
Frequently asked
Is Form 5500 data different across providers?
No. Every provider in this market sources from the same DOL bulk Form 5500 filings, which are public record. What differs is the normalization, scoring methodology, decision-maker enrichment, and workflow integration on top of that data.
Why is the pricing range so wide ($25 to $50k+)?
Pay-as-you-go pricing serves individual advisors who want to test prospecting workflows. Enterprise contracts serve large broker-dealers, recordkeepers, and asset managers who need API access, white-label data feeds, and custom integrations. The underlying data is the same — the productization is what differs.
Do these providers compete with each other directly?
Some do (Judy Diamond, Larkspur, 401kHunter all serve advisor prospecting). Others sit in adjacent categories (BrightScope serves asset managers; fi360 serves fiduciary process; FreeERISA is consumer-facing lookups). Most advisors use 1–2 of them.
Are there free options?
Yes. The DOL EFAST2 portal provides free single-plan lookup. FreeERISA offers free ad-supported lookups for individual filings. 401kHunter offers free filtered search across all plans with credits only for decision-maker contact unlock.
See where 401kHunter fits in the landscape
Free filtered search across 917K plans, fee grades A–D, Schedule C provider compensation, and pay-as-you-go contact unlocks starting at $25.
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