After a lengthy and exhaustive selection process, InvestmentNews is proud to reveal the winners of its third annual 5-Star Technology awards, recognizing the best new technology and software for investment management professionals for 2026.
Of the 42 ranked winners this year, 21 qualified under the New Technology category, which is reserved for solutions launched within the past 24 months.
This year's field delivered a clear verdict: the winning platforms weren't the ones with the longest feature list or the most AI bolted on for its own sake. Rather, they were sharper-edged tools that helped advisors build their business and better serve their clients.
As Robert Norris, partner at Capco in Fort Collins, CO, said in the 2026 5-Star Technology report, a leading platform "will not be defined by whether it has customer relationship management (CRM), planning, portfolio management, communications, or AI," but by whether a firm can make those tools work from the same trusted data toward a clear outcome.
Alaris Acquisitions, a wealth management M&A advisory firm that has more than doubled its team in the past 12 months as dealmaking accelerates to a record pace across the RIA industry. One thing that's helped it stand out amid a crowded field of consultancy firms catering to enterprising advisor-owners has been Lens, its AI-driven buyer-seller matchmaking tool.
"We are the best in the country at how we go to market, and that's our differentiator," said founder Allen Darby, who built the platform to curate compatibility-based shortlists rather than run a traditional auction.
Orion, the all-in-one wealthtech suite provider that holds itself out as a commited partner to independent advisors, taked pride in Denali AI, an intelligence layer built to integrate directly into advisors' existing workflows. Orion also became one of the first wealthtech firms – and the first portfolio accounting provider – to earn the ISO/IEC 42001 certification for AI management systems.
"We believe AI should not live in a separate app. Intelligence belongs inside the tools advisors use every day," said Orion president Reed Colley.
Vestmark, with its proactive AI-powered portfolio monitoring system Pulse, has also emerged as part of a winning class of providers proving that trustworthy, well-governed data infrastructure now matters more to advisors than having a dizzyying laundry list of capabilities on a particular platform.
Among this year's honorees, InvestmentNews proud to showcase the following 5-Star Technology providers:
To read the full 5-Star Technology special report, along with the complete list of winners and methodology, click here.
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