How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Trust & Will is the guided mainstream pick: a will plan at $199 for an individual, $299 for a couple, and a trust plan at $499 or $599, with healthcare directive and power of attorney bundled into the will plan.
- FreeWill is genuinely free, wills, trusts, healthcare directives and powers of attorney at $0 with unlimited updates, funded by the charitable bequests its nonprofit partnerships encourage, which you are free to decline.
- Quicken WillMaker is the buy once desktop route from Nolo, from $109, covering up to five family members with a deep document library and no account required.
- USLegalWills is the lowest cost paid option at $49.95 for a will, with no automatic renewal, and LegalZoom at $129 for a basic will adds attorney access plans the pure software tools lack.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Trust & Will | Guided wills and trusts for homeowners | $199 | No |
 FreeWill | Free complete estate documents | Free | Yes |
 Quicken WillMaker | Desktop software, whole family | $109 | No |
 USLegalWills | Low cost will with no auto renewal | $49.95 | No |
 LegalZoom | Brand plus attorney access | $129 | No |
 Rocket Lawyer | Membership with attorney questions | $149 per year | No |
 Fabric | Free will alongside life insurance | Free | Yes |
 LawDepot | Document library by subscription | See website | No |
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The best will and trust software in 2026
Starting price$199
Free planNo
Trust & Will is the reference product: a questionnaire that feels like a guided conversation, documents tailored by state, clear pricing, and bundles that include the healthcare directive and power of attorney most people forget they also need. For a homeowner with children and a simple estate, it is the obvious starting point.
The trade is the ongoing layer and the funding gap. The membership model nudges a one time legal document toward a subscription, and the trust plan hands you a document, not a funded trust: deeds, accounts and titles must be moved into the trust by you, with the platform's guidance, or the trust controls nothing. Do the funding the week the documents arrive.
What we like- The most polished guided flow in the category, state specific documents for all 50 states, the $199 will plan bundles a healthcare directive and power of attorney, couples pricing at $299 and $599 for the trust plan, printed documents can be shipped to you, attorney support available as a $299 add on in comparisons
Watch out for- Updates after the first year sit under a membership reported at $49 a year, a trust still has to be funded by you, retitling assets is not done by the software, the trust plan at $499 is the category's higher price for a document only product
#2FreeWill
Best for: Free complete estate documents4.9/5 on
G2 (18 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit freewill.com
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
FreeWill is the rare free product that is actually the product. It is funded by nonprofits that pay for the platform in the hope that some users leave them a bequest; the documents are free whether or not you do. For a young adult, a renter, a new parent who needs guardians named today, it removes every excuse.
The trade is depth and the decision it asks of you. The charitable prompt is legitimate and clearly the model, so make the choice deliberately rather than clicking past it. And once an estate includes a business, a special needs beneficiary, a blended family or property in two states, FreeWill's own guidance points where this guide does: to an attorney.
What we like- Completely free wills, living trusts, healthcare directives and financial powers of attorney, with unlimited free updates forever, state specific documents, a mirror will for a partner also free, funded by nonprofit partnerships, with no obligation to leave a charitable gift
Watch out for- The flow invites a charitable bequest, which is the business model and should be a conscious choice, not a default, no attorney review included, though its Fellows network connects users to attorneys, complex estates outgrow its questionnaire quickly
Starting price$109
Free planNo
WillMaker is the choice for people who distrust subscriptions and clouds with their most personal documents. Buy it, install it, and produce wills, directives and, on higher tiers, a living trust for the whole household, with Nolo's plain English guidance beside every question.
The trade is upkeep. Estate law changes and so do families; the included update year ends, and a will written in old software and never revisited decays quietly. The tool is excellent; the discipline is yours. Calendar a review every three years or at every life event, whichever the family provides first.
What we like- Nolo's long running software, from the most trusted DIY legal publisher in the US, Starter at $109 includes the will and healthcare directive for up to five family members, higher tiers add trusts and more documents, works offline as installed software with a year of updates included, then a reported $39.99 a year
Watch out for- Desktop software in a web world means installing and maintaining a program, state coverage has historically excluded Louisiana, no attorney review, the interface is functional rather than friendly
Starting price$49.95
Free planNo
USLegalWills sells the document without the platform theatre: answer the questions, pay once, download, done, and nothing renews behind your back. Its own comparison page, unusually, prices its rivals beside itself, which is how several figures in this guide were cross checked.
The trade is polish and support. You are buying competent document generation at the lowest established price, with customer support rather than a legal network behind it. For a simple estate and a confident user, that is the rational purchase. For hand holding, pay Trust & Will's premium and know what it bought.
What we like- A will at $49.95 and a premium package with power of attorney and living will at $99.95, the lowest prices among established paid services, no automatic renewal, a stated point of pride in its comparisons, unlimited updates free for the first year, then an optional membership from $14.95 a year, couples pricing at $79.95 for two wills
Watch out for- The interface is dated beside Trust & Will, fewer guided frills and no attorney network, optional extras and storage services are sold along the way
#5LegalZoom
Best for: Brand plus attorney access3.1/5 on
G2 (16 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit legalzoom.com
Starting price$129
Free planNo
LegalZoom is for the buyer who wants a person in reserve. The documents themselves are comparable to the field; the value is the attorney plan beside them, a place to ask whether the special needs trust question or the business interest makes your estate the kind software should not handle alone.
The trade is the renewal machinery. The included attorney period ends and billing begins unless you act, a pattern this category shares with Rocket Lawyer below. The service is legitimate and the documents are fine; the subscription hygiene is the homework.
What we like- A basic will at $129 with bundle options adding power of attorney, the big differentiator is attorney access: legal plans connect you to vetted attorneys for consultation, which pure software lacks, a long operating history and state specific documents
Watch out for- Attorney plans renew automatically, reported at $25 a month after a bundle's included period, so calendar the renewal, the estate range is shallower on trusts than the specialists, prices and bundles shift often enough that checkout needs a careful read
Starting price$149 per year
Free planNo
Rocket Lawyer inverts the pricing: the will is not the product, the membership is, and the will is one of unlimited documents with attorney access attached. For someone forming a business, signing contracts and making a will in the same year, the maths can work well.
The trade is the same as every membership here, sharpened: a will needs updating on life events, not monthly, so a subscription kept only for the will is rent on a document you already own. Join for the year you need the breadth, make everything, then decide about renewal with the documents already downloaded and stored.
What we like- Estate documents included inside a membership reported at $149 a year or monthly options after a 7 day trial, with unlimited documents while a member, attorney consultations included in the membership, so the will can be reviewed by a human, one membership covers any number of documents for the member
Watch out for- No couples plan as such, the membership renews automatically until cancelled, a will is a poor reason to hold a year round legal subscription you do not otherwise use, per its own comparisons it publishes no one time document price
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Fabric aims at the moment new parents realise they need both a will and life insurance, and gives the will away to start that conversation. The will itself is state specific and competently built, and for naming guardians, the decision young parents most often delay, it does the job in one sitting.
The trade is intent. Fabric is an insurance company's front porch, and the guidance will keep walking toward a policy. That policy may be exactly what the family needs, but buy it on its own merits and price, not as the price of the free will, which was always free.
What we like- A free will maker offered by Fabric, part of Gerber Life, designed for parents, with a fast, friendly flow, the platform pairs the will with term life insurance and family finance organisation tools, no cost for the will itself
Watch out for- The will is a doorway to insurance products, which are the business, so expect the cross sell, document depth trails the estate specialists, trust options are not its focus
#8LawDepot
Best for: Document library by subscription2.8/5 on
G2 (29 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit lawdepot.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
LawDepot is the library card model: hundreds of forms, estate documents among them, for a running subscription. Households that also produce landlord paperwork, bills of sale and contracts through the year can justify it the way Rocket Lawyer members do.
The trade is guidance. A library gives you the form; an estate platform walks you through the decisions, guardians, trustees, contingent beneficiaries, in order. Confident users save money here. First time estate planners should weigh the walkthrough they are giving up, because the expensive mistakes in this category are decisions, not documents.
What we like- A large legal document library with estate documents included in the subscription, reported around $49 a month after a trial or about $107.88 a year for estate documents, one subscription shared across family members' documents, useful if leases, contracts and forms beyond the estate are also needed
Watch out for- Subscription pricing for documents many people need once, the estate experience is one shelf in a general library rather than a guided estate flow, renewal continues until cancelled
How we chose
We picked established consumer will and trust tools with current 2026 pricing evidence, favouring state specific documents, transparent prices and clear update terms, and we cross checked prices across multiple comparisons, including one vendor's own rival comparison page. This article is general information, not legal advice, and no tool here replaces an attorney for a complex estate. We did not claim hands-on testing, and document validity everywhere depends on the execution steps in the guide below.
Execution: the part software cannot do for you
A will is valid when your state says it is, and states say similar but not identical things. The common pattern: the will must be in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by two adults who also sign, ideally people who inherit nothing under it. Some states accept holographic, handwritten, wills; a few allow electronic wills under specific statutes; Louisiana's notarial tradition makes its rules distinct, which is why some tools exclude it. The software generates a document matched to your state; you must still perform the signing ceremony it describes, exactly, in the right order, with the right people in the room.
Notarisation is usually optional for a will but powerful: a self proving affidavit, signed before a notary at the same ceremony, lets the will enter probate without tracking down witnesses later. Do it. It costs little and saves your executor a search.
A trust adds the second half everyone skips: funding. A living trust controls only assets titled to it. The house needs a deed recorded to the trust, accounts need retitling or transfer on death designations reviewed, and anything left outside pours in through the will you also need, through probate, defeating the purpose. Every trust plan in this list leaves the legwork to you, with checklists of varying quality. Schedule the retitling the week the trust is signed.
Know the limits, finally. Blended families, a beneficiary with disabilities on public benefits, a business, property in several states, an estate near the federal or a state tax threshold, or any wish to disinherit or attach conditions: these are attorney cases, where one drafting error costs more than a career of software savings. Software's honest market is the straightforward estate, documented cleanly and executed properly. Stay inside it and these tools are excellent value; step outside it knowingly and the saving is an illusion.
Frequently asked questions
Is an online will legally valid?
Yes, if it is executed correctly. Validity comes from state law, signature, witnesses, sometimes notarisation, not from who drafted the document, and no state requires a lawyer to write a will. The tools here generate state specific documents with execution instructions. Follow those instructions precisely; an unsigned or wrongly witnessed will is the common failure, not the software.
What is the difference between a will and a living trust?
A will directs distribution at death and passes through probate, a public court process. A funded living trust holds assets during life and transfers them at death outside probate, with privacy and continuity if you become incapacitated. Many estates need both: the trust for the house and accounts, a pour over will for everything left out.
If I make a trust with software, is my estate settled?
Not until the trust is funded. The document creates the trust; deeds and account titles give it something to govern. An unfunded trust is the category's most common expensive mistake, because the family discovers at the worst moment that the house still sits in a deceased name and probate is required anyway.
When do I need an estate attorney instead?
When the estate is complex: blended families, a special needs beneficiary, business ownership, property in multiple states, tax exposure, contested wishes or conditions on inheritance. Also when you simply feel unsure; a single consultation to review software documents is far cheaper than full drafting and catches the issues a questionnaire cannot know to ask about.
How often should a will be updated?
At every major life change: marriage, divorce, a birth or death in the family, a move to another state, a large change in assets. Otherwise review every three to five years. Note the update terms in this list as you choose: FreeWill and USLegalWills make updates cheap or free, while membership based tools charge rent for the privilege.
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Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.