Every ranking on Gold IRA Consulting runs through the same fixed rubric, the same first-hand mystery-shopping, and the same independent fact-check. Here is exactly what we score, how we gather the evidence, and why an affiliate commission can never buy a higher spot on the list.
A gold IRA is a long-term, high-stakes decision, and the companies competing for your rollover spend heavily on advertising that looks a lot like editorial. So we built a method that does not bend. Before we score a single provider we lock the four pillars and their weights, gather evidence ourselves rather than reprinting a sales page, and put the result in front of an independent reviewer. The output is our ranked list of the best gold IRA companies and our individual company reviews, both of which link back to this page so you can always check our work.
This is the standard the whole site is held to. If a claim is not backed by a primary source or by something we documented in our own testing, it does not make it into a score.
Each company earns a 0 to 100 grade on every pillar from documented evidence. We multiply by the weights below for a composite out of 100, then express it as a 5-star rating (composite divided by 20).
Setup, custodian, storage, insurance and wire fees, plus the dealer markup over spot. We reward published flat pricing and penalize percentage-of-assets fees and high-premium collectible coins.
IRS-approved depositories, segregated versus commingled options, full insurance, and the quality of the custodian relationship behind the account.
Rollover support, specialist access, the response and pressure we logged on real sales calls, and a documented buyback commitment with a fair, disclosed spread.
BBB and Business Consumer Alliance ratings, Trustpilot volume and sentiment, complaint history, regulatory record, and years in business.
The weights are deliberate. Fees carry the most influence because cost is where gold IRA buyers are most often misled, and because the dealer markup over spot, the premium a dealer adds to the live metal price, is the single largest expense most investors never see itemized. A company can advertise a low annual fee while earning the bulk of its money on the coins themselves, so pricing transparency is weighted above everything else. Custody, service, and reputation round out whether the account is safe, well supported, and backed by a real track record.
The table below shows an illustrative scoring of our current top-rated provider. The numbers are a worked example of the method, not a fixed guarantee of any future grade.
| PILLAR | WEIGHT | PILLAR SCORE /100 | WEIGHTED CONTRIBUTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees & pricing transparency | 30% | 98 | 29.4 |
| Custody & storage | 25% | 96 | 24.0 |
| Service & buyback | 25% | 100 | 25.0 |
| Reputation | 20% | 94 | 18.8 |
| Composite | 100% | n/a | 97.2 / 100 → 4.9 / 5 |
Illustrative worked example. Star rating = composite ÷ 20. Live scores appear on each company's review.
Reading a company's brochure tells you what it wants you to hear. To score the things that actually matter, we go through the buying experience the way a real customer would, then keep a dated record of what happened. This first-hand evidence is the backbone of the service and pricing pillars.
Fees are collected from primary sources, never from a marketing page. We pull published fee schedules where a company offers one (Birch Gold Group's flat $50 setup, $30 wire, $110 storage and insurance, and $125 management is a model of the transparency we reward), and for everyone else we extract the numbers in writing during mystery-shopping. We then cross-check those figures against the custodian and depository fee sheets behind the account, because the company you talk to is rarely the one that actually vaults the metal.
Every number we publish carries a fees verified Jun 2026, confirm current pricing stamp, and we re-check it on each update. Promotions move quickly, multi-year fee waivers come and go, and minimums shift, so we always tell readers to confirm the current figure directly with the provider before funding. We do not present a promotional waiver as a permanent fee, and we flag any cost that is conditional on account size or rollover amount.
Reputation is the one pillar where we lean hardest on third parties, because trust signals should come from outside the company, not from its own homepage. We weigh dated ratings from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA), and Trustpilot, looking at both the headline grade and the volume and substance of complaints, not just the star average. We factor in years in business and any regulatory or enforcement history. For the rules that govern the product itself (eligible metals, the collectibles restriction, contribution and distribution mechanics) we cite the IRS and statute directly rather than paraphrasing a competitor. The home-storage IRA, marketed as a loophole to keep metals at home, is treated as the red flag it is, because storing IRA metal yourself risks disqualifying the account under IRS rules.
A commission can change what we get paid. It cannot change where a company lands on the list. The rubric is set before we score, and the evidence decides the rest.
Gold IRA Consulting is reader-supported. When you open an account through some of our partner links we may earn a commission, which is how the research stays free to you. That relationship is walled off from scoring. The four pillars and their weights are fixed in advance, the analyst who grades a company has no stake in whether you click a partner link, and a CFP fact-checker signs off before anything publishes. We rank companies we have no commercial relationship with, and we will place a non-partner above a partner whenever the evidence supports it. Every affiliate link is clearly disclosed and marked rel="sponsored nofollow", and our full disclosure lives in our editorial policy.
The full ranking is reviewed at least quarterly, and individual entries are updated sooner the moment something material changes: a fee increase, a new free-silver promotion, a depository change, a slip in BBB or Trustpilot standing, or a regulatory action. Each page shows a visible last-updated date and a per-company fees-verified stamp, so you can judge how fresh the research is before you act on it. Static, undated rankings are exactly the kind of page our method is built to beat.
Bylines are real and roles are separated. Research, mystery-shopping, fee verification, and scoring are led by a named precious-metals analyst; every money page is then independently fact-checked by a Certified Financial Planner who pressure-tests the tax claims, IRS citations, and risk framing. You can read more about the team and our standards on our about page and in our editorial policy.
Leads provider research: requests the kits, logs the sales calls, verifies fees in writing, and applies the weighted rubric to score every company out of 100.
Independently reviews every money page, checking tax claims, IRS citations, and risk framing before publication. Has no role in any affiliate relationship.
We score every provider out of 100 against a fixed, weighted rubric: fees and pricing transparency (30%), custody and storage (25%), service and buyback (25%), and reputation (20%). Each pillar is graded on documented evidence we gather ourselves, including requested investor kits, logged sales calls, screenshotted price quotes, published fee schedules, and third-party ratings from the BBB, the Business Consumer Alliance, and Trustpilot. The weighted composite becomes the company's overall score, which we express as a 5-star rating by dividing the 100-point total by 20.
No. Gold IRA Consulting is reader-supported and may earn a commission when you open an account through a partner link, but compensation has no input into the scoring rubric or the order of any ranking. The four pillars and their weights are set before we score, the analyst who scores a company is separate from any commercial relationship, and a CFP fact-checker reviews the result. We rank companies we have no affiliate relationship with, and we will rank a non-partner above a partner whenever the evidence says so. Affiliate links are clearly marked with rel="sponsored nofollow".
We collect fees from primary sources, not from marketing pages. That means requesting each company's investor kit, asking for the setup, custodian, storage, insurance, and wire fees in writing, and pressing every provider for the dealer markup over spot and the buyback spread, the two costs that rarely appear on a published schedule. We cross-check those figures against custodian and depository fee sheets, then stamp each entry "fees verified Jun 2026, confirm current pricing" and re-check on every update. Pricing and promotions change often, so we always tell readers to confirm current numbers directly with the company.
We review the full ranking at least quarterly and update individual entries sooner whenever something material changes, such as a fee increase, a new promotion, a depository change, a shift in BBB or Trustpilot standing, or a regulatory action. Each page carries a visible "last updated" date and a per-company "fees verified" stamp so you can see exactly how fresh the research is before you rely on it.
Research and scoring are led by Marcus Halloran, a precious-metals IRA analyst who handles the mystery-shopping, fee verification, and rubric scoring. Every money page is then fact-checked by Dana Reyes, CFP, a Certified Financial Planner who reviews the tax claims, IRS citations, and risk framing for accuracy. Named bylines, a separate independent reviewer, and primary-source citations are part of our editorial policy and are applied to every ranking and review on the site.
Tax treatment, contributions and distributions: IRS Publication 590-A (contributions to IRAs) and IRS Publication 590-B (distributions from IRAs).
Permitted metals and the collectibles rule for IRAs: Internal Revenue Code section 408(m)(3), which sets the bullion and coin standards an IRA may hold.
Investor protection and fraud guidance: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consumer guidance on investing in bullion and coins, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) customer advisories on precious-metals schemes.
Reputation inputs reflect dated third-party ratings from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA), and Trustpilot. Provider fees and minimums come from our independent dataset, fees verified Jun 2026. Pricing and promotions change; confirm current terms directly with each company.
Now that you know how the scores are built, see how every provider stacks up on fees, custody, service, and reputation, or request a free investor kit to pressure-test one company's pricing yourself.