The industry-average KiwiSaver fee in 2026 runs from about 0.90% for conservative funds to 1.23% for growth. The cheapest funds charge under 0.30%. Here is the benchmark, what counts as high, and how to check where yours sits.
TL;DR: In 2026, the industry-average KiwiSaver fee runs roughly 0.90% for conservative funds, 1.01% for balanced, and 1.23% for growth per year 1. The cheapest providers charge under 0.30% for the same fund type 89, so a fee above 1% in a passive fund is worth questioning.
A KiwiSaver fee of 1.2% a year does not sound like much. On a $50,000 balance it is $600 — less than a phone bill. But fees compound the same way returns do, just in reverse. Over a 30-year working life, the difference between a 0.25% fund and a 1.25% fund can cost a typical member tens of thousands of dollars at retirement.
The fee in your annual statement is the number most people never check. This guide gives you the 2026 benchmark by fund type, explains what counts as a high fee, names the funds doing it cheaply, and shows you how to work out in two minutes whether yours is fair.
What's a normal KiwiSaver fee in 2026?
There are two ways the industry quotes fees, and they give different answers.
The first is the headline annual fund charge by fund type. Using Sorted's industry averages, the typical 2026 fees are 0.90% for conservative funds, 1.01% for balanced funds, and 1.23% for growth funds per year 1. More aggressive funds tend to sit highest.
The second is the average across all funds under management, which the FMA tracks. In its KiwiSaver Annual Report 2025, the FMA found the average total fee as a percentage of funds under management had stabilised at about 0.7%, down from roughly 1.10% in 2012 2. That figure is lower because it is dollar-weighted — huge low-fee default funds drag the average down.
A third lens, Morningstar's category averages, lands lower again: roughly 0.62% conservative, 0.75% balanced, 0.97% growth and 0.95% aggressive in 2025 3. (The aggressive and growth figures sit close together because the categories overlap and are drawn differently.) The differences between the three lenses come down to whether membership fees and performance fees are included and how the categories are defined.
So "normal" depends on the measure. The practical answer: for a growth fund in 2026, anything around 0.97%–1.23% is average, and anything under about 0.50% is genuinely cheap.
Benchmark table: conservative, balanced, growth, aggressive
Here is the 2026 benchmark by fund type. The "average" column uses Sorted's by-type figures; the "low-fee" column is what the cheapest credible providers actually charge for the same fund type.
| Fund type | Industry average (p.a.) | Low-fee benchmark (p.a.) | Counts as "high" if above |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 0.90% 1 | ~0.24% (Simplicity) 8 | ~1.00% |
| Balanced | 1.01% 1 | ~0.24%–0.25% (Simplicity, Kernel) 812 | ~1.10% |
| Growth | 1.23% 1 | ~0.25% (Simplicity, Kernel) 89 | ~1.20% |
| Aggressive / High Growth | ~0.95% (Morningstar) 3 | ~0.25% (Kernel High Growth) 9 | ~1.10% |
A useful sanity check: Sorted's Smart Investor tool expresses fees as the total combined charge on a $30,000 balance, rolling management, other, performance and membership fees together. On that basis the average balanced fund total is about 0.85%–0.86%, versus Simplicity and Kernel at 0.24%–0.25% 12. Same fund profile, roughly a quarter of the cost.
What counts as a high fee for each fund type?
A fee is "high" when you are paying an active-management price for a fund that does not earn it, or paying well above peers for the same exposure.
In 2026, a fund counts as high-fee when:
- Conservative above ~1.00%. The category average is 0.90% 1 and ANZ's Conservative Fund, a mainstream option, charges about 0.63% 13. Paying over 1% for a low-risk fund is hard to justify.
- Balanced above ~1.10%. QuayStreet's SRI/Balanced sits around 1.02% (as at the references below) against a balanced average of 1.01% 13 — about average, not cheap.
- Growth above ~1.20%. The growth average is ~0.97% on Morningstar's measure 3, and among the higher-fee growth funds in 2026 are Booster at ~1.11% and Generate at ~1.09% per year 11.
- Aggressive / High Growth above ~1.10%. Milford Aggressive runs about 1.15% against an aggressive average near 0.95% 3, and several focused-growth funds push past 1.3% 3.
Watch for two add-ons that inflate the real cost. Membership fees — SuperLife layers a ~$30/year member fee on top of its management fee on some plans 14, so on a small balance a flat dollar fee can quietly raise your effective rate. (As a historical note, ANZ also charged a flat membership fee of about $18/year on its KiwiSaver scheme, but it removed that fee in September 2021 13, so it is no longer a live cost.) Performance fees — Milford Active Growth charges roughly a 1.05% management fee plus an up-to-0.15% performance fee when targets are hit 11.
Why can low-fee funds charge under 0.30%?
The cheapest funds are passive. Instead of paying a team to pick stocks, they track an index, so the management cost is a fraction of an active fund.
The two clearest examples in 2026:
- Simplicity charges a single 0.24% p.a. management fee across every KiwiSaver fund — Defensive, Conservative, Balanced, Growth and High Growth — with no membership fee and no performance fee. That dropped from 0.25% to 0.24% on 1 September 2025 8.
- Kernel charges 0.25% p.a. as a total fund charge on its core funds, including High Growth, with no member or account fee 9. Its specialty thematic funds (like Clean Energy) sit at 0.45% 15.
Other low-fee growth options in 2026 include InvestNow's Foundation Series growth allocations and BNZ around 0.45%, against a growth-category average near 0.97% 316. One caveat on Foundation Series: the US 500 fund has a headline management fee of just 0.03% p.a., but it charges a 0.50% buy/sell fee on each contribution and withdrawal — a different fee structure that suits lump sums more than frequent small contributions 16.
The point is not that index funds are automatically "best." It is that for the same growth or balanced exposure, paying under 0.30% is achievable today, so a 1.2% fee needs a reason.
When a higher fee can be justified (and when it can't)
A higher fee is defensible when an active manager consistently delivers higher after-fee returns or a genuinely different risk profile. Milford Active Growth, for example, charges around 1.05% plus a performance fee but has posted strong long-term numbers — Compound Wealth records its five-year average at 11.1% per year 3. If a fund beats its low-fee peers after all fees over a full market cycle, the fee bought something.
A higher fee is not justified when:
- You are paying over 1% for a fund that simply tracks the market (closet indexing at active prices).
- A flat membership fee is inflating your effective rate on a small balance.
- You are in a conservative or default fund paying near the growth-fund price for low-risk returns.
Worked example: the 1% gap over 30 years
Scenario: Mere, 35, has a $45,000 KiwiSaver balance and contributes about $4,000 a year. She compares a growth fund at 1.25% with a low-fee growth fund at 0.25%, assuming the same 6% gross return before fees over 30 years.
| Measure (units) | High-fee fund (1.25% p.a.) | Low-fee fund (0.25% p.a.) |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee on year-1 balance (NZD) | $563 | $113 |
| Net assumed return after fees (% p.a.) | 4.75% | 5.75% |
| Approx. balance at age 65 (NZD) | ~$430,000 | ~$520,000 |
| Difference at retirement (NZD) | ~$90,000 |
The figures are illustrative, not a projection or forecast. The model applies a flat net return to a simplified contribution pattern; it deliberately ignores wage growth, tax/PIE drag, market volatility and the exact timing of contributions, so the precise dollar balances are rough and should not be read as expected outcomes. The mechanism, however, is real: a 1% fee gap, compounded across decades on a rising balance, is one of the largest controllable costs in your KiwiSaver. By the time most people notice it on a statement, they have already paid years of it.
How do I check where my fund sits?
You can benchmark your own fund in about two minutes:
1. Find your annual fund charge. It is on your KiwiSaver annual statement and in the fund's most recent fund update, shown as a percentage per year.
2. Add any membership fee. If you pay a flat dollar member fee (often $24–$36/year), divide it by your balance and add it to the percentage. On a $10,000 balance, $30 is another 0.30%.
3. Compare against the benchmark table above for your fund type.
4. Look it up on Sorted's Smart Investor. It shows your fund's total combined fee on a $30,000 balance next to the category average, broken into management, other, performance and membership components 912.
Our free KiwiSaver health check does steps 1–4 for you and flags whether your fee is above benchmark. If you want a person to do it, our KiwiSaver fund comparison and full KiwiSaver review benchmark your fee across every provider, not just the one you are with.
Many members in a 1.1%–1.2% active growth fund assume that is simply "the price of KiwiSaver," when the same growth profile is available under 0.30%. The fee is often the number people never think to question.
Fees are not the only number that moved in 2026. The government contribution was halved from 1 July 2025 to 25 cents per $1, capped at $260.72 a year, and you now need to contribute $1,042.86 of your own money between 1 July and 30 June to get the full amount 4. Members earning over $180,000 are no longer eligible, while 16- and 17-year-olds who contribute now are 5. Default contribution rates also rise from 3% to 3.5% on 1 April 2026 and to 4% in 2028 6. A review is a good moment to check all of it at once.
Your fee benchmark checklist
01. Know your fund type — conservative, balanced, growth or aggressive. The benchmark differs for each.
02. Find your total fund charge as a percentage, from your statement or latest fund update.
03. Add any flat membership fee as a percentage of your balance.
04. Compare to the 2026 benchmark — average is ~0.90% conservative, ~1.01% balanced, ~1.23% growth 1.
05. Flag anything over ~1% in a passive or default-style fund as worth questioning.
06. Check after-fee performance, not just the fee — a higher fee can be earned, but it must be.
07. Confirm your PIR is correct (10.5%, 17.5% or 28%) so tax is not quietly eroding returns 7.
08. Benchmark across providers, not just inside your current scheme.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good KiwiSaver fee in 2026? For a growth fund, anything under about 0.50% per year is genuinely low, and the cheapest providers like Simplicity and Kernel charge around 0.24%–0.25% 89. The industry average is 1.23% for growth, 1.01% for balanced and 0.90% for conservative 1, so "good" means well below those averages.
Is a 1% KiwiSaver fee high? It depends on the fund. For a passive or default-style growth fund, 1% is high when the same exposure is available under 0.30% 89. For an actively managed fund with a strong long-term after-fee track record, around 1% can be reasonable — but only if the performance justifies it.
Why are Simplicity and Kernel so cheap? Both run largely passive, index-tracking strategies, so they avoid the cost of active stock-picking teams. Simplicity charges 0.24% across all its funds with no membership fee 8 and Kernel charges 0.25% on its core funds with no member fee 9.
Do KiwiSaver fees include a membership fee? Some providers add a flat annual member fee on top of the percentage charge — for example, SuperLife charges around $30 a year on some plans 14. (ANZ used to charge a flat membership fee of about $18/year but removed it in September 2021 13.) On a small balance a flat fee meaningfully raises your effective rate, so always add it in.
How do I find my exact KiwiSaver fee? Check your annual statement and your fund's latest fund update for the annual fund charge, then look the fund up on Sorted's Smart Investor, which shows the total combined fee on a $30,000 balance next to the category average 912. Our KiwiSaver health check does this automatically.
Is the cheapest fund always the best? No. Fees are the most reliable cost to control, but after-fee returns and the right risk profile for your timeframe matter too. A higher-fee active fund that consistently beats low-fee peers after all costs can be worth it 11. The goal is value, not just the lowest sticker price.
Book a free KiwiSaver review with a Smiths adviser to benchmark your fee across every provider. Book a review
General information, not personalised financial advice. Seek advice tailored to your situation before acting. Craig Smith Business Services Ltd (FSP712931), trading as Smiths Financial, holds a Class 2 licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority and is a member of the Financial Dispute Resolution Service (FDRS). Written by Henry Smith, Financial Adviser; reviewed by Craig Smith, Principal Adviser. Last reviewed 16 June 2026.
Sources
- 1.Simplicity — Understanding KiwiSaver fees (Sorted industry averages: conservative 0.90%, balanced 1.01%, growth 1.23%), 2026.
- 2.Financial Markets Authority — KiwiSaver Annual Report 2025 (average total fees ~0.7% of FUM, year to 30 June 2025; ~1.10% in 2012).
- 3.Compound Wealth — Best Performing KiwiSaver Funds 2025 Mid-Year Update (Morningstar category averages: conservative 0.62%, balanced 0.75%, growth 0.97%, aggressive 0.95%; Milford Active Growth five-year average 11.1%), August 2025.
- 4.Inland Revenue — Getting the KiwiSaver government contribution (25c per $1, $260.72 max, $1,042.86 to qualify), effective 1 July 2025.
- 5.Retirement Commission — New analysis on Budget 2025 settings ($180,000 income cut-off; ages 16–17 newly eligible), 1 July 2025.
- 6.Simplicity — Recalculating route: A guide to the 2025 KiwiSaver changes (3% to 3.5% from 1 April 2026, 4% from 1 April 2028).
- 7.Inland Revenue — Find your prescribed investor rate (PIR), tax year ending 31 March 2026 (10.5% / 17.5% / 28%).
- 8.Simplicity — KiwiSaver Growth Fund page (0.24% p.a., no membership fee; reduced from 0.25% to 0.24% on 1 September 2025, Simplicity's 7th fee cut, per "We're cutting our fees — again!", Aug 2025), as at 27 February 2026.
- 9.Sorted Smart Investor — Kernel High Growth Fund (0.25% p.a. total fund charge, no member fee), as at 27 February 2026.
- 10.Morningstar — KiwiSaver Survey, December 2025 quarter (category fee and return data underpinning the provider comparisons above).
- 11.MoneyHub — Our Favourite KiwiSaver Funds (Booster ~1.11%, Generate ~1.09%, Milford Active Growth ~1.05% + up-to-0.15% performance fee), 2026.
- 12.Sorted Smart Investor — Simplicity Conservative Fund (total combined fee on $30,000; category average ~0.85%–0.86% vs low-fee ~0.24%–0.25%), as at 27 February 2026.
- 13.ANZ — KiwiSaver Scheme fees (Conservative Fund ~0.63% p.a.; flat $18/year membership fee removed in September 2021), as at 27 February 2026.
- 14.SuperLife — KiwiSaver fees (annual ~$30 member fee plus management fee on applicable plans), as at 27 February 2026.
- 15.Kernel — Pricing and fees (core funds 0.25% p.a. total fund charge; thematic funds such as Clean Energy 0.45% p.a.), as at 27 February 2026.
- 16.InvestNow — Foundation Series US 500 Fund (0.03% p.a. management fee plus 0.50% buy/sell spread on contributions and withdrawals), as at 27 February 2026.
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