Pricing Data · Updated July 2026
Fund Administration Pricing Benchmark for Emerging Managers
If you are an emerging GP pricing fund administration, only 4 of the 12 plans indexed here publish a rate at all. Every figure below is quoted from a vendor’s own public pricing page, linked and dated. Vendors that do not publish pricing are listed as Custom/undisclosed. Nothing on this page is estimated or surveyed.
Written by Michael Kaufman · Reviewed against our editorial standards · Updated
Quick Answer
Only 4 of the 12 fund administration plans indexed here publish a checkable price. Flat SaaS subscriptions start at $297-$497/mo (Archstone, $3,564-$5,964/yr regardless of fund size). AngelList publishes AUM-based formulas: 0.1% of fund size + $10,000/yr (Institutional) or 0.15% + $20,000/yr (Full Service, taxes and K-1s included) — which works out to $20,000-$95,000/yr for a $10M-$50M fund, before undisclosed minimums and a one-time implementation fee. Everyone else quotes privately, Carta included: no rate card, no starting-from figure. For quote-only providers the observed market bands are roughly $25K-$75K/yr for a $10M-$50M fund, $75K-$200K+/yr from $50M-$250M, and $200K-$500K+/yr above $250M.
Published Pricing by Provider
12 provider plans. “Disclosed” means the price appears on a public page anyone can check — each source is linked. All figures as of July 2026.
| Provider | Plan | Pricing model | Published price | Disclosed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archstone | Starter | Flat monthly subscription | $297/mo ($3,564/yr) | Yes | archstone.app/pricing |
| Archstone | Pro | Flat monthly subscription | $497/mo ($5,964/yr) | Yes | archstone.app/pricing |
| AngelList | Institutional | % of fund size + flat annual fee | 0.1% of fund size + $10,000/yr | Yes | angellist.com/pricing |
| AngelList | Full Service | % of fund size + flat annual fee | 0.15% of fund size + $20,000/yr | Yes | angellist.com/pricing |
| Carta | Fund Administration | Quote-based, tiered by fund size | Custom/undisclosed | No | VC Beast review (2026) |
| Visible | For Investors (Essential) | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | visible.vc/investor-pricing |
| Juniper Square | Fund Administration | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | junipersquare.com/pricing |
| Allvue Systems | Fund accounting & admin software | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | allvuesystems.com |
| Standish Management | Full-service fund administration | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | standishmanagement.com |
| SS&C Technologies | Fund administration services | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | ssctech.com |
| Citco | Fund administration services | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | citco.com |
| Apex Group | Fund administration services | Quote-based | Custom/undisclosed | No | apexgroup.com |
Typical Annual Cost by Fund Size
Derived by arithmetic only from the published prices above — flat monthly prices × 12, or AngelList’s published percent-of-fund-size formulas applied to example fund sizes. No estimates: providers without published pricing show a dash. Excludes implementation fees, minimums, and add-ons (see methodology).
| Provider / plan | $10M fund | $25M fund | $50M fund | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archstone (Starter) | $3,564 | $3,564 | $3,564 | Flat price × 12 |
| Archstone (Pro) | $5,964 | $5,964 | $5,964 | Flat price × 12 |
| AngelList (Institutional) | $20,000 | $35,000 | $60,000 | Published formula |
| AngelList (Full Service) | $35,000 | $57,500 | $95,000 | Published formula |
Only the four plans above have a published price to compute from; every other provider in the index quotes privately, Carta included. AngelList figures exclude the undisclosed minimum fund size and one-time implementation fee. Archstone’s flat plans do not scale with AUM; the vendor markets a custom Enterprise tier for $50M+ funds. For what the quote-only tier actually costs, see the fund-size bands below.
Download the Data
fund-admin-pricing-benchmark.csv
12 rows · provider, plan, pricing model, published price, derived annual costs, source URL, as-of date · CC BY 4.0
Methodology
What this is. A curated index of publicly documented fund administration pricing, compiled by VC Beast for emerging venture fund managers. It is not a survey — no vendors were interviewed and no private quotes are included. Every figure was quoted from a source anyone can check.
Sources and verification. Each vendor’s public pricing page was fetched and verified live on 2026-07-14, and the index was reviewed again in September 2026. Prices are quoted verbatim from those pages. Carta is the case people ask about most: its site exposes no fund-admin price list, tier table, or starting-from figure, so this benchmark shows no Carta number at all rather than repeating a third-party estimate. Our fund admin software review covers what the product does.
The no-estimates rule. When a vendor does not publish pricing, the row says Custom/undisclosed. We do not infer figures from sales calls, forums, or third-party claims, and the derived annual-cost table uses arithmetic only (flat price × 12, or a published formula applied to an example fund size).
What is excluded. One-time implementation and setup fees, minimum-fund-size thresholds, negotiated discounts, multi-year contract terms, and add-ons such as tax preparation, audit support, extra closes, or blocker entities — several vendors charge these but do not publish the amounts. Treat the derived figures as software/service list price, not total cost of ownership.
Corrections. Vendor pricing changes. If a figure here no longer matches the linked source, tell us via our corrections page and we will update the row and the as-of date. Editorial process: editorial standards.
Reading the Numbers
The most useful signal in this dataset is structural, not any single price: the emerging-manager end of the market prices flat and publishes it, while the institutional end prices on AUM and quotes privately. Only 4 of the 12 plans indexed here have a checkable public price — that asymmetry is itself the story. A first-time GP comparing options is really choosing between three pricing models:
- ›Flat subscription: cost is independent of fund size — cheapest at every fund size in this index, and the only model where the $50M-fund cost equals the $10M-fund cost. You operate the software yourself.
- ›Percent of fund size + flat fee: cost scales with AUM by a published formula, so you can compute your exact list price before talking to sales — but minimums and implementation fees sit outside the formula.
- ›Custom quote: eight of the twelve plans indexed, Carta among them. Budget guidance requires a sales conversation, and comparable managers can pay materially different prices for the same service.
Which model fits depends on whether you are buying software you operate or a service that operates for you — our Best Fund Admin Software walks through that decision, including when institutional LPs start expecting an independent administrator.
What the Quote-Only Tier Actually Costs
Eight of the twelve plans above publish nothing, which makes the table useful for verifying prices and useless for budgeting against them. These are the bands VC Beast observes in the market for those providers, grouped by fund size. They are market-observed ranges, not published prices — they are deliberately kept out of the sourced table above, and your own quote will land where your structure, close count, and LP list put it.
| Fund size | Observed range | What it typically covers | Who operates here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emerging managers — $10M to $50M fund | $25,000 - $75,000/yr | NAV calculation, capital calls, distributions, K-1 preparation, and quarterly LP reporting. | Typically Carta, AngelList, Standish Management, or a boutique administrator. Flat-priced software such as Archstone sits below this band because you operate it yourself. |
| Established funds — $50M to $250M | $75,000 - $200,000+/yr | More LPs, more complex structures, more regulatory surface: Form PF and Form D filings, multi-close mechanics, side letters. | Apex Group, SEI, NAV Fund Administration Group, and the lower end of SS&C. |
| Institutional funds — $250M+ | $200,000 - $500,000+/yr | Dedicated service teams, custom LP reporting formats, and multi-jurisdictional compliance. | SS&C, Citco, Northern Trust, and US Bank Global Fund Services. |
The step from one band to the next is driven less by AUM than by structure. Multiple closes, SPVs, blocker entities, non-US LPs, and side letters all move a quote upward at the same fund size.
What a Fee Schedule Should Itemize
A headline annual number is not a price. Before signing, make the administrator break the fee into line items and mark each one included or billed. The last two rows are where first-time GPs get surprised, and neither shows up in any published rate on this page.
- ›NAV calculation: How often the net asset value is struck, and whether valuation support is included or billed separately.
- ›Capital call processing: Per-call or unlimited, and whether LP notices, wire instructions, and chase-ups are in scope.
- ›Distribution waterfall: Whether the administrator models your LPA waterfall or simply books the numbers you hand them.
- ›K-1 preparation: Per-LP or bundled, and whether the fund tax return is included. AngelList Full Service bundles fund taxes and K-1s; most others quote them as an add-on.
- ›LP reporting: Quarterly and annual statements, and whether ILPA-format reporting costs extra.
- ›Regulatory filings: Form D, Form PF, and state blue-sky filings — commonly excluded from the headline fee.
- ›Bank reconciliation and cash management: Account setup, monthly reconciliation, and treasury handling.
- ›Implementation and onboarding: A one-time fee that rarely appears in any published rate and can rival a full year of service.
- ›Extra closes, SPVs, and blockers: Priced per entity almost everywhere. If you expect sidecars, get the per-entity rate in writing before you sign.
When You Need an Administrator at All
The size threshold is roughly $10M in committed capital. Below it, a GP working with an accountant can carry bookkeeping and a light capital-call process. Above it, the volume of calls, distributions, per-LP K-1s, and quarterly reporting stops fitting around the edges of an investing job.
The LP base is the harder constraint. Most institutional LPs — endowments, pensions, fund-of-funds — require an independent third-party administrator as a governance condition rather than a preference. Self-administering is read as a red flag in diligence regardless of fund size, so the trigger is often your first institutional commitment rather than your AUM.
In-house does not pencil until much later. A full-time fund controller costs $120,000-$180,000 in salary before benefits and a fund accountant adds $80,000-$120,000 — past the top of the outsourced band for any fund that would be considering the trade, and that is before audit and tax support. In-house starts to make sense at $500M+ across multiple funds, and even then most firms keep an outside administrator for independence and bring only selected functions in-house for speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does fund administration cost for a first fund?
For a $10M-$50M fund, quote-only administrators land in the $25,000-$75,000/yr range, covering NAV calculation, capital calls, distributions, K-1 preparation, and quarterly LP reporting. Published alternatives are materially cheaper: AngelList's Full Service formula works out to $35,000/yr on a $10M fund (0.15% + $20,000), and flat software such as Archstone runs $3,564-$5,964/yr regardless of fund size because you operate it yourself rather than outsourcing the work.
Why does Carta not publish fund administration pricing?
Carta prices fund administration by fund size and structural complexity and handles it through a sales process, so there is no public rate card, tier table, or starting-from figure on carta.com. That is the norm rather than the exception: eight of the twelve plans in this index are quote-only. Any specific Carta figure you see quoted online is a third-party estimate, not a published price, which is why this benchmark shows no number for it.
At what fund size do you need a fund administrator?
The practical threshold is roughly $10M in committed capital. Below that, a GP with an accountant can handle bookkeeping and a light capital-call process. Above it, the combination of capital calls, distributions, per-LP K-1s, and LP reporting starts to demand dedicated handling. The harder constraint is usually the LP base rather than the fund size: most institutional LPs (endowments, pensions, fund-of-funds) require an independent third-party administrator as a governance condition, so self-administering reads as a red flag in diligence no matter how small the fund.
Is in-house fund administration cheaper than outsourcing?
Not for Fund I through Fund III. A full-time fund controller runs $120,000-$180,000 in salary before benefits, and a fund accountant adds $80,000-$120,000 — well past the top of the outsourced range for a fund of that size, before audit and tax support. You also give up the independence institutional LPs expect. In-house starts to pencil at $500M+ across multiple funds, and even then most firms retain an outside administrator for independence and bring only selected functions in-house for speed.
What should a fund admin fee schedule itemize?
Ask for line items, not a single annual number: NAV calculation frequency, capital call processing, distribution waterfall modeling, K-1 preparation (per LP or bundled, fund tax return included or not), LP reporting including ILPA format, regulatory filings (Form D, Form PF, blue sky), bank reconciliation, one-time implementation, and per-entity pricing for extra closes, SPVs, and blockers. Implementation fees and per-entity charges are the two that most often surprise first-time GPs, and neither appears in any published rate on this page.