> retail investors get less favorable pricing

until today, that is

They also commit to purchase large amounts before the final demand is known. Their price is a combination of a bulk discount and risk discount.

To be fair, institutions are often negotiating with underwriters on the pricing. That kind of price discovery doesn't happen with retail investors.

So this isn't true. Any average Joe could open a standard trading account and subscribe to the IPO.

Fidelity has a minimum of $100k or $500k to participate in IPOs depending on the specific IPO

Then I'd suggest going with etrade or schwab.

The access to shares still isn't even comparable

It is. The quota you'll get is the same. Just that large companies have more time to analyse and talk to others and can better estimate how much potential the stock has.