EquityZen vs Forge Global vs Clarity (formerly Hiive)

The 2026 fee landscape was reshaped by Morgan Stanley's acquisition of EquityZen in January 2026, which cut both buyer and seller fees from 5% to 2.5%. That single move changed the competitive math for sub-$100K transactions significantly.

But total cost of ownership is more complex than the headline rate. Forge's 2-5% direct commission excludes third-party costs — transfer agent fees, legal opinion costs, and escrow — that are acknowledged to exist but not quantified publicly. These add-on costs are absent from EquityZen and Hiive transactions, making Forge's all-in friction higher than its stated commission alone.

Keep Forge's two products separate when modeling. A direct secondary purchase carries a transaction commission plus applicable third-party transfer expenses, and no fund management fee — it is direct ownership. A Forge Fund vehicle is a different product: placement or set-up, management, carry, and administrative expenses depend on the specific vehicle, and the adviser's Form ADV discloses those only as ranges. Blending the two makes Forge look more expensive than a direct trade actually is, and cheaper than a fund subscription may be.

For long-duration holds, most Hiive Funds charge neither. Avoiding recurring management fees and carried interest can materially reduce long-hold fee drag. The actual advantage depends on the competing fee structure, hold period, performance, and all transaction and vehicle-level costs. Those costs include entry commissions, distribution and administrative charges, and tax-preparation charges. EquityZen's 2.5% one-time entry fee is lower upfront. The crossover point depends on hold period and deal size, and requires an explicit model rather than a rule of thumb.

For a $50,000 investment: EquityZen costs $1,250. Forge direct is not generally available at this size under the standard disclosed minimum. Hiive's explicit buyer cost is up to $2,425; the seller separately pays a commission that may affect the negotiated price but should not be modeled as a dollar-for-dollar buyer charge without an explicit gross-up assumption. Hiive Funds avoid recurring management fees, which can improve multi-year total cost of ownership — though direct ownership also carries no fund management fee, and other SPVs may waive it too.

See the full fee and investor operations breakdown in the individual reviews: EquityZen, Forge Global, and Hiive.

Minimums are not simple numbers — they depend on the transaction structure, deal availability, and investor classification. The platform minimums below are effective floors, not guarantees of deal availability at those sizes.

One important distinction: a low platform minimum does not mean low-minimum deals are available for the companies you want. SpaceX, Anthropic, Databricks, and other marquee names often require $100,000+ for direct secondary trades on any platform. The lower minimums apply to pooled fund structures that aggregate multiple investors — which changes the legal relationship, tax reporting, and exit mechanics.

For investors who want exposure to high-demand names at lower minimums: EquityZen posts $5,000, having reduced its minimum following the Morgan Stanley acquisition (February 2026). Hiive's Double Layer SPV pools investors for high-minimum names at $25,000. Forge's minimums are per-product. Direct secondary trades require $100,000 standard ($50,000 in limited cases), while Forge Fund vehicles start at $5,000 — 25 of the 28 private funds in the adviser's Form ADV (CRD 284722, filed April 2026) report a $5,000 minimum, with three institutional vehicles at $250,000. Per-fund fee schedules still appear only in the offering documents. The applicable figure comes from the offering documents rather than a single platform-wide number. Separately, A Forge-advised registered interval fund (Megacorn Fund) with a proposed $500 minimum is in SEC registration but is not yet effective. It cannot be subscribed today. EquityZen's enhanced access tier requires maintaining a $50,000 balance for priority access and reduced rates on certain deals.

Right of First Refusal is the most underappreciated execution risk in the pre-IPO secondary market. When a company or eligible holder exercises ROFR, it purchases the shares on the same terms — the seller may still complete a sale, but the external buyer does not receive the shares.That typically follows 30-60 days of committed process time, with no compensation for the buyer's effort.

The three platforms handle ROFR very differently depending on their transaction structure:

The practical implication: if minimizing your direct exposure to the transfer process is the priority, EquityZen's SPV model handles it before capital is syndicated. But there is a tradeoff — that handling comes with less price transparency and a deal-by-deal pricing model. Hiive direct transfers offer better price discovery but put the buyer in the process, at the 18% 2024 exercise rate.

For investors who want Hiive's price discovery with less direct transfer-process exposure, Hiive Funds SPVs address approval at the fund level and carry the same absence of recurring management fees and carried interest. No vehicle structure removes the underlying risk entirely: the fund's own acquisition can still be delayed, modified, or blocked. The choice between direct transfer and SPV on Hiive is often the most important structural decision a buyer can make on that platform.

Price discovery ranges from live executable pricing to modeled estimates — and confusing the two is where most investors lose money.

The practical recommendation: use Forge Price and the FPMI for broad market intelligence and company coverage research. Use Hiive's order book to understand where transactions are actually clearing for the most liquid names. Cross-reference both against each company's most recent primary round valuation before committing to any entry price.

Transaction structure is not a footnote — it determines your legal relationship with the underlying company, your ROFR exposure, your tax reporting obligations, and how distributions reach you at exit. The same company can be accessed through multiple structures on the same platform, with different economic outcomes.

The most important structural decision for most retail accredited investors: SPV vs. direct transfer. SPV routes (EquityZen funds, Forge Funds, Hiive Funds) generally offer lower minimums, transfer approval handled at the fund level, faster settlement, and simplified cap table administration. Direct transfers give buyers actual company equity and potentially cleaner tax treatment, but require higher minimums, expose buyers individually to ROFR, and involve longer settlement timelines. For the broader market mechanics behind those tradeoffs, see our guide to buying private shares on secondary markets.

K-1 timing is a real operational cost. SPV investors may need to file tax extensions. Direct-transfer buyers face a different situation: holding private shares does not itself generate an annual tax form, and what arrives after a taxable event depends on the issuer, transfer agent, broker, and structure.

Forge Trust Co.'s integrated IRA custody is a genuine structural differentiator. Most self-directed IRA custodians that accept private securities charge comparable administrative fees but require investors to find them independently, manage the custodian relationship separately, and navigate custodian-specific acceptance criteria for each security. Forge Trust consolidates this into the platform.

The Forge Trust SDIRA cost structure: $50 one-time setup + $200/year account fee + $12/quarter per private security position + $40/transaction. Annual fixed cost for one holding: ~$248. Because those charges are fixed rather than proportional, the drag depends entirely on position size — roughly 4.96% recurring annually on a $5,000 position (excluding transaction, wire, and termination fees), against a negligible 0.24% on a $100,000 position. Size your IRA allocation accordingly.

The institutional acquisitions of 2025-2026 fundamentally altered the secondary market's competitive dynamics. Morgan Stanley's acquisition of EquityZen in January 2026 was the more impactful of the two for retail investors — the immediate 2.5% fee standardization changed the economics of every sub-$100,000 transaction on the platform.

Morgan Stanley's acquisition also brings its "at work" equity programs into the same corporate group as EquityZen. AltStreet's inference is that Morgan Stanley's employee-equity relationships could improve EquityZen's sourcing reach. The acquisition filings do not establish that deal supply will grow or that company approval rates will increase — companies approve transfers under their own policies, not their banking relationships.

For Forge, Charles Schwab provides a larger parent and potential distribution channels for Forge's data products and marketplace. The timeline and scope of that integration, and its effect on retail accessibility, remain uncertain and are not established by the filings.

Hiive is the only of the three major platforms to remain independent post-2026. AltStreet's inference is that independence could appeal to institutional investors who prefer not to be channeled through a wirehouse relationship, and could equally become a distribution disadvantage if the acquirers deepen their reach. Neither outcome is established today.