Honest Comparison
RK Sterling vs RightCapital
RightCapital is well-regarded financial planning software with strong tax planning features. RK Sterling is an integrated AI platform where planning is one connected module. Here is an honest look at how they differ so you can decide what fits your firm.
Facts last verified 2026-07-02
The short version
Both are good products with different shapes. The right choice depends on your firm.
Choose RightCapital if…
- You want a dedicated planning tool with strong tax planning (Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing) at a published per-advisor price
- Client-friendly plan visuals and an interactive portal are central to how you present plans
- The rest of your stack (CRM, meetings, documents) is already settled
Choose RK Sterling if…
- You want One-Click Plans: AI drafts the complete plan (goals, assumptions, toggles, and scenarios) from household data, so building a plan takes a click and a review instead of hours of setup
- You want planning and tax analysis inside the same platform as your CRM, documents, meetings, and research
- You prefer one firm-level price with unlimited team members over per-advisor licenses
What is RightCapital?
RightCapital, founded in 2015, is cloud-based financial planning software for advisors. It covers retirement planning with Monte Carlo analysis, insurance and estate planning, student loan strategies, and budgeting, and is particularly noted for its tax planning features: Roth conversion modeling, tax-efficient withdrawal strategies, and its Tax Analyzer. Its client portal, Blueprint household visualization, and one-page Snapshot summaries are designed to make plans easy for clients to understand.
The product line also includes RightFlows (workflow automation), RightIntel (business intelligence), RightPay (billing), and RightExpress (quick single-topic prospect plans). In June 2026 it launched Iris, an AI planning agent that reviews client profiles for gaps and runs planning analyses, with outputs constrained to RightCapital's own calculation engine. It integrates with CRMs (Redtail, Wealthbox), custodians, portfolio platforms, and meeting tools including Jump and Zocks.
RightCapital publishes per-advisor pricing from $149.95 to $254.95 per advisor per month depending on tier, with a first-year annual commitment. It is planning software by scope: not a CRM of record, meeting notetaker, document management system, or practice-wide AI platform.
What is RK Sterling?
RK Sterling shares RightCapital's instinct that tax-aware planning is where advisors add visible value, but it automates the construction of the plan itself. Sterling's One-Click Plans have AI draft the complete plan from data already in the platform: modeling goals, assumptions, toggles, and scenarios are built out automatically, so the advisor's job starts at review and refinement rather than data entry. Hours of plan setup become a single click, and the result connects directly to the CRM record, documents, meeting notes, and client-ready content.
RK Sterling is an integrated AI platform for financial advisors, founded in 2025 and based in Denver, Colorado. Rather than assembling a stack of separate tools for planning, CRM, meeting notes, email, and documents, Sterling combines them in a single platform where every feature works from the same household data.
The platform includes an Advice Engine that surfaces client-specific opportunities, advice management, financial planning with One-Click Plans (AI drafts the complete plan with goals, toggles, and scenarios for advisor review), tax analysis, AI-powered research with full household context, a CRM with workflows, workspaces, and tasks, document storage with automatic PII redaction, fact extraction from documents, an AI notetaker, AI email, one-click content creation, and a Claude MCP connector.
Sterling is priced per firm based on active client households, never per seat, with unlimited team members on every plan. AI features are usage-based, so firms pay for what they use. Client data is protected by automatic PII detection and removal before any AI processing, with audit logs for SEC examinations.
Feature comparison
Based on publicly available product information as of 2026-07-02. A dash means the capability exists with limits; see the notes below the table.
| Feature | RK Sterling | RightCapital |
|---|---|---|
| Advice Engine | ||
| Advice Management | ||
| Financial Planning | ||
| Tax Analysis | ||
| Workflows | ||
| Workspaces | ||
| CRM | ||
| Tasks | ||
| Document Storage | ||
| AI Notetaker | ||
| AI Email | ||
| AI-Powered Research | ||
| Claude MCP Connector |
- Financial Planning: Retirement, insurance, estate, and education planning with Monte Carlo analysis
- Financial Planning (Sterling): One-Click Plans: AI builds goals, toggles, and scenarios from household data
- Tax Analysis: Roth conversion modeling, withdrawal sequencing, Tax Analyzer
- Workflows: RightFlows, on the Platinum tier
- Document Storage: Client portal Vault
- AI-Powered Research: Iris AI planning agent (2026), scoped to planning analyses
Pricing comparison
RightCapital
Published pricing, as of July 2026
- Basic: $149.95 per advisor/month
- Premium: $209.95 per advisor/month (adds aggregation, Tax Analyzer, Iris AI, RightIntel)
- Platinum: $254.95 per advisor/month (adds RightFlows, team collaboration)
- Enterprise: contact sales; assistants $40/month; first-year annual commitment
As published on rightcapital.com/pricing. Verify current pricing with the vendor.
RK Sterling
Per firm, by active households. Never per seat.
- Starter: free for up to 3 active households
- Tier 1: $195/month per firm, up to 100 households
- Tier 2: $495/month per firm, up to 500 households
- Tier 3: $995/month per firm, up to 1,000 households
- Enterprise: custom pricing above 1,000 households
- Unlimited team members on every plan, with no per-seat fees
- AI features are usage-based; every new firm starts with 100 free credits
A worked example
A four-advisor firm on RightCapital Premium pays about $840/month ($209.95 × 4) for planning software. RK Sterling Tier 1 is $195/month for the whole firm (up to 100 households) covering planning plus CRM, documents, notetaker, email, and research, with AI usage billed separately. The scopes differ: RightCapital is a deeper dedicated planning tool, while Sterling covers the full practice workflow. The pricing models differ too: per advisor versus per firm.
Where RightCapital is the better fit
- You want a mature, dedicated planning engine with a decade of refinement, especially for tax-aware retirement income planning
- Interactive client-facing plan visuals (Blueprint, Snapshot) are how you like to present
- You want planning-scoped AI whose outputs are constrained to a deterministic calculation engine
Where RK Sterling is the better fit
- Plan-building speed is the bottleneck: Sterling's One-Click Plans draft the entire model (goals, assumptions, toggles, scenarios) from data the platform already holds, turning hours of setup per plan into a review pass
- You want plans, tax insights, meetings, documents, and CRM in one system that shares household data
- Per-firm pricing with unlimited team members fits your growth better than per-advisor licenses
Frequently asked questions
Is RK Sterling an alternative to RightCapital?
For financial planning and tax analysis, yes. Sterling includes both as part of an integrated advisor platform. RightCapital is a dedicated planning tool with strong tax planning features and client-friendly visuals; Sterling trades that single-tool depth for an integrated platform covering CRM, documents, meetings, research, and advice workflow at one firm-level price.
How does RK Sterling pricing compare to RightCapital?
RightCapital publishes per-advisor pricing from $149.95 to $254.95 per advisor per month (as of July 2026). Sterling is priced per firm: free up to 3 households, $195/month up to 100 households, with unlimited team members and usage-based AI. For multi-advisor firms the models diverge quickly.
Does RightCapital include a CRM or meeting notetaker?
No. It integrates with CRMs like Redtail and Wealthbox and meeting tools like Jump and Zocks rather than providing them. RK Sterling includes CRM, workflows, an AI notetaker, and AI email natively.
Both have AI features. How do they differ?
RightCapital's Iris (launched June 2026) is a planning-focused AI agent that reviews client profiles for gaps and runs analyses, with outputs constrained to its calculation engine. Sterling's One-Click Plans go a step further on plan construction: AI drafts the complete plan (modeling goals, assumptions, toggles, and scenarios) from household data the platform already holds, and the advisor reviews and refines from there. Sterling also applies AI across the rest of the practice: household-context research, an advice engine, meeting notes, drafted emails, and content creation, all with automatic PII redaction before any AI processing.
Can I use RK Sterling and RightCapital together?
Yes. Some firms keep a dedicated planning tool while using Sterling for CRM, documents, meetings, research, and advice workflow. You do not have to replace everything at once.
See Sterling for yourself
Start free with your first households, no credit card required, and compare it against RightCapital on your own real workflow.
RightCapital is a trademark of its respective owner, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse RK Sterling. This comparison is based on publicly available information, including RightCapital's own website and product documentation, as of 2026-07-02. Products and pricing change; verify current details with each vendor. If you spot an inaccuracy, email info@rksterling.com and we will correct it promptly.