Compare what each fund offers, then choose investment options to put their published costs and returns side by side.
Industry fund
HESTA is open to everyone, with roots in health and community services. Its default insurance design is a particularly useful point of difference to investigate.
Anyone can join subject to product eligibility. Check whether the relevant product is HESTA Super, Personal Super or an employer-specific arrangement.
Retail super and pension range
OneAnswer has a current Frontier super and pension range alongside older closed products. Investment choice is central to Frontier, and its current insurance arrangements differ from older descriptions.
Frontier accepts applications from people receiving its PDS in Australia, including applications submitted by a financial adviser. The usual minimum initial Personal Super investment is $2,000, or $1,000 with a Regular Investment Plan. Older OneAnswer Personal Super and pension products are closed to new members.
Choose the actual investment pathway for each account. For lifecycle products, select the named stage relevant to you. No stage is selected automatically.
| Measure | HESTA MySuper | Choose an investment option |
|---|---|---|
| Return basis | MySuper net return after administration costs, $50,000 representative member | Choose an option |
| 3-year return, per year | 9.26% | Choose an option |
| 5-year return, per year | 6.91% | Choose an option |
| 7-year return, per year | 7.47% | Choose an option |
| 10-year return, per year | 8.03% | Choose an option |
| APRA strategic growth allocation | 74.25% | Choose an option |
| Reported total fees, net of tax, at $50,000 | $405 a year (0.81%) | Choose an option |
| Administration and advice costs, net of tax (included in total) | $145 a year | Choose an option |
| 2026 performance test | Pass | Choose an option |
| New-member status at reporting date | Check the current product eligibility rules | Check the current product eligibility rules |
Source: APRA Comprehensive Product Performance Package 2026, published 28 August 2026. Fees reflect the reporting year to 30 June 2026, are net of tax, use standard arrangements and exclude member-activity fees. Dollar figures are rounded. They are not a current quote. Check the latest PDS for changes, insurance premiums and any separately charged advice.
Returns are annualised historical results. Different return bases, risk levels and periods cannot be treated as interchangeable. MySuper net returns use a $50,000 representative balance even when you change the fee balance. A lifecycle stage return does not track a person moving between stages. Missing figures mean not reported, not zero. Past returns do not predict future returns. Read our method and APRA's definitions.
| What to compare | HESTA | OneAnswer (OnePath) |
|---|---|---|
| Membership and access | Anyone can join subject to product eligibility. Check whether the relevant product is HESTA Super, Personal Super or an employer-specific arrangement. Sources15 | Frontier accepts applications from people receiving its PDS in Australia, including applications submitted by a financial adviser. The usual minimum initial Personal Super investment is $2,000, or $1,000 with a Regular Investment Plan. Older OneAnswer Personal Super and pension products are closed to new members. Sources124 |
| Accounts and products | HESTA Super and Personal Super; Corporate insurance arrangements need their own guide. HESTA Super HESTA Personal Super Retirement Income Stream Transition to Retirement Income Stream Sources7 | OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super and Pension, with separate notes for closed OneAnswer Personal Super and pension accounts. ANZ Smart Choice and Grow Wrap are outside this profile's numerical scope. OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super OneAnswer Frontier Pension OneAnswer Frontier transition-to-retirement pension Closed OneAnswer Personal Super, Allocated Pension and Term Allocated Pension accounts Sources14 |
| Investment choices | Balanced Growth Balanced Growth is the MySuper default. Members can choose other ready-made or asset-class options. The menu includes Sustainable Growth and Indexed Balanced Growth; the Income Stream has its own investment range and disclosure document. Sources23 | Frontier requires the applicant to select investment options. The trustee will not choose one and cannot proceed with an application that lacks a selection. ANZ Smart Choice MySuper figures reported under the same historical legal fund are not OneAnswer defaults. The range includes diversified and single-sector managed funds, OneAnswer index funds, MultiSeries portfolios combining active and passive investments, and ANZ Term Deposits. Auto-rebalancing and dollar-cost-averaging facilities can help administer a chosen mix, but they cannot be used together and do not apply to term deposits. Check the current investment guide and product notices for closures or strategy changes. Sources126 |
| Insurance | Eligible members receive default death and income protection cover; TPD cover is optional. HESTA also describes an insurance-premium pause for up to 12 months of approved parental leave, subject to conditions. Personal Super members need to check how cover is selected when joining. Sources45 | The current Additional Information Guide says insurance is not available directly through Frontier Personal Super. A separate risk-only super insurance product may be payable using the Frontier account, with advice about the arrangement. An October 2025 notice removed OneCare Super references from the new-member documents. Existing members should check their actual policy and account, especially where an older OneAnswer product still holds group cover. Sources245 |
| Retirement income | HESTA offers Retirement and Transition to Retirement Income Streams. The fund publishes a separate pension investment menu, so check the income-stream allocation and costs rather than assuming they are identical to the super option with a similar name. Sources3 | Frontier Pension offers an account-based pension and a transition-to-retirement pension. The initial pension minimum is $20,000. Payment choices include monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual intervals. An existing Term Allocated Pension is a different product with its own payment and withdrawal restrictions; it should not be treated as an ordinary Frontier pension. Sources24 |
| Advice and support | Most advice about a HESTA account is covered by administration fees. Advice tailored to starting an Income Stream has a separate fee, and comprehensive advice can be provided through an external referral on an agreed fee-for-service basis. Sources6 | The product is designed to support an investment portfolio chosen with a financial adviser. An Adviser Service Fee is negotiated separately. Ask for the services and their cost in writing, including what happens to the investment strategy if ongoing advice ends. Sources23 |
| Fee details to check | Add administration, investment and transaction costs for the selected option and the insurance you actually hold. HESTA's current fee page uses costs for the year ended 30 June 2026, including estimates, and warns that future costs can differ. Sources6 | The December 2025 fee guide lists a $135.29 annual Member Fee for Personal Super and TTR accounts below the qualifying $50,000 balance, equivalent to $115 after the stated tax benefit. The ordinary pension Member Fee is $115. ANZ Term Deposits and ANZ Cash Advantage have special exclusions, and eligible linked Frontier accounts can request a waiver. A waived Member Fee does not remove investment costs: the selected fund's Ongoing Fee, other investment and transaction costs, any levies or expense recoveries, and advice still need to be included. Some June 2026 APRA externally directed OneAnswer rows contain zero total-cost entries at higher balances that conflict with the fee guide. Those entries should not be interpreted as a free investment account. Sources37 |
| Comparing investment performance | Use HESTA Super returns for a super comparison and Income Stream returns for a retirement comparison. Match Balanced Growth's asset mix with the competing option rather than using the word Balanced alone. Sustainable and indexed strategies need their own results. List HESTA's default insurance types explicitly. Treat Sustainable Growth as a specific investment option, not a description of every HESTA investment. Sources7 | Use the exact Frontier investment option, dates and return basis. The legal fund's historical reporting also includes other brands, so its overall result is not a OneAnswer portfolio return. Some options are trustee-directed and receive performance-test results; other externally directed options have no result in the package. An absent test result does not mean a pass or failure. Only OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super pathways are matched to this profile's APRA table. June 2026 figures retain Retirement Portfolio Service ABN 61808189263. They must not be relabelled as current ANZ Smart Choice data after a later transfer. The OneAnswer Investment Portfolio is an investment product outside super and is excluded from this comparison. Sources7 |
THE SUPERGURU VIEW
HESTA merits a closer look for someone whose working life includes caring roles, part-time work or parental leave. Its default income protection and optional TPD structure makes a generic insurance tick-box misleading. Read the benefit definitions and waiting periods, and compare the cover you need rather than simply counting how many insurance types a fund advertises.
Sources4
Based on the cited product features. These are general reasons to investigate the fund, not a personal recommendation. Supporting sources.
THE SUPERGURU VIEW
OneAnswer is most useful to assess with the account name and investment list already in front of you. Frontier can accommodate an advised portfolio or a simpler index holding, but there is no default allocation to make that decision for you. For an existing member, the practical questions are what the full account costs, how insurance is arranged, and whether an older product has features a transfer would surrender.
Based on the cited product features. These are general reasons to investigate the fund, not a personal recommendation. Supporting sources.
Use the membership rules to establish which accounts are available to you. Then compare the total price of the investment option and cover you need. A lower fee or higher historical return alone does not tell you which fund is suitable.
Ask both funds to confirm insurance acceptance, exclusions, waiting periods and whether cover would change when you leave your employer. Obtain advice before giving up a defined benefit or an insurance policy you may not be able to replace. ASIC Moneysmart explains the comparison checks.
Read the full HESTA profile · Read the full OneAnswer (OnePath) profile · Choose another comparison
Checked 2026-09-11. Documents and product terms can change after this date.
Checked 2026-09-11. Documents and product terms can change after this date.