Pricing

Simple, honest pricing.

Flat 0.10% AUM across every tier. No hidden fees, no fund markups, no surprises. Choose the plan that fits your church.

Essential

Everything a church needs to offer a retirement plan for the first time.

$29/mo

+ $3/mo per participant
+ 0.10% AUM (capped at $150/yr)

  • Employee pre-tax contributions
  • Distributions & rollovers
  • Plan document & compliance
  • Participant portal
  • Housing allowance designations
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Premium

For churches actively investing in their staff with matching and Roth options.

$59/mo

+ $6/mo per participant
+ 0.10% AUM (capped at $250/yr)

  • Everything in Essential
  • Employer matching contributions
  • Roth contributions
  • Vesting schedules
  • Custom eligibility rules
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Complete

Full flexibility for larger churches — loans, hardship, and priority support.

$89/mo

+ $9/mo per participant
+ 0.10% AUM (capped at $350/yr)

  • Everything in Premium
  • Participant loans
  • Hardship provisions
  • Custom match formulas
  • Multiple contribution sources
  • Priority support
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Flexible fee payment: Your church can pay the base fee from its operating budget and let per-participant and AUM fees come from participant accounts — or any combination you choose. Loan initiation is $50 with a $25/year maintenance fee (Complete tier only).

Cost calculator

See what your church would pay.

Adjust the sliders to match your church. All-in costs include fund expenses (~0.04%) and custodial fees (~0.05%).

15 people
$400K
$26,667 per person
How we compare

The numbers speak for themselves.

Estimated annual cost for a 50-participant church plan with $2M in assets.

Provider Annual cost All-in % 403(b)(9) Housing allowance Independent churches
Shorebird (Premium) $8,108 0.41% Yes Yes Yes
CBB / Empower $18,800 0.94% Yes Yes Yes
Envoy Financial $13,600 0.68% Yes Yes Yes
FCMM $13,600 0.68% Yes Yes EFCA-affiliated
GuideStone $14,000 0.70% Yes Yes SBC-affiliated
Vanguard $6,400 0.32% No No Yes

Estimates based on publicly available fee schedules and typical fund expense ratios. Shorebird costs include fund expenses (~0.04%) and custodial fees (~0.05%). GuideStone's estimate reflects a blended fund expense ratio across their proprietary fund lineup, which includes servicing and recordkeeping fees; additional per-participant and plan-level fees may apply. GuideStone is generally available to Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated churches. FCMM is affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America.

Questions

Common questions about pricing.

The 0.10% covers Shorebird's advisory and recordkeeping services — investment management, account maintenance, compliance tracking, and your participant portal. On top of that, you'll see roughly 0.04% in underlying fund expenses (Vanguard index funds) and about 0.05% in custodial fees. That brings the total all-in cost to around 0.19% on assets — a fraction of what most church retirement providers charge.
Each tier has an annual AUM cap per participant. For example, on the Premium plan, a participant will never pay more than $250/year in AUM fees — no matter how large their balance grows. This protects participants who have rolled over large balances from prior employers or who have been saving for decades.
That's entirely up to your church. Many churches pay the monthly base fee from their operating budget and let the per-participant and AUM fees come from participant accounts. But you can also have the church cover everything, or let participants pay it all. You choose at setup, and you can change it later.
No setup fees and no long-term contracts. We handle your plan document, custody setup, and onboarding at no additional cost. If Shorebird isn't the right fit, you're free to move your plan at any time.
Participants choose from six core Vanguard index funds covering U.S. stocks, international stocks, U.S. bonds, international bonds, short-term bonds, and TIPS. We also offer target-date model portfolios built from the same funds — so participants can pick a retirement year and let the allocation adjust automatically. Fund expense ratios average around 0.03–0.05%.
Loans are available on the Complete tier. Participants can borrow from their own account balance following standard IRS rules. There's a one-time $50 loan initiation fee and a $25/year maintenance fee while the loan is outstanding. Repayments go back into the participant's account via payroll deduction.
No. Whether your church has 3 participants or 300, you can get started on any tier. The Essential plan was designed specifically for smaller churches offering a retirement plan for the first time.
Your monthly plan fees cover day-to-day administration. A small number of event-driven services carry separate fees: plan termination ($1,000), mass transfer to another provider ($1,000), QDRO processing ($500), locator services for missing participants ($100), outgoing wire transfers ($50), and overnight/expedited delivery ($50). These are uncommon and only apply when the specific service is requested.

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Get started with a modern 403(b)(9) plan that costs less and does more.

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