PlanOptica vs Judy Diamond
Judy Diamond pairs the free FreeERISA tier with paid RPP+ at $2-8k/yr. PlanOptica is $0 free, $39 Solo, $100 Team, with 29 prospect flags across retirement and welfare.
Judy Diamond Associates built the 5500 search category. 625,000 registered free users, 15 Red Flags that became industry shorthand, exec contacts on the paid tier. The free tier covers casual lookups. The paid RPP+ tier prices in the mid four figures with no step in between, and the UX dates to the 2010s. PlanOptica covers the same job at $39/mo with 29 flags (17 retirement + 12 welfare).
Judy Diamond vs PlanOptica
| Feature | Judy Diamond | PlanOptica |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Retirement + welfare (separate products) | Retirement + welfare (one login) |
| Prospect flags | 15 Red Flags | 29 (17 retirement + 12 welfare) |
| Pricing model | Freemium + RPP+ ($2-8k/yr) | Free / $39 Solo / $100 Team |
| Self-serve signup | Free yes; RPP+ via sales | |
| Modern UX | ||
| Ten-year history per plan | ||
| Peer benchmarks and percentiles | ||
| Custom analytics service |
Where PlanOptica differs from Judy Diamond
Seventeen retirement flags plus twelve welfare flags. Each flag links back to the filing line that triggered it. The Red Flag vocabulary set the bar; we extended it across both product lines.
Sign up, run a search, decide. The paid tier is not gated behind a demo or a quote. Monthly billing, cancel from the account page.
Form 5500 retirement filings and Schedule A welfare data on the same account. Follow a sponsor's full benefit stack without switching products.
Common questions
When does Judy Diamond still make sense?
If your team is already deep in RPP+ workflows and the institutional contact database is doing real work for you, the switching cost may not be worth it for a flag-count gain. The free FreeERISA tier also remains a useful tool for one-off lookups; we link out to it where the use case fits.
Can I migrate my saved searches?
No automatic import - the filter vocabularies are different. Email hello@planoptica.com with the searches that matter and we'll help recreate them as savable views on your account.
Why publish the price?
Pricing behind a sales call anchors procurement on a higher number and slows down the decision. We publish $39/mo so the question is whether the data is useful at that price, not whether you can negotiate.