Heritkey vs. Everplans and GoodTrust: zero-knowledge digital inheritance vs. unencrypted estate portals

3 November 2026 · 5 min read

If you search for a digital estate planning tool to organize your accounts and instructions for your family, three names frequently come up alongside Trustworthy: Everplans, GoodTrust, and Heritkey. While all three aim to help your family after an emergency, they are built on completely different security models and pricing structures.

Heritkey vs. Everplans vs. GoodTrust: side-by-side comparison

Lock in the $3.99/month early-access price →Or $74.99 once for life. Your heirs never pay. Waitlist members keep the launch price.

1. The encryption gap: why server-held keys aren't safe for master passwords

Both Everplans and GoodTrust advertise "bank-level AES-256 encryption." As with Trustworthy, that means your files are encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest on their cloud servers — while the company holds the decryption keys so their web apps, customer support workflows, and document previews can read your uploads.

That architecture is acceptable if you are only storing funeral preferences, pet care notes, or a list of which insurance companies you use. It is a major security risk if you want to leave your family what they actually need to settle your affairs:

• Your 1Password or Bitwarden master password and Secret Key
• Your 2FA backup recovery codes and iPhone passcode
• Your crypto wallet seed phrases and PINs

In Heritkey, every note, password, instruction, and document is encrypted in your browser with AES-256-GCM before it leaves your device (how Heritkey works). Our servers store only encrypted ciphertext and never possess the key to read your vault.

2. How your family actually gets access when an emergency happens

Look closely at how Everplans and GoodTrust grant access to your family ("Deputies" or "Trusted Contacts"):

• If you grant immediate access today: Your beneficiaries receive an email invite, have to create an account right now, and can read whatever sections you shared while you are still alive and healthy.
• If you choose "After my death" release: Your grieving family has to contact the company and submit an official death certificate — which means the vault is completely useless if you are unconscious or hospitalized in the ICU for three weeks and your spouse needs to pay the mortgage or check insurance policies!

Heritkey solves both problems with an automated dead-man's switch:

1. While you are healthy, you tap a quick check-in confirmation at the interval you choose (for example, once a month). Nobody else can see a single word of your vault.
2. If you pass away or are incapacitated in the hospital, Heritkey sends multiple reminders across your email and SMS during a grace period.
3. Only if you still do not respond does Heritkey automatically deliver the decryption access to your designated beneficiaries — with zero death-certificate red tape.

3. Why estate planning shouldn't require a $90/year subscription for 40 years

A digital inheritance plan only does its job decades from now. If an app charges $80 to $100 every year, two things happen: either you end up paying $2,000+ over 25 years for a digital folder, or you get tired of the annual renewal bill, cancel the subscription five years from now, and leave your family with nothing when an emergency finally happens.

That is why Heritkey offers a simple one-time $74.99 lifetime plan alongside a $3.99/month option. You set up your vault once, pay once, and keep your family protected for life.

Skip the $90/year recurring fees and server-held keys. Join the Heritkey early-access list and lock in $3.99/month or $74.99 once for life.