BullionVault vs Goldmoney – Which is Best?

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Two names consistently come up when investors research online precious metals platforms: BullionVault and Goldmoney. Both let you buy, store, and sell physical gold and other metals without ever touching a bar yourself.

Both have been operating for over two decades combined. But they are built around different philosophies, charge fees in very different ways, and attract very different kinds of investors.

This comparison breaks down what each platform actually delivers – costs, security, usability, and the areas where one clearly pulls ahead.

Key Takeaways

• BullionVault's gold storage fee of 0.12% per year (minimum $4/month) is significantly cheaper than Goldmoney's $10/month minimum, which hurts smaller investors disproportionately.
• BullionVault holds over $9 billion in client assets across 130,000 users and carries a 4.7/5 Trustpilot rating; Goldmoney manages nearly $5 billion but has received widespread complaints about fee transparency and account closures.
• Goldmoney offers broader metal variety and additional services like jewelry manufacturing, while BullionVault focuses tightly on low-cost bullion trading with a live peer-to-peer order board.

Company Backgrounds

Goldmoney was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It is publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker XAU. The company has expanded well beyond basic bullion storage into jewelry manufacturing and wealth management services for high-net-worth clients.

It currently safeguards nearly $5 billion in precious metal assets for clients across more than 100 countries.

BullionVault launched in 2005 in London, founded by Paul Tustain, who passed away in 2025. It was built specifically to give private investors access to the professional bullion market the same wholesale tier that institutional buyers use.

 Today it manages over $9 billion in assets for more than 130,000 users in 175 countries. It is a full member of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and has won three Queen's Awards for Enterprise (2009, 2013, and 2022).

Metals Available

BullionVault covers gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. That covers the core of what most investors want, and the platform's order board provides deep liquidity in all four.

Goldmoney offers the same four metals and, historically, has also dabbled in rhodium and other niche metals through its network, making it slightly more attractive to investors who want to explore beyond the mainstream. 

For the overwhelming majority of buyers, though, this difference is academic.

Fee Structures: Where the Real Difference Lives

This is where the two platforms diverge most sharply, and the gap matters especially for anyone starting with a modest investment.

BullionVault Fees

• Trading commission: 0.5% maximum, falling to 0.05% once annual trades exceed $825,000
• Gold storage and insurance: 0.12% per year, billed monthly ($4/month minimum)
• Silver, platinum, palladium storage: 0.48% per year ($8/month minimum)
• Daily Price orders: flat 0.5% (plus 0.3% currency-switching fee for GBP/EUR/JPY orders)

Goldmoney Fees

• Buy/sell commission: 0.5% of the total transaction value
• Limited orders: 1% commission
• Metal exchange fee: 0.75% when switching between metals or vault locations
• Storage and insurance: 0.12%–0.216% per year depending on vault and metal, with a $10/month minimum
• Wire withdrawal fee: $25 for USD transfers (higher for CAD, AUD, NZD)

The minimum storage fee tells the clearest story. A $5,000 gold holding at BullionVault costs $48 per year to store (the $4/month minimum). The same holding at Goldmoney costs $120 per year (the $10/month minimum).

That is a 2.4% annual drag before a single trade is made. For Goldmoney's fees to become competitive on a percentage basis, a holding needs to exceed roughly $14,400.

Storage and Security

Both platforms store your metal in allocated form, meaning you own specific physical metal, not a claim against a pool. Neither platform lends out client metal.

BullionVault offers vault locations in Zurich, London, New York, Toronto, and Singapore. Zurich remains the most popular choice for international investors seeking geopolitical diversification.

Every vault is audited every working day and the results are published publicly – a daily audit that users can verify themselves at any time.

Goldmoney uses vaults in Canada (Royal Canadian Mint), Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and the UK. Vault operators include Brink's and Loomis International.

 Storage fees vary by location: the Hong Kong vault charges 0.12% annually for gold, while Singapore runs slightly higher at 0.15%. All holdings are insured through Lloyd's of London.

Physical delivery minimums are worth noting. BullionVault allows withdrawal of 100g gold bars, which is achievable for most serious retail investors. Goldmoney requires at least 1 kilogram of gold or 1,000 ounces of silver for physical delivery – a significantly higher bar.

Trading Platform and Usability

BullionVault runs a live peer-to-peer order board. Users post their own buy and sell prices, and trades happen when orders match. This creates genuine market competition and often results in tighter spreads than a platform that simply quotes fixed prices.

Trades are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. BullionVault also maintains roughly $40 million of its own inventory to ensure there is always liquidity available even when the order board is thin.

Goldmoney's interface is simpler. You see a buy price and a sell price, confirm the transaction, and it's done. There is no order board and no ability to name your own price.

The 5-minute confirmation window for locked-in prices is useful, but the overall experience is closer to a retail retail purchase than a market transaction. No mobile app is currently available, which is a notable gap compared to BullionVault's iOS and Android apps (rated 4.8 and 4.7 respectively).

For investors who want to trade actively or systematically, BullionVault's infrastructure is more capable.

For investors who just want to park money in gold with minimal fuss, Goldmoney's simplicity has genuine appeal,  provided the $10 minimum monthly fee is manageable relative to their holding size.

Customer Experience: The Reviews Tell a Clear Story

BullionVault holds a 4.7/5 rating on Trustpilot from over 3,298 reviews. Long-term users regularly cite the platform's stability, transparency, and straightforward support. One reviewer noted using the service for over a decade without a single significant issue.

Goldmoney's Trustpilot score of 4.0/5 from 2,093 reviews looks reasonable at first glance, but dig into the negative reviews and a pattern emerges.

Multiple customers report that Goldmoney unilaterally transferred their gold between vaults without consent, introduced fee increases after onboarding, and, in some cases, liquidated holdings when closing personal accounts.

One documented case involved a client who stored gold in a Singapore vault in 2017, only to have it moved to Toronto later without authorization, and then sold by the company in early 2025 just before a significant price run-up.

These are not isolated gripes – they point to structural issues around how Goldmoney treats its terms and conditions as a moving target.

Goldmoney's fee document was last updated on February 1, 2026, which confirms the company does actively revise its fee schedule. The minimum monthly storage fee of $10 was not always part of the structure – it was introduced after many early customers had already signed up.

Who Each Platform Actually Suits

BullionVault is the better fit for:

Goldmoney may suit:

The Gold Market Context: Why Fees Matter More Now

Gold crossed $3,000 per troy ounce in early 2025 and has continued to attract capital as a hedge against currency debasement and equity volatility.

At these price levels, even small percentage differences in fees compound meaningfully.

A $10,000 gold holding held for five years at BullionVault costs approximately $240 in storage over that period.

At Goldmoney, the same holding costs $600 over five years purely in minimum storage fees, before accounting for any trading commissions.

Central banks bought over 1,000 tonnes of gold in both 2022 and 2023, and retail buying has tracked that institutional demand.

 For individual investors entering the market now, platform costs are not a footnote they are a meaningful variable in long-term returns.