CertFocus and TrustLayer sit at opposite ends of the COI tracking market. CertFocus, from Vertikal RMS, is a managed program with credentialed insurance reviewers and the rare habit of publishing per vendor pricing. TrustLayer is API first software built on a large insured network, sold by quote to mid market and enterprise. Here is the honest difference, and where self serve software with published pricing fits instead.
Last updated July 2026
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Feature by feature, using only what each vendor publishes. Where a vendor publishes nothing, this table says not published rather than guessing.
| Feature | CertFocus (Vertikal RMS) | TrustLayer | COISoftware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Managed service plus software, self service tier available | Self serve software, network driven | Self serve AI software |
| Who reads the certificate | CIC, CPCU, CISR and CRIS credentialed account managers on the full service tier | Automated verification against your rules, plus network policy data where the party is connected | AI extraction and your own rules |
| Underlying approach | People plus the Hawk-I AI review engine | A network of 517,000 plus companies that learns from more than 400,000 certificates a month | AI ACORD 25 extraction and rule checks |
| Published pricing | Yes, self service 6 to 8 dollars per vendor per year, full service 13 to 29 dollars per vendor per year | No, quote based, generally starts well above 500 dollars per month | Yes, monthly plans from 49 dollars |
| Annual minimum | Yes, an annual minimum applies to both tiers | Not published | No annual minimum |
| Implementation fee | Yes, a one time setup fee applies | Not published | None |
| Free option | Not offered | Free single certificate checking tool, not a plan | Yes, free tier |
| Documents tracked | COIs plus vendor prequalification | COIs, W9s, business and professional licenses, contracts and custom documents | COIs, W9s and custom required documents |
| Best for | Programs that want credentialed reviewers and per vendor pricing on paper | Mid market and enterprise risk teams that want a modern API first platform | Teams that want transparent pricing and to run it in house |
Compiled from vertikalrms.com and trustlayer.io in July 2026. TrustLayer prices by quote, so no per vendor figure is shown for it. Vendors change products and pricing, so verify before you buy.
These two are not lighter and heavier versions of the same thing. They solve COI tracking with different machinery, and the right pick depends on whether you want people or a network doing the reading.
CertFocus publishes per vendor pricing on the Vertikal RMS site: self service at 6 to 8 dollars per vendor per year with the Hawk-I AI, and full service at 13 to 29 dollars per vendor per year with credentialed account managers. TrustLayer routes every buyer through a sales conversation and generally starts well above 500 dollars a month. If you need to build a budget before a demo, that is the single biggest split between them.
CertFocus full service puts CIC, CPCU, CISR and CRIS credentialed reviewers between your contract and the certificate. TrustLayer leans on a network of more than 517,000 companies that learns from over 400,000 certificates a month, so when a party is already in the network the data can flow with less manual review. One buys judgment, the other buys scale.
Beyond COIs, TrustLayer tracks W9s, business and professional licenses, contracts and custom documents in one place. CertFocus pairs COI tracking with vendor prequalification, which is the workflow owners and general contractors reach for before a subcontractor is hired. Decide which document set actually matters to your program before you compare features.
CertFocus applies an annual minimum and a one time implementation fee, because credentialed reviewers are people. TrustLayer is built for mid market and enterprise, so its floor and its onboarding assume a certain scale. A buyer with 40 vendors is below the shape of either one.
Vertikal RMS offers a vendor pay option, where your suppliers cover the per vendor cost rather than you. That model is common in commercial real estate. TrustLayer does not publish a vendor pay tier, so its cost stays with you.
A credentialed managed service takes an implementation. An enterprise platform takes a sales cycle and onboarding. If your honest problem is that certificates arrive by email and nobody notices when one expires, both are heavier than the job requires.
If you want the wider field than these two, our best COI tracking software roundup compares eight platforms, and the single vendor deep dives live at CertFocus alternative and TrustLayer alternative. Other head to heads buyers ask for are myCOI vs TrustLayer and CertFocus vs myCOI.
CertFocus asks you to buy a review team, TrustLayer asks you to buy an enterprise platform. COISoftware is the option in the middle: the AI reading, without the minimum or the sales cycle.
Upload an ACORD 25 and the insurer, NAIC number, policy numbers, limits, dates and additional insured status come back in seconds, from crooked scans and phone photos as well as clean PDFs.
Published monthly plans starting at 49 dollars, a free tier, no annual minimum and no implementation fee. Size the cost before anyone books a demo.
Set minimum limits, required coverages and endorsement wording by vendor type, and every arriving certificate is scored against them automatically.
Reminders at 60, 30 and 15 days go to the vendor, not to your calendar, so a lapse is caught before a crew shows up uninsured.
If you already have a risk manager or broker who can read a certificate, you are not paying a second time for credentialed staff you do not need.
Produce the compliance record an auditor, insurer or client asks for without rebuilding it from an inbox.
COISoftware reads the ACORD 25 the same way both platforms do, then applies the checks behind certificate of insurance verification and the ongoing monitoring in vendor insurance compliance software. If you are weighing a managed service against software, read COI tracking software vs a managed service first.
Four questions settle most of these evaluations faster than a demo does.
If nobody internally can spot a missing completed operations endorsement or a blanket versus scheduled additional insured, buy the human layer. CertFocus full service provides it. TrustLayer and self serve software both assume you or your broker can read a certificate.
Tip: Answer this one first. It points you toward the managed service or away from it.
TrustLayer is built for mid market and enterprise programs tracking many parties, and its pricing floor reflects that. If you track a few dozen to a few hundred vendors, an enterprise platform is more machine than the job needs.
CertFocus publishes per vendor rates, so you can model a budget before you call. TrustLayer quotes everything. If procurement needs a number this quarter without a sales cycle, that difference alone can pick the vendor.
Not the clean sample PDF. The crooked phone photo of a fax. Whichever tool reads that correctly is the one that survives contact with your inbox, and COISoftware lets you run that test free, today, before you commit to either platform.
Three straight answers rather than a scorecard that always ends with us winning.
CertFocus is the rare full service platform that publishes per vendor pricing, staffs the review with CIC, CPCU, CISR and CRIS credentialed account managers, and offers a vendor pay tier that can move the cost to your suppliers. For an owner or general contractor that wants insurance expertise plus prequalification and can accept an annual minimum, it is a strong fit. Our deep dive is at CertFocus alternative.
TrustLayer is API first software built on a large insured network, tracking COIs, W9s, licenses, contracts and custom documents with a modern interface risk teams like. For a company managing many vendors that wants automation and network data rather than a review team, it fits. The trade is quote based pricing and a scale that assumes you are past the small business stage. The detail is in our TrustLayer alternative write up.
If the honest description of your problem is that certificates arrive by email, live in a folder, and nobody notices when one expires, you do not need credentialed reviewers or an enterprise rollout. You need AI that reads them, rules that check them and reminders that chase them. That is a COI tracking system you can stand up this week, and the migration path from a spreadsheet is covered in manual COI tracking vs software.
CertFocus, from Vertikal RMS, is a managed program that pairs software with credentialed insurance reviewers and publishes per vendor pricing. TrustLayer is API first software built on a network of more than 517,000 companies, sold by quote to mid market and enterprise. CertFocus buys you judgment and a price on paper. TrustLayer buys you a modern platform and network scale.
CertFocus publishes per vendor pricing on the Vertikal RMS site: self service at roughly 6 to 8 dollars per vendor per year and full service at roughly 13 to 29 dollars per vendor per year, with credentialed account managers on the full service tier. An annual minimum and a one time implementation fee apply, and a vendor pay option can shift the cost to your suppliers. Verify current figures before you buy.
TrustLayer does not publish pricing. It quotes based on the number of tracked parties and features, and reviews generally place the starting point well above 500 dollars a month. It offers a free single certificate checking tool, but that is a lead magnet, not a plan. Expect an annual contract sized for mid market and enterprise use.
CertFocus does not publish a free plan, because it is a managed service built around human review. TrustLayer offers a free single certificate checking tool but not a free version of the platform. If testing full extraction and rule checking on your own certificates before you commit matters, COISoftware has a free tier for exactly that.
CertFocus suits owners and general contractors that want credentialed reviewers, vendor prequalification and published per vendor pricing. TrustLayer suits larger risk teams that want a modern platform and network data across many vendors. For a smaller general contractor tracking subcontractor certificates directly, self serve software is usually faster to stand up and cheaper to run.
If the objection is the annual minimum or quote based enterprise pricing, COISoftware publishes monthly plans and a free tier and needs no sales call. If you want credentialed human review, CertFocus is the transparent priced option. If you want the widest view, the best COI tracking software roundup compares eight platforms side by side.
