So you’re thinking about getting a will . . . That’s awesome! A will is the best way to make sure the people and stuff you care about most are protected when you die. And making an online will is a smart way to set up your legacy and save money.

There are a lot of online will makers out there—but they’re not all created equal. It can be hard to choose the right one for you. Is the cheapest option really the best value? Are there hidden fees? What if you need to update your will later? Is this even legal in your state?

We had the same questions. So, we asked them—and we got answers! In fact, we not only found answers, we also found . . .

The Six Best Online Will Makers of 2021

• Mama Bear Legal Forms
• Legal Zoom
• US Legal Wills
• Trust & Will
• Nolo
• Doyourownwill.com

1. Mama Bear Legal Forms

Price: $129–198

What You Get

Your online will comes with financial and medical power of attorney forms, an advanced health care directive, a HIPAA release, and a letter of instruction. You can choose the spousal package to get all those documents and a mirror will for your spouse too.

Why We Picked It

We’re big fans of Mama Bear Legal Forms because they do more than just sell wills. They want to teach you about wills and how to protect your family well with these legal documents. (Hence the name—the founders wanted to protect their kids like mama bears protecting their cubs).

Mama Bear gives you the exact legal forms you need—no pricey bells and whistles—and you get great coverage. The combination of a medical power of attorney form and an advanced health care directive means you’re covered in any major medical situation. And the letter of instruction lets you cover any special situations or wishes not in your will.

These forms are legally binding in all 50 states, plus Washington D.C. And they’re designed by an actual estate attorney, so you can feel confident that they’ll hold up when your family needs them most.

This online will also comes with free digital storage forever and free unlimited updates for six months after purchase. Plus, you get free tools to help make sure your will covers everything and get your family on board with your wishes.

Save 10% on your will with the RAMSEY10 promo code

We’ve vetted Mama Bear’s products and customer service inside and out, and we trust them to take care of our fans and our own team. That’s why Mama Bear earned our RamseyTrusted shield and the top spot on our best online will makers list.

What to Watch Out For

Mama Bear is in the mid- to upper-price range compared to other online will makers. We totally get why that might make you hesitate—hey, we teach people to live on a budget! That’s the key: As long as you budget for the price, you’ll be in good shape. Because ultimately, we want you to get a will that offers the best value and protects your family.

You can’t “try it before you buy it.” You’ll make a will after you purchase. But you can still preview a sample will for your state to help you feel confident in what you’re getting. 

One last thing: Mama Bear charges a small fee to update your will after the first six months. (It’s currently $29, which gets you six more months of unlimited updates). The good news is, it isn’t an annual fee—you just pay when you want to update, whether that’s one year or 10 years from now.

2. Legal Zoom

Price: $89–279

What You Get

You can get a basic will for yourself and your spouse—with the option to add separately priced documents like medical and financial power of attorney forms, living wills, or pet care agreements. Or you can get an estate planning package that includes two wills, financial power of attorney forms and living wills for you and your partner.

What We Like About It

So. Much. Legal. Advice. It’s hard to mess up your will when you’ve got lawyers at every turn. For $10, you can add two weeks of free legal questions to your basic will package. Or you can get an entire year of free legal advice with the estate planning package.

The timeframe to make free, unlimited updates depends on the package you choose. The basic package allows 30 days, and the estate planning package gives you a whole year. After that, you’ll have to buy a legal plan membership to get unlimited updates and digital storage. (Or you can skip the membership and pay per update.)

With Legal Zoom, you can make a basic will before you buy—and while you can’t do that with the estate planning package, you can preview sample documents. Plus, you can buy legally binding documents for any U.S. state or Washington D.C.

What to Watch Out For

Legal Zoom is the most expensive online will maker on our list. But it’s not just the up-front cost.

They automatically charge you for additional legal advice if you forget to cancel this feature after your free trial. It costs about $120 to $180 a year. Plus, there are limits to how much you can talk to their attorneys—so you can’t tie up their phones all day asking how to keep Uncle Richard out of your stuff when you die. (Just haunt him—that’s what we’d do.)

Then there’s the legal plan membership (which starts at $372 per year) and the cost to print and ship your documents. (Don’t worry—you can print them yourself to save money. The paid option is just if you want them on fancy paper.)

All that to say, plan for a more expensive experience if you decide to use Legal Zoom. But if you need a ton of legal advice, it could be worth the cost.

3. US Legal Wills

Price: $39.95 and up

What You Get

This is a true build-your-own tool. Each legal document is priced separately, and you can pick and choose which ones you want. Available documents include wills, financial and medical powers of attorney, and living wills.

What We Like About It

US Legal Wills is one of the only online will makers with international options for people who live in one country and have assets in another. It has wills that are valid in Canada (including Quebec), the U.K. and the U.S. So if you’re an expat, this is the online will for you!

It’s easy to customize your estate plans, since each document is priced separately. You can get only a will for yourself or add other legal forms for you and your spouse. You can even skip the will and just get a power of attorney form if that’s what you need.

US Legal Wills also does their best to help customers feel confident in their will: You can make a will before you buy it, opt into a one-time attorney review for $69, or take advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.

What to Watch Out For

When every legal document is priced separately, costs add up fast. Let’s say you buy the basic legal forms you need to protect yourself and your spouse: two wills, financial power of attorney forms, medical power of attorney forms and living wills. You’ll pay around $220 (about $110 for a single person).

So you can see how costs add up when you factor in the other crucial legal documents you need to protect yourself and your family. (And that’s not counting the expense of storing your documents online, since almost all of US Legal Wills’ digital storage options cost money.)

One last thing: US Legal Wills doesn’t offer legal documents in Louisiana. (It has to do with Louisiana’s legal code, which is pretty complicated.) So if you live there, you’ll have to make a will with a different company.

4. Trust & Will

Price: $89–159

What You Get

You can get a will, financial and medical power of attorney forms, an advanced health care directive, and a HIPAA release for you and your spouse. You’ll also get a form to write out wishes for your final arrangements, like where or how you want to be buried.

What We Like About It

Trust & Will’s customer service is on point. You can connect with them via live chat, phone or email, and their legal forms are easy to fill out and are legally binding documents for residents of all 50 states, plus Washington D.C.

You can make your will before you buy it, so you can see exactly what you’re getting. After you purchase, you’ll get free digital storage forever, free printing and shipping for your documents, and free unlimited updates for a year. (After that, you’ll pay an annual fee to access and update your will.)

You can also pay for a year of unlimited attorney support, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if your documents aren’t what you expected.

What to Watch Out For

Trust & Will website showcases two other products alongside wills: trusts and guardianship forms. So if you’re not careful, you could start off looking to buy a will and leave with a $399+ trust or a $40+ guardianship form.

The truth is, while a living trust can help handle assets in a few really complicated cases, most people don’t need one. (Pro tip: Unless your estate is worth multiple millions of dollars, you’re probably “most people.”) And a will can do the same thing for your kids as a guardianship form. So it’s important to make sure you’re choosing the product that’s right for you and your family and not paying for extras you don’t actually need.

There’s also the annual fee to update your documents after the first year. It’s just $12 a year, which doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. Over 10 years, you’ll pay an extra $120—almost the cost of buying a new will. So it’s worth considering whether you want to pay for round-the-clock access to a will you probably won’t need to update for several years.

5. Nolo

Price: $59.99–99.99

What You Get

Nolo offers a simple online will with no other documents. Or you can buy and download estate planning software for access to over 30 legal documents like wills, power of attorney forms and living wills.

What We Like About It

Whether you choose the basic will or the software, you can make legal forms for the whole family—spouse, kids and other household members—for free. So Nolo is definitely one of the most budget-conscious online will makers in our countdown.

With Nolo’s simple will, you can see a sample and make your will before you buy it. (The software doesn’t offer these features.) The nice thing about the software is that since you download and store it on your own device, you control the security of your information and you can store it for as long as you want.

What to Watch Out For

Once you make an online will with Nolo, your free digital storage only lasts for a year before either your will gets deleted or you have to re-purchase. And if you chose the downloadable option, Nolo recommends you purchase their new software release every year—which means the costs of all those annual updates will add up.

The software doesn’t let you preview or pre-make your documents—so it’s harder to know what you’re getting. And since the software comes with over 30 forms, it may be a little overwhelming. The truth is, you don’t need every form—you can pick and choose the ones you want. But that means you’re paying for extra forms you won’t use.

Nolo’s estate planning documents also aren’t valid in Louisiana. But if you live there, you can buy a $35 simple will form to cover the very basics in a pinch.

6. Doyourownwill.com

Price: Free

What You Get

With Doyourownwill.com, you’ll get nine estate planning documents, including your will, power of attorney forms, living will and more. 

What We Like About It

Well, for starters, it’s free! Who doesn’t like free stuff? And this build-your-own tool lets you pick and choose which legal documents you want without giving too many options.

If you’re wondering how getting this will for free works, here it is: Doyourownwill.com places ads for other companies’ products or services on their website and makes money when people buy those things. That could be annoying if you hate online ads, but if you’re determined, you can ignore them. (Or maybe you’ll finally see an ad for something you want!)

What to Watch Out For

You may be thinking, Hey, it’s free! What’s bad? To which we say, “Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘You get what you pay for?’” With free online will makers, you may not get the same quality of customer and legal support as when you buy a will.

Typically, if you buy a legal document, its maker has put in a lot of work to make sure your document will protect you and your family at every turn. Since free online will companies make their money from other sources (aka not you), they’re more likely to invest their energy where their money comes from.

Now, it’s totally possible to get high-quality service with a free online will maker. It’s just that it can be harder to feel confident in legal documents from a free service—and our number one goal is that you feel confident you’re getting a legally binding will that works for you and your family.

Our Choice for the Best Online Will Maker

You’ve seen all the online will makers on our list—the pros, the cons and the prices. But remember, we did pick a winner . . . Mama Bear! We chose them because they give you trustworthy service and the best value for your money. They give you the legal documents you really need to protect you, your family and your stuff—and they care about teaching you how to make the most of your legal documents. That’s why they give you so many free tools to help make an ironclad will.

And it’s why we rated Mama Bear’s online wills the best overall experience from start to finish. They’re the only online will maker we trust enough to recommend to our own team here at Ramsey Solutions and to the 18 million fans who listen to The Ramsey Show every week.

So if you’re ready to make a will and make it right, then we hope you’ll make it with our friends at Mama Bear. Get started right here.

Get Answers to Your Most Frequently Asked Wills Questions

What is an online will maker?

Just what it sounds like! It’s a tool that lets you make a legally binding will online—no expensive attorney fees needed.

How does an online will maker work?

It depends on the product you choose. Some online will makers let you download forms to fill out and store on your own computer or mobile device. Others have built a whole online platform that lets you make your will right on their website.

But when you get down to it, most online will makers work the same way. They’ll give you the right forms. You’ll fill them out, print them off, and then have them signed by a notary public and two witnesses to make them legal. That’s it—super easy!

But are online wills legitimate?

Yep! These companies do a ton of work to make sure their wills are legally binding and that your information is safe.

How much do online will makers cost?

Online will makers range from free to a few hundred dollars. We’ve compared the prices for the six best online will makers in this blog.

How did we choose the best online will makers?

We started with the most popular online will makers and evaluated them based on these seven things:

• Price—How much is it? Are there any hidden fees?
• Documents—Are there any other documents included?
• Validity—Is it legal anywhere in the U.S. or outside the U.S.?
• Transparency—Do you get to see what you’re buying before you buy it?
• Updates—Is it easy and cost-effective to change your will later if you need to?
• Storage—Can you print your will easily or store it safely in a digital format?
• Other features—Is there anything else about this will that makes it a good value?

How do you make your will legally binding?

First, print a copy of your will. Then, make an appointment with a notary public and two witnesses. You’ll all meet together (your spouse needs to be there too if you’re married). The notary public and the witnesses will read through your will and sign it to prove it’s valid. After that, store your will in a safe place and let your executor—the person who’s going to carry it out after you die—know where and how to find it.

Okay, I’m ready to make my will. How do I start?

Great! Now that you’re ready to protect your loved ones and your stuff (and get peace of mind) you’re just one click away from making your online will. Get started here.