Last Updated on October 12, 2026
Make a Will Online scores highest of the five UK will writer brands compared, at 6.1 out of 10 on the Whito leaderboard.
Opinion and analysis. Whito read every brand below by hand on 12 October 2026, using publicly visible activity only. Each channel is scored 0 to 10 against fixed anchors, set out under How we scored, so a score describes what we could see on the day, not the quality of the service. Brands cannot pay to appear or to change a score. Where a figure is not published, we say so.
Wills are usually sold on reassurance, not price. The brands we compared suggest that, online, price is the stronger signal. The two that publish prices on their homepages, Make a Will Online (£60 single, £90 pair) and Which? Wills (from £99), score 10 and 9 for website.
Search is hard for everyone. Only Stephensons Solicitors appeared in any of our 10 UK searches, and only once. Make a Will Online scores highest at 6.1, with 4.8 from 1,816 Trustpilot reviews, replies to all of its latest 20 and a named solicitor on the page.
Which? Wills and Trust Inheritance share the lowest score, 3.6. Which? Wills has no review profile of its own and shows no social links; Trust Inheritance has 14 Trustpilot reviews at 2.5 and no ads found. There is no statutory register for will writers, so the regulatory details each brand chooses to show carry extra weight.
The leaderboard
| Rank | Brand | Social | Website | SEO | Paid | Reviews | Brand | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make a Will Online | 6 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 6.1 |
| 2 | Stephensons Solicitors | 6 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 5.3 |
| 3 | Octopus Legacy | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 3.7 |
| =4 | Which? Wills | 0 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3.6 |
| =4 | Trust Inheritance | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3.6 |
Average is the simple mean of the seven channel scores, rounded to one decimal place. Read 12 October 2026.
Company verdicts
Make a Will Online, 6.1
Make a Will Online, run by Digilegal Ltd, scores highest of the five at 6.1. Its website scores the full 10: a single will costs £60 and a pair £90, printing is £15 and updates £10 a year, and customers pay only when satisfied. It also publishes a comparison with a traditional solicitor (£200 single) and a will writer (£100 single). It states SRA Innovation Scheme consent and membership of the Society of Will Writers, and names its lead solicitor, Oliver Asha TEP. Reviews score 9: 4.8 from 1,816 Trustpilot reviews, with all of the latest 20 replied to. Paid is light at 9 Google ads by domain. Its clearest gap is search: makeawillonline.co.uk appeared in none of our 10 searches.
Stephensons Solicitors, 5.3
Stephensons Solicitors, an SRA-regulated firm (SRA number 449153) with offices in Bolton, London, Manchester, St Helens and Wigan, scores 5.3. Will writing is one service among many. Reviews score 8, from 4.6 across 2,645 Trustpilot reviews with 18 of the latest 20 replied to, though the profile covers the whole firm. It links to six social platforms, including TikTok and YouTube, and runs 54 Google ads by domain and 5 active Meta ads. It was the only brand of the five to appear in any of our 10 searches, once. The site has fixed-price pages, but no will fee appears on the homepage. Its clearest gap is email: no newsletter or signup was found.
Octopus Legacy, 3.7
Octopus Legacy scores 3.7. It offers wills online, by phone or face to face, alongside trusts and lasting powers of attorney, and its legal arm, Octopus Legal Services Limited, has been an SRA-licensed body since 5 November 2024. The homepage shows its FCA and SRA numbers. Reviews are strong at 4.9 from 4,321 Trustpilot reviews, but none of the latest 20 has a reply. Paid is active, with 44 Google ads by domain and 10 active Meta ads. It names no people on the homepage and appeared in none of our 10 searches. Its clearest gap is owned channels: no social links, email signup or prices were found on the homepage.
Which? Wills, 3.6
Which? Wills scores 3.6. Its website scores 9: ‘Start writing your will today from £99’, an online basket and an offer of up to 30% off ending 31 October 2026. The account area includes subscriptions and appointments, and there is a free Wills Planner. It cites Will Writing Firm of the Year (online) 2023 at the British Wills & Probate Awards. Other channels are thin. No social links appear in the footer, no ads were found on Google or Meta for its domain, and it appeared in none of our 10 searches. Reviews are scored on the parent Which? Trustpilot profile, 2.3 from 742, as no Which? Wills profile exists. Its clearest gap is that no regulator or company number appears on the page.
Trust Inheritance, 3.6
Trust Inheritance scores 3.6. It says it has traded since 1990 and describes itself as an employee-owned Trust Corporation. It offers a free online will tool, Toolboxx, alongside document storage and callback booking, and its positioning line, ‘Treating customers like family since 1990’, is clear. The homepage shows its company number but no prices and no named people. It links to Facebook and LinkedIn. No ads were found on Google or Meta, and it appeared in none of our 10 searches. Its clearest gap is reviews: 14 Trustpilot reviews averaging 2.5, all with replies, a small base for a firm trading since 1990.
What the channels show
Published prices lift the website score
Make a Will Online lists £60 for a single will and £90 for a pair, and Which? Wills starts from £99. They score 10 and 9 for website. Octopus Legacy, Trust Inheritance and Stephensons show no will price on their homepages and score 7. For a product people compare on cost, a visible price is the clearest difference between the five sites.
Search is wide open
Only Stephensons Solicitors appeared in any of our 10 UK searches for will writing terms, and only once. The other four appeared in none. Even well-known names such as Which? and Octopus Legacy did not show for searches like ‘will writing’ plus a town. For a local will writer with a clear page for each town it serves, that leaves real room to be found.
Replies separate strong ratings
Make a Will Online replied to all 20 of its latest Trustpilot reviews and Stephensons to 18. Octopus Legacy holds 4.9 from 4,321 reviews but replied to none of its latest 20, so it scores 7 for reviews against Make a Will Online’s 9. Trust Inheritance replied to all 14 of its reviews, but the base is small at 2.5.
Regulation shown varies widely
Will writing has no statutory register. Octopus Legacy shows FCA and SRA numbers, and Stephensons shows its SRA number. Make a Will Online states SRA Innovation Scheme consent and Society of Will Writers membership. Which? Wills and Trust Inheritance name no regulator on their pages. None of the five showed a voluntary body member number, so a visitor has little to check for most of them.
Key lessons for any will writing business
Publish fixed prices for single and mirror wills
Make a Will Online lists £60 and £90 and compares them with typical solicitor and will writer prices. A local firm can do the same with its own fixed fees, so the visitor knows the cost before picking up the phone.
Say who checks the will
Make a Will Online names its lead solicitor, Oliver Asha TEP, and explains its SRA scheme consent. Say plainly who drafts and checks each will, what qualifications or memberships they hold, and how a customer can reach them with a question after the will is signed.
Reply to every review
Make a Will Online replied to all 20 of its latest reviews and Stephensons to 18. Octopus Legacy, with a 4.9 rating, replied to none. A short, careful thank-you that avoids any personal or family detail is enough, and it shows prospects that someone reads the feedback.
Offer a free planner that collects email
Which? Wills offers a free Wills Planner, and Make a Will Online emails a link so customers can return to an unfinished will. A simple checklist of what to gather before making a will gives people a reason to leave an email.
Show your membership with a number
With no statutory register, a voluntary membership is one of the few trust signals available. None of the five showed a member number. If you belong to the Society of Will Writers or the IPW, show the membership and the number.
Steal this playbook
Five moves from this leaderboard, ranked by return on effort.
- Put your will prices on the homepage. The two brands with published prices score 10 and 9 for website; the three without score 7.
- Reply to every review. Octopus Legacy’s 4.9 rating scores 7 for reviews because none of its latest 20 has a reply.
- Create one page per town you serve. Only one of the five appeared in our 10 searches, so local pages face little competition.
- Name the person who checks each will. Make a Will Online names its solicitor and passes the named-people brand check; three of the five do not.
- Link your social accounts from your site. Octopus Legacy and Which? Wills link to none and score 0 for social.
The evidence behind the scores
One line per channel, as read on 12 October 2026. Review figures change daily; these are the numbers on the day we looked.
Make a Will Online
- Social 6: Links to Facebook, X and LinkedIn from the site footer; no Instagram, TikTok or YouTube link found.
- Website 10: Single will £60, pair £90, print £15, updates £10 a year; three-step online will, pay only when satisfied; company number shown.
- Email 6: Login account, emailed link to resume an unfinished will, Capacity Vault and a paid lifetime-updates subscription.
- SEO 2: 0 of 10 UK web searches returned makeawillonline.co.uk in the top ten.
- Paid 4: Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, domain makeawillonline.co.uk): 9 ads. Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads naming the brand): none found. Read 12 October 2026.
- Reviews 9: Trustpilot 4.8 from 1,816 reviews; 20 of the latest 20 have a company reply (4+3+2).
- Brand 6: Same name everywhere, a clear positioning line (‘the only solicitor-checked online wills service’) and a named solicitor, Oliver Asha TEP; no long-running asset or three recent independent news mentions found.
Stephensons Solicitors
- Social 6: Links to Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok from the site footer.
- Website 7: Will writing and probate pages, enquiry form, callback, live chat and SRA number in the footer; fixed-price pages exist but no will fee on the homepage.
- Email 0: No newsletter, email signup or downloadable guide was found on the site.
- SEO 4: 1 of 10 UK web searches returned stephensons.co.uk in the top ten.
- Paid 8: Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, domain stephensons.co.uk): 54 ads. Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads naming the brand): 5. Read 12 October 2026.
- Reviews 8: Trustpilot 4.6 from 2,645 reviews (whole firm); 18 of the latest 20 have a company reply (3+3+2).
- Brand 4: Same name everywhere and a clear positioning line (‘full service law firm’); no long-running asset, named people on the homepage or three recent independent news mentions found.
Octopus Legacy
- Social 0: No social media links were found on the octopuslegacy.com homepage when read.
- Website 7: Wills online, by phone or face to face; trusts, LPAs and estate planning packages; FRN and SRA ID shown; no prices on the homepage.
- Email 0: No email signup, lead magnet or account seen on the homepage.
- SEO 2: 0 of 10 UK web searches returned octopuslegacy.com in the top ten.
- Paid 8: Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, domain octopuslegacy.com): 44 ads. Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads naming the brand): 10. Read 12 October 2026.
- Reviews 7: Trustpilot 4.9 from 4,321 reviews; 0 of the latest 20 have a company reply (4+3+0).
- Brand 2: A clear positioning line (‘Plan for death and find support after a loss’); no social links to compare, long-running asset, named people or three recent independent news mentions found.
Which? Wills
- Social 0: No social links in the Which? Wills footer, which shows app store links only.
- Website 9: ‘Start writing your will today from £99’, online purchase with a basket, up to 30% off until 31 Oct 26; no regulator or company number shown.
- Email 6: Account with ‘Manage subscriptions’ and appointments, a free Wills Planner and the Which? app.
- SEO 2: 0 of 10 UK web searches returned whichwills.which.co.uk in the top ten.
- Paid 2: Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, domain whichwills.which.co.uk): no ads found. Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads naming the brand): none found. Read 12 October 2026.
- Reviews 4: Trustpilot 2.3 from 742 reviews on the parent Which? profile, as no Which? Wills profile exists; 19 of the latest 20 have a company reply (0+2+2).
- Brand 2: A clear positioning line (‘Get a legally binding will or power of attorney online with Which?’); no social links to compare, named people or three recent independent news mentions found.
Trust Inheritance
- Social 4: Links to Facebook and LinkedIn from the site footer; no Instagram, X, TikTok or YouTube link found.
- Website 7: Free online Toolboxx will platform, callback booking and Vault storage; company number shown; no prices.
- Email 4: Free Toolboxx registration and the How Much Help app; no newsletter.
- SEO 2: 0 of 10 UK web searches returned trustinheritance.com in the top ten.
- Paid 2: Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, domain trustinheritance.com): no ads found. Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads naming the brand): none found. Read 12 October 2026.
- Reviews 2: Trustpilot 2.5 from 14 reviews; 14 of the latest 14 have a company reply (0+0+2).
- Brand 4: Same name everywhere and a clear positioning line (‘Treating customers like family since 1990’); no long-running asset, named people or three recent independent news mentions found.
How we scored
Who is on the board. Five UK will-writing brands a consumer is likely to meet, chosen for reach and relevance, not marketing strength, spanning models: online/hybrid estate planning with an SRA-regulated legal arm (Octopus Legacy), a consumer-body online will service (Which? Wills), a low-cost solicitor-checked online will (Make a Will Online), a national will-writing and trust corporation (Trust Inheritance) and a regional multi-office solicitors’ firm (Stephensons). Farewill and Co-op are left out because they already appear on another of our boards. Will writing is not a reserved legal activity and there is no statutory will-writer register; voluntary memberships are recorded only where the brand itself states them. Brands were chosen for relevance and size, not for marketing strength.
- Social: which platforms the brand links to from its own site, and whether we could see recent posting and video.
- Website: 2 for a brochure page, 4 with a contact route on mobile, 6 with a page per service and a one-step enquiry, 8 with prices or ranges and registration numbers shown, 10 with online booking or an instant priced quote.
- Email: visible capture only, as we did not subscribe test inboxes for this edition. 2 for a bare newsletter form, up to 10 for a loyalty or app ecosystem with personal offers.
- SEO: ten UK searches for this trade, run through a standard web search API on 12 October 2026 (not personalised, no location set beyond the town in the query); we counted how many returned the brand’s own site in the top ten results. 0 of 10 scores 2, 1 to 2 scores 4, 3 to 4 scores 6, 5 to 6 scores 8, 7 or more scores 10, plus 1 for a substantial advice library. The searches: write a will online UK; will writing service UK; how much does a will cost UK; solicitor will writing near me; mirror wills cost; will writing Manchester; will writing Leeds; will writing Bristol; will writing Glasgow; will writing Birmingham.
- Paid: the Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, by domain) and the Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads whose text names the brand, counted by the advertiser page). 2 for nothing found in either, 4 for active in one with fewer than 10 ads, 6 for active in both or 10+ in one, 8 for active in both with 10+ in at least one, 10 for 50+ Google ads and 10+ Meta ads. Paid describes visible activity, not quality. A low paid score is not a fault.
- Reviews: a fixed formula. Rating (4.7+ scores 4, 4.5 to 4.69 scores 3, 4.0 to 4.49 scores 2, 3.5 to 3.99 scores 1) plus volume (10,000+ scores 4, 1,000+ scores 3, 100+ scores 2, 20+ scores 1) plus replies to the latest 20 reviews (half or more scores 2, some scores 1).
- Brand: five checks worth 2 each: the same name and logo everywhere, one clear positioning line, a distinctive asset used for years, three or more independent press mentions in 90 days, and named people or expertise on the site.
These anchors are fixed for this edition, so the five scores can be read against each other. Boards published before October 2026 used scores relative to the other brands on the board, so compare across boards with care.
Common questions
Which will writing brand scores highest on the Whito leaderboard?
Make a Will Online scores highest of the five compared, at 6.1 out of 10. It publishes its prices (£60 for a single will, £90 for a pair), names its lead solicitor and holds 4.8 from 1,816 Trustpilot reviews with all of the latest 20 replied to. The score measures marketing visibility only.
Which brands score lowest, and why?
Which? Wills and Trust Inheritance share the lowest score, 3.6. Which? Wills has a strong priced website but no social links, no ads found and no review profile of its own. Trust Inheritance has 14 Trustpilot reviews at 2.5, no prices and no ads found. Neither appeared in our 10 searches.
How do the five compare on reviews?
Octopus Legacy has 4.9 from 4,321 Trustpilot reviews, Make a Will Online 4.8 from 1,816 and Stephensons 4.6 from 2,645 across the whole firm. Which? Wills has no profile of its own; the parent Which? profile shows 2.3 from 742. Trust Inheritance has 14 reviews at 2.5. Octopus Legacy replied to none of its latest 20.
What can a small will writer copy from these brands?
Publish fixed prices for single and mirror wills, as Make a Will Online does. Name the person who checks each will. Reply to every review. Offer a free planner or checklist that collects email, as Which? Wills does. Show any voluntary membership with its number, which none of the five did.
Is there a register for will writers in the UK?
There is no statutory register for will writers, and will writing is not a reserved legal activity. Solicitors’ firms are regulated by the SRA, as Stephensons and Octopus Legal Services are. Some will writers belong to voluntary bodies such as the Society of Will Writers or the IPW, which they can show on their sites.
Corrections and right of reply
If your business is scored here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the source, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Scores are never changed for payment or because a business has claimed a Whito listing. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.
Related: all UK marketing leaderboards · Will Writers on Whito
If your business is named here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk and we will check it and correct it. If you want to respond, send us a statement and we will publish it alongside. Full detail: Corrections, right of reply and removals.
