Gold IRA companies come in 3 kinds and the marketing rarely separates them, which is the source of most of the confusion about what an account costs. We hold records on 12 dealers and 12 custodians, checked on April 17, 2026, and this page sets out which company does which job before you compare any prices.
The three roles
| Role | What it does | What it charges for |
|---|---|---|
| Dealer | Sells you the metal and usually runs the sales process from first call to funding. | A markup over the spot price, and sometimes a setup fee of its own. |
| Custodian | Holds the account, files with the IRS and executes the transfer from your old plan. | Setup and an annual administration fee, sometimes scaling with the balance. |
| Depository | Stores the metal under the custodian's control, segregated or commingled. | An annual storage fee, usually billed through the custodian. |
The company advertising to you is almost always the dealer, and the two charges it does not set are the ones that recur every year for as long as you hold the account. A quote from a dealer alone therefore covers the part of the cost that happens once and omits the part that repeats.
Dealers we hold records on
Compared on what they cost on the company comparison, and individually on their own pages.
- Advantage Gold
- Augusta Precious Metals
- Goldco
- Birch Gold Group
- American Hartford Gold
- Noble Gold Investments
- Lear Capital
- Rosland Capital
- Oxford Gold Group
- Patriot Gold Group
- Monetary Gold
- Preserve Gold
Custodians we hold records on
Custodians are not usually chosen by the reader. The dealer proposes one, which means the annual cost of the account is largely decided by a company you never spoke to, and comparing them yourself is the part of this decision most people skip.
- Equity Trust Company
- STRATA Trust Company
- Kingdom Trust Company
- GoldStar Trust Company
- The Entrust Group
- Forge Trust Company
- Horizon Trust Company
- Provident Trust Group
- IRA Financial Trust
- Preferred Trust Company
- Directed IRA / Directed Trust Company
- New Direction Trust Company
The custodian comparison sets their published setup, administration and storage charges side by side, and the fee calculator totals a dealer and a custodian together against a real transfer amount.
Sources
-
Gold IRA Digest fee database
Published charges across 12 custodians and 12 dealers, each entry carrying its source page.