Best RIA compliance software for small firms
Six investment adviser compliance software products read against the work the Advisers Act rules put on a small firm: written policies, the annual review, the chief compliance officer's calendar, code-of-ethics reports, Form ADV and Form CRS, advertising review and producing records for an examiner. Each cell says what the vendor's own pages state, not what a demo shows. Comply appears once: RIA in a Box and ComplySci are its products under new names.
Reviewed October 2026
Best overall for an SEC-registered RIA
Comply
The only vendor here that reads Meets on all three program columns: a policy builder, an annual review workflow aligned with Rule 206(4)-7, and a compliance calendar pre-loaded from your firm profile.
Read the review of ComplyBest for a firm that already has a consultant
Smartria
It is software only: consultants and outsourced CCOs log in to your program, and its pages name 204A-1 reports and a marketing review that keeps every approval and rejection.
Read the review of SmartriaBest for a firm that markets every week
Hadrius
Its marketing review keeps an immutable version history linked to each approval, and the same platform runs annual reviews and produces exam packs on demand.
Read the review of Hadrius
The comparison table
| Vendor | Policies and procedures library206(4)-7(a) | Annual review workflow206(4)-7(b) | CCO calendar and evidence206(4)-7(c) | Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgments204-2(a)(12)-(13) | Form ADV and Form CRS204-1(a) | Advertising review206(4)-1; 204-2(a)(11) | Exam request production204-2(g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ComplyRIA suite and services | Meets Policy builder, version history | Meets Workflow aligned with 206(4)-7 | Meets Pre-loaded from firm profile | Meets 204A-1 holdings, trade reports | Meets Experts file Parts 1, 2A, 2B, 3 | Partial Web snapshots; no review flow | Partial Audit-trail reports |
SmartriaRIA compliance software | Partial Stores policies; templates | Check with vendor Annual review not named | Meets Firm-wide calendar, alerts | Meets Initial, annual, quarterly | Check with vendor “Filing disclosures” only | Meets Keeps approvals, rejections | Partial “Audit-ready” reports |
HadriusAI compliance platform | Partial Your procedures plus templates | Meets Annual reviews; 206(4)-7 | Meets Calendar; auto-linked evidence | Partial Attestations; reports unnamed | Check with vendor “ADV requirements” checks | Meets Approval logs, versions kept | Meets Exam packs on demand |
Orion ComplianceModule of a wealth platform | Partial Set up at onboarding; Library | Check with vendor Testing; annual not named | Meets Calendar; events timestamped | Partial Code records; reports unnamed | Check with vendor A “Filer” tile only | Not stated | Meets Exam data “exportable” |
StratiFiAccount supervision | Not stated Client IPS, not a manual | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Partial “Audit ready” books, records |
VComplyGeneral GRC platform | Meets Draft, approve, attest | Partial Reminders only | Meets Owner, due date, evidence | Partial Acknowledgments only | Partial ADV deadline reminders | Not stated | Partial Reports on demand |
What each column has to leave behind
RIA compliance software is judged at an exam by what it can hand over, not by its dashboard. Each column in the table produces a record the books and records rule names. The table below is the list to hold a vendor against: if a module does the work but cannot show the record, the firm still has a gap.
The records behind the seven columns
| Record | Rule | How long it is kept | Column |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written policies and procedures | 204-2(a)(17)(i) | Each version in effect, or in effect at any time in the past five years | Policies |
| Annual review records | 204-2(a)(17)(ii) | Five years from the fiscal year of the last entry, by our reading | Annual review |
| The code of ethics | 204-2(a)(12)(i) | Each version in effect, or in effect at any time in the past five years | Code of ethics |
| Code violations and the action taken | 204-2(a)(12)(ii) | Five years from the fiscal year of the last entry, by our reading | Code of ethics |
| Written acknowledgments of the code | 204-2(a)(12)(iii) | For every current supervised person, and anyone who was one in the past five years | Code of ethics |
| Access persons' reports | 204-2(a)(13)(i) | Five years from the fiscal year of the last entry, by our reading | Code of ethics |
| Pre-approval decisions and their reasons | 204-2(a)(13)(iii) | Five years after the fiscal year the approval was granted | Code of ethics |
| Brochures, supplements, Form CRS, delivery dates | 204-2(a)(14)(i) | Five years from the fiscal year of the last entry, by our reading | Form ADV and CRS |
| Each advertisement | 204-2(a)(11) | Five years from the fiscal year it was last disseminated | Advertising review |
17 CFR 275.204-2(a)(11)-(17), (e)(1), (e)(3)(i)
Most of those records fall under the general period: “not less than five years from the end of the fiscal year during which the last entry was made on such record, the first two years in an appropriate office of the investment adviser.” The full list of records and periods is in the Rule 204-2 books and records guide.
Year 0: End of the fiscal year of the last entry
- In an appropriate office of the adviser2 years
- In an easily accessible place3 years
17 CFR 275.204-2(e)(1)
The annual review column is where vendors' words drift furthest from the rule. Several sell an “annual review report”. The compliance program rule asks for the review itself; the books and records rule asks for the records that document it:
So a workflow that collects test results, findings and fixes as the year runs is worth more than a report template filled in each December. The annual compliance review planner lays out what a review covers, whichever software keeps it.
When you leave a vendor, the records stay yours
Five years outlasts many software contracts. An adviser that keeps records electronically must be able to “Arrange and index the records in a way that permits easy location, access, and retrieval of any particular record”, and must “Provide promptly” a “legible, true, and complete copy of the record in the medium and format in which it is stored”. It must also “Separately store, for the time required for preservation of the original record, a duplicate copy of the record”. Those duties sit with the adviser, not the vendor, so the export terms matter before you sign.
One thing the adviser rule does not ask for is WORM storage. Rule 204-2(g) has no non-rewriteable or audit-trail condition and no third-party undertaking; those are broker-dealer conditions under Exchange Act Rule 17a-4(f). When Comply describes archiving “in a WORM-compliant format”, or Hadrius describes WORM retention, that answers the broker-dealer rule. It does no harm to an adviser, but it is not the adviser test. A firm that is also a broker-dealer should read the broker-dealer compliance software comparison and the email archiving comparison as well.
Ask before you sign
- The export format for each record in the seven columns204-2(g)
- Where the separate duplicate copy is stored, and by whom204-2(g)
- Who at the vendor can open your records204-2(g)
- How long you can export after the contract ends
- Whether older versions of the policies and the code are kept204-2(a)(12)(i), (17)(i)
What software cannot do for the firm
The compliance program rule has three duties, and software can hold the records for all three. It cannot own any of them. The first asks for policies that fit the firm:
A policy library is a starting draft. “Reasonably designed” is judged against the business the firm actually runs, so every template needs editing before it is adopted; the RIA compliance manual template shows the sections a small adviser usually needs. The third duty is a person: the adviser must “Designate an individual (who is a supervised person) responsible for administering the policies and procedures”. A calendar can remind that person; it cannot be that person. If nobody in the firm can take the seat, read when a small RIA should hire an outsourced CCO and the RIA compliance consultants comparison.
The stakes are written into the rule. Without the three duties, “it shall be unlawful … for you to provide investment advice to clients”. The rule applies to an adviser “registered or required to be registered under section 203”, that is, with the SEC. Comply and Smartria both mention state-registered advisers on their pages; state rules were not read for this page, so a state-registered firm should check its own state's requirements with its compliance counsel. The whole rule is walked through in the Rule 206(4)-7 compliance program guide.
Form ADV, Form CRS and advertising: where suites stop
The Form ADV column is the one where the six vendors differ most in kind. Comply's registration team will prepare and file the form for you. VComply's own article describes deadline reminders. Hadrius checks activity against “ADV requirements”, Smartria mentions workflows for “filing disclosures” and Orion lists a “Filer” tile; none of the three says on the pages we read that it files Form ADV. StratiFi does not mention it. So for most suites the dates below stay on the CCO's desk, with the software as the reminder.
The dates a suite should at least remind you of
- Form ADV annual updating amendment90 days204-1(a): within 90 days of fiscal year end
- Brochure or summary of material changes, if any120 days204-3(b)(2): after fiscal year end
- Form CRS update after it becomes materially inaccurate30 daysForm CRS General Instruction 8.A
- Telling existing retail clients about the changes60 days204-5(b)(4)
- Copy of each advertisement kept5 years204-2(e)(3)(i): from the last dissemination
Plan the filing dates with the Form ADV annual amendment date planner and draft the relationship summary with the Form CRS builder.
Advertising review splits the field the same way. Smartria and Hadrius both name a review workflow that keeps the decision; Comply snapshots the website “to support marketing compliance”, which keeps a copy but is not a review. The rule's idea of an advertisement is wide (a communication “to more than one person” that offers advisory services), so a firm that posts or mails every week should weigh this column heavily. The SEC Marketing Rule guide covers what a reviewer checks, and the advertising review software comparison covers tools that do only this.
Build a shortlist from your own program
Start from the program you run, not the vendor's module list. A sole adviser carries less code-of-ethics work: “If you have only one access person (i.e., yourself), you are not required to submit reports to yourself”, provided the firm keeps records of its holdings and transactions. A team with access persons needs the reports, the acknowledgments and the pre-approval decisions, which the personal trading compliance software comparison reads in more depth, and the code of ethics reporting calendar dates.
Pick a starting point, adjust the columns, and the shortlist reads the same rows as the table. The questions underneath are the ones to send each vendor before a demo.
Vendors whose own pages read Meets on every column picked
MeetsComply
Read from their pages on October 22, 2026
Questions to send each vendor
- 01Which Advisers Act policies ship with the product, and are earlier versions kept? (Rules 206(4)-7(a), 204-2(a)(17)(i))
- 02How does the annual review workflow record tests, findings and fixes, and can we export those records? (Rules 206(4)-7(b), 204-2(a)(17)(ii))
- 03Can tasks be assigned to our chief compliance officer with evidence attached, and is the activity log exportable? (Rule 206(4)-7(c))
- 04Do access persons file holdings reports, quarterly transaction reports and code acknowledgments in the product? (Rules 204A-1, 204-2(a)(12)-(13))
- 05Does the product file Form ADV and Form CRS amendments, or remind us of the dates? (Rule 204-1(a))
Each product, read against the rules
Comply
RIA suite and services- What it is
- One company, Comply Technologies, with two compliance products: Comply for RIA (formerly RIA in a Box) and Comply Platform (formerly ComplySci). The RIA product is “Purpose-built for RIAs navigating SEC and state requirements”: a compliance calendar “Pre-loaded with tasks based on your firm profile”, an annual review tool with a “Guided workflow aligned with SEC Rule 206(4)-7”, an Intelligent Policy Builder that tracks “version history and edits to your policies and manuals”, and code-of-ethics tools whose FAQ says the system “automatically creates holdings and transactions reports” for access persons to attest.
- Who it fits
- An SEC- or state-registered adviser that wants the whole program, and the filings, with one vendor. Its registration team will “Prepare and file Form ADV (Parts 1, 2A, 2B, 3)”. It archives website snapshots, but no advertising review workflow is named on the RIA page, so a firm with a heavy marketing calendar should ask.
- What the rule requires, and whether it meets it
- Policies and procedures libraryMeetsPolicy builder, version history
- Annual review workflowMeetsWorkflow aligned with 206(4)-7
- CCO calendar and evidenceMeetsPre-loaded from firm profile
- Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgmentsMeets204A-1 holdings, trade reports
- Form ADV and Form CRSMeetsExperts file Parts 1, 2A, 2B, 3
- Advertising reviewPartialWeb snapshots; no review flow
- Exam request productionPartialAudit-trail reports
- Not verified by us
- Whether Form ADV filing is part of the software or a separate service engagement, whether advertisements can be routed for review and approval (not only archived), and the export format for annual review records and code-of-ethics reports if you leave.
Smartria
RIA compliance software- What it is
- RIA compliance software (its own pages write the name Smartria; buyers often search for SmartRIA), “Built by an RIA for RIAs”. It gives a CCO “a clear, firm-wide view of your compliance calendar”, trade monitoring where access persons “Submit and review initial, annual, and quarterly reports with ease” under Rule 204A-1, attestations of the code of ethics, and marketing reviews that keep records “of all rejections and approvals”.
- Who it fits
- A firm that has, or wants, an outside consultant: “Smartria is a technology company, not a services company”, and its small-firm page says consultants and outsourced CCOs are “granted access to their Smartria compliance programs”. Its FAQ is candid that firms with “5 or more employees” get the most value, and that customers range from state registered firms upward.
- What the rule requires, and whether it meets it
- Policies and procedures libraryPartialStores policies; templates
- Annual review workflowCheck with vendorAnnual review not named
- CCO calendar and evidenceMeetsFirm-wide calendar, alerts
- Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgmentsMeetsInitial, annual, quarterly
- Form ADV and Form CRSCheck with vendor“Filing disclosures” only
- Advertising reviewMeetsKeeps approvals, rejections
- Exam request productionPartial“Audit-ready” reports
- Not verified by us
- Whether it runs the annual 206(4)-7(b) review as a workflow with its own record, whether Form ADV and Form CRS amendments are tracked or filed, and its export format for the policies, reviews and attestations it stores.
Hadrius
AI compliance platform- What it is
- An AI compliance platform “Built for SEC- and FINRA-regulated firms”. For advisers it says it will “Automate program testing, annual reviews, and Marketing Rule workflows” and “Produce exam packs on demand”. Its firm oversight module is “aligned to SEC 206(4)-7” with a “Smart Calendar with task routing and guided workflows”; its marketing review keeps “Immutable version history and linked approval logs”.
- Who it fits
- A growing adviser, or a hybrid RIA and broker-dealer, whose bottleneck is marketing review and evidence. It builds the program “from your WSPs combined with our pre-built templates”, so it expects written procedures to exist. Personal trading is covered through monitoring and code-of-ethics attestations; holdings and transaction reports are not named.
- What the rule requires, and whether it meets it
- Policies and procedures libraryPartialYour procedures plus templates
- Annual review workflowMeetsAnnual reviews; 206(4)-7
- CCO calendar and evidenceMeetsCalendar; auto-linked evidence
- Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgmentsPartialAttestations; reports unnamed
- Form ADV and Form CRSCheck with vendor“ADV requirements” checks
- Advertising reviewMeetsApproval logs, versions kept
- Exam request productionMeetsExam packs on demand
- Not verified by us
- Whether access persons file 204A-1 holdings and quarterly transaction reports inside it, what its Form ADV support does beyond checking “ADV requirements”, and the file format of an exam pack export.
Orion Compliance
Module of a wealth platform- What it is
- The compliance module of the Orion wealth platform: “the regulatory technology platform for RIAs, broker-dealers, and compliance consultants”, in three parts (Employee, Firm and Client Oversight). Employee Oversight helps “create and store records to enhance Code of Ethics compliance”; its plans page lists Personal Trading, Certifications, Testing, Library, Calendar and Filer tiles. When an exam is announced, its FAQ says, the data and audit trail are “already organized and exportable”.
- Who it fits
- A firm already on Orion for portfolio accounting or trading, since several client-oversight features need other Orion products. “Orion does not offer compliance consulting services”; it points to a network of outside consultants. Advertising review is not named.
- What the rule requires, and whether it meets it
- Policies and procedures libraryPartialSet up at onboarding; Library
- Annual review workflowCheck with vendorTesting; annual not named
- CCO calendar and evidenceMeetsCalendar; events timestamped
- Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgmentsPartialCode records; reports unnamed
- Form ADV and Form CRSCheck with vendorA “Filer” tile only
- Advertising reviewNot stated
- Exam request productionMeetsExam data “exportable”
- Not verified by us
- Whether its Testing and Governance & Audit tiles produce an annual 206(4)-7(b) review record, what the Filer tile files, and whether Library holds your written policies with their version history.
StratiFi
Account supervision- What it is
- A wealth-management platform for risk alignment, proposals and supervision. Its compliance part says it will “Automatically monitor every account for share class violations, concentration, and suitability issues”. Its PolicyIQ is a client investment policy statement (“Create client ready compliant investment policies and collect e-signatures”), not a compliance manual.
- Who it fits
- A firm that has a program suite and wants account-level supervision next to it. On the seven columns here it states only an audit-ready books-and-records claim; read it with the trade surveillance comparison.
- What the rule requires, and whether it meets it
- Policies and procedures libraryNot statedClient IPS, not a manual
- Annual review workflowNot stated
- CCO calendar and evidenceNot stated
- Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgmentsNot stated
- Form ADV and Form CRSNot stated
- Advertising reviewNot stated
- Exam request productionPartial“Audit ready” books, records
- Not verified by us
- Which of the adviser's 204-2 records it keeps (it names client records, not program records), and whether supervision alerts and their resolution can be exported for an examiner.
VComply
General GRC platform- What it is
- A general governance, risk and compliance platform for many industries (“Trusted by 500+ teams in Regulated organizations worldwide”). Its PolicyOps product lets a firm “Develop, review, approve, distribute, & attest every policy”, and ComplianceOps keeps each obligation's owner, due date and evidence together.
- Who it fits
- A firm that wants a policy and evidence system it configures itself. Its own RIA article says its reminders keep deadlines on track “whether it’s Form ADV filing or annual compliance reviews”, but adviser rules are not built in on the pages we read, and the code-of-ethics reporting and advertising review are not stated.
- What the rule requires, and whether it meets it
- Policies and procedures libraryMeetsDraft, approve, attest
- Annual review workflowPartialReminders only
- CCO calendar and evidenceMeetsOwner, due date, evidence
- Code-of-ethics reports and acknowledgmentsPartialAcknowledgments only
- Form ADV and Form CRSPartialADV deadline reminders
- Advertising reviewNot stated
- Exam request productionPartialReports on demand
- Not verified by us
- Whether it ships Advisers Act content (a 206(4)-7 policy set, a 204A-1 reporting workflow) or you build it, and the terms of the free trial its home page offers.
How we read these vendors
Questions firms ask
Is RIA in a Box the same as Comply?
Yes. Comply's own pages list “Comply for RIA (formerly RIA in a Box)” and “Comply Platform (formerly ComplySci)” as products of one company, Comply Technologies. That is why the table has one Comply row. Comply for RIA is the adviser suite; Comply Platform names a wider set of firms (broker-dealers, private funds, investment banks) and carries the broker feeds for employee trading.
Does an RIA have to use compliance software?
No rule names software. The compliance program rule asks an SEC-registered adviser to adopt written policies “reasonably designed to prevent violation”, to review them “no less frequently than annually”, and to designate an individual to administer them. Software earns its place when the records of the work get hard to find. The RIA compliance checklist lists the work either way.
17 CFR 275.206(4)-7(a)-(c)
Do investment advisers need WORM storage?
Not under the adviser rule. Rule 204-2(g) lets an adviser keep records on electronic storage media if it can index and retrieve them, provide a true and complete copy promptly, keep a separate duplicate copy, and safeguard them from “loss, alteration, or destruction”. It has no non-rewriteable or audit-trail condition; that is the broker-dealer rule, 17a-4(f).
17 CFR 275.204-2(g)
How long must the annual review records be kept?
The books and records rule names “Any records documenting the investment adviser's annual review”. It does not give them a period of their own, so by our reading they fall under the general one: five years from the end of the fiscal year of the last entry, the first two in an appropriate office of the adviser. The rule text asks for records of the review, not a written report in a set form.
17 CFR 275.204-2(a)(17)(ii), (e)(1)
Does a one-person RIA need personal trading software?
Usually less of it. The code of ethics rule says “If you have only one access person (i.e., yourself), you are not required to submit reports to yourself or to obtain your own approval” for IPO and limited-offering investments, as long as the firm keeps records of all its holdings and transactions.
17 CFR 275.204A-1(d)
Is any RIA compliance software approved by the SEC or FINRA?
No. Neither regulator approves compliance vendors, and FINRA retired its Compliance Vendor Directory effective March 19, 2024. A vendor's claim that it is aligned with a rule is the vendor's reading; the duty stays with the firm.
finra.org/industry/cvd