The Heir Protocol
Heirfolio vs Trust & Will vs LegalZoom vs Vigil — Honest Comparison
By Michael Tanguma, Founder & CEO of Heirfolio. Reviewed by Diana Cruz, GIA Graduate Gemologist. Updated May 25, 2026.
TL;DR. Trust & Will and LegalZoom write your legal documents. Vigil maps your household financial picture for a spouse. Heirfolio documents the physical heirlooms — jewelry, gold, watches, bullion, Bitcoin — that the other three never touch. Most families need two of these, sometimes three. Here is what each does well, where each falls short, and how to pick.
This is an honest comparison from the founder of one of the four products. I have a stake in the answer. The way I'm going to handle that is by stating up front where each competitor wins, where Heirfolio doesn't compete, and where the categories don't overlap at all.
The failure mode to name first: most "estate planning software" comparisons treat these four as substitutes when they're complements. A will-writing tool doesn't replace a Bitcoin inheritance plan. A financial-document mapper doesn't replace a will. A jewelry valuation platform doesn't replace either. If you pick one and assume you're done, you've left two-thirds of your estate undocumented.
The job, then, is to know which category each one occupies and where the gaps are.
See how Heir Protocol handles physical heirlooms — 12 minutes to set up
What category is each product in?
| Product | Category | What it actually does |
|---|---|---|
| Trust & Will | Legal document creation | Wills, trusts, healthcare directives, guardianship designations |
| LegalZoom | Legal document creation + business filings | Wills, trusts, LLC formation, trademark filings, attorney access |
| Vigil Protocol | Household financial mapping | AI extracts your docs, audits gaps, produces a runbook for your spouse |
| Heirfolio | Physical-asset documentation + heir handoff | Catalogs jewelry, gold, bullion, watches, Bitcoin; tracks live valuations; routes inheritance |
These four are not in the same category. The question isn't which one to pick — it's which combination of two or three covers your situation.
The full feature-by-feature comparison
Here is the table that does most of the work in this article. Honest scoring: a checkmark means the feature is built and shipping. A dash means the product doesn't have it. A note explains nuance where it exists.
| Feature | Trust & Will | LegalZoom | Vigil Protocol | Heirfolio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will creation | Yes — guided builder | Yes — guided + attorney review | No (uploads existing) | No (links to existing) |
| Living trust setup | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Healthcare directive / POA | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Attorney access | Optional, limited | Yes — flat-rate network | No | No |
| Document storage | Cloud, basic | Cloud, basic | Encrypted vault, AES-256 | Encrypted vault, AES-256 |
| Physical heirloom catalog | No | No | No | Yes — per item, with photos |
| Jewelry / watch valuations | No | No | No | Yes — live, spot-linked, AI + reviewer |
| Gold / bullion tracking | No | No | No | Yes — gram-level, live spot |
| Bitcoin / hardware wallet inheritance | No | No | Limited (account list only) | Yes — multi-institution custody handoff |
| Letter of intent generator | Partial (personal property memo) | Partial | No | Yes — per-item beneficiary |
| State-specific legal templates | All 50 states | All 50 states | N/A (not legal docs) | N/A (not legal docs) |
| Beneficiary designation per item | No (will-level only) | No (will-level only) | No | Yes |
| Activation / trigger workflow | Manual (executor handles) | Manual (executor handles) | Yes — tiered release, identity verification | Yes — tiered release, executor handoff |
| Spouse runbook / "first 24 hours" | No | No | Yes — central feature | Yes — for physical assets specifically |
| Multi-currency settlement (cash, gold, BTC) | No | No | No | Yes |
| Annual revaluation | No | No | Semi-annual check-ins | Yes — automated, live spot |
| Pricing — entry tier | $159 one-time (will) | $99 one-time (will) | $200/month flat | Free (up to 5 items) |
| Pricing — full feature | $599 (trust + extras) | $499+ (trust + attorney) | $200/month flat | $29/month (Vault), $99/month (Vault Pro) |
The cleanest summary: Trust & Will and LegalZoom write the paper. Vigil maps the financial picture for a spouse. Heirfolio documents the physical items that paper and financial accounts never name. Each is best-in-class for what it actually does.
Compare pricing side-by-side →
What does Trust & Will do well — and where does it fall short?
Trust & Will is the cleanest will-writing experience on the market. Founded in 2017, they've raised over $50M and processed over a million estate plans. The product is well-designed, the legal templates are state-specific, and the price is fair.
Where Trust & Will wins:
- Will creation is genuinely simple. Most users finish in under an hour.
- Their living trust product is the most accessible at the price point ($599 for a full trust setup).
- Attorney access is available as an add-on for state-specific edits.
- The product covers the four core documents most households need: will, living trust, healthcare directive, financial power of attorney.
Where Trust & Will falls short:
- Physical assets are invisible. The "tangible personal property memorandum" they generate is a checkbox list, not a documented inventory. There's no photograph, no valuation, no proof the item exists, no live price tracking, no beneficiary-per-item granularity beyond what fits in a text field.
- No Bitcoin or hardware wallet handling. If your estate includes self-custodied Bitcoin, Trust & Will gives you a sentence in the will that says "my digital assets go to X." That sentence is necessary but nowhere near sufficient. Your beneficiary still needs to know where the hardware wallet lives, what the passphrase is, and how to actually move the coins.
- No activation workflow. Once you sign, the document sits on your hard drive. There's no monitor, no decay detection, no executor handoff process beyond what your lawyer would normally do.
- No revaluation. A 2018 trust may name pieces that have tripled or halved in value by 2026. The trust doesn't know.
Recommended for: Anyone who doesn't have a will or trust yet. This is the starter — but it's the starter for the paper layer only.
Not recommended for: Anyone whose estate is primarily physical heirlooms, Bitcoin, or any asset class the paper layer struggles to describe.
What does LegalZoom do well — and where does it fall short?
LegalZoom is the older, broader cousin. They've been operating since 2001 and have processed over four million customer matters. Beyond wills and trusts, they handle LLC formation, trademark filings, name changes, business compliance, and a paid attorney network.
Where LegalZoom wins:
- Breadth. If you need a will plus an LLC for your rental property plus a trademark for your side business, one account handles all three.
- Attorney network. For an extra fee, you get flat-rate access to a licensed attorney who can review your documents and answer state-specific questions.
- Brand trust. Twenty-five years of operating history and the most recognizable name in DIY legal services.
Where LegalZoom falls short:
- The UX shows its age. The product feels like it was built in 2008 and updated reluctantly. Trust & Will is meaningfully easier to use for the same outputs.
- Same physical-asset gap as Trust & Will. No item-level documentation, no live valuations, no Bitcoin handling.
- Upsells. The base price is competitive, but the path through the product surfaces add-on services aggressively. The "complete" estate plan ends up costing more than the headline.
- Attorney quality varies. The network is broad, which is the upside and the downside. You get who you get.
Recommended for: People who need legal documents across multiple categories (estate + business + IP) and want one vendor. Also good for anyone who wants attorney access without the friction of finding one separately.
Not recommended for: Anyone who only needs an estate plan. Trust & Will is a better tool for that specific job.
What does Vigil Protocol do well — and where does it fall short?
Vigil is the newest of the four. They've productized a problem that's been invisible: the moment a spouse needs to take over the household finances and doesn't know where anything lives.
Where Vigil wins:
- The MAP / AUDIT / MONITOR / ACTIVATE workflow is genuinely original. AI extracts your existing documents into a structured household financial picture. The audit flags beneficiary mismatches, coverage gaps, and stale information. Semi-annual check-ins keep the map current. Activation is a tiered release of information to your designated person — first the steady-the-ship basics, then accounts, then the sensitive details.
- The pricing is unusually clean: $200/month flat. No AUM fee, no upsells, cancel anytime. For a household with $2M+ in assets across multiple accounts, this is a reasonable line item.
- The security posture is serious: AES-256 encryption, passkey authentication, no third-party AI providers in the loop.
- The tone is calm and adult. The product is built for households with real complexity, not for a generic "estate plan" audience.
Where Vigil falls short:
- Physical assets are invisible. Vigil maps documents and financial accounts. Jewelry, watches, gold bullion, art, antiques — not handled. The runbook tells your spouse where the brokerage account login is, not where your grandmother's ring lives or what it's worth.
- No Bitcoin self-custody handoff. They can list a Coinbase account on the financial map, but the seed-phrase-to-beneficiary problem — the actual hard problem of Bitcoin inheritance — is outside their scope.
- Pricing is steep for the middle market. $200/month is $2,400/year. Below roughly $500K in household assets, the math gets harder to justify.
- Single tier. No way to start small and grow into the product.
- Single research post. Vigil's content surface is thin. The product is excellent; the explanation surface around it is sparse.
Recommended for: Households with $1M+ in assets across multiple accounts, where one spouse handles the finances and the other would be lost without a map.
Not recommended for: Households whose estate is primarily physical (jewelry, real estate, collectibles) or whose Bitcoin position is held in self-custody.
[For a deeper Vigil-specific breakdown, see our Vigil Protocol vs Heir Protocol comparison.]
What does Heirfolio do well — and where does it fall short?
Disclosure: this is the product I built. I'll keep the comparison honest by stating clearly what we don't do.
Where Heirfolio wins:
- Physical heirlooms are the entire point. Every item — ring, bracelet, watch, gold bar, coin — gets a photograph, a karat reading, a weight in grams, a current spot valuation, and a per-item beneficiary designation. The other three products don't do this at all.
- Live valuations. Gold and Bitcoin are spot-linked. The value of your portfolio updates daily. A piece you documented in 2024 has a 2026 number on it automatically.
- Bitcoin handling is native. Built by the team behind Onramp Bitcoin's multi-institution custody architecture. We understand the seed-phrase-to-beneficiary problem because we spent four years solving it for institutional clients first.
- Multi-currency settlement. When the time comes to sell or pass down, you can route value into cash, additional gold, or Bitcoin. The other three products end at the paperwork.
- Pricing is graduated. Free tier covers up to 5 items, which is most households' core collection. $29/month for unlimited. $99/month for family-office-scale features.
Where Heirfolio falls short:
- We do not write legal documents. No will, no trust, no power of attorney. We link to your existing documents and we generate a letter of intent that names which piece goes to which person — but that letter is an addendum to your will, not a replacement for it.
- We are not a financial-account mapper. If you want a complete household financial picture for your spouse, that's Vigil's job. Heirfolio covers the items you can hold in your hand.
- We are newer. Trust & Will and LegalZoom have a decade-plus head start. Vigil has a slightly longer track record. Heirfolio launched in 2026.
Recommended for: Anyone whose estate includes meaningful physical heirlooms — jewelry, gold, watches, art — or Bitcoin held in self-custody. Especially good for families where the next generation won't know what the items are or what they're worth.
Not recommended for: A first-time will writer who doesn't yet have any legal documents. Build the paper layer first (Trust & Will or LegalZoom), then add Heirfolio for the physical layer.
Which combination fits your situation?
Three common situations, three honest answers.
Situation 1: You don't have a will yet, and your estate is mostly financial accounts.
Pick: Trust & Will ($159–$599). Done.
Add Vigil ($200/mo) if your spouse doesn't know where the accounts live. Add Heirfolio (free tier) if you have any meaningful jewelry or gold.
Situation 2: You have a will from five years ago, your jewelry box has grown, and you've bought Bitcoin.
Pick: Heirfolio ($29/mo Vault tier).
Your will exists. Update it through your existing attorney or refresh it through Trust & Will. The new gap is the physical and Bitcoin layer — Heirfolio is the only product in this comparison that addresses both.
Situation 3: You're a high-net-worth household running a family office, with $5M+ across accounts, properties, jewelry, and Bitcoin.
Pick: All three, plus an estate attorney.
- Trust & Will or your existing attorney for the legal documents.
- Vigil ($200/mo) for the financial-document map and spouse runbook.
- Heirfolio Vault Pro ($99/mo) for the physical heirloom and Bitcoin inheritance layer.
Total: roughly $300/month for a complete documented estate plan. Less than most family offices spend on a single quarterly review.
A note on pricing comparisons
Pricing is the most-asked question in this category, and it's also where the comparison breaks down.
| Product | Pricing | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Trust & Will | $159–$599 one-time | Legal documents, static |
| LegalZoom | $99–$499+ one-time | Legal documents + attorney access |
| Vigil Protocol | $200/month ($2,400/year) | Live financial mapping, monitoring, activation |
| Heirfolio Free | $0 | Up to 5 items, basic documentation |
| Heirfolio Vault | $29/month ($348/year) | Unlimited items, full Heir Protocol, live valuations |
| Heirfolio Vault Pro | $99/month ($1,188/year) | Multi-party access, executor handoff, family-office tier |
The one-time-vs-recurring split matters. Legal documents are a one-time output that decay slowly (you update them every 3–5 years). A monitored heirloom inventory is a live system that needs to stay current as you acquire and sell items and as spot prices move.
The bottom line
The comparison table tells the truth. None of these four products are substitutes for each other. They're complements.
- For a will, get Trust & Will or LegalZoom. Trust & Will if you want the cleanest experience for the estate-only job. LegalZoom if you need legal documents across categories.
- For a household financial map for your spouse, get Vigil. Especially if your assets are above $1M and one spouse handles the finances.
- For documenting jewelry, gold, watches, and Bitcoin, get Heirfolio. This is the layer the other three products do not cover.
Heirfolio is the right answer when the question is about physical heirlooms and Bitcoin. It is not the right answer when the question is "I need a will tonight." The honest test: look at what your family will inherit, list it on paper, and ask which of the four products documents each line item. The product that documents the most of what's on your list, with the least overlap with the others, is the one to start with.
Build a free Heir Protocol — covers up to 5 items, takes 12 minutes
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a will if I have Heirfolio?
Yes. Heirfolio is not a substitute for a will. A will is a legally executed document that names your executor, distributes your residual estate, designates a guardian for minor children, and triggers probate. Heirfolio is a documentation and inheritance-routing layer for physical heirlooms and Bitcoin. The two work together: your will points to your Heirfolio inventory by reference, and the inventory tells your executor exactly which piece goes to which person, where each piece lives, and what each piece is worth. Get a will through Trust & Will, LegalZoom, or an estate attorney first. Then add Heirfolio.
Is Trust & Will or LegalZoom better for a simple will?
Trust & Will is the better tool for a simple will, in our view. The interface is cleaner, the price is competitive, and the product is focused on the estate-planning use case rather than spread across business filings and intellectual property. LegalZoom's advantage is breadth — if you also need an LLC or a trademark, one account handles everything. For estate-only, Trust & Will wins.
Can I use Heirfolio without paying for a separate will service?
Yes, but you should still have a will. If you don't have one yet, our free tier lets you document your physical heirlooms and Bitcoin without spending anything, so you can build the physical-asset layer of your plan first. Then write your will through Trust & Will, LegalZoom, or an estate attorney. The two layers reinforce each other.
How is Vigil different from Heirfolio?
Vigil maps documents and financial accounts; Heirfolio documents physical heirlooms and Bitcoin custody. Different categories. A household with significant assets in both categories typically uses both. Vigil's runbook tells your spouse where the brokerage account login is. Heirfolio's inventory tells your spouse where your grandmother's ring is, what it's worth today, and who you intended it for.
What if I only want to document my jewelry — do I need any of these other products?
You can use Heirfolio's free tier (up to 5 items) without any other product. If your estate is small enough that no will is needed (most US states have small-estate procedures that bypass probate for estates under roughly $50K–$150K, depending on the state), you may not need legal documents. For most households, though, a will is the foundation. Heirfolio is the layer on top.
Do any of these products handle inheritance taxes?
None of them handle the tax filing itself. Trust & Will and LegalZoom both link you to attorneys and CPAs who can. Heirfolio's per-item valuations make the cost-basis and stepped-up-basis math much easier for whoever is doing the filing, because every piece has a date-stamped fair market value attached. See our inheritance tax on jewelry guide for the framework.
What happens to my Heirfolio data if I cancel?
You can export everything in standard formats (CSV, JSON, PDF) at any time. Your data belongs to you. If you cancel, we hold the data for 90 days in case you reactivate, then it's deleted. The export includes every photograph, every valuation, every beneficiary designation, and every transaction record. The same is true of Vigil. Trust & Will and LegalZoom give you your legal documents as PDFs you control directly.
Can Heirfolio replace my estate attorney?
No. Heirfolio is software. An estate attorney advises on tax structure, trust design, multi-jurisdictional issues, business succession, and the specific legal questions that arise in your specific family. The right combination for most high-net-worth households is an estate attorney for the strategy, Trust & Will or LegalZoom for the routine documents, and Heirfolio for the physical-asset and Bitcoin layer. Each does what it does best.
Which one has the best security?
Vigil and Heirfolio are roughly equivalent at the encryption layer (AES-256, passkey authentication). Heirfolio adds the multi-institution custody architecture for Bitcoin specifically, which is a layer the other three products don't have. Trust & Will and LegalZoom are secure for document storage but were not designed to hold high-value digital assets in custody. For documents only, all four are appropriate. For Bitcoin self-custody handoff, Heirfolio is the only one that addresses the actual hard problem.
What to do next
If you're picking one to start with: what does your inventory of estate items look like right now? List it on paper. Then check which product on this comparison covers each line.
If your inventory is mostly accounts and paperwork — Vigil or Trust & Will. If it's mostly physical items and Bitcoin — Heirfolio. If it's everything — at least two of these four, often three.
The free Heirfolio tier covers up to five items and takes twelve minutes to set up. If you start there and find you also need a will, Trust & Will is a good next step. The two together cost less than a single dinner out and cover most households' core needs.
Build a free Heir Protocol — covers up to 5 items
Michael Tanguma is the founder and CEO of Heirfolio. He previously founded Onramp Bitcoin, a Bitcoin financial services firm that pioneered multi-institution custody architecture for institutional clients. He writes about generational wealth, custody design, and financial systems built to last decades. This article was reviewed for accuracy by Diana Cruz, a GIA Graduate Gemologist and Heirfolio's Valuation Lead. Pricing data current as of May 25, 2026; product features verified against each vendor's public marketing site as of the same date.