Honest comparison

GoodTrust vs Trusted Directive:
an honest comparison

These are two different products that get shopped together. GoodTrust is a DIY document-creation suite — a will or trust, directives, and a vault, bundled for $149. Trusted Directive doesn’t draft anything: it protects the documents your attorney drafts, shows you what’s missing, and makes sure your family can reach everything in an emergency. Here’s where each one fits — renewal prices included.

The short version

One creates documents. One makes sure they’re found.

GoodTrust in a sentence

A DIY estate-planning suite: answer a guided questionnaire and GoodTrust generates a will or trust, financial power of attorney, and healthcare directives, valid in all 50 states, with a digital vault bundled in. Distribution runs direct and through employers and banks as a benefit.

Best for: someone with a straightforward estate who wants documents drafted inexpensively, today, without an attorney.

Trusted Directive in a sentence

A secure vault built around the two things that fail families after the drafting is done: Gap Discovery classifies your documents today, with alerts for what’s missing or aging in development for alpha, and the Verify-Silence Release Protocol (in development for alpha) will get your family access in an emergency — no death certificate required, and built to work for incapacity, not just death.

Best for: someone whose documents exist — ideally attorney-drafted — and who wants the handover to actually work. See how the protocol works →

Side by side

GoodTrust vs Trusted Directive, feature by feature

Pricing and product facts below were checked against GoodTrust’s public pages and customer reviews in July 2026. If we’ve got something wrong, tell us and we’ll fix it.

GoodTrust Trusted Directive
What it is DIY will/trust creation suite with a bundled digital vault Secure vault today; Gap Discovery alerts + emergency-access protocol for documents your attorney drafts (in development for alpha)
Year-one price $149 (Estate+ suite) $120, with a 30-day free trial
Renewal price $39/yr — corroborated by billing complaints, but not shown on the pricing page when we checked $60/yr — printed here, on the pricing page, and at checkout
Document creation Yes — guided will, trust, POA, and directives; reviewers report limits on contingent beneficiaries and co-grantor trusts No, by design — drafting stays with your attorney; we protect what gets drafted
Knows what’s missing No gap analysis marketed Gap Discovery classifies documents today; alerts for missing and expiring categories are in development for alpha
Emergency access No proactive emergency-access protocol marketed; the vault is a place your family can look Verify-Silence Release Protocol (in development for alpha) — pre-authorized, built to cover incapacity and death, no death certificate required
Family access Family members can create their own plans at no extra cost Free view-only Trusted Contact accounts (in development for alpha) — they will see what you share, and can’t edit or delete
If you cancel Reviewers report charges continuing after account deletion (Trustpilot, 2023) Documents never held hostage, never deleted; one-click export of everything, any time, is in development for alpha
Who’s behind your setup Self-serve with email support; reviewers report getting stuck mid-document waiting for help Distributed through financial advisors and estate attorneys — a professional who knows your situation

Sources: mygoodtrust.com pricing page (fetched July 2026) and Trustpilot reviews of GoodTrust (individual reviews cited below). Trusted Directive claims per our pricing page.

Credit where due

Where GoodTrust genuinely wins

An honest comparison names the other side’s strengths. GoodTrust has real ones.

Inexpensive drafting

$149 for a will or trust plus POA and directives, completed in a sitting, is far cheaper than an attorney engagement. For straightforward estates, reviewers call it the “easy button” that finally got their planning done.

A free plan for veterans

GoodTrust has offered a free estate-planning plan for veterans, and veterans who used it recommend it organically. That’s a genuinely good program.

Family included

One Estate+ purchase lets family members create their own plans at no extra cost — a generous structure if several people in one household need documents at once.

The renewal question

What does it cost in year two? Both answers, upfront.

Surprise renewals are this category’s trust wound, so we’ll answer for both products in one place.

GoodTrust: $39/yr — but you have to dig for it

GoodTrust’s renewal is $39/year, a figure corroborated by its own press announcements and by customer billing records. When we checked in July 2026, that number did not appear on the pricing page. One Trustpilot reviewer, billed after purchase: “I just got billed $39 additional charges… They don’t tell you about recurring charges.” (1★, July 2025.) Another reported billing that resumed months after deleting their account (1★, March 2023).

Trusted Directive: $60/yr — you just read it

$120 the first year. $60 a year after. The renewal price appears on this page, on the pricing page, in the FAQ, and at checkout — at the same visual weight as the first-year price. If a renewal number is hard to find, that’s a choice. We made the opposite one.

Our three promises, in writing

Your documents are never held hostage and never deleted on cancellation. One-click export is in development for alpha. Full terms on the pricing page.

Never held hostage

One-click export of everything, any time — subscriber or not — is in development for alpha.

Never deleted on cancellation

Cancel and your documents remain yours. Your family’s map survives an expired card.

Renewal disclosed loudly

$60/yr after year one — on every page that mentions price, not in the fine print.

Create vs. protect

DIY drafting has a depth limit. We never make you hit it.

GoodTrust’s hardest reviews are about drafting depth: no contingent beneficiaries in its trust platform (1★, February 2026), no co-grantor trusts (1★, September 2024), beneficiary limits that sent one reviewer “to another site” (2★, March 2024). That’s not a knock on DIY — it’s the nature of guided questionnaires meeting real family complexity.

Trusted Directive never enters that fight. Your attorney drafts — with all the contingencies your family actually needs — and the vault does the part no drafting tool handles: it tells you what’s missing before the emergency, and gets the right documents to the right people during one. That includes incapacity, when there’s no death certificate to unlock anything.

How verify-silence works

The moment that decides it

Someone is in the hospital, unconscious. Their family needs the healthcare proxy today. Here is how the Verify-Silence Release Protocol is designed to work once it ships — it is in development for alpha:

  • A Trusted Contact requests emergency access
  • We notify you and wait out your pre-set window
  • Silence — and access releases to exactly what you pre-authorized
  • No death certificate, no support ticket, no guessing your passwords

GoodTrust markets no equivalent protocol; its vault is a place to look, if your family knows to look there.

GoodTrust vs Trusted Directive: common questions

What does GoodTrust cost?

GoodTrust’s Estate+ suite is $149 for the first year, bundling a DIY will or trust, powers of attorney, directives, and a digital vault. Renewal runs $39/year — a figure corroborated by GoodTrust’s own announcements and by customer billing complaints, but not shown on its pricing page at the time we checked (July 2026).

What does Trusted Directive cost?

Trusted Directive is $120 the first year and $60 a year after — both numbers stated here, on our pricing page, and at checkout. There’s a 30-day free trial, and free view-only Trusted Contact accounts for your family are in development for alpha.

Does Trusted Directive create wills or trusts like GoodTrust does?

No, deliberately. Drafting belongs with your estate attorney. Trusted Directive protects the documents after they’re drafted: it shows you which categories are missing or aging, and is built around a verify-silence protocol (in development for alpha) so your family can reach them in an emergency — including incapacity, not just death.

Can I use GoodTrust and Trusted Directive together?

Yes. They do different jobs. If a DIY document suite fits your situation, GoodTrust is an inexpensive way to draft. Trusted Directive is where the finished documents — DIY or attorney-drafted — become findable and reachable for the people who’ll need them.

What happens to my documents if I cancel Trusted Directive?

Your documents are never held hostage and never deleted on cancellation — that is our commitment. One-click export of everything, any time, whether or not you’re a subscriber, is in development for alpha. Those commitments are in writing on our pricing page.

More questions — cancellation, privacy, who can see your documents — are answered on the FAQ. Comparing vault-first products? See Everplans vs Trusted Directive →

Documents drafted? Make sure they'll be found.

Trusted Directive opens to a small first group soon. Join the waitlist and your invite lands the day we do.

Join the waitlist — your invite lands the day we open.