Does this account for investing the tax refund from a Traditional contribution?

No — this compares the same nominal contribution amount in both accounts. Some more detailed comparisons also model investing the extra tax savings a Traditional contribution generates today, which would improve the Traditional side somewhat.

What's the 2026 contribution limit?

$7,500 combined across all your Traditional and Roth IRAs, or $8,600 if you're 50 or older — not $7,500 per account type.

Do Roth IRAs have income limits?

Yes — for 2026, single filers with modified adjusted gross income above $153,000 start seeing Roth contributions phase out, fully eliminated above $168,000. Traditional IRA contributions have no income limit, though the deduction itself can phase out if you're covered by a workplace retirement plan.

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Finance

Roth vs. Traditional IRA Calculator

Compare after-tax retirement value between IRA types.

🔒 Runs entirely in your browser — nothing here is ever uploaded

Last reviewed 2026-08-25

About the Roth vs. Traditional IRA Calculator

Compares the after-tax retirement value of contributing the same annual amount to a Roth IRA (taxed now, tax-free withdrawals) versus a Traditional IRA (tax-deductible now, taxed on withdrawal), based on your expected tax rate in retirement.

How to use it

Enter the Annual contribution you plan to make.
Enter the Years until retirement and your Expected annual return.
Enter the tax rate you expect to pay in retirement.
Read the after-tax value of each account type at retirement in the result panel.

Formula

Future value of contributions = X × [((1+r)ⁿ − 1) ÷ r] × (1+r) — the standard future-value-of-an-annuity-due formula, treating each year's contribution as invested at the start of that year

Roth after-tax value = future value (withdrawals are tax-free)
Traditional after-tax value = future value × (1 − retirement tax rate)

This compares the same nominal annual contribution amount in both accounts — it does not model investing the extra tax refund a Traditional contribution generates today, which is a real but smaller secondary effect some more detailed comparisons include.

Worked example

A $7,000 annual contribution over 25 years at a 7% return grows to the same pre-tax future value in either account — the Roth keeps all of it tax-free, while the Traditional loses a share to tax on withdrawal at whatever rate you enter, which is exactly the tradeoff this calculator is built to show.

Interpreting your result

The 2026 IRA contribution limit is $7,500 combined across all Traditional and Roth IRAs you own ($8,600 if you're 50 or older) — this calculator caps the modeled contribution at $7,500 and flags it if your entry exceeds that.

Recommendations

• If you expect to be in a lower tax bracket in retirement than you are now, a Traditional IRA's upfront deduction is usually worth more; if you expect a similar or higher bracket, Roth's tax-free withdrawals usually win.
• Roth IRAs have no required minimum distributions during your lifetime, unlike Traditional IRAs (RMDs currently begin at age 73) — a real difference beyond the tax math this calculator shows.
• Roth IRA contributions phase out at higher incomes; Traditional IRA contributions don't have an income limit, though the tax deduction itself can phase out if you're covered by a workplace plan.

Frequently asked questions

It depends entirely on whether your tax rate in retirement will be higher, lower, or about the same as it is now — there's no universally correct answer, which is exactly what this calculator is built to help you estimate for your own numbers.