Every platform, measured against the same benchmark.
Premiums, custody fees and settlement terms captured from each operator’s published tariff and public order pages and scored on four weighted inputs. No platform can pay for placement.
- 6
- Platforms tracked
- 1oz
- Benchmark order
- Quarterly
- Term re-check
- 4
- Weighted inputs
| Provider | Premium over Spot | Service Fee | Min. Purchase | Storage | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 BullionVault Zurich, London, New York, Toronto, Singapore | 0.50% comm. | 0.12% / yr | No stated minimum | Allocated | 9.4/10 | |
 The Royal Mint (DigiGold) Llantrisant, Wales — The Vault® | Quoted spread | 0.5% + VAT / yr | £25 | Allocated (fractional) | 8.8/10 | |
 BullionStar Singapore, New Zealand, United States | Product-dependent | 0.39% / yr | One product | Segregated vault | 8.5/10 | |
 Goldmoney Toronto, Zurich, London, Hong Kong, Singapore | 0.50% buy | 0.25% / yr | No stated minimum | Allocated | 8.8/10 | |
AP APMEX Oklahoma City, USA | ≈2%–4% | Optional storage | One product | Delivery or Citadel vault | 7.6/10 | |
 The Perth Mint Depository Perth, Western Australia | Depository spread | 0% unallocated | AUD 50 (online) | Unallocated or allocated | 8.2/10 |
- Premium
- 0.50% comm.
- Service fee
- 0.12% / yr
- Min. purchase
- No stated minimum
- Score
- 9.4/10
- Premium
- Quoted spread
- Service fee
- 0.5% + VAT / yr
- Min. purchase
- £25
- Score
- 8.8/10
- Premium
- Product-dependent
- Service fee
- 0.39% / yr
- Min. purchase
- One product
- Score
- 8.5/10
- Premium
- 0.50% buy
- Service fee
- 0.25% / yr
- Min. purchase
- No stated minimum
- Score
- 8.8/10
- Premium
- ≈2%–4%
- Service fee
- Optional storage
- Min. purchase
- One product
- Score
- 7.6/10
- Premium
- Depository spread
- Service fee
- 0% unallocated
- Min. purchase
- AUD 50 (online)
- Score
- 8.2/10
Best platform by buyer profile
BullionVault
0.5% dealing commission tiering down to 0.05% at high volume, and 0.12% a year custody including insurance on allocated metal in Zurich, London, New York, Toronto or Singapore.
The Royal Mint (DigiGold)
Metal held in a UK sovereign mint's own vault, from £25, with the option to convert a digital balance into deliverable Britannias or sovereigns. You pay 0.5% + VAT a year for that reassurance.
BullionStar
Named bars and coins in GST-exempt Singapore, with a live buy-back price published beside every listing and vault storage at 0.39% a year.
The Perth Mint Depository
No ongoing storage charge on unallocated holdings, backed by the Government of Western Australia — provided you accept a claim on the Mint rather than a numbered bar.
How we score
Premium over spot
The all-in markup a platform charges above the London reference price, sampled daily across a 1oz benchmark order including any payment surcharge.
Ongoing fees
Annual custody, insurance and platform charges, normalised to a percentage of holdings per year with monthly minimums modelled at a $5,000 balance.
Custody model
Whether metal is allocated and segregated in your name, pooled across clients, or a digital claim against a vault operator.
Settlement friction
What it costs to leave: withdrawal, fabrication, insured shipping and the distance between the platform's sell quote and its buy quote.
Glossary
- Spot
- The London reference price for immediate settlement of unallocated metal, quoted per troy ounce.
- Premium
- Everything you pay above spot: fabrication, distribution, dealer margin and scarcity.
- Allocated
- Specific numbered bars owned by you and held by a custodian, outside their balance sheet.
- Pooled
- A share of a larger holding, segregated from the operator's own metal but not identified by bar.
- Buy-back spread
- The gap between what a platform sells at and what it will pay you for the same metal.
- Fabrication fee
- The cost of converting a pooled or allocated claim into deliverable bars or coins.
Fee data freshness
Every figure below is hand-checked against the operator's own published tariff on a quarterly cycle. Anything older than 90 days is flagged in red — treat it as indicative and confirm on the dealer's site before transacting.
- BullionVaultFees verified 2026-07-29 (12d ago)
- The Royal Mint (DigiGold)Fees verified 2026-07-29 (12d ago)
- BullionStarFees verified 2026-07-29 (12d ago)
- GoldmoneyFees verified 2026-07-29 (12d ago)
- APMEXFees verified 2026-07-29 (12d ago)
- The Perth Mint DepositoryFees verified 2026-07-29 (12d ago)
Frequently asked
- What counts as the premium over spot?
- The full difference between the platform's buy price and the London reference price at the moment of capture, including payment surcharges, on a standard 1oz benchmark order.
- Why does the cheapest premium not always rank first?
- Premium is 40% of the score. A platform with a razor-thin premium but a high annual custody fee, weak allocation or a punitive buy-back will rank below a slightly dearer competitor for most holding periods.
- What is the difference between allocated, pooled and digital?
- Allocated means identified bars held in your name and bankruptcy-remote. Pooled means segregated in aggregate but not by serial number. Digital means a claim against a vault operator, settled in cash or metal at their discretion.
- How often are these figures refreshed?
- Spot prices are live. Dealer fee schedules are hand-checked against each operator’s published tariff on a quarterly cycle, and re-checked immediately when a platform announces a change. The verification date on every row tells you exactly when we last confirmed it.
- Do you earn a commission from these platforms?
- From some of them. It is disclosed on our methodology page and has no effect on scoring, ordering or inclusion.
- Which platform is right for a monthly saver?
- Usually one with no monthly minimum fee and a low bar premium. Model your own contribution in the savings-plan calculator before committing — the answer changes with account size.
Now model it against your own plan.
Enter your monthly contribution and horizon to see how each premium and storage fee compounds over the life of a savings plan.