Updated October 2026 · competitor facts checked on each vendor's own website

Free COI Tracking Software: What's Actually Free, and What Costs You Later

"Free" means three different things in this category: a real free plan, a trial, or a "get a quote" button. The useful question isn't how many records are free. It's what the free plan does for you — reading certificates, checking licenses, warning you before a policy lapses — and what the next plan costs.

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The three kinds of "free"

A permanent free plan

Free for as long as you stay within it. The question is what it includes, and whether the next plan's price is published.

A free trial

Full access for a few weeks, then a card. Fine when the price after it is on the website; deferred pricing when it isn't.

"Get a quote"

A demo or sales call before you see a number. Not free at all — the start of a sales process.

Free plans compared by what they include

Among the seven tools we compare, two have a permanent free plan: TrackMyVendor and TrustLayer. Here is what each one's free plan does, beside the spreadsheet most teams start with.

On the free plan	TrackMyVendor Free	TrustLayer Starter	Spreadsheet
Certificates read by AI	✓Every coverage row: carrier, policy number, dates, limits	✓AI document collection and classification	✗You type every field in
W-9s read by AI	✓Name, tax classification, TIN type and last four	✗W-9 extraction on Pro	✗Stored as a file, if at all
License checked with the state	✓Against the state database in TX, FL, CA, WA, OR, IL, CO, AZ, CT, AR, VA and OH	~Business and professional licenses tracked as documents	✗A manual lookup each time
Subs upload without an account	✓One-time link from their phone	✓"No sign-in required for your vendors"	✗Certificates arrive by email
Expiration warnings	✓Weekly digest on the free plan; per-deadline alerts to you and the sub from Starter	✓Expirations and renewals managed	✗Only if you remember to check
Audit trail	✓Every upload and change, timestamped	–Not described on its plans page	~Version history, if you use a shared drive
Your data out	✓Full data export on every plan	–Not described on its plans page	✓It's already a file
Next plan's price published	✓Every plan on the pricing page	✗Pro and Complete priced through a demo	–Nothing to upgrade to

TrustLayer's column is taken from its own plans page, checked October 2026. For everything beyond the free plans, see the full COI tracking software comparison.

Where the hidden costs are

Per-vendor pricing isn't the trap on its own — it can be the fairest way to pay for a small roster. The costs that surprise people are the ones you only see after a call.

Minimums

A low per-vendor rate with a floor under it. CertFocus's owner publishes $6–$8 per vendor a year for self-service, with a $7,500 annual minimum: below roughly a thousand vendors, the minimum is the price.

Implementation fees

Setup sold as professional services. The same guide adds $3,500–$4,800 to implement, and six to eight weeks before you start. Ask about setup cost and time in writing before you sign.

Quote-only pricing

When the price comes after a demo, you can't compare tools without a sales process for each. myCOI, TrustLayer's paid plans, Jones and HoundDog all work this way; see how each one prices.

Features held back for the paid plan

A free plan that leaves out the reading, the reminders or the export is a demo, not a tool. Check whether certificates and W-9s are read for you, whether you're warned before a lapse, and whether you can take your data out.

Your own time

The cost a spreadsheet hides: logging dates, chasing renewals, re-checking licenses, a few hours every week for a modest roster.

A lapse you didn't see

Not a software cost, but the one all the others are meant to prevent: a claim during a gap in a sub's coverage.

How each COI tracking tool prices

From each vendor's own website. Click a name for the full comparison with TrackMyVendor.

TrackMyVendor	Published: a free plan and flat monthly plans; 30-day trial on paid plans, no sales call
myCOI	No published prices; demo first, now sold as illumend
Billy	Calculator estimate ~$600/mo, "typical for 100–300 subs"; quote after a demo
TrustLayer	Pro and Complete priced through a demo
Jones	Per record, per year, no per-review or vendor fees; quote from sales
HoundDog	Quote by vendor count; monthly, no annual plan
CertFocus	$6–$8 per vendor/yr self-service, $7,500 minimum, $3,500–$4,800 setup (owner's guide)
Spreadsheet	$0 directly; paid for in hours. Get the free template

What each TrackMyVendor plan adds

Every price is on the pricing page. No sales call, no implementation fee, no minimum.

Free

AI reading of certificates and W-9s, license verification against state databases, one-time upload links for subs, document storage, the weekly compliance digest, the audit trail and a full data export.

Starter

A flat monthly price with no contractor count to watch. Adds per-deadline alerts to your team and the sub, projects with their own coverage rules, the calendar feed, bulk import and a second user.

Pro

Unlimited users, endorsement forms read, the premium audit report, compliance reports in PDF and Excel, QuickBooks Online, the REST API and webhooks, Zapier and Make.

Paid plans come with a 30-day trial and no card at signup.

When a free plan isn't the right answer

You want people reviewing every certificate and phoning vendors for you. That's a managed service: HoundDog, CertFocus full service or Jones, priced to match.
You need one system for scheduling, financials and submittals as well as insurance. A construction management platform does more than any COI tool, at a very different price.
You have a handful of long-term subs and rarely renew. A spreadsheet will do — until it doesn't; see when to switch.

Frequently asked questions

Is there truly free COI tracking software?

Yes. Among the tools we compare, TrackMyVendor and TrustLayer both have permanent free plans, not trials. They differ in what's included: TrackMyVendor's free plan reads certificates and W-9s with AI, checks licenses with the state, and includes the audit trail and a full data export; TrustLayer's Starter covers expirations, messaging, basic reporting and AI document collection, with W-9 extraction on Pro. TrackMyVendor plans.

Why do so many COI tracking tools hide their prices?

Tools sold through a sales team price each deal individually, by roster size, service level or contract length, so there is no single number to publish. Of the seven tools we compare, only one publishes the price of every plan on its own site; the others price through a demo, a quote, or a minimum published elsewhere.

What does tracking COIs in a spreadsheet actually cost?

Nothing directly, and a few hours a week in practice: logging dates, chasing renewals, re-checking licenses. At an office manager's hourly rate that adds up to thousands of dollars a year for a modest roster, before counting the claim a missed lapse can cost.

What's the catch with a free trial?

A trial is deferred pricing: full access for a few weeks, then a card. That's fine when the price after it is published. TrackMyVendor's paid plans come with a 30-day trial and no card at signup, and their prices are on the pricing page before you start.

Does free COI tracking software confirm the insurance is real?

No free plan here calls the insurer for you. Software reads the certificate and tracks its dates; confirming a policy is in force means calling the agent who issued it. See how to spot a fake certificate of insurance for how to verify one in five minutes.