Retirement Software Raised Prices in 2026. RetIQ Didn’t.

Retirement planning is a math problem most people solve alone. The question is what they solve it with — and in 2026, that question got more expensive to answer.

Over the past year, nearly every paid retirement planner raised its price, added an AI assistant, or both. This is a straightforward look at where the field actually stands: what each tool charges today, what it models, and what those differences mean if you’re choosing one. We build RetirementIQ, so we’re one of the tools below — we’ve tried to be as even-handed as the data allows, and every figure is sourced at the bottom.

What the paid planners cost today

Prices below were verified in October 2026 from each vendor’s own pricing page. The ten-year column assumes the first-year price is paid every year — which, for a subscription, it is.

Boldin PlannerPlus rose from $144 to $168 for new subscribers on October 15, 2026 (existing subscribers keep their rate). Pralana moved from a one-time Excel purchase to a subscription on October 1, 2026: $129 for the first year, $99 renewals. Lifetime prices are one-time and shown separately from annual renewals. Prices change often — confirm with each vendor before buying.

The field got more expensive this year

The increases weren’t subtle. Boldin’s PlannerPlus climbed from $120 in 2024 to $144 in 2025 to $168 in October 2026. ProjectionLab raised its annual plan from $109 to $129 and its lifetime option from $799 to $1,199. Pralana — which sold its Excel-based Gold model as a one-time purchase for over a decade — moved to a subscription on October 1, 2026. MaxiFi held steady, which now makes it the exception rather than the rule.

None of this is unreasonable on its own: these are sophisticated products, and several added real capability this year. But it does change the arithmetic of “should I pay for a planner?” — especially over a retirement that may run thirty years.

AI arrived — and reopened the privacy question

The bigger story of 2026 is AI. Boldin launched its AI Planner Assistant in early 2026, and reported more than 190,000 questions during its beta. WealthTrace added Trace AI, OnTrajectory added Penny, and newer entrants like WealthFluent and PortfolioPilot are built AI-first. Notably, ProjectionLab shipped no AI at all — a deliberate choice for users who prefer a silent tool.

AI is genuinely useful for explaining a plan in plain language. It also raises a question most marketing skips: when an assistant answers a question about your retirement, which servers does your data pass through? A plan-grounded assistant needs your numbers; a cloud assistant means those numbers leave your device. That trade-off — seamlessness versus exposure — is now a real axis of comparison, not a philosophical one.

What the tools actually model

Price is only half the decision. The table below summarizes the capability of the leading comprehensive planners on the dimensions that matter most for a retirement plan: simulations, tax depth, estate and charitable planning, AI, and how data is handled.

* Boldin’s help center states its engine does not model the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) or the Alternative Minimum Tax, and does not tax capital gains on real-estate sales. Feature classifications reflect vendor documentation as of October 2026.

The market these tools are serving

Why does any of this matter? Because the audience is enormous, and getting older by the day.

Meanwhile, the professional alternative remains out of reach for most. A comprehensive plan commonly runs $2,000–$10,000 as a one-time fee (a median of about $2,926) or $5,000–$15,000+ a year on retainer, and assets-under-management advisors charge around 1% annually — roughly $10,000 on a $1M portfolio. Against a median retiree income in the low-to-mid tens of thousands, that gap is why so many people plan alone.

Where RetirementIQ fits

We’ll be direct: RetirementIQ is the outlier in the table above. It is the only comprehensive web planner still sold as a single payment under $100 — $49 once ($29 for early adopters), with all future tax-table updates included and no renewal. It works entirely on your device: no account, no cloud sync, no server that receives your financial data. And every calculation is backed by 4,000+ automated tests tied to IRS, SSA, CMS, and HHS sources, published in an open validation report you can read.

What it deliberately doesn’t do matters too. RetirementIQ doesn’t link to your bank accounts (that would mean your data leaving the device), doesn’t offer human advice, and doesn’t model non-US tax systems. If those are your priorities, Boldin and ProjectionLab are strong tools and worth a look.

What it does offer is advisor-grade modeling — Social Security claiming, Roth conversions, tax-aware withdrawals, RMDs, IRMAA, estate and gifting, survivor planning, and Monte Carlo simulation across three methods — for the price of a dinner, paid once, with your data staying put.

If 2026 taught us anything about this field, it’s that capability and cost are drifting apart. We think the math should be the affordable part.