“Annuity” is a shelf, not a product. On it sit contracts that guarantee a fixed rate for a decade, contracts whose value rides the stock market, contracts that split the difference by crediting index returns within a cap, contracts that begin paying income the day you sign, and one — the charitable gift annuity — that is half donation. This guide compares the main types side by side: how each grows, what each charges, what each guarantees, and which saver each one is actually for.

The comparison table

Structures summarised generically; individual contracts differ. Growth illustrations follow below and use each type’s own maths.

Fixed deferred annuities and MYGAs: the rate is the product

A fixed deferred annuity credits a declared interest rate the insurer sets and resets periodically. A MYGA — multi year guaranteed annuity calculator searches usually mean the simpler question, “what does the guaranteed rate compound to?” — locks one rate for a stated term, like a certificate of deposit with an insurer. Any myga annuity calculator or myga calculator is doing one sum: compound interest. At an illustrative guaranteed 5% for ten years, $100,000 becomes $100,000 × 1.05^10 = $162,889.46, with $62,889.46 of interest — the same figure the Annuity Calculator returns for any fixed-rate growth, because the maths is identical. The MYGA’s honest comparison is against CDs and Treasuries of the same term: it typically pays a little more, in exchange for surrender charges if you exit early, tax-deferred interest, and the insurer’s claims-paying ability standing behind the guarantee (with state guaranty associations as a backstop, within limits) instead of FDIC insurance.

Fixed indexed annuities: market link, principal floor, capped upside

A fixed indexed annuity credits interest from an external index (commonly the S&P 500) subject to a cap, a participation rate or a spread — and credits 0%, never a negative number, when the index falls. A fixed index annuity calculator or fixed indexed annuity calculator that shows smooth index-matching growth is selling, not calculating: the cap is the product. Honest illustration, stated as such: suppose the index returns a capped 9% in three of ten years and nothing creditable in the other seven. Then $100,000 grows to $100,000 × 1.09^3 = $129,502.90 — a 2.62% compound annual rate in a decade where the index itself did far better. That is the real trade: principal protection and tax deferral, paid for in capped upside. Add an income rider — the fixed index annuity with income rider calculator searches are after the rider’s separate benefit base and payout factors, which grow by contract formulas, not by the index — and the fees (commonly around 1% of benefit base yearly) come off the value while the guaranteed lifetime withdrawal becomes the point of the contract. Judge an indexed annuity on its guaranteed figures and its current cap, never on a back-tested illustration.

Variable annuities: the market, with an insurance wrapper

A variable annuity invests in subaccounts — insurer-packaged funds — so the account value rises and falls with the market. A variable annuity calculator‘s key input is not the return assumption but the fee stack, and a variable annuity payout ultimately depends on what the fees left behind. Priced honestly on $100,000 over ten years at an illustrative 6% gross market return: with a typical 1.25% in combined annual contract charges acting as a yearly drag, the growth factor is (1.06 × 0.9875)^10 and the account ends at about $157,917.29 — against $179,084.77 for the same market return with no contract charges. The wrapper costs $21,167.48 of decade growth in this illustration, which is the number to weigh against what the wrapper buys: tax deferral, a death benefit, and optional living-benefit riders. For a saver in a low bracket who will not use the riders, the illustration usually argues against; for a high-bracket saver maxing every other shelter, it can argue for. Either way, run the fee maths before the sales meeting, not after.

Immediate and deferred income annuities — and the QLAC

Immediate annuities skip growth entirely: the premium converts to income at once, priced by age, rates and mortality — the full benchmark table lives in our guide to how much a $100,000 annuity pays per month. Deferred income annuities (DIAs) do the same conversion for a start date years ahead. A special case, the QLAC — a qualified longevity annuity contract bought inside an IRA or 401(k) — earns its place in this comparison: premiums are excluded from the balance used for required minimum distributions until income begins (no later than age 85), under an inflation-adjusted premium cap set by the IRS (about $210,000 in recent years — verify the current figure before purchase, as it adjusts). A qlac calculator is therefore really pricing two things at once: the late-life income the premium buys, and the RMD deferral it creates along the way. No growth table applies — a QLAC’s “return” is the longevity insurance itself, and it only pays off in the scenario it insures: a long life.

Charitable gift annuities: half income, half donation

A charitable gift annuity (CGA) is a contract with a charity: you contribute cash or assets irrevocably; the charity pays you a fixed income for life; what remains at death goes to the charity. Any charitable gift annuity calculator, charitable annuity calculator or charitable gift annuity rates calculator is applying one published schedule — the American Council on Gift Annuities’ suggested maximum rates, which most charities follow. The current schedule (effective January 1, 2024) pays, for a single life: 5.7% at 65, 6.3% at 70, 7.0% at 75, 8.1% at 80, 9.1% at 85 and 10.1% at 90+.

A worked charitable gift annuity example

A donor aged 70 contributes $50,000. At the ACGA rate of 6.3%, the annuity pays $3,150 a year — $262.50 a month — for life, part of it typically tax-favoured (a portion of each payment is treated as tax-free return of principal over life expectancy, and part of the contribution may qualify for a charitable income-tax deduction, computed from IRS discount-rate tables at the gift date). Compare like with like: the commercial benchmark pays a man of 70 about $771 a month per $100,000 — $385.50 per $50,000 — against the CGA’s $262.50. The difference is not a worse deal; it is the donation, plus the deduction. A CGA is the right tool only when the charitable intent exists first and the income is the bonus.

Choosing: match the type to the job

• “I want a guaranteed rate for a fixed stretch.” MYGA or fixed deferred — judge on the locked rate and the surrender schedule.
• “I want market growth but cannot watch my principal fall.” Fixed indexed — judge on the floor, the cap and the rider fees, not illustrations.
• “I want market growth and tax deferral above all.” Variable — judge on the all-in fee stack against the same funds held directly.
• “I need income now, for life.” SPIA — judge on benchmarked quotes from several A-rated carriers.
• “I need income at 85 if I am still here.” DIA / QLAC — judge on the late-life payout per premium dollar.
• “I want to give, and income would be nice.” Charitable gift annuity — judge on the charity, the deduction, then the rate.

Whatever the type, the growth maths underneath is the Annuity Calculator‘s home ground, and the payout maths is the Annuity Payout Calculator‘s. The types differ in guarantees, fees and optionality — the arithmetic of compounding and amortisation underneath them never changes.

One cost cuts across every deferred type and deserves its own paragraph: the surrender schedule. Deferred annuities typically penalise withdrawals above a free corridor (often 10% a year) during an initial surrender period — commonly five to ten years, with charges that start in the mid-single digits and decline to zero. The schedule is not fine print; it is the liquidity price of every guarantee in the table above, and it is why deferred annuities of any type are bought only with money whose job is genuinely years away. Before comparing rates, caps or illustrations between two contracts, compare the year in which each lets you leave whole — that date, more than any headline figure, is what you are actually purchasing.

Sources and method: growth illustrations computed exactly as shown (compound growth at stated rates; variable illustration applies the fee factor multiplicatively, (1.06 × 0.9875)^10; indexed illustration applies the stated 9% cap in three of ten years and 0% otherwise — an illustration of cap mechanics, not a market forecast). Charitable gift annuity rates: American Council on Gift Annuities suggested maximum rates, single life, effective January 1, 2024. Payout benchmark: MyAnnuityStore October 2026 survey, as used throughout this guide family. QLAC rules summarised from IRS guidance; the premium cap is inflation-adjusted — verify the current figure before purchase. Explanation only; not financial advice.