Pontera Pricing: What It Actually Costs Advisors in 2026
Pontera Pricing: What It Actually Costs
Short version: Pontera does not publish pricing. No rate card on the website, no public tiers. What exists is consistent industry reporting.
The reported number: roughly 30 basis points per year on plan assets managed through the platform, billed to the advisor. The most-cited source is Kitces.com's coverage of the held-away asset management category. Pontera has not publicly confirmed or denied the figure, so treat it as reported, and get a live quote before making any practice-economics decision.
What 30 bps looks like in practice
| Client 401(k) balance | Platform cost at ~30 bps | Advisor billing at 1% AUM | Net to advisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | ~$750/yr | $2,500/yr | ~$1,750 |
| $500,000 | ~$1,500/yr | $5,000/yr | ~$3,500 |
| $1,000,000 | ~$3,000/yr | $10,000/yr | ~$7,000 |
That table is the pitch: the platform cost is small next to newly billable AUM. It is also where the practice-management friction lives. The fee is billed to the advisor, and advisors handle it three ways: pass it through by billing on the held-away balance, absorb it, or discount their standard rate on those assets. The awkward case is the client with a large 401(k) and a small taxable account, where there is nothing convenient to bill the fee against and the advisor eats it or has a hard conversation.
The 2026 asterisk on the whole calculation
The pricing question used to stand alone. It no longer does. Pontera's mechanism is client credential sharing, and Fidelity, the largest workplace plan provider, began restricting third-party credential sharing in September 2024. Through 2025 advisors and participants reported losing linked access at Fidelity, and by December 2025 industry reporting described the bans as spreading, with Schwab among the custodians declining to engage.
So the real cost question in 2026 is not "is 30 bps fair," it is "for how many of my clients does the mechanism still function, and for how long." A platform fee on assets you may lose the ability to manage mid-engagement is a different proposition from the same fee on stable access. Full breakdown of the fight and the fallback options: Best Pontera alternatives in 2026.
If visibility is the actual need
A meaningful slice of advisors evaluating Pontera do not need to trade the 401(k). They need to see it: for asset location, concentration, rebalancing advice the client executes, and for winning the rollover when it comes. Read-only account aggregation does that job without credential sharing, without the custodian fight, and generally for far less than 30 bps. The landscape: account aggregation for financial advisors.
Where Helm fits
Helm Terminal builds read-only portfolio intelligence for individual investors, and we are researching an advisor version: whole-book visibility across custody and held-away accounts on consented, token-based rails. It is research, not a product for sale. If you have run the Pontera math for your own practice, twenty minutes of your perspective would genuinely shape what gets built.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Pontera cost per year?
Pontera does not publish pricing on its website, and there is no official public rate card. Industry reporting, including Kitces.com coverage of the held-away asset management category, describes a fee of roughly 30 basis points annually on the plan assets managed through the platform. On a $500,000 client 401(k), that is about $1,500 a year before the advisor's own advisory fee. Treat the number as reported rather than official, and get a current quote directly.
Who pays the Pontera fee, the advisor or the client?
Pontera bills the advisor. What happens next is the advisor's call: some pass the cost through by billing their advisory fee on the held-away balance, some absorb it as a cost of offering full-book management, and some discount their standard rate on those assets. Advisors report the math gets uncomfortable for clients whose taxable accounts are too small to bill the fee against.
Is Pontera worth the cost in 2026?
The calculus changed. The fee bought discretionary management of accounts advisors otherwise could not touch, and the ability to bill on them. But Fidelity began restricting the credential sharing Pontera depends on in September 2024, and by late 2025 the bans were spreading to other custodians. Before weighing 30 basis points against billable AUM, check which custodians hold your clients' plans and whether linked access still works there at all.
This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions. Helm Terminal is not a registered investment advisor.