If you’ve been comparing digital legacy tools, you’ve probably run into Trustworthy. It markets itself as “The Family Operating System,” and that phrase is a useful clue: it’s built primarily for organizing your household’s documents and information while you’re alive, with legacy access as one feature among many rather than the core design goal.
Eternal Vault is built the other way around. Legacy access, what happens when you stop checking in, is the entire premise, and everything else (encryption model, storage, trusted contacts) is designed around that single job.
Quick disclosure: I built Eternal Vault, so this isn’t a neutral third-party review. I’ve done my best to represent Trustworthy accurately using its own published pricing, security, and help pages, all linked below.
Two different primary jobs
Trustworthy is, by its own description, a household information hub. It helps families upload, organize, and automatically categorize documents like insurance policies, tax records, warranties, and estate paperwork, and it’s built for ongoing collaboration between family members and outside professionals like financial advisors and CPAs (Trustworthy for Advisors). You use it constantly, not just in an emergency.
Eternal Vault isn’t trying to be your everyday filing cabinet. It’s a purpose-built vault for the specific scenario of you becoming unreachable, whether through incapacity or death, and needing a verified, cryptographically enforced way to hand critical information to the right people without anyone (including us) being able to peek in the meantime.
Neither framing is wrong. They’re answering different questions: “How do I keep my family’s paperwork organized this year?” versus “What happens to my most sensitive information if I can’t check in anymore?”
Encryption and trust model: what’s actually verifiable
This is the part worth reading carefully, because the marketing language on both sides can sound similar even when the underlying architecture isn’t.
Trustworthy uses AES-256 encryption, with a key “derived from information unique to your account, combined with your device passcode, which only you know.” But its own security page also states that even in the event of a breach, an attacker “would need access to Trustworthy encryption keys to decrypt” member data (Trustworthy Security). That second statement is the important one: it means Trustworthy holds encryption keys capable of decrypting your data. Trustworthy also uses tokenization to strip especially sensitive fields out of its database entirely, which is a real and meaningful security control, but it’s a different guarantee than zero-knowledge encryption. Trustworthy has also achieved SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 certification and states HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA compliance, which are legitimate, independently audited claims worth crediting.
Eternal Vault encrypts everything client-side, in your browser, before it’s ever transmitted. The master key never leaves your device, and Eternal Vault has no server-side key that could decrypt your vault, whether under a breach, a legal order, or an internal mistake. You can read the technical details on the security model page.
If you’re comfortable with a company holding decryption keys under strict, audited internal controls, Trustworthy’s model is a legitimate, well-certified approach. If you want a system with no technical path to your data outside your own device and your designated trusted contacts, that’s a structural difference no amount of certification changes.
What actually happens when the account owner dies
This is where the “everyday tool with a legacy feature” versus “legacy-first tool” distinction shows up most concretely.
Trustworthy’s process: You designate Legacy Access Collaborators in advance. While you’re alive, those contacts simply confirm their own contact information once a year through a one-click email; nothing about your status is being checked. When someone believes it’s time to access your account, they submit a request through Trustworthy’s support platform, upload a government-issued ID, and upload a copy of the death certificate. Trustworthy’s team then reviews and validates the documents manually before granting full account access (Trustworthy Legacy Access). In other words, a human has to already know you’ve died, obtain a death certificate, and initiate the process themselves.
Eternal Vault’s process: You set up automated heartbeats, check-ins confirmed manually, via API, or through a connected Google Fit account, and configure an Inactivity Threshold that defines how long you can go quiet before something is treated as a signal. If you miss check-ins past that threshold, a verified Legacy Access process begins for your trusted contacts. The vault’s decryption key is split across those verified contacts using Shamir’s Secret Sharing, so no single contact, and no one at Eternal Vault, can unlock it alone; access requires the threshold combination of contacts to verify their identity and act together. You can safely test the entire flow using a Practice Run, and if a check-in is missed by accident, there’s a recovery window before anything escalates.
The practical difference: Trustworthy’s model assumes someone already knows you’ve died and has a death certificate in hand. Eternal Vault’s model is designed to work even if you live alone, have no one checking on you daily, or become incapacitated in a way that never produces a death certificate in the near term.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Category | Eternal Vault | Trustworthy |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Zero-knowledge vault for legacy access | Family Operating System for everyday household document management |
| Encryption model | Client-side, zero-knowledge; master key never leaves your device | AES-256 with account/device-derived keys held by Trustworthy; tokenization for sensitive fields (source) |
| Emergency access mechanism | Shamir’s Secret Sharing across verified trusted contacts; no single party can unlock alone | Legacy Access Collaborators submit ID and death certificate for manual staff review (source) |
| Life monitoring | Automated heartbeats: manual check-in, API, or Google Fit; configurable Inactivity Threshold; Practice Run available | Annual one-click contact-info verification for legacy contacts; no automated inactivity detection published |
| Document storage | Encrypted upload, or bring-your-own-storage via Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box | Centralized storage on Trustworthy’s platform; 2 GB on Free, unlimited on paid tiers (source) |
| Pricing model | Free plan; paid Individual and Family plans, monthly or one-time lifetime (see pricing) | Free tier ($0); Silver $10/mo, Gold $20/mo, Platinum $40/mo, billed annually, as of July 2026 (source) |
| Collaboration | Trusted contacts with identity verification and configurable access levels | Multi-user household collaboration plus advisor/CPA access with granular permissions (source) |
| Certifications | Client-side encryption architecture (see security) | SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA compliance claims (source) |
Where Trustworthy is genuinely stronger
It would be misleading to frame this as a one-sided comparison.
Trustworthy has raised $19.7M, including a $15M Series A led by Valor Siren Ventures, and has been operating since 2019 with a full team, iOS and Android apps, and an advisor-facing product used by financial planning firms (FinSMEs). That funding and headcount show up in day-to-day polish: automatic document categorization, mobile offline mode, a marketplace of household service discounts, and dedicated concierge support on its Platinum tier. If you want a tool the whole family actually opens every month to manage bills and warranties, not just something that sits quietly waiting for an emergency, Trustworthy’s day-to-day utility is real and Eternal Vault doesn’t try to compete with it there.
Trustworthy’s SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 certifications are also independently audited, which is worth crediting directly. And its advisor ecosystem, letting financial advisors and CPAs collaborate inside a client’s account with granular permissions, is a more mature, purpose-built professional workflow than anything Eternal Vault currently offers.
Eternal Vault, by comparison, is built and maintained by an independent developer (me). That means fast iteration and direct access to the person building it, but a shorter track record and smaller team than a venture-funded company with SOC 2 audits and a multi-year advisor product.
Which should you choose?
Choose Trustworthy if you want a tool your family uses regularly to organize household paperwork, you’re comfortable with a company holding encryption keys under audited internal controls, and you want a mature advisor-collaboration workflow for financial professionals.
Choose Eternal Vault if legacy access, not day-to-day document organizing, is the actual problem you’re solving, you want encryption where no one but you can technically read your data, and you’d rather have automated inactivity detection than depend on a family member already knowing you’ve died and having a death certificate ready.
For some households, using both isn’t redundant: Trustworthy for the everyday admin, Eternal Vault for the specific sensitive material you want under zero-knowledge encryption with automated monitoring. If you want a wider view of the market first, our roundup of the best digital legacy planning tools in 2026 covers more options, and our comparison with Everplans looks at a more directly comparable legacy-focused competitor.
If you’re not sure where your own setup currently stands, the free digital legacy assessment takes a few minutes and shows you exactly what gaps exist today, regardless of which platform you choose.
Ready to see the zero-knowledge model in action? Create your free Eternal Vault account and set up your first heartbeat in a few minutes.
This post reflects publicly available information about Trustworthy as of July 2026. Trustworthy’s features and pricing may change; check their site directly for current details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Trustworthy zero-knowledge encrypted?
No. Trustworthy encrypts data with AES-256 using a key derived from account and device information, but the company itself holds and manages the encryption keys. Its security page states that even in a breach, an attacker would need Trustworthy's own encryption keys to decrypt member data, which means Trustworthy has the technical ability to access that data, unlike zero-knowledge systems where the provider never holds a usable key. Eternal Vault encrypts client-side, and the master key never leaves your device.
What happens to a Trustworthy account when the owner dies?
A designated Legacy Access Collaborator submits a request through Trustworthy's support platform, provides a government-issued ID, and uploads a copy of the death certificate. Trustworthy's team reviews and validates the documents before granting full account access. Until that point, legacy contacts simply confirm their contact details once a year via a one-click email; there's no automated system detecting that the account owner has actually passed away.
Can I use Trustworthy and Eternal Vault together?
Yes, and it's a reasonable setup for some households. You could use Trustworthy day-to-day for organizing bills, warranties, and household admin with your family, while using Eternal Vault specifically for the sensitive material you want under zero-knowledge encryption with automated inactivity detection, like passwords, financial account details, and final instructions. They solve different primary problems, so overlap isn't necessarily redundant.
Does Trustworthy monitor whether the account owner is still alive?
Not automatically. Trustworthy's legacy contacts verify their own contact information annually, but there's no published system that detects the account owner's inactivity or confirms they're still living. Access after death depends on a legacy contact initiating a request and submitting a death certificate. Eternal Vault instead uses automated heartbeat check-ins and a configurable Inactivity Threshold to detect when something may be wrong, without requiring anyone to already know a death has occurred.
Is Trustworthy SOC 2 compliant?
Yes. Trustworthy states it has achieved SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 certification, along with HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA compliance claims on its security page. These are legitimate, verifiable certifications and a genuine strength of the platform, independent of the encryption model question.
Keep Reading
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