Super funds of the year awards: Best super funds for 2026

When comparing and selecting super funds, investment performance and low fees are necessary but not sufficient. You can find many articles on SuperGuide about the top-performing or cheapest super funds (see the list at the end of this article), but your search shouldn’t end there.

The major super research houses Chant West and SuperRatings have long recognised this, so they use their annual awards to draw attention to the super and pension funds that deliver not only on investment performance and fees but also go further in their ongoing focus on members.

This may be due to the education and advice services the super fund provides, or innovative investment options. It could be cost-effective insurance or top-notch customer support. What’s certain is it won’t be one thing, but a combination of factors that make one super fund stand out from the pack.

Even then, the overall winner of fund of the year may not be the one for you. For example, if you are looking for a pension fund, then that subcategory will be of most interest.

You should also be wary of deciding on the right fund for you based on one award. If more than one research house gives a particular fund a gong for best in category, then it may be worth looking at more closely. If a fund has a track record of accolades over many years, even better.

Despite the bad press super funds sometimes get, ultimately they are legally obliged to act in the best interests of their members. The best super funds use that principle to continually improve their services.

In this article, we report the funds of the year as chosen by Chant West and SuperRatings going back to 2016. For the latest year, we’ll also list all the winners in various sub-categories that go towards making a winning fund.

Funds of the year: 2026 winners

SuperRatings was the first cab off the rank to announce its 2026 awards for overall excellence. In its annual awards ceremony on 26 November 2025, SuperRatings named Aware Super as its Super Fund of the Year.

Aware Super also received Chant West’s top gong at its 27 May 2026 awards night.

Chant West

As well as being named Super Fund of the Year, Aware Super won three other awards – Pension Fund of the Year, Member Services and Insurance.

Chant West general manager Ian Fryer says the super fund of the year is one that delivers in terms of investments, member services, governance, fees and insurance.

“Aware Super’s MySuper lifecycle product ticks all the boxes in terms of structure and investment quality. It has strong overall investment capabilities, and property and infrastructure portfolios that are different to other funds, in a good way.”

Fryer says Aware Super continues to strengthen its digital capabilities with the launch of the Retirement Manager tool to help members over 60 prepare for retirement and better manage their income through retirement. This builds on its My Retirement Planner, which has supported 174,000 members since its introduction in 2023.

It has also introduced its Age Pension Hub, which brings together an eligibility calculator with videos and guides showing how to apply and set up appointments and maximise the pension, and also rolled out OSKO payments, allowing same-day withdrawals.

Fryer says Aware’s default insurance provides good value to members and is accessible online or via the app. It has also streamlined its death claims process for smaller claims.

The two other finalists for the top award were Hostplus and last year’s winner, UniSuper. Both are consistently high performers in terms of investment returns and strong insurance offerings with efficient claims processing.

One recent innovation adopted by Hostplus, Aware Super and a few others is a service standard report, which can be found on each fund’s website and includes information on things like complaints handling and claims processing times. This follows a recommendation from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which has found serious shortcomings in service delivery in the superannuation sector, leading in some cases to prosecutions.

Hostplus, with its young membership, also provides a digital advice service which is proving popular with members, alongside human advisers offering simple, low-cost and complex advice. UniSuper’s advisers have always had a strong on-campus presence while it continues to build its automated services.

Notable among the sub-category award winners is AMP, which won three awards – Best Advised Product of the Year for AMP MyNorth, Lifetime Product (AMP MyNorth Lifetime) for the third year running, and Digital Advice for AMP Super.

SuperRatings

SuperRatings executive director Kirby Rappell also pointed to big changes made by Aware Super in recent years, which not only earned it Fund of the Year for the second time in a row but also the winner of its Lifetime Return award. This award measures risk-adjusted returns across a member’s life from age 22 to 67, which allows for direct comparison of default lifecycle and single-strategy options.

Rappell says Aware Super has a strong offering across both accumulation and retirement accounts, underpinned by strong returns in accumulation phase.

“Recent investment in its retirement preparedness tools means its end-to-end offering is really strong,” he says, pointing out that Aware has good tools, apps, digital experience, service quality and advice, all of which are designed to support members across its default, choice and retirement products. 

Hostplus, which now has several index options, won the low-cost award (again), while HESTA won the net benefit category (again). Rappell says net benefit refers to net returns, or total earnings less total fees, with the fund’s Sustainable Growth option especially strong.

Funds of the Year: 2016 to 2026 winners

In the table below you can find the Fund of the Year over the past decade. As noted earlier, Chant West announced its 2026 Fund of the Year in May 2026, while SuperRatings looks a year ahead and announced its 2026 winners in November 2025.

UniSuper has won eight top gongs over the years, followed by Sunsuper with five. QSuper (which has merged with Sunsuper to form the Australian Retirement Trust) has won three times, while Aware Super now has four wins under its belt. AustralianSuper and Hostplus have each had one overall win over the past decade.

It’s notable that all funds are industry funds, although retail funds are beginning to pop up more frequently in the category awards (below). UniSuper, Aware Super and QSuper began as public sector funds but are now available to the general public.

Sources: Chant West and SuperRatings.
*Now part of Australian Retirement Trust

Other award winners for 2026

As previously mentioned, besides the Fund of the Year, each research house also awards funds for excelling in areas such as pensions, advice, sustainability and innovation. 

Both ratings groups now include a category for Digital Advice, given the growing wave of Australians retiring each year and the shortage of advisers and affordability issues for low-balance members. Among the innovators in digital advice are Aware Super, Hostplus, AMP Super and UniSuper.

Also of note is AMP MyNorth Lifetime winning Chant West’s Lifetime products category for the third year running. While products that pay income for life have been discussed by Treasury, regulators and the industry, progress has been slow. AMP and runner-up Australian Retirement Trust’s Lifetime Pension both provide lifetime income with favourable Age Pension treatment and are typically used alongside an account-based pension.

Fryer says members who take up AMP’s MyNorth Lifetime Pension have income payments that are on average 50% higher than other members.

Chant West

Source: Chant West

SuperRatings

Source: SuperRatings

The bottom line

While the same names tend to crop up in the Super Fund of the Year awards, Rappell says there is an increase in the diversity of fund offerings and competition between funds, despite industry consolidation.

“You don’t need to check your super every day, but you should check (how your fund rates) every couple of years because the funds performing well continue to move around a bit,” he says. 

The Fund of the Year and the sub-category winners are an indication of new benchmarks and standards within the superannuation industry.