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Augusta Precious Metals vs Goldco: Which One Will Actually Take Your Account

By the Metals Retirement research desk  ·  Published 26 July 2026  ·   ·  How we research

Short answer. Start with the minimum, because it decides the question before anything else does. Augusta requires $50,000 for an IRA. Goldco requires $25,000 for an IRA, or $3,500 for an ordinary purchase outside a retirement account.

So below $25,000 neither will open an IRA for you. Between $25,000 and $50,000 only Goldco is available. Above $50,000 both are, and then the comparison moves to fees, storage and the spread.

What are you moving?

The amount decides which providers are even open to you. We will tell you if the answer is neither.

Side by side

Minimums are published by the providers and consistently reported. The remaining rows we only fill in from a written schedule supplied by the provider, and where we do not have one we say so and give you the question to ask instead. A stale fee figure is worse than an empty row, because you would negotiate against it.

If your balance is under $25,000

We would rather say this plainly than route you somewhere that does not want you. Below $25,000 neither of these providers opens a metals IRA, and that is not the only reason to pause.

The costs of a metals IRA are largely fixed. Administration and storage are charged annually whether or not the metal appreciates, and on a small balance those fixed charges are a meaningful percentage of the account every single year. That is precisely why providers set minimums in the first place. It is not gatekeeping, it is arithmetic.

If you want exposure to silver at that account size, the ordinary options do not carry storage fees, and Goldco's $3,500 non-IRA minimum is a separate route that does not involve a retirement account at all. Which of those suits you is a question for someone who can see your whole position, and it is not one this page can answer.

What decides your outcome, and it is not the rating

Review sites in this industry, including this one, are usually paid when a reader signs up. That is disclosed at the foot of this page. It also means a star rating is the least useful number on any comparison page, because it is the one most easily shaped by who is paying. Three figures matter more.

First The spread, not the fee schedule

Administration and storage are usually a few hundred dollars a year. The dealer's margin between the price you pay and the price you would be paid for the identical product is frequently a multiple of that, charged once but on the whole balance. Ask each provider for the buy price and the same-day sell price on one specific coin. The gap is your real entry cost, and a provider that will not answer has told you something.

Second Flat or percentage storage, over your holding period

At opening these look similar. Over twenty years a percentage fee charged on a growing balance overtakes a flat fee comfortably, and it is levied on an asset that produces no income to pay it from. Run both structures against the balance you actually expect on our storage cost calculator.

Third Who actually holds the metal

Neither of these companies is your custodian. They are dealers. A separate trust company administers the account and a separate depository stores the metal. Get both names in writing and check the custodian against the IRS list, which takes two minutes and is explained on our custodians page.

How we compare providers

So you can see the method rather than take the ranking on faith.

  1. Published terms only

    Minimums, fees and policies come from the provider's own published material or a written schedule they supply. We do not reconstruct figures from other review sites, because that is how a wrong number propagates for years.

  2. Empty beats invented

    Where we do not have a figure in writing, the row stays empty and we give you the question to ask. Every filled row carries the date we verified it.

  3. The same questions for everyone

    Each provider is assessed on the same rows, including the awkward ones such as whether they will put the spread in writing.

  4. Compensation is disclosed and does not move the ranking

    We are paid on referral. The minimums, the fee structures and the drawbacks are what they are, and no provider gets a softer treatment for being a partner. Our standards page sets out what that money does and does not buy.

Questions people ask

Which of the two is better?

For most readers the question answers itself on the minimum, because below $50,000 only one of them is available. Above that, the deciding factors are the spread and the storage structure, and those are provider quotes rather than fixed facts, so get both in writing and compare them on your own number.

Can I use both?

There is nothing stopping you holding more than one IRA with different providers, though you would then pay two sets of fixed annual fees on two smaller balances, which usually works against you.

Are the ratings on other comparison sites reliable?

Treat them as a starting point. Most such sites, including this one, earn a referral fee, and very few publish the method behind the score. Ask yourself which figures the ranking is actually built on.

Does a higher minimum mean a better service?

Not inherently. A higher minimum tells you who the provider wants as a customer, not how well it treats them. Judge the terms rather than the threshold.

What if a provider will not give me the spread?

That is itself the answer to your question. The spread is knowable, they know it, and declining to state it in writing on a specific product is a choice.

Compensation disclosure. Metals Retirement may receive a referral fee if you open an account with a provider listed on this page, at no additional cost to you. We are not a broker, dealer, custodian, law firm or investment adviser, and nothing here is investment, legal or tax advice. Account minimums shown are the providers' published figures as at the date above and can change without notice, so confirm current terms directly. Empty rows mean we do not hold a written figure, not that no fee applies. Last reviewed 26 July 2026.