Keystone Binder vs. Everplans
A $24 one-time PDF binder compared to Everplans' subscription document vault: pricing, where your data actually lives, and what happens if you stop paying.
Everplans is a cloud-based vault: you store documents, account info, and instructions in their system, and can grant "deputies" (trusted people) ongoing access. It's a reasonable product for what it does. The difference from Keystone Binder isn't features so much as where your information physically lives, and what happens to it over time.
Everplans' free tier caps out at 10 stored items; the paid Premium tier runs $99.99/year for unlimited storage, deputies, and 5GB of document space. That's an ongoing relationship with a company, not a one-time task you finish and file away.
| Keystone Binder | Everplans | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24, once | Free tier (10 items) or $99.99/year |
| Where your answers live | Nowhere but the PDF you download | Everplans' cloud servers |
| If you stop paying, or they shut down | Your binder still opens and prints: it's a standard PDF | Your account and everything in it becomes inaccessible |
| Document storage | Pointers to where originals are kept, not the files themselves | Actual document uploads/scans, up to 5GB |
| Multi-person access | Anyone with the PDF has it: no accounts to manage | "Deputies" you grant access to individually |
Where Everplans genuinely has an edge
Where Everplans genuinely does more: it stores real files (scanned documents, photos) in the cloud and gives specific people ongoing, revocable access without needing the physical PDF. If you want an actual document vault rather than an index that points to where things are kept, that's a real reason to consider it. The trade is that value depends on the account staying funded and the company staying in business, indefinitely.