# Vanilla for banks: pricing, customers, review

Source: https://www.bankingnewsai.com/vendors/vanilla
Last updated: Sep 24, 2026

*Sells wealth management firms, advisors and trust companies software that turns estate documents into diagrams, summaries and projections, with AI (VAI) that reads trusts and wills and cites the page behind each answer; in 2026 it began extending VAI into agents that scan an advisor's whole client book.*

## What is Vanilla, and which banks use it?

Vanilla is a private estate planning software company, founded in 2019 by advisor Steve Lockshin and based in Bellevue, Washington, backed by Insight Partners, Venrock and Vanguard. Its AI reads and summarizes wills and trusts for wealth advisors and trust officers, citing the source page. Among our 100 banks, BOK Financial's Advisor Trust Services team uses Vanilla for trust-document review, per an August 2026 case study. Vanilla publishes prices only for Starter, from $99 a month, which excludes its AI features.

## At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Category | [Document AI](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-tools/document-ai) |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Headquarters | Bellevue, Washington, US |
| Ownership | Private and venture-backed: Venrock led the 2021 Series A and Insight Partners led a $30 million Series B (2022) and a $35 million round (2024), with Vanguard, Edward Jones Ventures, Nationwide and Allianz as strategic investors; Vanilla said it had raised more than $85 million by October 2024. No valuation disclosed. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-series-b), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-funding-round)) |
| Ticker | private |
| Deployment | SaaS web platform for advisors, planners and trust officers; Vanilla Safe on mobile and web |
| Pricing model | Subscriptions: Vanilla Starter (no AI features) on an annual subscription by number of clients, payable monthly or yearly; Advanced, Expert and Enterprise licences priced per user and quoted by sales |
| Banks among the 100 largest US banks | 1 |

## Products

| Product | What it does | Status | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Vanilla Advisor (Advanced and Expert) | Estate visualizations, PDF reports, document creation, balance sheet and integrations, projections, Vanilla Scenarios and VAI summaries and copilot; Expert adds Estate Builder and AI-assisted abstractions. | Generally available | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/pricing) |
| Vanilla Enterprise | For firms with central planning teams: team segmentation, roles and permissions, planner workflows and enterprise support. | Generally available | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/pricing) |
| Trust document review for trust companies | AI reviews that run a firm's synoptic template against a trust document, cite each answer to its page, and keep an audit trail, plus a VAI copilot for document Q&A. | Generally available | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/trust-companies), [Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster) |
| Vanilla Starter | Document creation (wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives), Estate Health Check and calculators for advisors new to estate planning, on published monthly or annual prices. | Generally available | [Vanilla](https://justvanilla.com/starter/plans) |
| Vanilla Safe | Household access to key documents, contacts and emergency guidance, enabled by the advisor at no additional cost; launched in beta in August 2026. | Beta | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/introducing-vanilla-safe) |
| Agentic VAI | Agents that read documents to onboard clients, build client profiles, catch discrepancies and flag planning opportunities across an advisor's whole book; previewed September 2026 with general availability planned later in 2026. | Announced | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning) |

## How much does Vanilla cost?

How it is charged: Subscriptions: Vanilla Starter (no AI features) on an annual subscription by number of clients, payable monthly or yearly; Advanced, Expert and Enterprise licences priced per user and quoted by sales.

| Product | Plan | List price | Unit | Checked | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Vanilla Starter (self-service; excludes Vanilla's AI features) | 10 Clients | $99 per month (or $995 per year) | annual subscription, payable monthly or yearly | Sep 24, 2026 | [Vanilla](https://justvanilla.com/starter/plans) |
| Vanilla Starter (self-service; excludes Vanilla's AI features) | 25 Clients | $159 per month (or $1,595 per year) | annual subscription, payable monthly or yearly | Sep 24, 2026 | [Vanilla](https://justvanilla.com/starter/plans) |
| Vanilla Starter (self-service; excludes Vanilla's AI features) | 50 Clients | $199 per month (or $1,995 per year) | annual subscription, payable monthly or yearly | Sep 24, 2026 | [Vanilla](https://justvanilla.com/starter/plans) |

Pricing for Vanilla's AI features is not published. Only Vanilla Starter, aimed at solo and small advisory practices, has published prices, and Vanilla says Starter 'does not include AI-powered features'; the Advanced, Expert and Enterprise licences (priced per user) and trust-company document review are quoted by Vanilla's sales team.

## Which banks use Vanilla?

| Bank | What | Status | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [BOK Financial Corporation](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks/bok-financial) | AI trust-document review for BOK Financial's Advisor Trust Services team, using custom prompts for its synoptic and trust reviews; the team reports saving about four hours on an initial review (Vanilla case study). | In production | [Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster) |

Among the [100 largest US banks](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/banks) on this site, from sources that name the bank.

## Flagship platform: Vanilla estate planning platform with VAI

Estate visualizations, projections, scenarios and document creation for advisors, plus VAI summaries and a copilot for document Q&A; for trust companies, AI trust-document reviews that answer a firm's own template of questions with every answer cited to the page. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/pricing), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/trust-companies))

## Key points

- Vanilla was founded in 2019 by Steve Lockshin, a wealth advisor; Gene Farrell, a former Smartsheet CPO and AWS vice president, became CEO after the August 2021 Series A.
- Insight Partners led a $30 million Series B in April 2022 and a $35 million round in 2024 that added Edward Jones Ventures, Nationwide and Allianz as strategic investors; Vanilla said it had raised more than $85 million in total.
- Vanilla sells mainly to wealth management firms and says more than half of the top 25 US wealth management firms use it; named clients include Vanguard, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Balentine and Avantax.
- BOK Financial's Advisor Trust Services team uses Vanilla's custom prompting to review trust documents, saving about four hours on an initial review, according to an August 2026 Vanilla case study; BOK ran a security review of close to a year first.
- For trust companies, Vanilla says a document review that takes a trust officer 4-6 hours manually takes about 5 minutes, answering 40-50 questions with page citations (vendor-reported).
- In September 2026 Vanilla announced agentic VAI that scans an advisor's entire book for issues such as unfunded trusts, with general availability later in 2026; Vanilla says client identifying data is de-identified before reaching a language model.
- Vanilla publishes prices for Vanilla Starter ($99 to $199 a month on an annual subscription), which excludes its AI features; its Advanced, Expert and Enterprise plans are priced through sales.

## Timeline

- Sep 10, 2026 — **Agentic VAI announced** Vanilla previewed agents that scan an advisor's whole client book for issues such as unfunded trusts and outdated beneficiary designations, with general availability later in 2026. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/letter-from-ceo-gene-farrell-agentic-estate-planning))
- Aug 25, 2026 — **Vanilla Safe in beta** A household emergency-preparedness product giving family members access to key documents and guidance, at no extra cost to Vanilla customers. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/introducing-vanilla-safe))
- Aug 13, 2026 — **BOK Financial case study on trust review** Vanilla published how BOK Financial's Advisor Trust Services team uses custom prompting for trust document reviews, after close to a year of security review and its own AI governance policy. ([Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster))
- Feb 26, 2025 — **V/AI Copilot and 293% platform growth** Vanilla said it ended its fiscal year with 293% year-over-year platform growth after releasing V/AI Copilot, and passed 15,000 client estates. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-adds-new-executives-brex-goldman-sachs))
- Oct 16, 2024 — **$35 million round led by Insight Partners** The round (first announced in August 2024) added Edward Jones Ventures, Nationwide and Allianz as strategic investors; Vanilla said it had over 10,000 end clients and had mapped over 12,500 estate documents. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-funding-round))
- Apr 28, 2022 — **$30 million Series B led by Insight Partners** Vanguard joined the round, and existing investors including Venrock, Michael Jordan and former Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb added to their holdings. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-series-b))
- Aug 1, 2021 — **Series A led by Venrock; Gene Farrell named CEO** After the Series A, Vanilla added former Smartsheet CPO and AWS vice president Gene Farrell as CEO, along with a CTO and a head of revenue. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-series-b))
- Jan 1, 2019 — **Vanilla founded** Steve Lockshin, a wealth advisor ranked by Barron's, founded Vanilla to simplify and automate estate planning for advisors and attorneys. ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/aboutus))

## What do banks use Vanilla for?

| Use case | What | Status | Detail | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Generative & agentic AI](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#generative-agentic-ai) | Trust-document review for trust departments | In production | Custom prompts answer a trust officer's review questions, with answers cited to article, section and page; people keep decisions such as discretionary distributions. | [Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/trust-companies) |
| [Generative & agentic AI](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#generative-agentic-ai) | Estate plan summaries for advisors | In production | VAI summaries and copilot turn wills and trusts into client-ready summaries and visuals for wealth advisors. | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/pricing), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-adds-new-executives-brex-goldman-sachs) |
| [Data & privacy](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#data-privacy) | De-identification before model calls | In production | Vanilla says client identifying data never reaches a language model and that client data is not used to train any underlying model. | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning), [Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster) |
| [Generative & agentic AI](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/by-use-case#generative-agentic-ai) | Book-wide estate monitoring agents | Announced | Agents that flag unfunded trusts, outdated beneficiaries and insurance gaps across an advisor's clients for the advisor to act on. | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning) |

## Disclosed numbers

| Measure | Value | As of | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Funding raised (vendor-reported) | More than $85 million | Oct 16, 2024 | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-funding-round) |
| BOK Financial time saved per initial trust review (customer-reported, Vanilla case study) | About four hours on average | Aug 13, 2026 | [Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster) |
| Trust document review time (vendor-reported) | About 5 minutes with Vanilla versus 4-6 hours manually; 40-50 questions answered per review | Sep 24, 2026 | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/trust-companies) |
| Estate documents read and estates modeled (vendor-reported) | More than 60,000 estate documents read and structured; more than 32,000 estates modeled | Sep 10, 2026 | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning) |
| Platform growth (vendor-reported) | 293% year over year; more than 15,000 client estates | Feb 26, 2025 | [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-adds-new-executives-brex-goldman-sachs) |

## Quotes

> "We always have the human in the loop, and with the complexities of trust, we have to." — Randy Kimmel, National Trust Consultant, BOK Financial Advisor Trust Services, Aug 13, 2026 ([Vanilla (vendor case study)](https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster))

> "The advisor decides what to do about it, because they're the one with the relationship and the license." — Gene Farrell, CEO, Vanilla, Sep 10, 2026 ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning))

## Who runs Vanilla?

- **Gene Farrell** — Chief Executive Officer ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-series-b), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning))
- **Steve Lockshin** — Co-founder ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/aboutus), [Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/introducing-vanilla-safe))
- **Joe Abbott** — Chief Marketing Officer (joined February 2025) ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-adds-new-executives-brex-goldman-sachs))
- **Hanna Grokenberger Byers** — Chief of Staff and VP of Operations (joined February 2025) ([Vanilla](https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-adds-new-executives-brex-goldman-sachs))

## Which rules apply to a bank using Vanilla?

- [OCC](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/occ) — A national bank trust department sending trust instruments with beneficiary data to Vanilla is outsourcing part of fiduciary administration, which OCC Bulletin 2023-17 expects to be covered by due diligence, contract terms on data use and ongoing monitoring; BOK ran a review of close to a year before adopting it. See [OCC Bulletin 2023-17](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/occ-bulletin-2023-17).
- [Federal Reserve](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/federal-reserve) — For state member banks with trust operations, SR 23-4 applies the same interagency third-party expectations to a generative-AI document tool that handles confidential client estate documents. See [SR 23-4](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/fed-sr-23-4).
- [FDIC](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/fdic) — State non-member banks offering trust services and using Vanilla fall under the interagency third-party guidance issued by the FDIC as FIL-29-2023. See [FDIC FIL-29-2023](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/fdic-fil-29-2023).
- [NIST](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/nist) — Vanilla pairs third-party large language models with its own estate engine to summarize legal documents; NIST's Generative AI Profile (AI 600-1) sets out the confabulation, data-privacy and provenance risks a bank can use to assess such summaries. See [NIST AI 600-1 (Generative AI Profile)](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-regulation/documents/nist-ai-600-1).

## What the record suggests

### Only the entry plan has a published price

Vanilla Starter lists $99 to $199 a month but excludes Vanilla's AI features; the Advanced, Expert and Enterprise plans and trust-company deployments are priced by sales.

### Built for advisors first, trust review second

Vanilla's own BOK case study says administering already-drafted trusts for a trust company was a new use case for both sides, built out over about a year with custom prompting.

### Time savings are customer- or vendor-reported

BOK's four-hours-per-review figure comes from a Vanilla case study, and the 5-minute versus 4-6-hour comparison is Vanilla's own marketing claim.

### Human review stays in the loop

BOK's team verifies amendments and keeps judgment calls such as discretionary distributions and accepting a trust with people, which is how Vanilla positions the tool.

### Data handling claims are worth testing

Vanilla says client identifying data is de-identified before reaching a language model and that client data is not used for training; BOK ran close to a year of security review and wrote its own AI governance policy first.

## FAQ

### How much does Vanilla cost?

Vanilla publishes prices only for Vanilla Starter: $99 a month for 10 clients, $159 for 25 and $199 for 50, or $995, $1,595 and $1,995 a year, on an annual subscription. Starter does not include Vanilla's AI features. Its Advanced, Expert and Enterprise plans for wealth management firms, and trust-company deployments, are priced by its sales team.

### Which banks use Vanilla?

Among the 100 largest US banks we track, BOK Financial uses Vanilla: its Advisor Trust Services team reviews trust documents with Vanilla's custom prompting, per an August 2026 Vanilla case study that states BOK Financial is a current client. Vanilla's other named clients are mainly wealth managers such as Vanguard, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Balentine and Avantax.

### Who owns Vanilla?

Vanilla is private. Venrock led its 2021 Series A; Insight Partners led a $30 million Series B in 2022 and a $35 million round in 2024, with Vanguard, Edward Jones Ventures, Nationwide and Allianz as strategic investors. Vanilla said it had raised more than $85 million by October 2024. Steve Lockshin co-founded it; Gene Farrell is CEO.

### How does Vanilla's AI review trust documents?

A trust officer uploads the document and Vanilla runs the firm's own template of review questions, with each answer cited back to the page, article and section. Officers can also ask ad-hoc questions through the VAI copilot. Vanilla says it answers 40-50 questions per review; decisions such as discretionary distributions stay with people.

### Does Vanilla train AI on client documents?

Vanilla says it does not use client data to train any underlying model, that its models are trained by its in-house attorneys, and that built-in de-identification keeps client identifying data from reaching a language model. These are Vanilla's own statements; BOK Financial ran a security review of close to a year before adopting it.

### Is Vanilla a law firm or a regulated entity?

No. Vanilla is a software company; its VAI does not advise clients directly or replace an attorney, and it offers an attorney network for implementation. Banks and trust companies using it remain responsible for fiduciary decisions and for managing Vanilla as a third-party vendor.

## Sources (11)

1. About us | Vanilla (undated page, retrieved 2026-09-24) — Vanilla, Sep 24, 2026. https://www.justvanilla.com/aboutus
2. Estate Planning Software Pricing for Advisors | Vanilla (undated page, retrieved 2026-09-24) — Vanilla, Sep 24, 2026. https://www.justvanilla.com/pricing
3. Plans - Vanilla (Vanilla Starter plans; undated page, retrieved 2026-09-24) — Vanilla, Sep 24, 2026. https://justvanilla.com/starter/plans
4. Trust Administration Software for Trust Companies | Vanilla (undated page, retrieved 2026-09-24) — Vanilla, Sep 24, 2026. https://www.justvanilla.com/trust-companies
5. Vanilla raises $30 million in series B led by Insight Partners to accelerate product development and customer adoption — Vanilla, Apr 28, 2022. https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-series-b
6. Vanilla Closes $35m Funding Round to Accelerate Adoption of Estate Planning in Wealth Management — Vanilla, Oct 16, 2024. https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/insight-partners-leads-vanilla-funding-round
7. Vanilla Adds New Executives from Brex, Goldman Sachs Amidst Nearly 300% YoY Growth — Vanilla, Feb 26, 2025. https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-adds-new-executives-brex-goldman-sachs
8. How BOK Financial Streamlines Trust Reviews with Vanilla — Vanilla (vendor case study), Aug 13, 2026. https://justvanilla.com/customer-stories/how-bok-financial-uses-vanilla-to-review-trusts-faster
9. Vanilla Launches Vanilla Safe™ to Keep Every Family Ready for the Unexpected — Vanilla, Aug 25, 2026. https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/introducing-vanilla-safe
10. Vanilla Enters Its Next Chapter of Agentic Estate Planning — Vanilla, Sep 10, 2026. https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/vanilla-enters-its-next-chapter-of-agentic-estate-planning
11. On Agentic Estate Planning, A letter from Vanilla CEO Gene Farrell — Vanilla, Sep 11, 2026. https://www.justvanilla.com/blog/letter-from-ceo-gene-farrell-agentic-estate-planning

Alternatives: [Ocrolus](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/vendors/ocrolus) · [Abrigo](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/vendors/abrigo) · [Snapdocs](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/vendors/snapdocs) · [Covecta](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/vendors/covecta) · [Blend](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/vendors/blend) · [compare AI document ai software](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-tools/document-ai) · [all AI tools for banks](https://www.bankingnewsai.com/ai-tools)

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