In this guide
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 making a decision about 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 service.
In this article we report the funds of the year as chosen by Chant West and SuperRatings going back to 2015. For the latest year we’ll also list all the winners in other categories.
Funds of the year: 2024-25 winners
SuperRatings was the first cab off the rank to announce its 2025 awards for overall excellence. In its annual awards ceremony on 30 October 2024, SuperRatings named Aware Super as its Super Fund of the Year.
Chant West announced its 2024 winner back in May, also awarding Aware Super with its top gong, but won’t announce its 2025 awards until May 2025.
Aware Super
SuperRatings
Super fund of the year 2025
Aware Super
Chant West
Super fund of the year 2024
Chant West
Aware Super bolted out of the blocks this year, winning Chant West’s two major awards – Super Fund of the Year and Pension Fund of the Year – as well as awards for Investments and Insurance.
Chant West general manager Ian Fryer says Aware Super’s decision to bring its fund administration in-house has given it more flexibility in the way it tailors its offerings for members.
“Its MySuper product is a lifecycle strategy that ticks all the boxes in terms of structure and quality of underlying investments. It has a strong investment team and differentiated property and infrastructure portfolios.
“It’s new insurance offering offers a needs-based lifestage design for default cover, and it prompts members to dial-up cover and add income protection, all of which can be done online or on the app.
Fryer says Aware Super has a great retirement planning tool in MyRetirement Planner. It uses a range of channels to engage effectively with members, with almost all transactions able to be done on Members Online and Member App. It has a strong advice service, offering intra-fund and comprehensive advice.
Cbus was a close runner up for Fund of the Year, winning three awards for Specialist Fund, Member Services and Responsible Investments. Its MySuper delivered strong returns over periods from 5 to 15 years to March 2024. And in a new category this year, Hostplus won the MySuper Performance Outcomes award in recognition of its strong performance over multiple timeframes.
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 but the winner of three sub-categories – MyChoice Super Fund of the Year, Best Digital Offering and the Smooth Ride award.
Rappell says Aware Super 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. Smooth ride refers to in-built protection to deal with market volatility.
Aware Super was only just pipped at the post in the Lifetime Returns category, ultimately won by Australian Retirement Trust (ART). 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. ART has a default lifecyle option.
Hostplus, which now has several index options, won the low-cost award (again), while HESTA won the net benefit category. 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: 2013 to 2024 winners
In the table below you can find the Fund of the Year over the past decade. As noted earlier, Chant West announced its 2024 Fund of the Year in May 2024, while SuperRatings looks a year ahead and announced its 2025 winners in October 2024.
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 two wins under its belt. AustralianSuper, Hostplus and TelstraSuper have each had one overall win.
It’s notable that all funds are Industry funds, except for TelstraSuper which is a corporate fund for Telstra employees, 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.
| Year | Chant West | SuperRatings |
|---|---|---|
| Aware Super | ||
| 2024 | Aware Super | UniSuper |
| 2023 | UniSuper | Hostplus |
| 2022 | UniSuper | UniSuper |
| 2021 | AustralianSuper | QSuper* |
| 2020 | Sunsuper* | Sunsuper* |
| 2019 | UniSuper | UniSuper |
| 2018 | Sunsuper* | Sunsuper* |
| 2017 | Sunsuper* | QSuper* |
| 2016 | UniSuper | QSuper* |
| 2015 | UniSuper | TelstraSuper |
Sources: Chant West and SuperRatings
*now part of Australian Retirement Trust
Other award winners for 2024-25
As previously mentioned, besides the Fund of the Year, each research house also awards funds for excelling in areas such as pensions, sustainability and innovation.
Chant West
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Pension Fund of the Year | Aware Super |
| Advised Product of the Year | Netwealth |
| Corporate Solutions Fund of the Year | Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings |
| Specialist Fund of the Year | Cbus |
| Best Fund: Investments | Aware Super |
| Best Fund: Member Services | Cbus |
| Best Fund: Insurance | Aware Super |
| Best Fund: Advice Services | Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings |
| Best Fund: Innovation | TelstraSuper |
| Best Fund: Lifetime Product | AMP MyNorth Lifetime |
| Best Fund: Responsible Investment | Cbus |
| MySuper Performance Outcomes | Hostplus |
Source: Chant West
SuperRatings
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Retirement Offering of the Year | UniSuper |
| MyChoice Super of the Year | Aware Super |
| MySuper of the Year | Australian Retirement Trust |
| Momentum | Colonial First State |
| Net Benefit | HESTA |
| Smooth Ride | Aware Super |
| Sustainable Fund of the Year | Australian Ethical |
| Service Quality | NGS Super |
| Accountability and Transparency | Rest |
| Advice Offering | TelstraSuper |
| Best Digital Offering | Aware Super |
| Best Low-cost Offering | Hostplus |
| Choice Insurance Offering | Care Super |
| Default Insurance Offering | legalsuper |
| Lifetime Return | Australian Retirement Trust |
| Member Education | Brighter Super |
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.
I switched to Unisuper … but one thing I note is how slow it takes fortnightly employer contributions to show up in my account. Employer sends funds to a clearing bureau who are allowed up to 5 working days to send to Unisuper … and then Unisuper has another 5 days to process? Apparently this is all APRA compliant … but I find it a bit annoying to have the contributions basically not invested for 2 weeks. When Australia now has NPP processing payments in near realtime, BPAY basically overnight … it seems odd that Super funds are still relying on what must be very outdated payment processes that take 2 weeks to process transferred funds. Time for APRA to step up?
The big picture is the best fund would be the fund that has made its members the most money. Who cares about the add ons, the phone service, insurances.
Realistically, we all want the best return to build for a comfortable retirement. It is all about living after working life, Retirement people.
I did a quick analysis of my Super account and believe me I’m no Math Genius. I looked at my Company’s contribution to my super account + my Salary Sacrifice contribution, took that amount away from last years Super Balance and it appears my Care Super fund made me $10K for the year. Does this seem about right. How would I know what the other funds (True % of return) such as your article 2020 Winner of Best Super Fund award Supersun (or was it SunSuper!!) return for the exact same amount of money invested, be?
Without withdrawing every Dollar to check this exercise, you can look at the % of growth, but is that ‘Real’ in terms of actual $$ return. Im not complaining ( well maybe a little) I thought Super yearly returns on $120K Super Balance might be a little more than this? Am I being unrealistic. Panic mode Now age 60 and Female. !! Don’t want to have the mentality of NOT turning on the AC in Summer thinking about the $$$ !!