Honest comparison

The four realistic alternatives — and where each one actually wins

You're not really choosing between RegAlign and "nothing". You're choosing between RegAlign, the spreadsheets you have, a generic GRC platform, a compliance consultant, or building it yourselves. This page tells you when each of those is the right answer — including the cases where it isn't us.

Built for: Jersey-regulated firms (TCB, fund admin, NRFSB, banking) running a Compliance Monitoring Programme under JFSC Codes of Practice.

Time to first regulator-pack export
How long until a CCO can hand a regulator a reproducible pack with its own integrity hash.
RegAlign

Days — built into the pilot week-one deliverable.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

Weeks of manual collation per request; no integrity hash.

Generic GRC platform

3–9 months of implementation before first usable export.

Compliance consultant

As long as the engagement runs; rebuilt each time staff change.

In-house build

Quarters to ship MVP; usually deprioritised after launch.

Reproducible sampling
Same input, same sample, every time — so a regulator (or your QA) can re-run it.
RegAlign

Seeded sampler with the seed and population stored on the test run.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

Excel RAND() is non-deterministic; no audit trail of the draw.

Generic GRC platform

Most platforms sample but don't expose the seed for replay.

Compliance consultant

Depends on the individual — usually documented, rarely reproducible.

In-house build

Buildable, but rarely on the v1 roadmap.

Evidence with integrity receipts
Hash-chained evidence so 'this file existed unchanged on this date' is provable to a regulator.
RegAlign

SHA-256 hash on upload; hash-chain verified at /verify.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

SharePoint version history is mutable by admins.

Generic GRC platform

Some offer immutable storage; integrity hash rarely publicly verifiable.

Compliance consultant

Evidence lives in shared drives — same mutability problem.

In-house build

Buildable; almost never built in v1.

Jersey-specific obligation library
JFSC Codes, MLO/POCJL, NRFSB — pre-mapped, not a generic ISO/NIST template.
RegAlign

908 obligations tracked across JE/GG/IM/GB with version history.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

Whatever the firm built; maintenance is a person's side job.

Generic GRC platform

Built for US SOX / EU GDPR; Jersey content is BYO.

Compliance consultant

Strong on JE expertise; perishable when they leave.

In-house build

Re-creating the library is the bulk of the work.

Cost predictability (year 1 → year 2)
What you'll pay next year, written into the contract today.
RegAlign

Written year-2 price + reference-price-protection clause in the pilot MSA.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

Cheap on licence, opaque on people-time.

Generic GRC platform

List-price gaming, seat creep, mandatory professional services.

Compliance consultant

Day-rate inflation; scope-creep is the business model.

In-house build

TCO usually 3–5× the original estimate by year 2.

Survives a key person leaving
Does the programme keep working when the CCO/MLRO changes?
RegAlign

Methodology is installed, not memorised. New CCO inherits the loop.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

The CCO's brain IS the system.

Generic GRC platform

Configuration survives; the institutional logic often doesn't.

Compliance consultant

Departure resets the relationship.

In-house build

Maintainer-dependent; bus-factor of one.

Board-pack output
Quarterly board pack ready to present, in your branding, without re-keying.
RegAlign

Generated from live data; cover, exec summary, evidence appendix.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

Hand-built each quarter; quality varies by who's free.

Generic GRC platform

Dashboards exist; board-ready PDF usually means consulting hours.

Compliance consultant

Will produce the pack — until you stop paying.

In-house build

Rarely makes the v1 cut.

When the alternative is the right answer
We're being honest about where to NOT pick us.
RegAlign

If you're a tier-1 bank with a 50-person assurance team — overkill.

Spreadsheets + SharePoint

Single-licensee, no regulator-pack expectation, founder-CCO.

Generic GRC platform

Multi-jurisdiction global firm needing IRM / vendor-risk / IT-GRC in one.

Compliance consultant

You need a remediation programme, not a system.

In-house build

You already have a 5+ engineer regtech team and a 3-year mandate.

Strong fit Mixed / depends Poor fit

Two things buyers always ask at this point

"You're a new entrant — what about continuity?"

Fair. Three things in the pilot pack address it: a source-escrow clause, a documented data-export format your next vendor can ingest, and an RTO/RPO of 24 h / 1 h with the BCP outline published. See trust centre and security roadmap.

"How do we know you'll still be here in year 3?"

Honest answer: we're pilot-stage. The pilot MSA includes a written year-2 price and a reference-price-protection clause so the engagement never becomes your future anchor. Founder economics are published so you can see the runway maths yourself.

Still the right fit?

Apply for the 90-day pilot — or read the methodology first.

Last reviewed June 2026 · We update this page when the alternatives change, not when our marketing does.