Free COI Tracking Tools — What's Actually Free, What Has Hidden Costs
There's no such thing as free COI tracking. There's pricing you can see and pricing you can't. Most tools in this category fall into the second group — costs hidden in per-vendor fees, expiring trials, or a sales call required before you see a number. Here's a straight breakdown of every model.
The short version: Spreadsheets are free in dollar cost but carry real labor expense. Enterprise tools like Procore require a sales process before showing you a price. Purpose-built COI tools vary widely — some charge per vendor, some charge flat rates, some don't publish pricing at all. One tool (this one) publishes its full pricing below.
The six places COI tracking costs you money
Before evaluating any specific tool — including ours — it helps to know what to look for. Hidden costs in this category fall into predictable patterns:
Costs that scale with your sub roster, not your usage. If you add 10 subcontractors in a busy month, your bill goes up. These fees are rarely surfaced in headline pricing — they show up in the terms or after signup.
A five-person office shouldn't pay five times what a sole owner-operator pays. Per-seat pricing makes sense for large teams; for most GC offices it means paying for seats nobody needs.
When a vendor doesn't publish pricing, it's because the price is negotiated. That means they have leverage and you don't. It also means you can't compare cost without investing time in a sales process — which is time you won't get back if the number doesn't work.
Common in enterprise tools sold as 'professional services.' A $200/month platform can easily become a $3,000 first-year cost after onboarding is factored in. Ask about this explicitly before signing anything.
The one everyone forgets to count. Collecting COIs, logging expiration dates, sending renewal reminders, and re-verifying licenses takes real time every week. For a 20-sub roster, that's 2–4 hours per week — $2,600–$5,200 per year at a $25/hour rate, before any liability exposure from a missed date.
Not a software cost — but the cost that every other cost is supposed to prevent. One claim filed during a period when a sub's COI had lapsed can run into tens of thousands of dollars. The budget line that never gets written until it's needed.
The three types of "free" in this category
When a COI tool advertises itself as free, it's usually one of these three things:
COI tracking tools — pricing model breakdown
Pricing research as of April 2026. Competitor pricing can change — verify directly before making a decision.
The only tool on this list with no direct cost. Also the one with the highest hidden cost: your time. A 20-sub roster typically requires 2–4 hours per week to maintain manually — COI collection, date tracking, renewal follow-ups, re-verification after changes. At $25/hour that's $2,600–$5,200/year in admin time before you count liability exposure from anything that slips through.
- Fewer than 10 subcontractors
- Renewals are infrequent
- One person owns the whole process
- Roster grows past ~15 subs
- Multiple people need access
- You need an audit trail
Procore does not publish pricing. It is sold through an enterprise sales process with annual contracts priced on project volume. COI tracking is one module within a full construction management platform — you're buying a system that handles project management, financials, scheduling, and more. If COI tracking is all you need, you're paying for a lot you won't use.
myCOI does not publish pricing publicly. The platform is oriented toward mid-market and enterprise accounts. Industry pricing references put entry at $200–$500/month depending on vendor volume, with costs that scale as your roster grows. That scaling structure means your bill goes up exactly when you're busiest — which is the opposite of what a GC needs.
Some tools in this category charge per-certificate processing fees on top of a platform subscription — meaning the cost to process each inbound COI from a sub is billed separately. For GCs managing high subcontractor volume with frequent renewals, these per-cert costs compound quickly and are easy to underestimate when comparing initial pricing.
Genuinely free tools exist — but free tools that don't have a revenue model typically make money one of three ways: charging for the features that actually matter (automated alerts, audit trails, multi-user access), monetizing your data, or using free as a lead generation mechanism for a paid service. None of these are inherently bad, but knowing which model you're in tells you what happens when you depend on the tool.
TrackMyVendor pricing — the complete picture
Published in full. No sales call required. No asterisks.
- Up to 25 subcontractors
- 1 user
- License + COI + W-9 tracking
- Expiration alerts
- No credit card required
- Unlimited subcontractors
- 1 user
- All compliance tracking
- Automated reminders
- No per-vendor fees
- Unlimited subcontractors
- Unlimited users
- All compliance tracking
- Automated reminders
- PDF exports + audit log
When TrackMyVendor is not the right fit
This page would be dishonest if it only told you where other tools fall short. TrackMyVendor is the right tool for a specific buyer:
- If you need a full construction management platform — project scheduling, financials, RFIs, submittals, and COI tracking in one system — look at Procore. It costs significantly more, but it handles things TrackMyVendor doesn't.
- If you're managing 500+ units in enterprise property management with dedicated compliance staff and complex policy-verification workflows, a purpose-built enterprise COI platform may serve you better.
- If you have fewer than 10 subcontractors with infrequent renewals and you're disciplined about a spreadsheet, the spreadsheet will work — and the free tier is here if you want automation without paying for it.
TrackMyVendor is built for GCs and property managers who need license verification, COI tracking, and vendor onboarding — and want to know exactly what they're paying before they start.
Frequently asked questions
Is there truly a free COI tracking tool?
Why do so many COI tools hide their pricing?
What does tracking COIs in a spreadsheet actually cost?
Does free COI tracking software verify that insurance is actually valid?
See the pricing before you sign up
No sales call. No contact form. Full pricing published — including the free tier.
Related resources
When manual tracking breaks down and what it actually costs you
Side-by-side feature and pricing comparison across tools
8 things to check before approving any certificate of insurance
Build a repeatable system for your full vendor roster