1Goldco
Best overall for accounts of $25,000 and up
Goldco has sold gold and silver IRAs since 2011, according to the BBB, and is based in Calabasas, California. It is the company we rank first, and it is one of the two companies that pay us. Here is the case for it on the facts.
Goldco puts its fee schedule on one page and says the fees are flat, “whether you have $30,000 or $3 million”. With Equity Trust, one of the custodians Goldco uses, that means a $50 setup fee, $125 a year for administration, and $110 a year for non-segregated storage or $160 for segregated storage. That is $285 in the first year and $235 a year after for non-segregated storage, the same as Augusta. (Goldco’s own page still shows Equity Trust’s older storage rates of $100 and $150.) Its $25,000 minimum is half of Augusta’s.
It has held an A+ BBB rating with accreditation since December 2011 and an AAA rating from the Business Consumer Alliance. Goldco also runs a price-match policy: show it a competitor selling the same coin for less and it will match the price or send a 5-gram silver bar. It offers up to 5% back in free silver on $50,000 to $99,999 of its premium coins and 10% on $100,000 or more. Read the terms, because “premium coins” usually carry a higher markup than plain bullion.
The weaker points: the BBB logged 72 complaints in three years, far more than Augusta’s one. Goldco works with several custodians and doesn’t publish the full list, so ask which one will hold your account, and it publishes no markup figures. Its terms allow shipping up to 45 business days after it receives your funds. It also paid $2 million to settle a class action over marketing text messages; the court gave final approval in March 2026.
Read our full Goldco review · Visit Goldco (affiliate link)
2Augusta Precious Metals
Best for $50,000 and up
Augusta is based in Beverly Hills. Its own site says it was founded in 2012; the BBB lists a start date of December 31, 2011. Its minimum is the highest here: $50,000, for an IRA or a cash purchase.
What you get for that minimum is the cleanest record in our data. The BBB shows one complaint in three years. Trustpilot shows 4.8 from 377 reviews. Augusta names its custodian, Equity Trust, and its depository, Delaware Depository, and lays out the costs: $50 setup, $125 a year for custody and $110 for storage, or $285 in the first year and $235 after. It says some qualifying accounts can get up to ten years of fees paid, though it does not publish who qualifies.
Augusta says its staff are salaried and do not earn product-specific commissions, though some may get a fixed incentive that doesn’t depend on the product. It does not offer free silver or bonus coins, which we see as a plus: bonus metal is usually paid for through a higher price somewhere else. If you want to cancel, Augusta offers a “24-hour window to cancel if you find a better offer” and says some purchases qualify for a 7-day money-back period.
Its one regulatory mark is minor: in August 2019 it paid a $3,000 penalty under a Minnesota consent order for selling bullion there before registering as a dealer. The order doesn’t allege that anyone was misled.
The downside is plain: if you have less than $50,000, Augusta is not an option.
Augusta’s minimum is $50,000. With less, Goldco ($25,000) and Birch Gold Group ($5,000) are the lower-minimum options on this list.
Read our full Augusta review · Visit Augusta (affiliate link)
3American Hartford Gold
Best for markup transparency
American Hartford Gold, legally The Hartford Gold Group, LLC, is based in Los Angeles and started in 2015. Its IRA minimum is $10,000.
It is the only company we checked that puts numbers on its markup. Its Shipping and Transaction Agreement says the spread is 1.00% to 19.99% on bullion, up to 39.99% on its exclusive and semi-numismatic coins, and up to 59.99% on certain numismatic coins. Those top figures are high, and they are a good reason to buy plain bullion, but at least you can see them. The same document says its sales representatives are paid on commission. Its storage fees are $110 commingled and $160 segregated, and it works with Equity Trust and The Entrust Group.
It does not publish its setup or annual admin fees; its IRA page says only that setup fees “may” apply. Its FAQ says “the storage might be free” depending on account size, without giving a number. The BBB logged 115 complaints in three years, the most of any company here, though it holds an A+ rating. A 2020 federal fraud complaint (Mathys) was sent to private arbitration under the customer’s contract; the result isn’t public. Its about page offers a 7-day cancellation window with a full refund; its transaction agreement applies that guarantee to non-bullion purchases, so ask whether your order is covered.
Read our full American Hartford Gold review
4Birch Gold Group
Best for smaller accounts
Birch Gold Group, based in Des Moines, Iowa, has operated since 2011. Its $5,000 minimum is the lowest we found. It sells gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Birch publishes a worked fee example with Equity Trust and Delaware Depository: $50 setup and a $30 wire fee once, then $125 for the custodian and $110 for storage, $235 a year. It says those are the custodian’s and depository’s fees, not its own, and that it covers the first year’s fees on purchases or transfers over $50,000. It works with Equity Trust and GoldStar Trust and lists five depositories. Its specialists are paid commission. The BBB shows 9 complaints in three years and an A+ rating.
One open issue: a fraud and misrepresentation lawsuit, Linebarger v. Birch Gold Group, was moved to federal court in May 2026 and is pending. A lawsuit is not a finding of wrongdoing, but you should know about it.
Read our full Birch Gold Group review
5Noble Gold Investments
Segregated storage only
Noble Gold is based in Encino, California, and started in 2016. Its IRA minimum is $20,000. It only offers segregated storage, meaning your coins are kept apart from other customers’ metal, at International Depository Services in Texas, Delaware or Canada.
The problem is that Noble’s own pages disagree on fees. Its newer support FAQ (September 2026) lists $80 setup and $150 segregated storage; its older Gold IRA page lists $50 setup plus a $30 wire fee, and $160 storage. Both list a $125 annual fee. Its FAQ points gold IRA customers to Equity Institutional, part of Equity Trust, as custodian. And one FAQ suggests you could store IRA gold “at home”, which IRS rules do not allow for IRA bullion. Ask Noble to confirm every fee and the custodian in writing.
On the plus side, the BBB shows 3 complaints in three years, and it publishes its other fees: $30 wire, $75 in-kind distribution, $250 account closure.
Read our full Noble Gold review
6Patriot Gold Group
Watch the fine print on “no fees”
Patriot Gold Group, based in Seal Beach, California, has the best customer scores in our data: 0 BBB complaints in three years and 5.0 on Trustpilot from 703 reviews. It works with six custodians and stores metal at the Texas Depository.
Its headline offer is “No Fees for Life” on qualifying IRAs. Its main pages don’t say how much you must invest to qualify; one of its advertising landing pages says “Qualified Accounts of $100K+”. It does not publish an IRA minimum or a storage fee for accounts that don’t qualify. Ask for both in writing before you commit.
Read our full Patriot Gold Group review
7Priority Gold
Published fees, but check its claims
Priority Gold says it has been in the business since 2001. It uses Equity Trust and the standard Equity Trust fee schedule: $50 setup, $125 a year, $110 commingled or $160 segregated storage. It publishes its buyback options and offers one year of free storage per $50,000 invested, up to five years. Its minimum is $10,000 for an IRA and $5,000 for a cash purchase.
We rank it lower because its own site overstates its record. On October 29, 2026, Priority’s site described it as BBB accredited with a 4.9 Trustpilot score. The BBB showed an A+ rating but not accredited, and Trustpilot showed 4.8. Its address also differs between its site (Dallas) and the BBB (Beverly Hills). The BBB logged 38 complaints in three years. A 2025 lawsuit in Los Angeles alleged it sold overpriced semi-numismatic coins to an IRA customer; court records indexed by UniCourt show it settled and was dismissed in April 2026.
Read our full Priority Gold review
8Lear Capital
Long history, with a settlement on record
Lear Capital has sold precious metals since 1997, longer than anyone else here, and has been BBB accredited since that year. Its fees are the standard Equity Trust schedule, and it waives fees on a sliding scale: one to three years free depending on purchase size.
In January 2022, Lear agreed to pay $6 million under a consent order with the New York Attorney General, resolving a lawsuit that alleged it charged undisclosed commissions of up to 33%. Through its 2022 Chapter 11 case, Lear also agreed with state regulators to pay $5.5 million to customers who bought between January 1, 2016 and March 3, 2022. We include Lear because it still operates with an A+ BBB rating, but we would ask for the markup on every product in writing.
Read our full Lear Capital review