The best retirement drawdown calculator: an honest comparison
Most retirement calculators answer one question well: do you have enough? Far fewer answer the one that shapes your retirement: how do you withdraw the money without overpaying tax? An honest look at the major tools, including ours, judged on what they actually model in the withdrawal years.
Two different jobs
A retirement calculator can do one of two very different jobs, and most people don't notice which one they're holding.
The first job is accumulation: will my savings be enough? Most popular calculators were built for this. You enter a balance, a savings rate, and a spending target, and the tool returns a number or a success probability. That's genuinely useful while you're still working.
The second job is decumulation, the actual drawing-down. Here the questions change entirely: which account do I spend first, how do Required Minimum Distributions reshape my tax bill in my 70s and 80s, how much of my Social Security becomes taxable as my other income rises, and what does all of that cost over a 30-year retirement? These are year-by-year tax questions, and a single-number tool can't see inside them. That's the gap this comparison is about.
The comparison at a glance
A fair scorecard across the dimensions that matter once you're spending the money down. We've tried to represent each tool honestly, including where it beats us.
| Capability | Drawdown Arc | Boldin | ProjectionLab | Pralana | Free tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year-by-year withdrawal sequencing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rarely |
| RMD modeling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Seldom |
| Social Security taxation | Full IRS formula | Directional | Directional | Detailed | No |
| 50-state + federal tax engine | All 51, cited | Federal + states | Simplified | Configurable | Flat rate |
| Tax math transparency | Shown yearly | Directional | Simplified | Open sheet | Opaque |
| Works without an account | Yes | No | No | Yes (local) | Varies |
| Data stays on your device (private) | Yes | No (server) | No (server) | Yes (local) | Varies |
| Free tier covers the core projection | Yes | Limited | Can't save free | Paid | Yes |
| Typical price | Free · Pro $99/yr | ~$120–144/yr | ~$108–129/yr | ~$99/yr | Free |
Where each tool wins: Drawdown Arc for precise withdrawal-phase tax math, free and private; Boldin for all-in-one breadth; ProjectionLab for interface and scenario design; Pralana for spreadsheet-grade depth; free tools for a quick on-track check.
Every price and capability cited on this page reflects publicly available information as of June 2026, and may be approximate. Competitors update their tools, tiers, and pricing often, so verify current details on each provider's own site before deciding.
What actually matters in drawdown
Four things separate a real drawdown model from an accumulation calculator. They all interact, every year, which is why a single aggregate number can't capture them.
The order you draw from taxable, traditional, and Roth accounts can swing a lifetime tax bill by six figures. See which accounts to withdraw from first.
Forced withdrawals starting at age 73 can push you into a higher bracket a flat-rate tool never anticipated. See RMDs explained.
How much of your benefit is taxed depends on your other income, so the timing of withdrawals changes the tax on a different income stream. See when to start Social Security.
Filling low brackets early, across 50 states with very different rules, is where the non-obvious savings live. Higher income can also trigger IRMAA surcharges.
Boldin (formerly NewRetirement)
The most complete all-in-one DIY planner, and the clear market leader for breadth.
Where it's strong: Boldin models almost everything (accounts, pensions, real estate, insurance, what-if scenarios) with an enormous input surface and a "digital coach" that nudges you over time. If you want one tool to hold your entire financial life and you're willing to invest the hours, it's hard to beat on coverage.
The trade-offs: that breadth comes with a steep learning curve that newcomers often find demanding. Because Boldin is built for broad, whole-life planning rather than line-by-line tax calculation, its tax output reads as directional rather than exact, and your data lives on its servers behind an account. The free Basic tier is capable; the full planner runs roughly $120–144 a year after a trial.
ProjectionLab
The design-led favorite, especially among the FIRE community.
Where it's strong: the interface is genuinely excellent: flexible scenario modeling, milestones, and visualizations that make complex plans pleasant to build and share. For people who enjoy modeling and want a beautiful, expressive canvas, it's a standout.
The trade-offs: the free tier doesn't let you save your plan, so the practical experience requires a subscription of roughly $108–129 a year, and an account. Like Boldin, it's built for big-picture planning rather than precise tax calculation, so its tax output is directional, well suited to high-level modeling, less so when the whole question is precisely how much tax a given withdrawal order triggers.
Pralana
The power user's tool, with spreadsheet-grade depth and control.
Where it's strong: Pralana offers some of the most detailed tax and scenario modeling available to a DIY planner, and is popular with technically-minded retirees on forums like Bogleheads. In its Gold (spreadsheet) version, the math is open to inspect, and the control is near-total.
The trade-offs: that depth is steep and utilitarian. The audience is narrow by design (it rewards people who want to drive every assumption themselves), and there's no free tier or no-account web experience; it runs around $99. If you want a fast, guided answer rather than a cockpit, it's more tool than you need.
The free single-number tools
Brokerage calculators (Empower, Fidelity, Vanguard) and longevity simulators like FireCalc answer one question quickly: am I on track?
Where they're strong: they're free, fast, and good enough to tell you whether you're roughly in the right zone. For a gut check during the saving years, that's often all you need, and a free safe-withdrawal-rate simulator can be genuinely clarifying.
The trade-offs: almost none of them model rigorous, transparent tax in the withdrawal phase: many apply a single flat rate, skip Social Security taxation entirely, and ignore state tax. Several brokerage tools are also lead-generation funnels for an advisory service. They answer whether you have enough, not how to spend it down without overpaying.
Where Drawdown Arc fits
For the one question this whole page is about, how to draw your savings down without overpaying tax, Drawdown Arc gives a sharper answer than any general-purpose planner. It does one job and does it precisely. Four things it's built for:
An auditable federal and 50-state engine, with state rules individually cited rather than a single blended rate. RMDs, Social Security taxation, and capital gains are modeled explicitly, year by year. You see every number, not a directional estimate.
Model the high-spend bridge years before Social Security and pensions begin, when the portfolio is doing all the work. See how aggressive a withdrawal those years can sustain and what they cost in tax, all the way through to RMDs and beyond.
The fastest way to pressure-test a date. Set a retirement age, watch whether the plan lasts and what each year costs, then nudge the age until it works. It's the question behind our can-I-retire-at-X guides, answered for any age you choose.
Size a Roth conversion in the low-income window before RMDs and see its real tax cost, while watching the IRMAA thresholds so a conversion doesn't quietly push up your Medicare premiums two years later. The cliffs most planners smooth over are exactly what this models.
All of it runs entirely in your browser, so the calculator needs no account and stores nothing on a server. The full projection and Excel export are free; Pro ($99/yr) adds saved scenarios, PDF reports, scenario comparison, and the state-tax integration.
We'll be straight with you: if you want one tool to model your whole financial life, Boldin or ProjectionLab will serve you better. But if your question is specifically which account do I draw from, in what order, and what does it cost me in tax over 30 years, nothing else on this list answers it as precisely. Model a Roth conversion or a full withdrawal plan and read the tax consequences year by year, in a couple of minutes, with no data leaving your browser.
How to choose
There's no single best calculator, only the one that fits the question you're actually asking. A quick way to decide:
- Want one tool for your entire financial life and have time to learn it? → Boldin.
- Want the best interface and enjoy building scenarios? → ProjectionLab.
- Want maximum depth and control and think in spreadsheets? → Pralana.
- Just need a quick on-track gut check? → a free single-number tool.
- Want to model the full drawdown arc, including the high-spend early-retirement years before Social Security, with precise, transparent tax math, free and no account? → Drawdown Arc.
Boldin and ProjectionLab require an account and store your financial details on their servers; Pralana and Drawdown Arc keep everything on your own device. If you'd rather not hand a full picture of your finances to a third party, that narrows the field on its own.
"Do I have enough?" is the question for your working years. "How do I spend it down without overpaying tax?" is the question for the next 30, and it deserves a tool built for it. The best way to feel the difference is to run your own numbers and watch three outputs: your lifetime taxes, your biggest future RMD, and what's left at the end.