Registered investment advisor software: 4 steps for 2027

Registered investment advisor software is a category decision first

Registered investment advisor software is the set of systems an RIA uses to manage client records, portfolio accounting, performance reporting, billing and client communication. For a small firm, the category choice comes before the vendor choice, because a CRM-only product, an all-in-one platform and a custodian-linked stack each cover a different part of that list and their prices do not compare line by line.

TL;DR: If the gap is contacts, tasks and pipeline, start with a CRM such as Redtail or Wealthbox, both of which publish per-user prices. If billing, reporting and a client portal must run in one system, expect a quote from Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond or Tamarac, and send each of them the same written scope.

Key Takeaways

• Pick the category first: CRM-only, all-in-one, or custodian-linked. Prices only compare within the same category.

• Three of the seven products in this guide publish some pricing: Redtail, Wealthbox and Altruist. Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond and Tamarac were quote-based on the vendor pages checked for this guide.

• Seat caps change the math. The Launch plan on Redtail is limited to five users, so a sixth user moves a firm to Growth or to a quote.

• Fee schedules change. Orion introduced a monthly support fee for connected vendors in 2026, and Altruist reversed a retirement-account fee schedule in 2024.

• Ask for data-export and API terms in writing before signing, because moving client records later takes staff time and can be hard to reverse.

• Score each shortlisted product against the same weighted criteria, using written quotes rather than estimates.

How we evaluated these tools

This guide uses public information only: vendor pricing and product pages, vendor announcements, and trade-press coverage. The weights below are an analytical judgment, not a published ranking, and each score rests on what the vendor's public pages state. Ridgeline and other institutional platforms were left out because the public material for them was thin and aimed mainly at asset managers rather than small RIAs.

Where a vendor page was silent on a feature, the matrix below says "Not found" rather than guessing. That describes the page checked, not a finding that the product lacks the feature.

What the public pages show about features

Feature details for each vendor appear in the profiles below. The matrix shows where the public record is complete enough to compare, and where a buyer has to ask.

What each product charges, as published

Pricing checked November 13, 2026. Every figure in this section comes from a vendor pricing page checked for this guide, and any vendor without a public price is marked Quote-based.

Growth plan price: $59 per user monthly, billed yearly according to Redtail (2026). The Launch plan on Redtail is $39 per user per month billed yearly or $45 billed monthly, and it allows a maximum of five users, according to Redtail (2026). The Growth plan is $65 billed monthly with unlimited users, though each user is still billed. The Enterprise tier on Redtail is quote-based and carries a minimum license commitment.

The Basic plan on Wealthbox is $65 per user per month, the Pro plan is $85 and the Premier plan is $119, each listed per user per month according to Wealthbox (2026). The Wealthbox page advertises a 14-day free trial and lists the AI Notetaker add-on at $49 per user per month. Enterprise is quote-based and adds enterprise single sign-on and a dedicated account manager. Some third-party listings show different Wealthbox figures; they conflict with the vendor page, so this guide uses only the vendor page.

Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond and Tamarac did not publish a price list on the pages checked, so their cost is Quote-based. Quote-based means no public price, not a high price, and buyers should ask each vendor for the same module list and seat count before comparing.

The table below turns the published unit prices into example monthly and annual costs. The arithmetic is the unit price multiplied by seats or accounts, so it is a planning estimate and not a quote.

Worked example, clearly illustrative: take a three-person office on the Growth plan on Redtail billed yearly. Three users at $59 is $177 per month, or $2,124 a year, and that office would need Growth rather than Launch only if it grows past five seats. If the office's team scripts an export through Redtail's contacts endpoint, the response's root element is ContactRecords_Result, so the script must read that wrapper before mapping any household fields, according to Redtail's API reference. The same office on Wealthbox Pro billed at the listed rate would pay $255 per month, which is $78 more per month than Redtail Growth at the yearly rate, before any add-ons.

Where fee changes hide the real cost

The unit price is only part of the bill. Two recent fee events show why buyers should ask about future schedule changes as well as today's price.

On Orion's Denali announcement, Orion says every client will have Denali features built in at no extra cost, and it refers to paid options for firms that need more customization or enterprise-scale capability, according to Orion (2026). The page itself publishes no prices, so the paid tiers need a quote. Wealth Management reported on October 8, 2026 that Orion added a monthly Connected Ecosystem Support Fee for vendor partners and planned a move to a support fee plus usage-based pricing in Q1 2027, according to Wealth Management (2026). That article says neither the data volumes nor the calculation formula were disclosed, so ask Orion in writing whether any connected-vendor fees reach RIA customers.

Orion's cost pressure is not new. RIABiz reported that Orion's April 1 change added an out-of-pocket line item for third-party data and technology costs for a targeted group of heavy users, according to RIABiz (2024).

Altruist's published schedule is more predictable. Connected third-party accounts: $1 each per month beyond 100 according to Altruist (2026). Joint accounts count as one account, billing starts after a 30-day trial, and payment is by credit card only. Altruist's brokerage accounts are excluded from the portfolio accounting software fee, and a failed payment pauses the account after a 10-day grace period. In April 2024, a draft Altruist fee schedule listed retirement-account fees that the founder called a mistake, saying an email "was not the actual pricing schedule," according to Institutional Investor (2024). The lesson for buyers is to get the current fee schedule in writing and to confirm it again before renewal.

Vendor profiles: best fit, limits and evidence

Envestnet's investment in Tamarac signals a funded roadmap. Tamarac investment: $35 million, 2.5 times usual annual spend according to Envestnet (2026). The September 3, 2026 release ties that investment to a $1 billion, five-year research and development commitment.

Redtail: CRM within Orion

Factual: Redtail's pricing page lists Launch and Growth as per-user plans, Launch capped at five users and Growth unlimited, with a free trial of the Growth plan for new users. Orion's Denali page names Redtail CRM among its products.

Best fit: An office whose main gap is contacts, tasks and pipeline, with five or fewer users on Launch or a larger team on Growth.

Limits: The pages checked do not show portfolio accounting or billing. Enterprise has a minimum license commitment, and the trial length is not stated.

Implementation: Confirm which Redtail modules are in scope, and get contact export and API access terms in writing. Redtail's API reference documents a contacts endpoint with page, type and name parameters, which an export script would call.

Analysis: Because Redtail sits inside Orion's ecosystem, treat its AI and data-fee terms as part of the Orion contract conversation.

Wealthbox: CRM with published tiers

Factual: Basic includes one opportunity pipeline and 2 GB of file storage. Pro adds workflows and automations, two-way email sync and three pipelines. Premier adds customizable dashboards and five workspaces. Enterprise adds single sign-on.

Best fit: Small teams that want published per-user tiers and a trial before committing.

Limits: Workflows and two-way email sync start at Pro, and single sign-on is only on the quote-based tier. The pages checked do not show portfolio accounting.

Implementation: Decide whether the AI Notetaker add-on is needed before choosing a tier, because it is priced separately.

Altruist: custodian with accounting tools

Factual: Altruist's subscription page lists the connected-account fee, a 30-day trial and credit-card-only billing, and points to separate fee schedules for client-account fees.

Best fit: An RIA already weighing a custodian move that wants accounting tools and a predictable per-account fee on connected accounts beyond 100.

Limits: Altruist is a custodian, so the decision moves client assets, not just software. The subscription page does not list client-account fees, so the fee schedule on the legal page must be checked.

Disqualifier: Client assets that must stay at a current custodian for contract or tax reasons.

Advyzon: all-in-one platform

Factual: Advyzon's site lists CRM, portfolio management reporting, billing, secure document management, rebalancing, a client portal and mobile app, financial planning, and AI among its advisor products. It shows no prices and asks visitors to request a demo.

Best fit: Small and mid-size firms that want one system for CRM, reporting, billing and a client portal. InvestmentNews's July 2025 roundup describes it as a "popular choice for small and mid-size RIAs."

Limits: Quote-based, so the cost of a multi-module scope is unknown until a quote arrives. Many modules also mean more implementation work.

Orion: modular platform

Factual: Orion's Denali announcement describes three AI options and says paid options exist for firms needing more customization or enterprise-scale capability. The page publishes no prices.

Best fit: Firms that want CRM through Redtail, portfolio accounting and AI from one vendor, and can accept a quote.

Limits: No public price list. Fee changes in 2024 and 2026 show that schedules move, and connected-vendor fees are a diligence item.

Implementation: Get a written list of the modules the quote covers, and confirm whether third-party data connections carry any fee.

Black Diamond: portfolio and reporting suite

Factual: The SS&C Black Diamond site lists CRM, portfolio management and reporting, and billing and revenue management under its solutions menu. It shows no prices and offers "Request Demo" and "Contact Us" as its calls to action.

Best fit: Firms where client reporting is the main pain. InvestmentNews describes it as catering mostly to high-net-worth clients who demand extensive reporting (2025).

Limits: Quote-based. The reporting depth described in trade press may exceed what a smaller client book needs, so ask for the modules and seat count that match the actual book.

Tamarac: portfolio management and rebalancing

Factual: Envestnet's September 2026 release says Report Studio is available now, that an AI-enabled version is in preview and beta with general availability planned for later this fall, and that custom model solutions now include semi-liquid strategies, interval funds and alternative ETFs through the UMA platform.

Best fit: RIAs that want a rebalancing and reporting platform backed by a funded roadmap.

Limits: Quote-based. The AI features are beta or planned, so ask for general availability dates and whether they are in the quoted scope.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: if the office only needs a contact list and a calendar, a CRM plan such as Redtail Launch or Wealthbox Basic is simpler than any added workflow layer. A firm that already has a working custodian, billing system and client portal should fix one broken handoff before adding another system, and it should not buy a workflow layer to hide a missing portfolio platform.

Build it yourself or stitch it together?

The common alternative to buying a platform is stitching the workflow together in Zapier, Make or n8n, or building it in-house. Those tools can support run histories, retries, error branches and audit evidence when they are configured, so a fair comparison should not dismiss them. The buyer, however, must design and own observability, idempotency (so a retried step does not create a duplicate record), escalation paths, access controls and ongoing maintenance.

A proposed US Tech Automations design could configure some of those pieces differently, with a run log that records each trigger and output, and a human review queue that holds any step touching billing or account data until an advisor approves it. Its prerequisites would be read access to the CRM through its API or scheduled exports, a named owner for each field mapping, and compliance sign-off on which client data leaves the custodian or portfolio system. Those are design requirements, not a description of a live deployment.

Where the onboarding handoff breaks

A proposed, configurable onboarding workflow starts with a trigger: a new household or account record is created in the CRM. The action pulls the household and account fields through the vendor's API or a scheduled export and maps them to the billing or portfolio system. The output is a draft setup record and a checklist assigned to the operations lead. Prerequisites are API or export access from both systems and a documented field map that names every field.

The human review points sit at two places. An advisor confirms account type and fee schedule before any billing record becomes active, and an operations check screens for duplicates before records are written. US Tech Automations would configure this as a trigger-to-draft flow, with the draft held until those two reviews are complete.

Where the quarterly review fits

A second proposed workflow covers the quarterly review. The trigger is a scheduled date. The action compares contact and account changes since the last run, pulling fields from the CRM and the portfolio or billing system. The output is a review queue of households whose fee schedules or contact details changed, held for advisor approval before any client notice goes out.

Prerequisites are read access to both systems and a retention rule for the run logs. Human review points are the advisor's approval of each flagged change and a compliance check of any template sent to clients. The queue would be configured as a shared log rather than an automatic send, so no client receives a message without a named approver.

Mistakes that inflate the bill

• Comparing a per-seat CRM price with a quote-based platform price, which is not an apples-to-apples comparison.

• Ignoring user caps. The Launch plan on Redtail stops at five users.

• Accepting a trial without knowing its length. The Redtail Growth trial length is not stated on the page checked.

• Assuming an add-on is included. Wealthbox's AI Notetaker is $49 per user per month on top of the plan price.

• Skipping the fee-change question. Orion's 2026 connected-vendor fee and Altruist's 2024 schedule correction both show that schedules move.

Who this is for

• CRM-first offices: Choose Redtail or Wealthbox if the main gap is contacts, tasks and pipeline and portfolio accounting already runs elsewhere.

• All-in-one buyers: Choose Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond or Tamarac if billing, reporting and a client portal must run in one system, and be ready to request a written quote.

• Custodian-switch candidates: Consider Altruist only if moving custody is already on the table.

Red flags: the vendor will not put data-export terms in writing, the quote leaves out a module you need, or the fee schedule changed after your last renewal without notice.

Four steps to a shortlist

1. Write the job list: contacts, billing, portfolio accounting, reporting and client portal, with the seat count for each.

2. Pick the category: CRM-only, all-in-one, or custodian-linked. Do not compare across categories.

3. Request written quotes from the quote-based vendors, asking for the module list, seat count, data-export terms and any connected-vendor or support fees.

4. Compare the products on the same seats and modules, then check the contract for export rights, renewal caps and termination notice.

Questions buyers ask

Is registered investment advisor software the same as a CRM?

No, a CRM covers contacts, tasks and pipeline, while registered investment advisor software can also include portfolio accounting, billing and reporting. Redtail and Wealthbox are CRM-first products on the pages checked, and Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond and Tamarac cover more of the stack.

Which vendors in this guide publish prices?

Redtail, Wealthbox and Altruist published unit prices on the pages checked, while Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond and Tamarac were quote-based. Redtail's Enterprise tier and Wealthbox's Enterprise tier are also quote-based.

Can a small office use Redtail alone?

Yes, for contacts and tasks, as long as the team stays within five users on Launch or moves to Growth. The pages checked do not show portfolio accounting or billing, so those needs require a second system.

Does Altruist replace portfolio software?

Altruist is a custodian with accounting tools, so adopting it changes where client assets sit, not only the software. Compare it with the current custodian and read the separate fee schedule before deciding.

Should I ask Orion for a fee commitment?

Yes, ask for written terms on connected-vendor fees and renewal caps, because Orion introduced a monthly support fee for connected vendors in 2026 and planned usage-based pricing for Q1 2027. The Wealth Management report says the calculation was not disclosed, so get the formula in writing.

Is a no-code tool enough for workflows?

Sometimes, because Zapier, Make or n8n can run a simple flow, but the buyer then owns observability, retries, access controls and maintenance. A simple one-step flow needs less ownership than a flow that writes to billing or account records.

Choosing this quarter

Start with the category, then use the published prices to narrow the field to Redtail or Wealthbox if the need is CRM-only. For a broader scope, collect written quotes from Advyzon, Orion, Black Diamond and Tamarac against the same module list, and ask each one about fee changes and data export before signing. To see how US Tech Automations configures this kind of review queue, check the configurable design on the company's site.