Luna vs Smarsh
Smarsh archives your email. Luna archives it and runs your whole program.
Smarsh captures, archives and monitors communications. That is the job. Luna's Firm Plus plan archives and reviews email and runs your calendar, policies, code of ethics, personal trading, MNPI register, Marketing Rule review and exam workspace, for $1,499 a month, published, month to month.
Why advisers choose Luna over Smarsh
One vendor instead of two
Smarsh's site shows no calendar, policies, code of ethics, preclearance, MNPI register, Marketing Rule review or Form U4 tracking. Luna does all of them, with the email archive included on Firm Plus.
A published price, month to month
Smarsh shows no price. Vendr, a software buying service, reports a median buyer paying $22,759 a year and says Smarsh prefers three-year terms. Luna Firm Plus is $14,990 a year on the annual plan, or month to month.
Review that cites its reasons
Luna scans each message against your lexicons, then an AI review quotes the exact words that raised it, with account and card numbers redacted before any model sees the message. A person closes every item.
Immutable, and yours
Each original is kept in immutable storage using S3 Object Lock, its hash checked on arrival, for at least five years from your fiscal year end, with legal holds and full export.
The scorecard
15 things Luna does that Smarsh's website does not show. Luna's column is what ships today.
| Capability | Luna | Smarsh |
|---|---|---|
| Price on the website | Yes. Every price, free to $1,499/mo | Not shown on their website. "Get a quote" |
| Start without a demo | Yes. Free plan; 14-day trials, no card | Not shown on their website. Talk to an expert first |
| No annual contract | Yes. Month to month; cancel in the product | Not shown on their website. Vendr: multi-year terms preferred |
| Compliance calendar | Yes. Fitted to SEC, state or ERA registration | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| Your states' deadlines and rules | Yes. Reviewed deadlines, IARD dates, cited rules | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| Policies drafted for your firm | Yes. 17 policies drafted from your answers | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| AI Marketing Rule review | Yes. Cites the rule and the page; a person approves | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| Code of ethics: gifts, OBAs, political | Yes. Gift limits measured for you | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| Personal trading preclearance | Yes. Linked brokerage accounts; every trade checked daily | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| MNPI register and insider lists | Yes. Daily SEC filing check; insiders auto-denied | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| Form U4, U5 and ADV amendment tracking | Yes. Each one dated by your strictest state | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| IAR continuing education | Yes. Per IAR, against each of their states' rules | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| SEC exam workspace | Yes. Request letter split into owned, dated items | Yes. On-demand data production |
| Email archive and review | Yes. Included on Firm Plus | Yes. Email, chat, social, mobile, voice, web |
| Anonymous whistleblower reporting | Yes. No account, IP or time stored | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| AI answers from your own policies | Yes. Ask Luna, on every paid plan | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
| Separate deployment per firm | Yes. Its own app and database | Not shown on their website. Not shown on their site |
✓ yes ✕ no – not shown on Smarsh's website when we read it, which is a statement about the website, not about what they may offer privately.
In detail
| Topic | Luna | Smarsh |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Calendar free, Solo $199/mo, Firm $699/mo, Firm Plus $1,499/mo. On the page, the same for every firm. No setup fee, no per-account fee. | Not shown on smarsh.com. Third-party: Vendr reports a median buyer paying $22,759 a year, across buyers of every size. |
| Contract | Month to month, or annual at two months free. Cancel from inside the product. | Vendr reports Smarsh "strongly prefers multi-year commitments (typically 3 years)" and renewal increases of 3 to 7%. |
| What is archived | Email, on Firm Plus. | Email, instant messaging, collaboration, social, mobile, voice, AI and web. |
| The rest of the program | Calendar, state deadlines, policies, code of ethics, preclearance, MNPI register, Marketing Rule review, U4 and ADV tracking, exam workspace, Speak up. | Not shown on smarsh.com. |
| Security | Each firm gets its own deployment and database, in the United States, with multi-factor sign-in for every user. SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 audit work underway since October 6, 2026. | ISO 27001; third-party audits against frameworks "(e.g., ISO, SOC)." |
About Smarsh: Smarsh sells communications capture, archiving, supervision and discovery across email, messaging, collaboration, social, mobile, voice and web, to firms from solo advisers up. Sources, each read October 11, 2026: Smarsh for investment advisers, smarsh.com, Smarsh trust, Vendr: Smarsh (third-party). If something here is out of date, tell us at sales@lunacompliance.io and we will correct it.
Coming next in Luna
Luna ships every week. This is what is underway or next, so you are comparing against where it is going, not only where it is.
- UnderwaySOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001. Audit work began October 6, 2026.
- NextNet worth and bond monitor for state-registered advisers.
- NextState-aware marketing review and advisory contract review.
- ComingAnnual review workspace and mock exam prep, on Firm Plus.
Questions
- How much does Smarsh cost?
- smarsh.com shows no price. Vendr reports a median buyer paying $22,759 a year; that spans firms of every size and is not a quote for yours.
- Is Luna's email archive immutable?
- Each original is kept in immutable storage using S3 Object Lock and its hash is checked on arrival. Retention runs at least five years from the end of your fiscal year, and a legal hold keeps anything past its date.
- How long does it take to move from Smarsh to Luna?
- Sign up and your calendar is set up for your registration type and your states the same day. Luna drafts your policies from your answers about how the firm runs, and can read your filed Part 2A to propose your firm's rules, so there is no manual to rebuild by hand. Keep your old system's records as long as the books and records rules require.
Your archive and your program, one bill, published.
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