Gold IRA With the Lowest Fees: Year-1 and 10-Year Costs Compared
No single company has the lowest gold IRA fees. Most of the eight we track pass on the same custodian schedule, $285 in year one and $2,400 over ten years before any waiver, so what separates them is the waivers five of them publish and the markup on the metal. Goldco, which pays us, publishes no waiver and isn't the low-fee choice; what it offers is a $25,000 minimum, half of Augusta's.
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Gold IRA fee calculator
Setup, annual admin and storage at each company, from its own published figures or, where it doesn't publish one, its custodian's schedule. Pick an amount, a period and a storage type.
10-year account fees before any waiver: $2,400 to $2,830 across the 6 companies that publish enough to add up, 4.8% to 5.7% of $50,000. Waivers can lower some of these totals; the notes say which companies publish one.
| Company | Year 1 | 10 years | Share of $50,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Augusta Precious Metals$50,000 minimumPaid partner | $285 | $2,400 | 4.8% |
| Storage: storage type not stated.Publishes a fee waiver for qualifying accounts, not included here. | |||
Get Augusta's free Gold IRA guide ($50k minimum)Paid partner Augusta's published minimum is $50,000. | |||
| Birch Gold Group$5,000 minimum | $285 | $2,400 | 4.8% |
| Storage: Equity Trust's rate, which applies if Equity Trust is your custodian; scope not fully clear.Publishes a fee waiver for qualifying accounts, not included here. | |||
| Goldco$25,000 minimumPaid partner | $285 | $2,400 | 4.8% |
| Storage: Equity Trust's rate, which applies if Equity Trust is your custodian; Goldco's own cost page lists an older rate. | |||
Request Goldco's free Gold & Silver KitPaid partner A representative usually calls after you request it. | |||
| Lear Capital$10,000 minimum | $285 | $2,400 | 4.8% |
| Publishes a fee waiver for qualifying accounts, not included here.Caution on Lear Capital: NY AG $6M consent order (2022) and 2022 Chapter 11 with multistate $5.5M restitution. | |||
| Priority Gold$10,000 minimum | $285 | $2,400 | 4.8% |
| Publishes a fee waiver for qualifying accounts, not included here.Caution on Priority Gold: Site claims 'fully accredited' BBB A+ and 4.9 Trustpilot; BBB shows NOT accredited and Trustpilot shows 4.8 (2026-10-29). | |||
| Noble Gold Investments$20,000 minimum | $355 | $2,830 | 5.7% |
| Storage: segregated only (commingled not offered); sources disagree.Setup fee: sources disagree. | |||
Not enough published to add up:
- American Hartford Gold: no published setup, annual admin fee
- Patriot Gold Group: no published commingled storage fee
Why most of the totals come out the same
Most gold IRA companies don't set the account fees. The custodian that holds the IRA charges the setup and yearly admin fee, and the depository that holds the metal charges for storage. The dealer sells you the metal. That split is why so many companies quote identical numbers: they send their customers to the same custodian.
Here that custodian is Equity Trust Company. Augusta, Lear Capital and Priority Gold name it as their custodian; Goldco and Birch Gold say it is one of several they work with. This is the precious metals schedule it publishes:
| Equity Trust fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Account setup (once) | $50 |
| Annual maintenance | $125 |
| Storage, non-segregated (commingled), a year | $110 |
| Storage, segregated, a year | $160 |
| Outgoing wire | $30 |
| Liquidation | $30 |
| Account termination | $250 |
| Paper statements, a year | $60 |
Add the first four lines and you get the figure most rows of the calculator share: $50 once, then $235 a year with commingled storage, $2,400 over ten years. Segregated storage adds $50 a year and takes ten years to $2,900. These are the custodian's prices. A dealer that quotes them is neither cheaper nor dearer for doing so.
Noble Gold runs on a different version. It offers segregated storage only, and its newest support page lists an $80 setup fee and $150 a year for storage. Against Equity Trust's segregated schedule that is $30 more to open and $10 a year less to keep, so Noble's ten-year total of $2,830 comes in under $2,900. With commingled storage chosen in the calculator, Noble still shows its segregated rate, because that is all it sells. Noble's own pages don't agree on every figure, and the calculator flags that.
Where Goldco lands
Goldco is our main paid partner, so this needs saying plainly: Goldco does not have the lowest gold IRA fees.
What Goldco publishes is a $50 setup fee and $125 a year in admin, both charged by the custodian. Storage is less clear-cut. Goldco works with several custodians and names Equity Trust as one; if Equity Trust holds your account, storage costs $110 a year commingled or $160 segregated at its current rates. Goldco's own cost page still lists older storage rates, and the notes on Goldco's fees at Gold IRA Companies Ranked put the two side by side. On those assumptions a Goldco account costs $285 in its first year and $2,400 over ten years with commingled storage: the custodian's standard schedule, and nothing off it.
Goldco also publishes no fee waiver that we could find, while Augusta, Birch Gold, Lear Capital, Patriot Gold and Priority Gold each publish one, with conditions. Lear Capital's terms start low: the setup fee is covered on invoices over $10,000, and the first year's fees from $25,000, which is Goldco's own minimum. So at every amount Goldco accepts, at least one other company publishes terms that take something off the same schedule.
What Goldco does have:
- A lower minimum than Augusta. Goldco's published IRA minimum is $25,000. Augusta's is $50,000. If you have between the two, Augusta isn't available to you and Goldco is.
- Flat fees, published on its own site. Goldco's FAQ says the fees are flat, not a percentage of assets, and the same whether you have $30,000 or $3 million. Several companies leave their fees to the custodian's paperwork.
Neither of those is the lowest anywhere. Birch Gold publishes a $5,000 minimum, and American Hartford Gold, Lear Capital and Priority Gold publish $10,000. For the company beyond its fees, including its complaint record, read the Goldco review on Gold IRA Companies Ranked.
One more thing to know before you ask Goldco for anything: requesting the kit usually leads to a phone call. Goldco settled a class action over text messages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Summerton v. Goldco Direct LLC); the court's judgment approved a $2,000,000 settlement fund. A settlement isn't an admission of wrongdoing, but you should expect contact after you request information.
What these numbers leave out: the spread
The markup on the metal usually costs more than the account fees, and most companies don't publish it. When you buy coins or bars for the IRA, the dealer sells them above what it paid. That difference, the spread, is built into the price. It doesn't appear on a fee schedule, and you pay it again in another form when you sell, because the dealer buys back below its selling price.
Of the eight companies we track, only American Hartford Gold publishes a range, in its Shipping and Transaction Agreement: 1.00%-19.99% on bullion, up to 39.99% on its exclusive and semi-numismatic coins, and up to 59.99% on certain numismatic coins. The agreement doesn't say whether the percentage is measured against your price or the dealer's cost.
Put that next to the account fees. On a $50,000 purchase, a 1% spread is about $500, and a 19.99% spread is about $9,995 if the percentage is a share of your price. Ten years on the standard custodian schedule is $2,400. The bottom of one company's bullion range is a fraction of that; the top of it is roughly four times as much, paid on day one.
The others don't publish a number. Augusta says its margin is built into the metal price. Priority Gold discloses the spread in its transaction agreement before you buy, but not as a public percentage. In 2022 the New York Attorney General alleged that Lear Capital charged hidden commissions and markups of up to 33%; the case ended in a $6 million consent order.
The CFTC, which polices fraud in the metals market, warns that rare or collectible coins typically carry higher markups than bullion and are harder to sell. That's a reason to ask for the markup on the exact product, in writing, before you sign. The guide to spreads and markups lists the questions that get you a number.
Worked example: $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000
Flat fees cost the same number of dollars at every balance. What changes is the share of the account they take. The table uses Equity Trust's standard schedule, before any waiver and before the markup.
| Amount | Year 1 | 10 years, commingled | 10 years, segregated |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $2851.1% | $2,4009.6% | $2,90011.6% |
| $50,000 | $2850.57% | $2,4004.8% | $2,9005.8% |
| $100,000 | $2850.29% | $2,4002.4% | $2,9002.9% |
At $25,000, ten years of account fees take close to a tenth of the money. At $100,000, it is a few percent. Nothing about the fee changes; the account is just four times bigger. If your figure sits near the bottom of that table, run it through the calculator with your real amount, and read what a gold IRA costs in total before deciding.
Fee waivers can change the order
The calculator leaves waivers out because each one has conditions, and most depend on how much you put in. Here is what each company publishes:
- Augusta: Qualifying accounts may receive up to ten years of eligible fees paid by Augusta. The qualifying criteria aren't published.
- Birch Gold: Birch covers first year's fees for accounts over $50,000.
- Lear Capital: Tiered by invoice amount: >$10K $50 setup covered; $25K-$50K first-year fees free (reimbursed after first month); $50K-$75K first and second year free; $75K+ first three years free. Caution on Lear Capital: NY AG $6M consent order (2022) and 2022 Chapter 11 with multistate $5.5M restitution.
- Patriot Gold: No Fees for Life (storage, shipping, new rollover and new account setup fees) 'With Qualified Accounts of $100K+'.
- Priority Gold: One year free storage per $50,000 invested, max 5 years ($250,000); free insured shipping for qualifying new clients. Caution on Priority Gold: Site claims 'fully accredited' BBB A+ and 4.9 Trustpilot; BBB shows NOT accredited and Trustpilot shows 4.8 (2026-10-29).
- Goldco: no fee waiver published. Goldco's offer is bonus silver instead: Up to 5% back in free silver on $50,000-$99,999 of Goldco premium coins; 10% on $100,000+, on qualified orders of premium coins only.
A waiver lowers the account fees. It doesn't lower the spread, and bonus-metal offers are tied to particular products, so ask what markup the qualifying products carry compared with plain bullion. If you have a waiver offer in writing, the fee calculator at Gold IRA Companies Ranked lets you enter how many years of admin and storage it covers and drops them from the total; ours doesn't. The fee waiver guide goes through each condition.
Other one-off costs to ask about
The account fees above aren't the only charges. At Equity Trust, a wire out costs $30, a liquidation $30 and closing the account $250. Paper statements add $60 a year; choosing e-statements avoids it. Noble Gold lists a $75 fee to take coins out of the IRA instead of cash, and American Hartford Gold charges 3% on card payments.
Verdict
On published schedules there is no lowest-fee gold IRA. Most of these companies pass on the same custodian fees, and the ones that can come out cheaper on account fees do it through written waivers, usually on larger accounts. Goldco publishes no waiver, so it isn't one of them. The cost that really varies is the markup, and only one company here publishes even a range for it.
If you have at least $25,000 and want a company that puts flat fees in writing on its own site, Goldco's kit is a reasonable first step; expect a call. If you have $50,000 or more, Augusta is also open to you and publishes a fee-payment offer for qualifying accounts. With less than $25,000, neither fits, and the fee share on a small account is worth a hard look first.
A representative usually calls after you request it.
Augusta's published minimum is $50,000. Below that, it isn't an option.
Before you request anything: gold pays no income, can fall in price for years, and the account costs money every year it is open. Talk to a tax professional about how a rollover affects you.
A representative usually calls after you request it.
Questions about gold IRA fees
Which gold IRA company has the lowest fees?
None stands out on published account fees. Most of the companies we track pass on Equity Trust's custodian schedule, which comes to $285 in the first year and $2,400 over ten years with commingled storage. The differences come from fee waivers, which Augusta, Birch Gold, Lear Capital, Patriot Gold and Priority Gold publish with conditions, and from the markup on the metal, which almost none publish.
Is Goldco the cheapest gold IRA?
No. Goldco publishes a $50 setup fee and $125 a year in admin, both charged by the custodian. Storage depends on which custodian holds the account: at Equity Trust, one of several Goldco works with, it is $110 a year commingled or $160 segregated, and Goldco's own cost page still shows older rates. That is the standard custodian schedule, not a discount on it, and Goldco publishes no fee waiver. Its advantages lie elsewhere: a $25,000 minimum, half of Augusta's $50,000, and flat fees stated on its own site.
How much does a gold IRA cost per year?
On Equity Trust's schedule, which most of these companies use, $235 a year after the first year with commingled storage or $285 with segregated storage, plus a one-time $50 setup fee. Other custodians charge differently. The markup on the metal you buy is extra and usually not published.
What is the minimum investment for a gold IRA?
It depends on the company. Published IRA minimums range from $5,000 at Birch Gold to $50,000 at Augusta; Goldco's is $25,000. With flat fees, a small account pays a larger share of its value every year.
Do gold IRA fees go up as my account grows?
Not at the companies we track. Every one that publishes fees charges flat dollar amounts, so the fee is the same on a small or a large balance. That makes flat fees a bigger share of a small account.
Are the markups included in these fee figures?
No. The calculator covers account fees only: setup, annual admin and storage. The dealer's markup, or spread, is built into the price of the metal and is usually the larger cost. Ask each company for it in writing, as a percentage over the spot price, for the exact product.
Should I pick segregated or commingled storage?
That is your call, not ours. Segregated storage keeps your own bars and coins apart and costs $50 a year more on Equity Trust's schedule. For plain bullion, the metal you get back is the same either way.
Sources
- Goldco: How much does a gold IRA cost?, checked October 29, 2026
- Goldco: Gold IRA FAQs (minimum, flat fees, promotion), checked October 29, 2026
- Goldco: How to read your precious metals IRA statement, checked October 29, 2026
- Summerton v. Goldco Direct LLC docket (PacerMonitor), checked October 29, 2026
- Augusta Precious Metals: What a gold IRA costs each year, checked October 29, 2026
- Augusta Precious Metals: FAQ, checked October 29, 2026
- American Hartford Gold: Shipping and Transaction Agreement (PDF), checked October 29, 2026
- American Hartford Gold: Gold IRA FAQs, checked October 29, 2026
- Birch Gold Group: Prices, checked October 29, 2026
- Birch Gold Group: FAQs, checked October 29, 2026
- Lear Capital: Gold IRA fee structure, checked October 29, 2026
- Lear Capital: IRA FAQ, checked October 29, 2026
- Noble Gold Investments: Support FAQ, checked October 29, 2026
- Noble Gold Investments: Gold IRA, checked October 29, 2026
- Patriot Gold Group: No Fees for Life landing page, checked October 29, 2026
- Priority Gold: Gold IRA fees, checked October 29, 2026
- Equity Trust: Fee FAQs (setup, admin and storage schedule), checked October 29, 2026
- New York Attorney General: Lear Capital consent order press release (January 2022), checked October 29, 2026
- CFTC: Precious metals fraud advisory, checked October 30, 2026
- SEC Investor.gov: Investor Alert, Self-Directed IRAs and the Risk of Fraud, checked October 30, 2026
Facts checked October 29, 2026