Orion vs Altruist 2026: Platform or Custodian for RIAs

Orion vs Altruist: a platform decision and a custody decision

The first thing to settle is that these two are not the same kind of product. Orion is a software platform for advisory firms that sells portfolio accounting, trading, CRM, reporting and related tools on top of whichever custodians a firm already uses. Altruist is a custodian for independent advisors that bundles account opening, trading, billing, reporting and portfolio accounting into the custody relationship. Most RIA operations leads who search "orion vs altruist" are really asking one of three questions: should we consolidate onto one custodian with built-in software, should we keep a custodian-neutral platform, or should we run both and connect them.

TL;DR: Choose Altruist when you are willing to move assets and want custody, trading, billing and accounting under one login with published connected-account pricing. Choose Orion when you hold assets at several custodians, need a broader operating platform, and accept a quote-based contract. Run both when you custody at Altruist but want Orion to remain your system of record. The two have a documented data feed between them.

Portfolio accounting, in one sentence, is the system of record that reconciles custodian positions and transactions, calculates performance, and feeds the statements, billing and reports a firm sends to clients.

Two facts changed the picture this year and are worth stating before anything else. Altruist is being acquired: Vanguard announced on August 26, 2026 that it agreed to buy Altruist, and the companies said Altruist will keep operating as a standalone business with its current leadership, brand and operating model, according to InvestmentNews (2026). Closing is expected later in 2026 and depends on regulatory approvals, and I found no report that it had closed as of October 13, 2026. On the Orion side, the older orionadvisor.com address now redirects to Orion's current advisor-technology page at orion.com, and Orion's own page lists twelve products grouped under trading and operations, data and AI, and client relationships, according to Orion (2026). Neither product has been discontinued or merged away. Orion's site is simply organized under one brand now, and Altruist's ownership is about to change.

Key Takeaways

• Altruist is a custodian with software included. Orion is custodian-neutral software. Compare them on whether you want to move assets, not only on features.

• Altruist publishes its software pricing, and Orion does not. Orion is quote-based, so a fair total-cost comparison needs a written quote from Orion.

• The vendors already connect. Altruist can send household, account and position data into Orion's portfolio accounting, so choosing one does not rule out the other.

• Vanguard's pending acquisition of Altruist is a diligence item, not a disqualifier. Both companies said Altruist stays standalone, but ask for contract language on fee-change notice and data portability.

• The handoffs between CRM, custodian and accounting are where operations hours disappear. That is true whichever vendor you pick.

Who this is for

This guide is written for the operations lead at an RIA who is close to a decision and needs the tradeoffs without a sales deck. It also suits a COO or head of technology who has to defend the choice to partners.

It fits you if you are choosing between custody-plus-software and a custodian-neutral platform, if you are a new or breakaway firm picking a first stack, or if you already run one product and are weighing a move.

Red flags: you cannot move client assets for contractual or client-consent reasons (Altruist's all-in model then does not apply); you need a single platform that also covers a bank, trust company or broker-dealer channel (Orion's stated scope is wider than Altruist's); you expect public pricing for every line item before talking to a vendor (Orion will not give you that).

How we evaluated these two platforms

This is an informed buyer's guide built from public information. Nothing here comes from hands-on use, customer interviews or vendor-supplied scorecards. The criteria below are an analysis of what an operations lead typically weighs, and the weights are our judgment, not a measured result. Where a vendor publishes no evidence, I say so rather than fill the gap.

The "Total" row is not a data row; it is there to show the weights sum to 100.

Orion vs Altruist feature matrix

This matrix is normalized to what each vendor's own pages state. A cell that says "Not stated on page opened" means the vendor page I read did not mention it, not that the feature is absent. Confirm those cells in a demo.

Sources for the matrix are Orion's advisor-tech page, Altruist's home page product sections and Altruist's legal and fee schedule page.

Pricing and total cost: what is published and what is not

Pricing checked October 13, 2026. Altruist publishes software pricing for connected accounts and links its brokerage and advisory fee schedules from its legal page. Orion publishes no price on its site, so its row is "Quote-based" and I will not estimate it.

Altruist's connected-account terms are as follows. Connected-account fee: $1 per account per month, first 100 free according to Altruist (2026). The same page says Altruist-custodied accounts are excluded from the portfolio accounting software fee, archived accounts carry no charge, and a 30-day free trial precedes monthly billing in advance. It also points to separate fee schedules for brokerage and advisory services on the legal page, so the software fee is not the whole cost of custody.

The history matters for a fair read. Kitces reported in October 2023 that Altruist was eliminating the monthly $1 per account technology fee for its custody clients, with the fee still applying to accounts not custodied there, according to Kitces (2023). That is why the fee today applies to connected accounts only.

For Orion, ask for a written quote that separates platform fees, per-account or asset-based charges, implementation fees, custodian data-feed charges, and the cost of each product module you actually need. Because Orion products can be bought independently or together, the quote depends on the modules you pick. Orion's page says firms that adopt the full platform get a single agreement and connected workflows, according to Orion (2026).

Worked example: what the numbers look like for one illustrative firm

This is an illustration, not a benchmark or a customer. Take an RIA with 1,000 client accounts, 600 custodied at Altruist and 400 held at other custodians. If the firm used Altruist's accounting for the connected accounts, the billable count would be 400 connected accounts minus 100 free, or 300 accounts, and 300 × $1 × 12 months = $3,600 per year, with the 600 Altruist-custodied accounts excluded from that fee. Separately, suppose the firm opens 30 new households a month and an assistant spends 10 minutes re-keying each into the accounting system, so 30 × 10 = 300 minutes, or 5 hours per month and 60 hours per year. A configured CRM-to-accounting step that creates the household through the OrionApi.Portfolio.ClientSave method documented on the Orion developer portal would target that re-keying, subject to API credentials and a human check on each new record. The figures leave out Altruist's brokerage and advisory fees, Model Marketplace charges, and whatever Orion quotes, so they are inputs to a model, not a bottom line.

Altruist: best fit, limits and implementation

Best fit. Altruist suits a firm that can move assets and wants one relationship for account opening, trading, billing, reporting and accounting. Its home page describes combined account opening, trading, portfolio management, billing and reporting, plus cash management with high-yield cash, SBLOC and margin, and investing tools such as personalized indexing, tax management and a model marketplace, per Altruist's site. It is also growing quickly: Altruist advisor count: more than 6,000 according to Investment Executive (2026). Kitces described the firm as the number three custodian behind Schwab and Fidelity after a $169 million raise in May 2024, according to Kitces (2024).

Limitations. The honest limits are the ones you can check. Reviewer commentary on aggregator sites suggests some capabilities are still maturing and some reviewers want broader account-type coverage, but those pages show small review counts and low confidence, so treat them as prompts for diligence, not findings. Ask Altruist in writing which account types, registrations and alternative assets it supports for custody and for accounting. The pending Vanguard acquisition is the other open item: both companies say Altruist stays standalone, but contract terms, pricing schedules and roadmap can still change after closing. Altruist's 2024 fee schedule came with a commitment to 60 days' notice before future fee changes, according to the company's own announcement as summarized in search results, so confirm that clause survives into your agreement.

Implementation. Moving to a new custodian means ACATs, new account paperwork and client communication, and firms should plan that work separately from the software cutover. If you keep Orion as the system of record, Altruist's setup page describes a two-step process: email Altruist Support authorizing the data export, then open a case in Orion Connect with your Orion advisor number, firm name, unique firm ID and new-account preferences. Setup timeline: 14-21 business days after Orion receives all required information according to Altruist (2023).

Orion: best fit, limits and implementation

Best fit. Orion suits a firm with assets across several custodians, a need for an integrated operating platform, or an enterprise structure that includes more than one entity type. Its page positions the platform for RIAs, broker-dealers, banks and trust companies, and family offices, and says products can be adopted independently or together. It reports scale through its own survey and market-share claims, which are vendor statements and should be treated that way: Orion RIA reach: 18 of the top 20 Barron's RIAs (vendor claim, 2026). The same page credits the T3/Inside Information survey for its market-share position in CRM, portfolio accounting and all-in-one software.

Limitations. The main buying friction is price opacity. No price appears on the page, and the page directs visitors to request a consult. Orion's product page also does not say whether it offers custody, so assume it does not and plan around a separate custodian. Because the platform is broad, the real risk is paying for modules you will not configure. Before signing, map each module to a named owner and a go-live date.

Implementation. Programmatic access requires credentials. Orion's developer portal states that credentials are required for the Orion API and are available on request, with separate test and production base URLs under api/v1, according to Orion (2026). Plan for that request early if you want automation around the platform, and expect the full API documentation to sit behind a login. For adjacent integration work, see how Orion connects with Salesforce and DocuSign.

Using Orion and Altruist together

You do not have to pick one. Altruist's own write-up of the integration says advisors can view Altruist custodial data in Orion's reporting tool, and Altruist's chief product officer described the goal as staying flexible and open to an advisor's existing tech stack, according to WealthManagement.com (December 2023). The feed sends household, account and position data to Orion's portfolio accounting, and Altruist later added cost basis data. In June 2025 Altruist also announced a FIX trading integration with Orion, so check with both vendors for the current scope of order routing before you rely on it.

The combined model has a clear logic. You get Altruist custody and its commission-free brokerage trades while Orion remains the accounting and reporting system across every custodian. The cost is paying for two relationships and keeping a data feed healthy. That means owning reconciliation breaks between the two systems, which is exactly where the automation discussed below applies.

Where automation fits above either choice

Neither product removes the handoffs around it. A proposed, configurable workflow from US Tech Automations would work like this: the trigger is a closed-won opportunity or a signed new-account packet in the CRM; the action is to validate required fields, create the household record in the accounting system through the vendor API, and open the account application on the custodian side; the output is a populated record plus a checklist item showing which steps finished. Prerequisites are API credentials for the accounting system (Orion requires them on request), a CRM that exposes the fields as an export or API, and confirmation from Altruist on how it accepts account-opening data. A named person on the operations team approves any record where names, registrations or account types do not match before it posts. Nothing here describes a live deployment or a measured result.

A second proposed workflow targets reconciliation. The trigger is a scheduled morning check after the custodian feed lands. The action compares account counts and market values between the custodian export and the accounting system, and flags differences above a threshold the firm sets. The output is a short exception list routed to the person who owns that custodian relationship, with the record IDs and the last successful feed date. Prerequisites are a read-only export from each side and a rule for what counts as a break. A human reviews every exception before anyone corrects data, because an automated fix to a system of record needs a clear audit trail.

DIY with Zapier, Make or n8n

Many firms will stitch this together themselves in Zapier, Make or n8n, or have an in-house developer build it, and that is a legitimate choice. Those tools can support run histories, retries and error branches when configured. The buyer must design and own the pieces that make a workflow dependable: observability, idempotency so a retry does not create a duplicate household, escalation when a step fails, access controls on client data, and maintenance when a vendor changes an endpoint. A US Tech Automations design could configure those same controls up front, such as an idempotency key per household, a named escalation owner per step, and role-limited credentials, with the prerequisites above and a human sign-off for edits to client records. If you have an in-house builder who will own that for years, DIY may be cheaper. If the person who built it leaves, the risk moves back to you.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations

Skip it if a single vendor already covers your workflow. A firm that custodies fully at Altruist and uses its built-in accounting and billing has few handoffs left to orchestrate. Skip it too if your volume is low enough that a checklist and a part-time assistant do the job, or if you already have a no-code builder on staff who has documented and tested the flows. Orchestration pays off when several systems must stay in step, not when one system does the whole job.

Common mistakes in an Orion vs Altruist decision

• Treating the comparison as feature-for-feature when one product includes custody and the other does not.

• Comparing a published Altruist price with an imagined Orion price instead of requesting a written quote.

• Ignoring the $1 connected-account fee when a large share of accounts would stay at other custodians.

• Skipping contract language on fee-change notice and data export, especially with the pending Vanguard deal.

• Forgetting the 14-21 business day integration window when setting a go-live date.

• Assuming automation is optional: the CRM-to-accounting handoff usually remains manual until someone owns it.

Decision checklist

1. Can you move client assets, and do clients need to consent to a custodian change?

2. What share of accounts would stay at other custodians, and what does that cost under each model?

3. Have you received a written Orion quote that itemizes modules, implementation and data feeds?

4. Have you asked Altruist which account types and registrations it supports for custody and for accounting?

5. Who owns the feed between systems, and what is the process when a reconciliation break appears?

6. Does your contract state notice periods for fee changes and your right to export data?

7. Who approves automated writes to the system of record?

Glossary

• Custodian: the firm that holds client assets and executes settlement.

• Portfolio accounting: the system of record for positions, transactions, cost basis and performance.

• Self-clearing: a custodian that handles clearing and settlement in-house instead of through a third party.

• ACAT: the standard process for transferring assets between custodians.

• Connected account: an account held at a different custodian but reported in a platform.

• Data feed: the scheduled transfer of account, position and transaction data from a custodian to a platform.

• Idempotency: designing a step so a retry does not create duplicate records.

Who should choose which

Related reading if you are widening the shortlist: Orion alternatives for financial advisors, Orion vs Addepar, and Addepar vs Orion for high-net-worth RIAs.

FAQ

Is Altruist a replacement for Orion?

Only if you are willing to custody at Altruist and use its built-in accounting, because Altruist is a custodian with software included while Orion is a custodian-neutral platform. Firms that keep assets at several custodians often still want a platform that spans all of them.

Does Orion offer custody?

Orion's advisor-technology page does not describe a custody service, so plan on a separate custodian. Confirm directly with Orion if custody matters to your decision.

How much does Altruist's software cost?

Altruist charges $1 per account per month for connected third-party accounts after the first 100 accounts each month, and excludes Altruist-custodied accounts from that fee. That comes from its subscription pricing page, which also notes a 30-day free trial.

How much does Orion cost?

Orion's pricing is quote-based, with no price published on its site. Request a written quote that itemizes each module, implementation and data-feed charges.

Can Orion and Altruist work together?

Yes, Altruist sends household, account and position data into Orion's portfolio accounting through a direct feed. Setup requires email authorization to Altruist Support and a support case in Orion Connect, and may take 14-21 business days after Orion has all required information.

What does the Vanguard acquisition mean for Altruist advisors?

Vanguard announced on August 26, 2026 that it agreed to buy Altruist, and the companies said Altruist will operate as a standalone business with its current leadership, brand and operating model. Closing is expected later in 2026 subject to regulatory approvals, so ask for written terms on fee-change notice and data export.

The call, and what to do next

If you can move assets and want published pricing, start the Altruist evaluation and price your connected accounts. If your assets sit across custodians or you need a broader operating platform, get the Orion quote in writing and compare it on the same account counts. If you end up with both, budget the integration window and name an owner for the feed. Whichever route you take, the handoffs between CRM, custodian and accounting are where staff time goes, and you can see how US Tech Automations configures this as a proposed workflow with API prerequisites and human review points.