Legal123 vs Gathered Here: Free Wills and Estate Planning Compared

Last updated: 18 August 2026

Legal123 and Gathered Here both help Australians get a Will sorted online, but they are built on opposite business models. Legal123 is a licensed Australian law firm (Incorporated Legal Practice) with a $99 reusable Online Will Kit, a fixed-fee lawyer-drafted Will service from $699, and the business legal documents Gathered Here does not offer. Gathered Here is a free end-of-life platform: a $0 online Will with unlimited lifetime updates, an optional $39 legal review, plus funeral, cremation, celebrant, headstone and probate services, funded by the providers listed on its marketplace.

If you want a Will that costs nothing and your affairs are simple, Gathered Here is genuinely hard to beat on price. If you want a document you own outright from the law firm that wrote it, with no commercial referral model behind it and a clear path to a lawyer if your situation gets complicated, Legal123 is the stronger choice.

We’ve helped over 10,200 Australian businesses since 2009, so we know what most small business owners actually need and what they don’t.

At a Glance

• Gathered Here’s online Will is free, with unlimited updates for life and no subscription. Legal123’s Online Will Kit is $99 and can be reused for a couple’s mirror Wills. On price alone, Gathered Here wins and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
• Legal123 is the law firm itself: a licensed Incorporated Legal Practice (ILP) regulated by the Law Society of NSW. Gathered Here is a technology and end-of-life services platform, not a law firm or an ILP.
• Gathered Here is free to you because service providers pay it. Its own disclosures say it is remunerated by providers through arrangements that may include monthly subscriptions, lead fees, success fees and fees associated with interest-free finance, and that listing order may be influenced by commercial arrangements.
• Human lawyer involvement at Gathered Here is the separate $39 Will Review, where a partner legal team checks a signed Will for errors and omissions and responds within three working days, then re-checks it free of charge after you make changes. Creating the Will itself is an automated online process.
• Gathered Here covers ground Legal123 does not: funeral director comparison, direct cremation, celebrants, headstones and probate applications. Legal123 covers Wills plus the business legal work Gathered Here does not touch.
• Gathered Here’s Will product now runs under a separate brand, EveryWill (everywill.com.au). Same company, same free Will. See the section below.

Key Differences: Legal123 vs Gathered Here

• Legal123 is a licensed Australian Incorporated Legal Practice (ILP). Gathered Here Pty Ltd is a technology and end-of-life services platform; its published human-lawyer involvement is the optional $39 Will Review performed by a partner legal team.
• Price for a simple Will: Gathered Here $0, Legal123 $99. Add the optional $39 review and Gathered Here is still cheaper.
• Business model: you pay Legal123 and Legal123 works for you. You pay Gathered Here nothing, and its revenue comes from the funeral directors, celebrants, monumental masons and charity partners listed on its marketplace.
• Legal123 serves businesses and individuals: legal templates, $99 advice calls, fixed-fee custom drafting and Wills. Gathered Here serves individuals and families only, across the full end-of-life journey. It offers no business legal documents.
• Updates: Gathered Here offers unlimited free Will updates for life through its online platform. Legal123 includes a Codicil form with the Will Kit and you own a reusable template, with no ongoing fee either way.
• Escalation path: if your estate turns out to be complex, Legal123 can draft a bespoke Will for a fixed $699 or do custom drafting from $295 without you leaving the firm. Gathered Here does not publicly state that bespoke estate planning is included in its free service.

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Legal123 vs Gathered Here: Feature Comparison

Feature	Legal123	Gathered Here
Business type	Licensed Australian ILP (law firm)	Technology and end-of-life services platform; not a law firm or ILP
Wills drafted or reviewed by	Australian lawyers (Legal123 is the firm)	Automated online questionnaire; optional $39 review by a partner legal team
DIY online Will price	$99 (Online Will Kit)	Free
Couples Wills	Will Kit is reusable for mirror Wills; also included in the Will Writing Service	Free, one Will per person
Custom lawyer-drafted Will	Yes, fixed-fee Will Writing Service from $699	Not publicly stated as included in the free service
Optional legal review of your Will	Included in the Will Writing Service; Contract Review $499 for other documents	$39, on an already-signed Will, feedback within three working days, free re-check after changes
Will updates	Codicil form included, reusable template you own, no subscription	Unlimited updates for life, free, held on the platform
Power of Attorney	General POA $99; Enduring POA (NSW) $89	Referenced in the online interview; standalone pricing not publicly stated
Probate and estate administration	Not offered	Yes, probate and Letters of Administration; fees not publicly displayed
Funerals, cremations and memorials	Not offered	Yes: funeral director comparison, direct cremation from $1,799, celebrants, headstones and monuments
Business legal documents	Yes, 30-plus templates plus custom drafting	No, end-of-life services only
Australian law compliant	Yes, all states and territories	Yes, marketed nationally; correct state selections required during the interview
Template library size	30-plus published templates	Not publicly stated
Video walkthrough instructions	Yes	Not publicly stated (guided questionnaire)
Phone and email support	Yes, from the law firm	Online assistance; published contact number 1800 572 130
How the business is paid	You pay for the document or service	Service providers pay, via subscriptions, lead fees, success fees and interest-free finance fees
Ratings	4.9/5 on Google; 4.91/5 from 416 post-purchase reviews	4.84 from 6,126-plus Reviews.io reviews, mainly for the funeral marketplace rather than the Will product. Coverage cited from ABC News, the AFR, the SMH and others. Google and Trustpilot: not publicly stated
Money-back guarantee	Yes (technical issues)	Not applicable to the free Will; refund policy for the $39 review not publicly stated
Operating since	2009	2017

The most important difference is who pays. With Legal123 you are the customer: you buy a document and the firm’s only commercial relationship is with you. With Gathered Here the Will is free because the marketplace behind it is funded by the service providers listed on it. Gathered Here discloses this openly and says listing order should not be read as an endorsement or recommendation, which is the right thing to disclose. It is still worth understanding before you use a free service to plan your estate.

The second difference is scope. Gathered Here goes further along the end-of-life path than we do: it can take a family from writing a Will through to comparing funeral directors, arranging a cremation, booking a celebrant, ordering a headstone and applying for probate. Legal123 does none of that. What Legal123 does instead is cover the person who runs a business as well as a life, with the same firm handling the Will, the website terms, the contractor agreements and any custom contracts.

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Pricing: Legal123 vs Gathered Here

Legal123’s Online Will Kit is $99, a one-time purchase that includes a Codicil form for future changes and can be reused for a couple’s mirror Wills. A general Power of Attorney template is $99. If your estate is more complex, the lawyer-drafted Will Writing Service is a fixed fee from $699 and covers two mirror Wills with Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardianship included. There are no subscriptions and no annual renewal fees.

Gathered Here’s online Will is $0. There is no purchase price, no membership tier, no lock-in term and no auto-renewal, and updates are free for life. The one published paid item on the Wills side is the Will Review at $39, which includes one resubmission. Gathered Here does not display prices for probate, Letters of Administration, celebrants, headstones or funeral director services; direct cremation is displayed at $1,799 subject to location and service conditions.

Is Legal123 cheaper than Gathered Here?

No. Gathered Here’s Will is free and Legal123’s Will Kit is $99, so on the sticker price Gathered Here is cheaper and stays cheaper even if you add the optional $39 review. There is no version of this comparison where we come out ahead on cost, and any page telling you otherwise is selling.

What the $99 buys is a different thing, not a cheaper one: a template drafted by an Australian law firm that you download and own, video walkthrough instructions, a Codicil form for future amendments, free updates when legislation changes, and a firm you can escalate to for a $99 advice call, custom drafting from $295 or a $699 lawyer-drafted Will if your circumstances turn out to be more complicated than a free questionnaire can handle. Whether that is worth $99 depends entirely on how simple your estate really is.

How much does Gathered Here cost?

The online Will costs nothing, now or later. Gathered Here states that consumers are not charged for using its services and that Wills are free with unlimited updates for life. The only clearly published consumer price on the Wills side is the Will Review at $39: you upload your signed, completed Will, a partner legal team checks it for errors and omissions, you get feedback within three working days, and if you make changes you can resubmit and have it checked again at no extra cost. The $39 page does not state whether that figure includes GST. Direct cremation is displayed at $1,799 subject to the page’s terms, and prices for probate, funeral director services, celebrants and headstones are not publicly displayed and are quoted case by case.

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What Is Gathered Here?

Gathered Here is an Australian end-of-life services platform that combines free Will creation with a marketplace for funerals, cremations, celebrants, headstones and probate. The operating company is Gathered Here Pty Ltd (ABN 36 617 115 885), an active Australian private company registered from 1 February 2017 and based in New South Wales. It was founded in 2017 by Colin Wong and Jordana Wong, and is headquartered in Sydney.

It describes itself as Australia’s largest online Will-writing company and says its funeral marketplace lists more than 1,500 service providers with more than 2,500 reviews. A co-founder profile states the platform helps more than 30,000 people a month across Wills, funerals, celebrants, headstones and probate, though that is a profile-level claim rather than an audited company figure. SmartCompany reported a $1.1 million funding round in 2021.

The free Will is not a static downloadable template. It uses an online questionnaire to generate an Australian Will, and Gathered Here says Wills can be updated as many times as the Will-writer chooses, free for life. The Wills are designed for Australian law and marketed nationally rather than as a product for one particular state, so the customer needs to make the correct state or territory selections during the interview, particularly for Powers of Attorney and signing requirements.

What’s publicly known about Gathered Here:

• Entity: Gathered Here Pty Ltd (ABN 36 617 115 885), registered 1 February 2017, based in New South Wales
• Business model: free online Wills funded by service providers, plus a paid marketplace for funerals, cremations, celebrants, headstones and probate
• Pricing: online Will free with unlimited lifetime updates; Will Review $39 including resubmission; direct cremation displayed at $1,799; other services quoted case by case
• Founded: Sydney, 2017, by Colin Wong and Jordana Wong; $1.1 million raised in 2021
• Reviews: 4.84 from 6,126-plus reviews on Reviews.io, relating principally to the funeral marketplace rather than the Will product. No verified Trustpilot profile located and no Google rating publicly stated
• Media: cites coverage from ABC News, The Age, the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph
• Support: online customer assistance, published contact number 1800 572 130, and a partner legal team for the separately purchased Will Review

Is Gathered Here a law firm?

No. Gathered Here is a technology and end-of-life services platform, not a law firm and not an Incorporated Legal Practice. Its founder Colin Wong is a solicitor who previously practised at King & Wood Mallesons, and the Wills are described as designed by lawyers, but creating a Will on the platform is an automated online process rather than an individual solicitor consultation. The clearest published human-lawyer involvement is the separate $39 Will Review, where a partner legal team checks a completed Will for errors and omissions and provides feedback. Worth understanding how that sequences: the review is of a Will you have already signed and witnessed, so anything the legal team picks up has to be corrected and then re-executed with two witnesses all over again. Legal123’s Will Writing Service works the other way round, with a lawyer drafting the document before you sign it. Bespoke legal advice and complex estate planning are not publicly stated as included in the free Will service.

Is Gathered Here now EveryWill?

Partly. As at August 2026, Gathered Here’s Will-writing product has moved to a separate brand and domain, EveryWill (everywill.com.au). The old Gathered Here Will pages now redirect there, and the EveryWill site carries the same free Will offer under the headline “Write your legal Will online – for free”, along with the same Gathered Here social accounts in its page code. The gatheredhere.com.au site remains live and still lists Wills alongside funerals, celebrants, headstones and probate.

The split is partial rather than a clean rebrand. The Will-creation flow now runs under EveryWill, while the $39 Will Review, the funeral and probate services and the Gathered Here Free Wills branding all still sit on gatheredhere.com.au. In practice this is one company with two front doors, so if you are comparing providers, treat Gathered Here and EveryWill as the same offer rather than two separate options.

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What Is Legal123?

Legal123 is an Australian online law firm that has been providing lawyer-drafted legal templates and custom legal documents since 2009. Founded by Vanessa Emilio, Legal123 Pty Ltd (ABN 66 153 012 269) is a fully licensed Incorporated Legal Practice (ILP), registered with ASIC and regulated by the Law Society of NSW.

Legal123 has helped over 10,200 Australian businesses. Every template is drafted by qualified Australian lawyers, complies with current Australian federal legislation, and is valid across all states and territories.

On the personal side, the $99 Online Will Kit includes video walkthrough instructions and a Codicil form, and the fixed-fee Will Writing Service (from $699) has a lawyer draft mirror Wills with Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardianship documents included.

Templates are the first rung of the ladder, not the whole firm. When you need actual legal advice, a 30-minute Book-a-Call with Practice Director Vanessa Emilio is $99, with no subscription required. When a template doesn’t fit, custom drafting is a fixed fee from $295, quoted within one business day and typically delivered within 72 hours. Legal123 also offers fixed-fee Contract Review, Website Legal Review and Trademark Registration services, plus a 3-Month Legal Transformation program ($2,397) that audits, drafts and implements your business legals end to end with direct lawyer access throughout.

Is Legal123 a real law firm?

Yes. Legal123 Pty Ltd is a fully licensed Australian Incorporated Legal Practice. We are registered with ASIC, regulated by the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner and the Law Society of NSW, and have been operating since 2009. Our templates are drafted by practising Australian lawyers, not automated generators or international template libraries.

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Key Differences Between Legal123 and Gathered Here

Should you use a free Will?

For a genuinely simple estate, a free Will beats no Will every single time, and most Australians die without one. If you rent, have no children from a previous relationship, own no business or trust interests and want everything to go to one or two obvious people, a free online Will completed carefully and signed correctly will very likely do the job.

The risk is not that free Wills are invalid. It is that a questionnaire cannot tell you what it did not ask about. Blended families, self-managed super, family trusts, company shares, jointly owned property, overseas assets and anyone likely to contest are the situations where a document that costs nothing can become expensive after you die. Google’s own summaries of online Wills make the same point: they suit straightforward estates and are not built for trusts, blended-family disputes or multi-entity business assets.

Our honest position: if your affairs are simple, use a free Will and spend the money elsewhere. If any of the situations above apply to you, do not use a free questionnaire, and do not use our $99 kit either. Get a lawyer to draft it, whether that is our Will Writing Service or someone else’s.

How do Will updates work on each service?

Gathered Here holds your Will on its platform and lets you update it as many times as you like, free for life, with no subscription. Legal123’s Online Will Kit includes a Codicil form, the standard legal instrument for amending a Will, and because you own the reusable template you can prepare an updated Will at any time with no ongoing fee. The practical difference is custody: with Gathered Here the living document sits on their system, with Legal123 the file sits on yours. Either way, an updated Will must be printed and re-signed with two witnesses to be legally valid, because Australian courts require a wet-ink original.

Which has better reviews: Legal123 or Gathered Here?

Both rate highly, but they are not rating the same thing. Legal123 has a 4.9/5 rating on Google and a 4.91/5 average from 416 post-purchase reviews, mostly from business customers using templates, advice calls and custom drafting. Gathered Here displays 4.84 from more than 6,126 reviews on Reviews.io, and its own customer-reviews page cites more than 2,500 reviews across 1,500-plus listed providers.

The important caveat is what those Gathered Here reviews cover. They relate principally to the funeral directors and other end-of-life providers listed on the marketplace, not specifically to the Will-writing product. There is no separately published Google rating or verified Trustpilot profile for Gathered Here itself. A high marketplace score is a real signal about the marketplace; it is not a customer-satisfaction score for the free Will.

On general profile, Gathered Here is well ahead of us. It cites coverage from ABC News, The Age, the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph. That is genuine mainstream recognition and we are not going to pretend it isn’t.

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When Gathered Here Might Be the Better Choice

Gathered Here may be the better choice if:

• Your estate is simple and cost is the deciding factor. The Will is free, updates are free for life, and there is no subscription or lock-in. We charge $99 for the equivalent kit, so if price is what is stopping you from having a Will at all, take theirs.
• You are arranging a funeral, comparing funeral directors, booking a celebrant or ordering a headstone. Gathered Here lists more than 1,500 providers with reviews, and direct cremation is displayed from $1,799. Legal123 does not offer any funeral services.
• You need probate or Letters of Administration after a death. Gathered Here handles probate applications. Legal123 does not.
• You want to leave a gift to charity in your Will. Gathered Here’s free model is built around charity partnerships and gift pledging, so charitable bequests are a first-class part of its process.
• You want everything in one place: a Will, funeral wishes and provider comparisons on a single end-of-life platform, rather than a document you download and manage yourself.

Legal123 is the better fit when you want the law firm itself rather than a platform, when you need a Will and business legal documents from the same place, or when your estate is complex enough to need a lawyer to draft it properly. But we’d rather you choose the right solution for your situation than buy from us and be disappointed. For the full picture, our guide to the best online Wills in Australia compares nine providers on price, legal review and who they suit.

Not sure which option suits you? Contact us before you buy. We’re happy to tell you honestly whether our documents fit your needs or whether you’d be better served elsewhere.

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FAQ: Legal123 vs Gathered Here

Is Legal123 a real law firm?

Yes. Legal123 Pty Ltd (ABN 66 153 012 269) is a fully licensed Australian Incorporated Legal Practice. We are registered with ASIC, regulated by the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner and the Law Society of NSW, and have been operating since 2009.

Is a Legal123 Will legally valid in Australia?

Yes. The Online Will Kit is drafted by qualified Australian lawyers and valid across all states and territories, and it is updated free of charge when relevant legislation changes. Like any Australian Will, it must be printed and signed in front of two adult witnesses to take effect.

Is a free Gathered Here Will legally valid?

A Will created through Gathered Here is designed for Australian law and, like any Australian Will, becomes legally valid once it is printed and signed by you in the physical presence of two independent adult witnesses who are not beneficiaries. Price has nothing to do with validity. What a free automated questionnaire cannot do is tell you whether the Will it produced is the right instrument for your particular estate.

Why is Gathered Here free?

Because someone other than you is paying. Gathered Here’s own disclosures state that consumers are not charged and that the business is paid by service providers through arrangements that may include monthly subscriptions, lead fees, success fees and fees associated with interest-free finance. It also says listing order may be influenced by commercial arrangements and should not be read as an endorsement. Separately, it credits the support of premium partners for keeping Wills free, on the basis that more Wills written means more charitable bequests pledged.

Is Gathered Here a law firm?

No. Gathered Here is a technology and end-of-life services platform, not a law firm or an Incorporated Legal Practice. Creating a Will on the platform is an automated online process. The clearest published human-lawyer involvement is the separate $39 Will Review, where a partner legal team checks a completed Will and provides feedback within three working days.

Does Gathered Here charge a subscription?

No. There is no displayed monthly or annual customer plan for the Will service, no lock-in term and no auto-renewal requirement. Wills are free to create and free to update for life. The $39 Will Review is a one-off optional purchase.

Can Legal123 handle my business documents as well as my Will?

Yes, and that is the main practical difference from Gathered Here. Legal123 offers 30-plus lawyer-drafted templates, a $99 30-minute legal advice call, fixed-fee custom drafting from $295, and a 3-Month Legal Transformation program. Gathered Here does not offer business legal documents.

What is the difference between Legal123 and Gathered Here?

Legal123 is a licensed Australian law firm serving businesses and individuals: legal templates including a $99 Online Will Kit, a lawyer-drafted Will service from $699, $99 advice calls and fixed-fee custom drafting. Gathered Here is a free consumer end-of-life platform: a free online Will with lifetime updates, an optional $39 legal review, and a marketplace for funerals, cremations, celebrants, headstones and probate, funded by the providers listed on it. Gathered Here is cheaper and covers the end-of-life journey more broadly. Legal123 is the law firm itself and covers all the business legal work Gathered Here does not do.