Some of our consulting customers ask us whether we know of any Greenlight Guru alternatives. The short answer is that there are quite a few, and feature-wise, many of them are just as good or even better! So, umm, technically, there’s no real reason to actually choose Greenlight Guru nowadays, but.. I guess some people still choose to, just like some people in Germany prefer to buy bottled water even though they could drink tap water.
Anyway! We’re trying to create more transparency in the QMS software market – and the first step to achieve that is to gather data on all the software options out there. So if you haven’t yet, check out our QMS Software Overview!
Roughly speaking, there are two types of QMS software alternatives: Free or almost-free software, and paid software.
Paid Alternatives To Greenlight Guru
| Name | Typical price | Text editor? | Free trial? | Data export? |
| Formwork | 499€ / month | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Qualio | Unknown | Yes | No | No |
| Matrix Requirements | 2130€ / month | Yes | Yes | No |
One of the main differentiators between Greenlight Guru and other QMS software solutions is whether the software has an integrated text editor or not. Note that Greenlight Guru does not have an integrated text editor – that means that you have to manually use a text editor (e.g. Microsoft Word) on your computer to create and edit your documents, and only then upload them to Greenlight Guru. If that sounds painful, you might be onto something.
Of all the Greenlight Guru alternatives mentioned above, all of them have a text editor. Regarding free trials, only Formwork and Matrix Requirements have a “try before you buy” feature. And finally, regarding data export, only Formwork allows you to export your data in a structured format if you decide to move your data anywhere else.
Ah yes, time for a disclosure! Formwork is our product (nervous chuckle). We developed it because I personally got annoyed with the shady QMS software market – all vendors typically lock you in with multi-year contracts and don’t allow you to export your data in a structured way. Formwork is meant to be different: No commitment (monthly cancellation, online!), export your data any time, unlimited users account for the same price, etc. You should check it out!
“Free” QMS Software Alternatives
In addition, you also have some free or nearly-free Greenlight Guru alternatives. Note that none of them are specialized QMS software, so you’ll have to spend quite some time to “make them compliant” with plugins etc., and even then you run the risk that an auditor might have a different opinion on what “compliant” means for them. The exception to this is Formwork with its free tier – to my knowledge the only QMS software on the market with a free option.
| Name | Specialized tool? | Text editor | Free trial? | Data export? |
| Formwork | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Atlassian Jira / Confluence | No – needs setup | Yes | Yes | No |
| Google Drive | No – needs setup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Redmine | No – needs setup | No | Yes | Yes |
Greenlight Guru Alternatives: Conclusion
In my personal experience, the biggest reason for companies searching for Greenlight Guru alternatives is the pricing – while there’s no official information available, I’ve heard that it’s rather expensive. Most importantly, its price goes up significantly once your company grows and requires more seats.
This is true for Qualio, too. So if you’re price-conscious, choose Formwork or one of the “free” tools 🙂
