Trust & Will vs Quicken WillMaker: guided service or pay-once software?

On paper, Trust & Will and Quicken WillMaker & Trust sell nearly the same documents: a will, a living trust, a health care directive and powers of attorney, each made by answering questions and each with signing instructions for your state. The prices are not close. A living trust for one person costs $499 at Trust & Will and $149 in WillMaker’s Plus plan, and for a married couple the gap gets wider.

So the real question is what the difference buys. This comparison answers that in concrete terms, then adds up three years for one person and for a couple. Every figure comes from each company’s own pages, read on the date shown in the facts table. We have not bought either yet.

How much cheaper is WillMaker, really?

	Trust & Will	Quicken WillMaker & Trust
Will, one person	$199	$109 (Starter)
Living trust, one person	$499	$149 (Plus)
Living trust, couple	$599	$149 (one plan covers immediate family)
Optional yearly renewal	$49/year	$39.99/year for more revisions, optional

Two details change the comparison. First, WillMaker’s cheapest plan, Starter, leaves out the financial power of attorney and the trust, so for a like-for-like set you need its Plus plan. Trust & Will’s will plan already includes the power of attorney. Second, WillMaker’s one purchase lets you make up to five of each document for yourself and your immediate family, so a couple pays the plan price once. That is the single biggest saving available in this market.

Which documents does each plan include?

Document	Trust & Will will plan	Trust & Will trust plan	WillMaker Starter	WillMaker Plus
Last will	Yes	Pour-over will	Yes	Yes
Health care directive / living will	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Financial power of attorney	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
HIPAA authorization	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Revocable living trust	No	Yes	No	Yes
Certification of trust, schedule of assets	No	Yes	No	Not listed
Transfer-on-death deed	No	No	No	Yes
Final arrangements, letter to survivors	Final wishes within the will	Final wishes within the will	Final arrangements	Both
Download version for your computer	No	No	No	Yes

“Not listed” means the plan page does not name it; it may still be available inside the software. The headline is that WillMaker Plus and Trust & Will’s trust plan cover the same core: will, trust, health care directive, financial power of attorney. WillMaker adds a transfer-on-death deed, which in states that allow it is a simple way to pass a house without probate. Trust & Will adds the trust paperwork that banks often ask for, the certification of trust and schedule of assets.

What does each cost over three years?

Here is a living trust over three years, with and without each company’s optional renewal. We assume one Trust & Will membership per account; its help centre does not say whether a couple pays it once or twice.

	Trust & Will	WillMaker Plus
One person, no renewals	$499	$149
One person, editing kept open all three years	$646	$228.98
Couple, no renewals	$599	$149
Couple, editing kept open all three years	$746	$228.98

Both renewals do the same basic job: they keep your plan editable. Trust & Will’s Essentials membership adds a digital safe, an AI assistant and one free document shipment a year. WillMaker’s renewal adds legal and technical updates. Neither renewal is needed for your signed documents to stay valid.

What does Trust & Will’s extra money buy?

Roughly, a service around the documents instead of software. Specifically:

• A refund window. Trust & Will’s help-centre policy offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. We could not find a refund policy on willmaker.com at all.
• Help finishing the job. Trust & Will publishes prices for a mobile notary who brings two witnesses ($170 to $210) and a deed-transfer partner for moving your house into the trust ($140 per deed, plus recording fees), plus a funding guide and a library of articles on retitling each kind of asset. WillMaker gives you signing instructions and a detailed legal manual, and leaves the rest to you.
• A route to a lawyer. Trust & Will offers attorney support as a +$299 add-on, inside its Pro membership, or as a custom plan drafted by a matched attorney. WillMaker has no attorney option.
• An easy upgrade. If you start with Trust & Will’s will plan, adding a trust later costs $300, the difference between plans. WillMaker’s Plus plan already includes both, so this only matters if you start on Starter.

If you would use two or more of these, Trust & Will’s price makes sense. If you would use none, you are paying for support you will not touch.

Which is better if you own a home?

The point of a living trust for most homeowners is to keep the house out of probate. That only works if the deed is moved into the trust after you sign, and this is where the two products differ most.

Trust & Will treats funding as part of the product: a funding guide comes with the trust plan, help articles walk through deeds, vehicles, accounts and even mineral rights, and its partner prepares and records the deed for $140 per deed, plus recording fees. If you have never looked at your deed and the phrase “retitle your property” makes you uneasy, that support is worth real money.

WillMaker gives you two tools instead of one. Its Plus plan includes both the living trust and a transfer-on-death deed. In states that allow transfer-on-death deeds, that deed alone can pass your house to the person you name without probate, without retitling anything today, and you can revoke it. WillMaker’s legal manual explains when a trust is the better choice, for example if you also want someone to manage property for you if you become unable to. If you are comfortable reading that guidance and recording a deed with your county, WillMaker covers a homeowner well.

Which is better for parents of young children?

Both let you nominate guardians for minor children in your will, and both cover the documents a parent needs. Two details from WillMaker’s legal manual are worth knowing. You can name a couple to act together as a child’s personal guardians, which most parents want. But you can name only one person, with a backup, to manage the money and property you leave a child, because two people who must agree on every decision can end up in court.

For parents, the bigger practical difference is cost: WillMaker covers both parents’ wills under one plan, while Trust & Will charges a couple price. If you are naming guardians and nothing else is complicated, WillMaker does the job for less. If you want a lawyer to look over your guardianship choices and how money for the children is held, Trust & Will’s attorney support is the route.

What can’t each one do?

WillMaker’s legal manual is unusually candid about its will’s limits. It cannot make gifts conditional on behaviour, cannot leave someone a house for life and then to someone else, cannot name two people to manage a child’s property together, does not let you explain your reasons inside the will, and requires each beneficiary to survive you by 45 days. It also will not make a joint will; each spouse makes their own.

Trust & Will does not publish a comparable list. Its help centre does say that some language in its plans cannot be customised, and Trust & Will itself recommends an attorney-drafted plan for special-needs children, estates above fifteen million dollars, businesses with three or more employees and complex blended families. In practice, both are built for straightforward families; if your plan needs unusual provisions, neither replaces a lawyer.

How do they handle married couples?

• Trust & Will charges a couple price ($599 for trusts). The trust type depends on your state: joint trusts in community property states, separate mirror-image trusts in separate property states.
• WillMaker charges nothing extra. Each spouse makes their own will, and there is a “Duplicate for Spouse” button to create a matching will quickly.

For a couple on a budget, WillMaker’s pricing is very hard to argue with.

What happens after the first year?

This is the part buyers most often get wrong, and the two companies handle it in opposite ways.

At Trust & Will, the plan is yours for good, but editing it online is an Essentials membership benefit. Without the membership you can still download your documents; you just cannot change them in the app.

At WillMaker, you get a year of free revisions and updates. After that, Use indefinitely; legal and technical updates for 1 year if you use the download version. If you use the online version: Make and revise for 1 year; documents viewable 90 days after. In other words, download your signed documents and keep copies, or you may lose online access to them after about fifteen months.

Where each one does not work

• Louisiana: WillMaker is not usable at all; its FAQ points Louisiana residents to a basic online form instead. Trust & Will serves Louisiana for wills but does not offer trusts there.
• Outside the United States: WillMaker is not for people whose permanent residence is abroad; Trust & Will is only available to people located in the United States.

Which should you choose?

• You are organised, your family is straightforward and price matters: WillMaker Plus.
• You are married and want both spouses covered for the least money: WillMaker Plus.
• You want to be able to get your money back: Trust & Will.
• You want someone to bring a notary and witnesses, or handle the deed: Trust & Will.
• You might want a lawyer’s opinion before you sign: Trust & Will with attorney support.
• You live in Louisiana: neither for a trust; Trust & Will for a will.

Before you buy either

1. Write down the documents you need and check each plan includes all of them (on WillMaker, that usually means Plus).
2. Decide whether you want help after you buy: notary, deed, attorney. That is most of what the price difference pays for.
3. If you choose WillMaker online, plan to download every signed document.
4. If you choose Trust & Will, decide at checkout whether you need the membership, and note the 30-day refund deadline.
5. Sign in one sitting following the state instructions, and fund the trust the same month.