BoardEffectvsEntityEngine

BoardEffect vs EntityEngine: Portal or Entity Record

BoardEffect runs the board. EntityEngine runs the entity record the board governs. If the hard part of your month is preparing meetings and materials for a mission-driven board, BoardEffect is a mature fit that publishes ISO 27001/27017/27018, SOC 1 and SOC 2, and HIPAA/HITECH compliance; if the hard part is keeping the legal entity, its filings, and its documents current between meetings, that is the problem EntityEngine was built around.

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Why teams compare these

Where EntityEngine takes a different approach

Board work next to the entity record

BoardEffect is genuinely good at board management for mission-driven organizations. EntityEngine puts the same board work beside the entity, its filings, its documents, and its deadlines, so governance and operations share one record.

Decisions that carry into the next task

Meeting materials, approvals, and minutes usually create follow-up work. EntityEngine keeps that follow-up attached to the documents, compliance deadlines, and records the decision affects instead of restarting it in another tool.

AI across the whole record, not only the board book

BoardEffect applies AI to board books and minutes, which is the right scope for a board portal. EntityMax reads across governance, entity records, compliance deadlines, and documents, because that is the record EntityEngine keeps.

One system instead of portal plus formation plus compliance

Smaller organizations often run a board portal alongside a formation provider and a compliance tracker. EntityEngine collapses those into one place — which matters more when the board is small and the entity work is not.

What BoardEffect does well

A mature, independently audited board portal for mission-driven boards

BoardEffect, now part of Diligent, is purpose-built for nonprofit, foundation, healthcare, higher-education, and credit-union boards. It says more than 5,000 mission-driven boards use it, and the depth shows in the parts of board work that are genuinely hard: assembling board books, annotating them offline, collecting votes and sentiment, and turning a meeting into approved minutes.

Board books, drag-and-drop agenda building, director annotation, committees and secure digital workrooms for trusted third parties, surveys and polls, voting and approvals, and a central document library
Its security page publishes compliance with ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, SOC 1, SOC 2, and HIPAA/HITECH — a real requirement for healthcare and financial-institution boards
AI board book summarization in the Pro package and AI-assisted minutes plus secure messenger in Plus, with 24/7 support and a 30-day free trial
Integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft, and Salesforce, and mobile access with offline document availability for directors who travel

Where teams outgrow the fit

The portal covers the boardroom; the entity keeps its own calendar

This is a scope boundary, not a shortcoming. BoardEffect is a board management product and does not claim to be an entity or compliance system. Organizations that also carry formation, annual reports, registered-agent renewals, licenses, and signature workflows tend to run those somewhere else and reconcile the two by hand.

Formation, state filings, annual reports, registered agent, and license renewals sit outside the product and typically go to counsel or a separate provider
Pricing is quote-only. BoardEffect publishes Pro and Plus package contents but no dollar figures; the pricing page routes to a request-pricing form, and licensing is described as an annual subscription by tiers of users
Some capabilities smaller organizations expect — unlimited boards, minutes, and messenger — sit in the Plus package rather than Pro
AI is scoped to board materials and minutes, which is coherent for a portal but does not reach entity records or compliance deadlines

How EntityEngine approaches it

Governance as one workflow inside the entity record

EntityEngine starts from the entity rather than the meeting. Board members, committees, meetings, packets, votes, and minutes live next to the documents, compliance deadlines, and filing history of the company they govern, so a decision and its consequences stay in one place. That is a different center of gravity, and it is the right one only for some teams.

One record spanning board work, documents, e-signature, compliance deadlines, and entity data
Meetings include built-in video, and decisions keep an auditable history alongside the records they changed
EntityMax answers questions across that record — what was approved, what is due, which documents changed — rather than summarizing a single board book
Formation is available for Delaware and Florida LLCs today, with compliance tracking and a documents vault included from day one

How to choose

Which one fits your situation

Choose BoardEffect if

Your board is the product of the work — a nonprofit, foundation, healthcare system, higher-education institution, or credit union where board meetings and materials are the recurring job, and entity paperwork is handled by counsel.
You need independently audited security. BoardEffect publishes ISO 27001/27017/27018, SOC 1, SOC 2, and HIPAA/HITECH; EntityEngine has no third-party certification, and for a hospital or financial-institution board that alone can decide it.
Directors need offline board books on their own devices, in-document annotation, surveys and sentiment polling, and a secure messenger — mature capabilities BoardEffect has refined over many years of mission-driven deployments.
You want 24/7 support, a 30-day trial, and the stability of a vendor inside Diligent, with thousands of comparable boards already running the same workflow.

Choose EntityEngine if

The board is small and the entity work is not — formation, annual reports, registered agent, deadlines, and documents consume more of your month than board book assembly does.
You want board decisions to sit beside the filings, documents, and records they affect, rather than being archived in a portal and re-entered somewhere else.
You want AI that can answer questions across the whole record — what was approved, what is due, what changed — instead of summarizing one board book.
You would rather start self-serve today and grow into engines as you need them than begin with a quote conversation.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Feature	EntityEngine	BoardEffect
Board Governance
Board Member Directory
Committees	Committees with per-committee quorumNo external-party workrooms; public share links are off by default	Secure digital workrooms extend to trusted third parties
Meeting Management	Included, with built-in video
Board Book / Packet Builder	Packet assembly; in-app PDF reader not enabledPacket assembly is live; the in-app PDF reader and annotation are not enabled yet	Board books with annotation + offline
Agenda Builder
Minutes		Plus package
Digital Voting & Approvals
Surveys & Polls		A genuine BoardEffect strength
Secure Messenger		Plus package
E-Signature	Add-on engine	Included in approvals
Document Library	Public external share links are off by default
Mobile & Offline Document Access	Mobile web today	Mobile access with offline documents
AI Assistant	Across governance, entity, compliance, documents	Board books and minutes
Decision History	Entity-wide, with audit trail	Board records
Published Security Standards	None — SOC 2 aligned, not certified	ISO 27001/27017/27018, SOC 1 & 2, HIPAA/HITECHClear advantage for regulated boards
Track Record with Mission-Driven Boards	Early-stage platform	5,000+ boards
Entity & Records
Entity Formation	Delaware & Florida LLCs today	Out of scope by design
Multi-Entity Management	Yes — one entity per plan	Multiple boards, not legal entities
Registered Agent	BetaPriced and plumbed; fulfillment coverage is limited — ask before relying on it.
Compliance
Annual Report Tracking	Rules seeded for all states; accuracy verified for DE, FL, PA, NJ
Compliance Calendar & Reminders
Good Standing Monitoring	Beta — derived from your record
License Intelligence	Beta
BOI / FinCEN	Deadline tracking only, no filing
Platform & Commercial
Published Price List		Package contents published, dollar figures not
Free Trial / Self-Serve Start	Self-serve signup	30-day free trial
Integrations & Public API	Slack today; public API planned	Google Drive, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce

Pricing Approach

Neither company posts a price list — here is what each one does instead

BoardEffect publishes the contents of its Pro and Plus packages but no dollar figures; its pricing page sends you to a request-pricing form and describes licensing as an annual subscription sold by tiers of users. EntityEngine is also packaging-led: you build a package from the engines and scale blocks you need rather than reading a list price off a page.

EntityEnginePackage Builder

EntityEngine treats board management as one engine inside the entity record and packages it with the surrounding workflows that keep the company current between meetings.

Choose engines: governance, compliance, documents, formation, e-signature, AI
Scale with user and board-seat blocks; each plan covers one entity
Self-serve signup rather than a mandatory sales conversation to get started
No public list price — packaging is still a conversation, same as BoardEffect
One record instead of portal plus formation provider plus compliance tracker

Configure your package →

BoardEffectPro / Plus — quote only

BoardEffect publishes two named packages and their feature contents, but no prices. Every path leads to a request-pricing form, and custom quotes are offered for complex organizations.

Pro: one board, AI board book summarization, audit log, Microsoft integration, survey templates, SSO/MFA
Plus: everything in Pro, unlimited boards, minutes, messenger, data integrations, market insights
Licensing described as an annual subscription priced by tiers of users, not per individual
Custom quotes available for complex organizations
Board management only — no formation, registered agent, or entity compliance engine, and it does not claim to have them

See how BoardEffect prices →

The honest difference is scope, not price transparency — both companies quote. BoardEffect quotes for board management for a mission-driven board. EntityEngine quotes for governance plus the entity record, compliance calendar, documents, and AI around it.

In depth

BoardEffect vs EntityEngine: a deeper look

BoardEffect is built for boards where the meeting is the main event

BoardEffect is purpose-built for mission-driven boards that need secure board books, permissioned committee workrooms, surveys and polling, voting and approvals, minutes, and AI support for board materials. It is part of Diligent, it publishes a serious compliance posture, and it says more than 5,000 mission-driven boards use it.

Pro is positioned for smaller mission-driven organizations that need essential board management for a single board.
Plus is positioned for larger or more complex volunteer boards, adding unlimited boards, minutes, messenger, data integrations, and market insights.
The fit is strongest when board management is the central problem and the legal entity is somebody else’s job.

EntityEngine connects governance to the operating record

Board decisions usually affect entities, filings, policies, signatures, and compliance deadlines. EntityEngine treats those as connected objects in one record instead of separate follow-up tasks in separate tools, which is useful precisely when the same few people do both jobs.

Board decisions sit beside entity records, documents, signature requests, and compliance deadlines.
Officer and record changes stay connected to the governance history that authorized them.
Counsel, finance, directors, and operators work from one durable record rather than reconciling two.

What EntityEngine does not have yet

Being useful here means being specific about the gaps. EntityEngine has no third-party security certification — only SOC 2 aligned controls and readiness work, which is not the same thing. There are no native mobile apps in the app stores yet, no surveys or secure messenger module, and no public API. Formation is chargeable for Delaware and Florida LLCs today; other states and entity types are not yet confirmed. Equity and cap table are not available in production. If any of those are hard requirements, BoardEffect or another portal is the better call today.

No SOC 2 or ISO certification — controls are designed toward SOC 2 readiness, not audited.
No native mobile apps in the stores, no surveys or messenger, no public API.
Registered agent, good-standing monitoring, and license intelligence are in beta.

EntityMax compounds when the whole record is in one place

When governance, entity data, compliance deadlines, and documents live together, AI can do more than summarize a board book. EntityMax answers operational questions across that record. It reads and reasons; it does not file with any government agency on your behalf.

Ask what the board approved, what deadlines are coming, and which records changed.
Connect answers to minutes, resolutions, deadlines, policies, signatures, and documents.
The record improves as the work happens in the same place it is recorded.

FAQ

BoardEffect vs EntityEngine: FAQ

When is BoardEffect the better choice?

When board management is the main job and the entity paperwork is not. If you are a healthcare system, credit union, foundation, or university board that needs independently audited security (BoardEffect publishes ISO 27001, SOC 1 and SOC 2, and HIPAA/HITECH), offline annotated board books on directors’ devices, surveys and sentiment polling, or a secure board messenger, BoardEffect does those things well and EntityEngine does not do all of them yet.

Is EntityEngine a BoardEffect alternative?

For some teams. If your board portal is one of three or four tools you use to keep a company current — alongside a formation provider, a compliance tracker, and a document store — EntityEngine consolidates those into one record with board management inside it. If the board portal is the only tool you need, BoardEffect is a more focused and more proven answer.

Does EntityEngine work for nonprofits and credit unions?

The governance side does: boards, committees with their own quorum rules, meetings with built-in video, packets, votes, minutes, and a documents vault. Be aware of the boundaries — nonprofit formation is not yet chargeable outside Delaware and Florida LLCs, IRS Form 1023 preparation is not shipped, and EntityEngine holds no security certification, which some credit-union and healthcare boards require.

How does EntityEngine pricing compare to BoardEffect?

Neither company publishes dollar figures. BoardEffect publishes the contents of its Pro and Plus packages and routes pricing to a request form, describing licensing as an annual subscription by tiers of users. EntityEngine is packaging-led too: you assemble engines and scale blocks with our team. The difference is what is inside the package, not how transparent the price tag is.

Can we migrate from BoardEffect?

You can upload existing board documents, minutes, and policies into the EntityEngine document vault and recreate committee structures. There is no automated BoardEffect connector, so plan on exporting from BoardEffect and importing manually. Ask us before committing if you have a large multi-year archive.

Is EntityEngine secure enough for a healthcare or credit-union board?

EntityEngine encrypts data, enforces role-based permissions, and keeps auditable decision history, and our controls are designed toward SOC 2 readiness — but we are not SOC 2 or ISO certified, and we will not claim otherwise. BoardEffect publishes ISO 27001/27017/27018, SOC 1, SOC 2, and HIPAA/HITECH. If a certification is a procurement requirement, that is a real reason to choose BoardEffect.

Does EntityMax file anything with the state for us?

No. EntityMax reads across your governance, entity, compliance, and document records and answers questions about them. It tracks deadlines and surfaces what is due; it does not submit filings to any state or federal agency, and BOI/FinCEN reporting is deadline tracking only.

Sources, accessed 2026-08-12

Every BoardEffect price and capability on this page comes from a page we fetched and read. Where we could not verify a claim, we say so instead of asserting it.

BoardEffect — Pricinghttps://www.boardeffect.com/pricing/Pro and Plus package names and contents (1 board vs unlimited, AI board book summarization, audit log, Microsoft integration, survey templates, SSO/MFA; Plus adds minutes, messenger, data integrations, market insights); no dollar figures published; custom quote path.
BoardEffect — Request Pricinghttps://www.boardeffect.com/request-pricing/Pricing is quote-only via a contact form; licensing described as an annual subscription priced by tiers of users rather than per individual.
BoardEffect — Board Management Softwarehttps://www.boardeffect.com/board-management-software/Feature set: board meetings, digital board books, minutes, agenda builder, voting and approvals with certified signatures, surveys/polls/voting, committees and workrooms, document library, e-signature, mobile access, AI board book summarization, integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft Azure and Salesforce.
BoardEffect — Securityhttps://www.boardeffect.com/security/Published compliance standards: ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, SOC 1, SOC 2, HIPAA, HITECH; end-to-end encryption, role-based access control, data-center security.
BoardEffect — Why BoardEffecthttps://www.boardeffect.com/why-boardeffect/More than 5,000 mission-driven boards; 24/7 support; training resources; 30-day free trial; focus on community healthcare providers, credit unions, and nonprofits.
BoardEffect — Homehttps://www.boardeffect.com/Positioning as AI-powered governance software for mission-driven organizations; director annotation, action items, polling, offline and mobile document access; ownership by Diligent Corporation.
Diligent — BoardEffect product pagehttps://www.diligent.com/products/boardeffectBoardEffect is a Diligent product positioned for nonprofits and higher education; verticals include foundations, healthcare systems and credit unions; AI smart meeting minutes, e-signature, committee management; 5,000+ boards; pricing not published.

See EntityEngine for yourself

Choose the governance, compliance, formation, and document engines your organization actually needs. If an independently audited, board-first portal is the requirement, BoardEffect is a strong answer and we will say so.

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