How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
What is the best SEC compliance management software?
ComplySci is the top pick for most SEC-regulated firms because it covers personal trading monitoring, pre-clearance, attestations and code of ethics management in one platform built for RIAs and broker-dealers. StarCompliance is the best alternative for global firms with complex trading rules and multiple jurisdictions. The right choice depends on firm type, headcount and FINRA coverage.
Key takeaways
- ComplySci leads for most RIAs and broker-dealers, with personal trading, attestations and code of ethics in one system.
- StarCompliance suits global firms with complex personal trading rules across jurisdictions.
- Global Relay and Smarsh cover the communications archiving and supervision side of books and records.
- No vendor here publishes a starting price, so get a written quote that breaks out licence, onboarding and feeds.
- This software is for SEC-regulated firms, not general businesses, and some tools also cover FINRA duties.
What does SEC compliance management software have to do?
SEC compliance management software has to turn SEC rules into daily tasks that a chief compliance officer can track, prove and show to an examiner. The core duties are the code of ethics, employee personal trading monitoring, attestations and certifications, books and records, and marketing rule review. A tool that only stores documents is not enough. It must collect data, flag exceptions and keep an audit trail that survives an SEC examination.
Personal trading is usually the largest daily workload. The software should pull brokerage feeds for covered persons, match trades against restricted lists, run pre-clearance, and flag trades that need review. Attestations cover the code of ethics, holdings, outside business activities, gifts and political contributions. Books and records rules require the firm to keep communications, trade records and compliance records in a form the SEC can inspect, which is why archiving tools sit beside monitoring tools here. The Marketing Rule adds review and recordkeeping for advertisements and performance claims. Exam readiness ties it together, because the firm must produce evidence fast when the SEC asks.
How should an SEC-regulated firm choose compliance software?
A firm should start with its registration type, because a broker-dealer, a registered investment adviser and a fund face different rule sets, and a dual-registered firm needs coverage for both SEC and FINRA duties. A small RIA with ten staff and one custodian needs a guided program and simple attestations, while a broker-dealer with hundreds of registered persons needs broker feeds, restricted list automation and supervision workflows. Write down the five compliance tasks the firm does every week, then test each shortlisted tool against them in a demo with the firm own data.
Data feeds decide whether the tool works in practice. Personal trading monitoring needs feeds from the brokers where staff hold accounts, and communications archiving needs connectors for email, chat and voice. Ask which feeds are included, which cost extra, and how long onboarding takes. Check who will administer the tool, because a platform that needs a full time administrator is a poor fit for a small RIA. Ask for a reference client of similar size and registration type, and what its first SEC exam after go-live looked like.
What does SEC compliance management software cost in 2026?
None of the vendors in this guide publishes a starting price, so every price here is quote only, and a firm should budget on a written quote rather than a headline figure. Vendors price by monitored persons, modules chosen, data feeds and service level, so two firms of the same size can pay very different amounts. A small RIA buying one module pays far less than a broker-dealer buying personal trading, attestations and archiving together.
The quote should break out four costs: the annual licence, implementation and onboarding, data feed charges, and ongoing support or managed services. Implementation is often the surprise, because broker feed setup, restricted list loading and attestation campaign design take weeks of staff time. Ask whether onboarding is fixed fee or time and materials, and ask what happens when the firm adds staff or a new broker feed mid-year. Get the full first year cost in writing, with seats, modules, feeds and setup on one page, before comparing vendors. A lower licence fee means little if feed charges and onboarding double the total.
One tool can cover both SEC and FINRA duties, but only if the firm checks the overlap before buying, because the two regulators ask for different evidence. A dual-registered firm needs SEC code of ethics and personal trading monitoring alongside FINRA supervision of communications and outside business activities. Archiving tools such as Global Relay and Smarsh serve both regimes, because both require capture, retention and supervision of business communications.
Monitoring tools differ more by regulator. A platform built for RIAs may handle SEC attestations well and lack the FINRA supervision workflows a broker-dealer needs, while a broker-dealer platform may carry features an RIA never uses. The practical test is to list the firm SEC and FINRA obligations side by side, then mark which tool covers each line. If one tool leaves gaps, the firm should plan for a second tool or a managed service rather than assume the gap will close later. Confirm in writing which regulator each module was built for.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 ComplySci | Most RIAs and broker-dealers that want personal trading, attestations and code of ethics in one platform | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 StarCompliance | Global firms with complex personal trading rules across jurisdictions | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 Global Relay | Firms that need communications archiving and supervision for books and records | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 Smarsh | Firms that need to capture communications across email, chat, social and voice | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 MyComplianceOffice | Firms that want conduct risk, attestations and conflicts in one platform | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 RIA in a Box | Small RIAs that want a guided compliance program rather than a bare platform | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 ACA ComplianceAlpha | Firms that want compliance software backed by ACA managed compliance services | quote | No free plan; demo available |
 Schwab Compliance Technologies | Firms custodied at Schwab that want trade monitoring tied to their custody data | quote | No free plan; demo available |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
| Tool |
Best for |
Starting price |
Free plan |
| ComplySci |
Most RIAs and broker-dealers |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| StarCompliance |
Global firms |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| Global Relay |
Communications archiving and supervision |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| Smarsh |
Communications capture across channels |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| MyComplianceOffice |
Conduct risk in one platform |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| RIA in a Box |
Small RIAs |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| ACA ComplianceAlpha |
Software plus managed services |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
| Schwab Compliance Technologies |
Schwab-custodied firms |
quote |
No free plan; demo available |
#1
ComplySci
Best for: Most RIAs and broker-dealers that want personal trading, attestations and code of ethics in one platform
Visit complysci.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
ComplySci is the employee compliance platform from Comply, and it is the most complete single answer in this guide for an SEC-regulated firm. It monitors personal trading through broker feeds, runs pre-clearance against restricted lists, and manages attestations for the code of ethics, holdings, outside business activities and gifts. The platform also covers political contributions and whistleblower intake, which matter for firms with pay to play exposure. ComplySci was built for financial services, so its workflows match how compliance teams chase exceptions. Firms should ask how many broker feeds the quoted price includes, because feed coverage is where the total cost moves.
What we like- Deep personal trading monitoring, broker feeds, pre-clearance, attestations, gifts and entertainment tracking
Watch out for- ComplySci and RIA in a Box are both Comply products now, so a firm buying both should check for overlap and bundle terms before signing
#2
StarCompliance
Best for: Global firms with complex personal trading rules across jurisdictions
Visit starcompliance.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
StarCompliance serves large financial firms, including global banks, asset managers and broker-dealers, and that scale shows in its rule engine. It handles personal account dealing, pre-clearance, restricted lists, gifts, outside business activities and conflicts across multiple jurisdictions. A firm with staff in the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia can run one set of workflows with local rule variations, which is hard to do with a tool built for one market. The trade off is implementation effort, because configuring global rules and broker feeds takes time and a named administrator. Firms should ask for a reference client with a similar headcount and the same mix of jurisdictions.
What we like- Strong personal trading and conflicts coverage, global rule sets, scalable for large employee counts
Watch out for- Its breadth means longer implementation and more administrator setup than a smaller RIA platform, so small firms should confirm the onboarding timeline
#3Global Relay
Best for: Firms that need communications archiving and supervision for books and records3.7/5 on
G2 (16 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit globalrelay.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
Global Relay is an archiving and supervision platform that fits the books and records side of SEC compliance. It captures email, messaging, social media and voice, stores messages in a compliant archive, and gives supervisors review queues and lexicons to meet their supervision duties. It also supports the Marketing Rule, because advertisements and related communications sit in the same archive as the records the SEC can request. Firms that already run a monitoring tool for personal trading often pair it with Global Relay for the communications side. Ask which message sources are included in the quote, because each new channel can add cost.
What we like- Broad communications capture, archiving built for regulatory retention, supervision workflows and lexicon based review
Watch out for- Archiving is its strength, so personal trading monitoring and attestations need a separate tool or a partner integration
#4Smarsh
Best for: Firms that need to capture communications across email, chat, social and voice4.1/5 on
G2 (28 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit smarsh.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
Smarsh captures and archives business communications across email, text, chat, collaboration tools, social media and voice, which is the recordkeeping core of an SEC compliance program. Its supervision tools let compliance teams review flagged messages and document their review, and its archive is built to produce records for an SEC request. Smarsh is a strong pick for a firm whose biggest exam risk is scattered communications across channels the firm does not control. It does not replace a personal trading monitor, so a firm should budget for both if it needs both. Ask how the quote handles new channels, because staff adopt new messaging apps faster than compliance teams can approve them.
What we like- Wide channel coverage, capture for modern messaging apps, archiving and supervision in one system
Watch out for- Its focus is capture and archiving, so code of ethics attestations and personal trading monitoring need another tool
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
MyComplianceOffice, known as MCO, is a conduct risk platform that brings employee compliance tasks into one system. It covers personal trading, attestations, gifts and entertainment, outside business activities, conflicts of interest and whistleblowing, with workflows that route exceptions to the right reviewer. Its strength is configurability, because a firm can shape attestation campaigns and approval chains around its own policies. That flexibility needs administrator time, so a firm should ask who configures the platform and what that work costs. MCO suits midsize and large firms that want one system for conduct risk instead of several point tools.
What we like- Single platform for employee compliance, configurable attestations, personal trading and conflicts workflows
Watch out for- It is an enterprise platform, so a small firm should confirm implementation effort and whether a lighter deployment exists
#6
RIA in a Box
Best for: Small RIAs that want a guided compliance program rather than a bare platform
Visit riainabox.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
RIA in a Box is a compliance platform from Comply that is built for small registered investment advisers. It combines a compliance calendar, document templates, employee attestations and personal trading workflows in a guided program, which suits a firm with no dedicated compliance team. A small RIA can run its annual review, its code of ethics attestations and its books and records tasks from one place without hiring a full time administrator. The guided model is the point, and it is also the limit, because a firm that grows into broker-dealer registration or a large headcount will need a broader platform. Ask what the migration path looks like if the firm outgrows it.
What we like- Built for small RIAs, guided workflows, compliance calendar and document templates included
Watch out for- It is built for smaller RIAs, so a larger or dual-registered firm may outgrow it, and it is also a Comply product, so check overlap with ComplySci
#7
ACA ComplianceAlpha
Best for: Firms that want compliance software backed by ACA managed compliance services
Visit acaglobal.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
ACA ComplianceAlpha is the compliance technology platform from ACA Group, and its distinguishing feature is the services behind it. The platform covers personal trading, attestations, code of ethics, marketing review and filings, while ACA consultants and managed services can run parts of the program. That combination suits a firm that wants software and an experienced team rather than software alone, for example a firm preparing for its first SEC exam. The firm should ask for a quote that separates the software licence from the service fees, because the two are easy to confuse. Confirm which tasks ACA staff perform and which stay with the firm own team.
What we like- Software plus ACA consulting and managed services, broad coverage across compliance program areas
Watch out for- The services led model can mean higher ongoing cost than software alone, so confirm what is software and what is billed as a service
#8
Schwab Compliance Technologies
Best for: Firms custodied at Schwab that want trade monitoring tied to their custody data
Visit schwab.com
Starting pricequote
Free planNo free plan; demo available
Schwab Compliance Technologies is the compliance platform from Charles Schwab for firms that custody assets at Schwab. It monitors employee personal trading, runs pre-clearance and manages code of ethics attestations, with data drawn from the custody relationship the firm already has. That integration is the reason to choose it, because trade data flows in without the broker feed setup that other platforms require. A firm custodied elsewhere can still use it, but it should confirm how its own custodian data connects and whether the monitoring loses depth. Firms should also ask which compliance tasks sit outside the platform, because archiving and marketing review may need a second tool.
What we like- Built for Schwab-custodied firms, personal trading monitoring, integration with Schwab custody data
Watch out for- Its tightest fit is for firms custodied at Schwab, so firms on other custodians should check integration depth before choosing it
Frequently asked questions
What is the best SEC compliance management software for a small RIA?
RIA in a Box is the best fit for a small RIA because it is built for small advisers and pairs guided workflows with a compliance calendar and document templates. ComplySci is the stronger pick once the firm grows or needs deeper personal trading monitoring. A small RIA should confirm the quote covers the modules it needs, and ask what migration looks like if the firm outgrows it.
How much does SEC compliance management software cost?
No vendor in this guide publishes a starting price, so every price is quote only and a firm should compare written quotes rather than headline figures. Vendors price by monitored persons, modules, data feeds and service level. The quote should break out the annual licence, implementation, feed charges and support, because implementation and feeds often add a large share of the first year total.
Does SEC compliance software cover FINRA duties as well?
Some tools cover both and some do not, so a dual-registered firm should check the overlap line by line. Archiving tools such as Global Relay and Smarsh serve both regimes, because both require capture and supervision of business communications. Personal trading and supervision workflows differ more, so list the firm SEC obligations and its FINRA obligations side by side and mark which tool covers each one.
What is personal trading monitoring, and why does the SEC require it?
Personal trading monitoring tracks the personal securities trades of a firm employees and related persons, and it checks those trades against restricted lists and the firm code of ethics. The SEC requires advisers and broker-dealers to manage conflicts of interest, and employee trading is one of the clearest conflicts. The software pulls broker feeds, runs pre-clearance and flags trades for review, so the firm can show an examiner it watched the risk.
Can SEC compliance software help a firm prepare for an SEC exam?
Yes, it can, because an exam is mostly a test of evidence, and the software keeps that evidence in one place. Personal trading records, attestations, gifts logs, marketing reviews and archived communications should all be searchable and exportable. A firm should run a mock exam request before the real one, and it should confirm the tool can produce the records the SEC asks for without manual rebuilding.
Sources we checked (8)
- https://www.complysci.com
- https://www.starcompliance.com
- https://www.globalrelay.com
- https://www.smarsh.com
- https://www.mycomplianceoffice.com
- https://www.riainabox.com
- https://www.acaglobal.com
- https://www.schwab.com
How we picked
We picked tools with genuine SEC compliance coverage, including personal trading monitoring, attestations, code of ethics management, archiving, or marketing review, and a working official website. We checked each vendor homepage and pricing page on 12 Nov 2026. None of the eight vendors publishes a starting price, so every price here is quote only, and we recorded that plainly instead of repeating a third party figure. ComplySci and RIA in a Box are both Comply products, and we flagged that overlap in both write-ups.
Last verified: 12 November 2026
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.