Greenlight Guru vs. Qualio – which QMS software is better? Both Greenlight Guru and Qualio are QMS software providers, and both target the medtech / life sciences industry. Our consulting customers regularly ask us which one to choose, so let’s compare them.
First off, the irony is that both Greenlight Guru and Qualio have a page on their respective websites and, surprise, each one claims that their product is very superior ™ in a head-to-head comparison. I have a hunch that they might be biased, chuckle.. anyway. I’m biased, too, because I hate terrible software and shady business models, but we’ll get to that soon, and in the meantime, I hope I’m less biased than Greenlight Guru and Qualio!
Before I continue rambling, here’s a quick comparison table, because you’re probably already questioning your life choices and wondering how you ended up on this weird OpenRegulatory website.
Greenlight Guru vs. Qualio Comparison Table
| Greenlight Guru | Qualio | |
| Type | SaaS | SaaS |
| Pricing Model | Opaque (“contact sales”) | Opaque (“contact sales”) |
| Price | ~30k€ / year for startups (3 users), scales up heavily when your company grows | ~30k€ / year for startups (3 users), scales up heavily when your company grows |
| Minimum Contract Duration (Lock-In) | 1-3 years | 1-3 years |
| Structured Data Export | No | No |
| Free Trial | No | No |
| Text Editor | No (use Microsoft Word) | Yes, but it’s terrible |
So the TLDR here is that both are fairly terrible choices, mainly because they both lock you in with crazy long contracts, are very expensive and don’t provide a structured data export which would enable you to move your QMS to another software. The only “real” differentiator is that Greenlight Guru doesn’t have a rich-text editor, which means you have to create your documents in Microsoft Word (yes, seriously) on your own computer, and then upload them to their software. Qualio is only marginally better though: They do provide a text editor in their software, but it feels like a retro throwback to Windows 95.
So unless you’re a retro computer aficionado, this is only a minor benefit.
Let’s go through those aspects step-by-step, and then you can decide for yourself.
Type
Both QMS software packages are offered as software as a service (SaaS). This means you access the software from your browser, and it’s run on their infrastructures (their web servers etc.). This unfortunately means you don’t have control over your data, but.. I guess that’s the way things are nowadays in 2024 (this was better in the good old Windows 95 days).
So, no big differences there.
Pricing
Both Greenlight Guru and Qualio don’t have transparent pricing. This means you can’t view their prices on their websites. If you think this sounds shady, yup, that’s the way enterprise sales are currently done. Talking about shady companies.. I recently saw that Oracle, which some people call the mother of all shady enterprise companies, actually publishes their price lists online. Good on them. Greenlight Guru and Qualio don’t. That sucks.
So, for both, you’ll have to hit the big “contact sales” button and sit through a software demo with a salesperson, which generally sucks. And then they’ll send you a custom offer with a custom price, as their goal will be to extract as much money from you as possible. One aspect of this is that if you’re located in a developing country, you’ll likely receive a lower offer; if you’re in the US, bad luck, your price might be high.
We’ve actually gathered a few anecdotal data points on pricing for Greenlight Guru vs. Qualio, so check out the links below if you’re interested.
More about pricing: Greenlight Guru Pricing | Qualio Pricing
Greenlight Guru vs. Qualio Lock-In: Contract Duration And Data Export
With modern SaaS tools, you can usually cancel monthly, export your data and take it elsewhere. This is however not true of Qualio and Greenlight Guru. Unfortunately, both of them require you to sign a contract with a typical duration between one and three years, so you’re quite locked in.
Additionally, there’s no trivial way to export all your data in a structured way. Sure, you can export documents as PDFs or Word Files, but you’ll likely lose all the “meta” information, e.g. reviews, approvals, etc. – that sucks. So the lock-in is real.
And your decision on choosing Greenlight Guru vs. Qualio for your business is an important one, because you’ll have to live with the consequences for many years. And the craziest thing is that you have to make that decision based only on a short demo in a sales call with a salesperson as they don’t offer free trial accounts. That’s crazy! So you can’t try before you buy.
Free Trials?
In modern SaaS software, there’s always an option for a free trial. Some software products even have a free tier which you can use for an unlimited time.
This is neither true for Greenlight Guru nor Qualio. You’ll have to make your decision based on a sales call. Crazy.
Rich-Text Editor
So far, we’ve seen that both Qualio and Greenlight Guru suck equally. But let’s turn our attention to the only real differentiator, as ridiculous as it might sound: The text editor.
You see, Greenlight Guru doesn’t have a text editor. This means that you have to create your documents on your local computer yourself (e.g. with Microsoft Word.. ugh), and then upload them to Greenlight Guru. Suffice to say, this is the clunkiest of clunky workflows.
Qualio has improved upon this, albeit only marginally: Their software has a text editor, but its features are comparable to the first release of Microsoft Word in Windows 95. People who use regularly told me it’s terrible. Among other things, you have to separate different “sections” of each document into separate text editors, one for each section.
So.. if you want a crappy text editor, choose Qualio. If you don’t want one, choose Greenlight Guru
Greenlight Guru vs. Qualio Conclusion: Better Alternatives
All of this sounds really negative. Maybe it’s just me.
Or maybe this whole eQMS industry sucks and is full of shady players. Or maybe none of this is specific to the eQMS industry, and it’s just enterprise software as a whole.
Anyway. It sucks.
That’s why we tried to build a better solution: An eQMS software with no lock-in, structured data exports, no lock-in and transparent pricing. Best of all, it has a text editor which doesn’t suck. We call it Formwork, and you should check it out! It even has a free tier and you can also self-start a free trial of the paid tiers anytime. Lots of companies have passed audits in Formwork.
- More about Formwork: Overview | Pricing
- More about Greenlight Guru: Overview | Pricing | Alternatives
- More about Qualio: Overview | Pricing | Alternatives
