# FreeERISA vs Judy Diamond: The Free Search and the Paid Prospector, Compared

*FiduciarySignal — updated 2026-10-05. Canonical: https://www.fiduciarysignal.com/alternatives/freeerisa-vs-judy-diamond*

FreeERISA and Judy Diamond are not rivals: FreeERISA is the free, registration-only Form 5500 search that Judy Diamond Associates runs, and Retirement Plan Prospector+ is the company's paid 401k prospecting product, store-listed from $795 a year for one state to $3,900 a year nationally. Use free ERISA lookups when you already know which plan you want to read; pay for Prospector+ when you need 401(k) prospecting features such as red flags, plan score cards, contact information and exports, which the company's own comparison table checks only in the Prospector+ column.

Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) and [Judy Diamond store](https://store.judydiamond.com/prospector-plus/prospector.html) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

Most people who search "FreeERISA vs Judy Diamond" picture two companies. There is one. FreeERISA is the free entry point to Judy Diamond Associates' data, and Prospector+ is where that data becomes a paid prospecting workflow. So the useful question is not which company to trust. It is which of the company's own three levels matches the work you actually do, and the company answers much of that itself in a table on the FreeERISA page. We build FiduciarySignal, a competing product, so every fact below links to the page we read it on.

## Who runs FreeERISA and Judy Diamond?

FreeERISA's product page sits on judydiamond.com, appears in Judy Diamond's product menu next to Retirement Plan Prospector+, and carries the footer "© 2026 Touchpoint Markets," the same footer as the rest of the Judy Diamond site. The search itself now lives on a different domain: a request to www.freeerisa.com on 2026-10-05 returned a 301 redirect to freeerisa.benefitspro.com, and the FreeERISA page's sign-up buttons point there too. BenefitsPRO is one of the brands named when Arc announced its acquisition of Touchpoint Markets on 1 July 2025.

Sources: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (read 2026-10-05); direct HTTP request to www.freeerisa.com (301 to freeerisa.benefitspro.com, 2026-10-05); [Arc Acquires Touchpoint Markets](https://www.arc-network.com/arc-acquires-touchpoint-markets/) (as published 1 July 2025, read 2026-10-05).

## The three levels, from the company's own table

Under the heading "FreeERISA offers 3 levels of access," the FreeERISA page compares free FreeERISA, FreeERISA Deluxe and Retirement Plan Prospector+ row by row. We transcribed its check marks below and added the prices published elsewhere.

| Feature (row as published) | FreeERISA | FreeERISA Deluxe | Prospector+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free with registration | $59.95; billing period not published | $795 or $995 a year per state, $2,500 a year per region, $3,900 a year national; per user |
| Current Form 5500s, Top Hats and Form 5310 filings | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search by company name, state or ZIP | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter by plan type, total assets, total participants, or 5310 filed | — | Yes | Yes |
| Search by companies with potential rollovers | — | Yes | Yes |
| Look up non-qualified deferred compensation plans | — | Yes | Yes |
| 500+ searchable data elements | — | — | Yes |
| Red Flags, Detailed Plan Financials, Export Capabilities | — | — | Yes |
| Contact Information, Report Generation | — | — | Yes |
| Plan Score Card, benchmarking, talking points, marketing letters | — | — | Yes |
| Map-based insights, industry plan research | — | — | Yes |

Source: comparison table and Deluxe price on the [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/); Prospector+ prices from the [Judy Diamond store](https://store.judydiamond.com/prospector-plus/prospector.html) (as published, read 2026-10-05). Check marks are images on the page; we read them from the page's HTML.

One inconsistency worth knowing. The bullet at the top of the same page says Deluxe adds "more search tools plus access to 5310s and Top Hat filings for just $59.95," while the table checks the 5310 and Top Hat row for all three levels. Confirm inside the product which level you need for those filings before you pay. Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

## What FreeERISA covers for free

The free search is broad. In the page's words, FreeERISA "provides free access to all form 5500s filed with the Department of Labor over the past two years," covering "2.6 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Form 5500s, covering 1.3 million plans and 1 million plan sponsors." Plan types include "401K, pension, life, and health plans." It launched in 1999 and claims "625,000 registered users" across financial planning, insurance, legal and consulting. Free features listed on the page include ZIP code search, a dynamic name search and an Instant View of filings in your browser.

Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

## What Judy Diamond Prospector+ adds

Prospector+ is the paid workflow. Its page offers "800,000+ retirement plans using 500+ advanced search fields," Red Flags ("over a dozen plan characteristics that indicate possible problems in a plan's design or administration"), Detailed Plan Financials over one, three and five years, Plan Score Cards, performance-based benchmarking, pre-generated talking points, a dozen approach letters, a report builder, map-based insights and a CRM-friendly export of "plan data and contact information." A free trial is available by request form, scoped to a state you choose.

The store sells it per user: $995 a year for larger states like California or Texas, $795 a year for smaller ones like Wyoming or Alaska, $2,500 a year for a region, and $3,900 a year for the National Edition, listed at about 953,666 plans. The product page's pricing box separately says "Starting as low as $750 annually," which sits below the store's lowest state price, so confirm the figure you are quoted.

Source: [Prospector+ product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/retirement-plan-prospector/) and [Judy Diamond store](https://store.judydiamond.com/prospector-plus/prospector.html) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

## When free is enough, and when it is not

The truth is, plenty of advisors should never pay for this. If a sponsor's name comes up and you want to read the filing before Monday, FreeERISA does that at no cost, and the DOL publishes the full annual Form 5500 datasets for download on its [Form 5500 Datasets page](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/foia/form-5500-datasets), which it says are typically updated around the first of each month (read 2026-10-05).

Free runs out when prospecting becomes systematic. The company's own table draws the line where you would expect: the moment you want to filter a territory, score plans against peers, prepare a sponsor meeting or move contacts into a CRM, you are in Prospector+ territory. A two-year lookup window is also thin for trend work.

According to [Sharon Pivirotto of 401kbestpractices.com](https://401kbestpractices.com/cold-calling-tips/) (read 2026-10-05), "90% or more of all plans you're introduced to won't have a need," and "The typical sales cycle is 9 months in the small market and up to 2 years for larger plans."

That is the cost neither a free lookup nor a richer search removes on its own. Better data shows you more plans. It does not tell you which of them is about to act.

## A third option: FiduciarySignal

FiduciarySignal starts from the same public filings and asks a different question: which plans in your territory are most likely to change providers. Disclosure again: it is ours. The **401(k) Report Card** grades any plan from its own Form 5500 against comparable peers, with red flags and the provider roster. The **Change Predictor** ranks the plans in your territory by the likelihood of a provider change, back-tested against the next year's Form 5500 filings. It is strongest at the top of the list, which is where you should spend your calls; it is not a certainty about any one plan.

|  | FreeERISA | Judy Diamond Prospector+ | FiduciarySignal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Reading a filing you already have a name for | Territory research and sponsor-meeting prep | Deciding which plans to call first |
| History | Filings from the past two years | Plan financials over one, three and five years | Model trained on 8.9 million filings across ten years |
| Contacts | Not checked in the free column | Contact information and CRM export | The Form 5500 signer's contact details |
| Ranking | None published | Red Flags and Recommended Prospects | Ranked by likelihood of a provider change, strongest at the top |
| Price | Free; Deluxe $59.95 | $795 to $3,900 a year per user | FiduciarySignal: $90/month after a 7-day free trial, or $900/year |

Sources: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/), [Prospector+ product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/retirement-plan-prospector/) and [Judy Diamond store](https://store.judydiamond.com/prospector-plus/prospector.html) (as published, read 2026-10-05). FiduciarySignal terms are on [our pricing page](https://www.fiduciarysignal.com/pricing).

What FiduciarySignal does not do: it covers retirement plans, not health or life filings, and it does not surface 5310 or Top Hat filings. FiduciarySignal is not free; its monthly plan starts with a 7-day trial, and CSV exports come with the annual plan. It is built on public DOL EFAST2 data and is not affiliated with the Department of Labor.

## Which should you use?

Use **FreeERISA** for occasional, reactive lookups, or when you need health, life, 5310 or Top Hat filings. Move to **Judy Diamond Prospector+** when you want to work a whole state or region with filters, score cards, benchmarking, talking points and exports, at a price the store publishes. Add **FiduciarySignal** when the bottleneck is order rather than research: which plans in your territory to call this week, each with the reason and a ready outreach email attached.

## Related guides

- [FreeERISA: What It Covers, What Deluxe Costs, and When Free Runs Out](https://www.fiduciarysignal.com/alternatives/freeerisa)
- [Judy Diamond Associates: Prospector, Pricing, and a Fair Comparison](https://www.fiduciarysignal.com/alternatives/judy-diamond)
- [Form 5500 Search: The Free Tools, Step by Step — and the One Thing a Filing Can't Tell You](https://www.fiduciarysignal.com/tools/form-5500-search)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is FreeERISA owned by Judy Diamond?

FreeERISA is a Judy Diamond Associates product: its page sits on judydiamond.com, appears in the Judy Diamond product menu, and carries the same "© 2026 Touchpoint Markets" footer. The search now runs at freeerisa.benefitspro.com, where www.freeerisa.com redirects.

Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (read 2026-10-05) and a direct HTTP request to www.freeerisa.com (301 redirect, 2026-10-05).

### What is the difference between FreeERISA and Judy Diamond's Prospector+?

FreeERISA is a free search of the past two years of Form 5500 filings. Prospector+ is the paid prospecting product. The company's own table checks 500+ searchable data elements, Red Flags, plan financials, exports, contact information, score cards, benchmarking, talking points and marketing letters only for Prospector+.

Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

### How much does FreeERISA Deluxe cost?

The FreeERISA page lists Deluxe Search at $59.95. It does not say whether that is monthly, annual or one-time, so check inside the product before budgeting. Deluxe adds filters by plan type, assets and participants, a potential-rollover search and non-qualified deferred compensation lookups.

Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

### How much does Judy Diamond Prospector+ cost?

The Judy Diamond store lists single-user subscriptions at $795 or $995 a year per state, $2,500 a year per region and $3,900 a year for the National Edition. The product page also says "Starting as low as $750 annually." Confirm current terms before you buy.

Source: [Judy Diamond store](https://store.judydiamond.com/prospector-plus/prospector.html) and [Prospector+ product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/retirement-plan-prospector/) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

### Does FreeERISA include contact information and exports?

Its page says Form 5500 filings include "company contact information," but the comparison table checks the separate Contact Information and Export Capabilities features only for Prospector+, not for free FreeERISA or Deluxe.

Source: [FreeERISA product page](https://www.judydiamond.com/products/freeerisa/) (as published, read 2026-10-05).

### How much does FiduciarySignal cost?

FiduciarySignal is not free. FiduciarySignal's monthly plan costs $90 a month after a 7-day free trial; you put a card at checkout and the first charge lands on day 8. FiduciarySignal's annual plan is $900 a year, billed in full today, with no trial.

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