PensionHunter vs pension finder apps (Gretel, PensionBee, Beagle): fees and cross-border coverage compared

Pension finder apps have made it easier to find an old workplace pension in your home country. They differ in how they are paid. PensionBee, Penfold and Moneyfarm are built for UK pensions and Beagle for US 401(k) plans. If you have worked in more than one country, that difference matters. This page compares them on the two things people ask about most: what you pay, and which countries are covered. Every fact about another company below was read on 16 October 2026 on the page we link where we use it.

How each one works

Gretel

Gretel is a free platform for lost and dormant accounts: pensions, bank accounts, Child Trust Funds and life insurance (Professional Adviser). Its press materials say it is free to consumers.

PensionBee

PensionBee finds and combines UK pensions into a PensionBee plan. Its fees page states no transfer fee and no exit fee. The annual fee runs from 0.50% to 0.95% on the first £100,000, and is halved on the portion above that. A £150 fee applies to a full withdrawal in the first year.

On pensions abroad it is clear: "No, unfortunately we can't transfer a pension from outside the UK into your PensionBee plan." The same page says this includes the Isle of Man, Jersey, the Channel Islands and Ireland.

Beagle

Beagle is a US service. Its homepage says it "will track down all your old 401(k)s for you" (Beagle). We do not state its prices, so look at its current pricing on its own site.

Others you may see

Penfold offers a free Find My Pension tool. Its published fee is 0.75% a year direct, and 0.40% on the portion above £100,000.

Moneyfarm says it will find, check and transfer pensions at no cost. Its published tiered fee is 0.45% up to £50,000, 0.20% from £50,000 to £100,000 and 0.10% from £100,000 to £1.5 million.

Capitalize, in the US, says "No hidden fees, or any fees at all", and that it is paid by its partners "if you choose to open a new account."

What we do differently

We are not a pension provider, and we do not move your money. We identify pensions you may have left in the countries you worked in, across 41 countries, using official sources. Every report puts the free official route first, as our sample report shows. We identify only. You contact the funds yourself, so we never hold your money, we take no commission and we take no percentage of anyone's pension. We do not give financial advice.

We charge a flat fee. The Country Pension Identification Report is $99 for one country. The Enhanced Pension Identification Report is $129 for two countries, with a ready-to-send information request for every fund we find. The Global Pension Identification Report is $149 for three or more countries, full coverage across the countries we cover. Covering three or more countries? The Global report is $149 for every country we cover. If our report finds nothing material, you get a full refund. The refund terms are on our pricing page.

That makes us a different tool rather than a replacement, and some people use both: an app for UK pots, our report for the other countries they worked in. If you worked in the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Australia as well as the UK, we identify what may exist in each country and the official route to it. Our directory of official pension portals lists the free route for every country we cover.

What to check before you choose

• Where the pension is. If every pension you look for is in the UK, the free Pension Tracing Service may cover it. If some are abroad, check whether the service you are considering publishes coverage for that country.
• How the service is paid. A free finding step can sit in front of an annual fee on the money you move in. Compare the published fee over the years you expect to hold the pension.

Comparison table

Frequently asked questions

Are pension finder apps free? PensionBee publishes no transfer fee, Penfold's finder tool is free, and Moneyfarm says it finds and transfers at no cost. Where the app then holds your money, PensionBee, Penfold and Moneyfarm each publish an annual fee as a percentage of your pot. Gretel says it is free to consumers.

Can a UK app find my pension in another country? PensionBee states that it cannot transfer a pension from outside the UK. For any other app, check what it publishes for the country you need.

Do I have to move my pension to use you? No. We identify only. Your pension stays where it is, and you contact the fund yourself.

Which is cheaper? It depends on what you need. If you only had UK jobs and know the employers, the free Pension Tracing Service or a free finder tool may be enough. A percentage fee grows with your pot and a flat fee does not, so on a small pot a percentage fee can cost less. They also pay for different things: an app holds and invests your money, and we identify where it may be.

Can I use an app and PensionHunter together? Yes. Some people use an app for UK pots and our report for the countries they worked in abroad.

Where to start

First, use the free official route: the Pension Tracing Service on GOV.UK for UK pensions, and each country's own official service for pensions abroad, all listed in our directory of official pension portals. Our pricing page shows what a report costs if you want one.

We also compare paid services, country by country, on price, coverage and who keeps the money: German pension refund agencies, Australian super and money finders, Pension Pie and PensionHunter, French pension audits.