Maximize Efficiency with the Best SOP Software on the Market

Did you know that companies using manual processes for their SOPs spend an average of 19% of their workweek searching for information?

By automating processes, SOP software ensures that employees are following the correct procedures, eliminating the need for costly paperwork and manual processes. 

Additionally, SOP software offers secure document sharing, automated training and certification, and reporting capabilities, making it a powerful tool for organizations to streamline their operations. 

With SOP software, organizations can have better control over their processes and save resources while still ensuring that their employees are following the proper protocols.

This blog post will help you navigate the current state of SOP software, with a list of the best tools currently available on the market, and an overview of what must-have features you should be looking for.

What is SOP software?

SOP software (standard operating procedures software) refers to any digital tool or platform that enables users to create, store, and manage standard operating procedures (SOPs). 

SOP software provides the necessary tools to create SOPs and is based on a secure, central document repository. 

This type of software facilitates the management of SOPs and allows teams to standardize their creation process, while also recording existing procedures that team members can interact with. 

Examples of popular SOP software programs include Process Street, SweetProcess, Trainual, ProcedureFlow, Scribe, Method Grid, Lean Power, and JobRouter.

SOP software benefits

Using SOP software has many benefits compared to more traditional SOP methods like standalone digital documents or paper forms. SOP software is more efficient and cost-effective than manually filling out paper forms, as it can be accessed anywhere, anytime and requires no additional resources. 

It also allows for more secure sharing of documents and automated training and certification. 

Overall, SOP software provides a more organized and streamlined way to manage documentation and processes.

Best SOP software

Process Street

Process Street is a workflow and process management system designed to help teams create and manage recurring tasks and processes. 

Best for: Best platform for SOP, workflow management and automation. Transforms static SOPs into interactive workflows.

Pros: 

  • Easy to use drag-and-drop interface
  • Customizable workflows and templates
  • Shareable public links
  • Team collaboration features
  • Dedicated customer success team

Cons: 

  • Limited time free trial

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation & education (via help site articles, video tutorials, customer success product experts)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Dynamic due dates
  • 2000+ integrations (all easy to use no-code, via native & Zapier)

Check out the pricing plan for Process Street.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a modern, collaborative, flexible tool that many businesses use to author SOPs and process documentation. Although a simple tool, you can get a lot of mileage out of Google Docs if you use it properly. But the downside is that it lacks any real workflow or automation features, and is ultimately not a tool designed to be used for scalable SOP management.

Best for: Lightweight SOP documentation in teams that need to quickly record procedures.

Pros: 

  • Word templates can be easily imported.
  • Free with Google Workspace
  • Very easy to use
  • Great for collaboration

Cons: 

  • No automation functionality
  • Not a truly dedicated process tool
  • No metrics/analytics
  • No dashboard overview feature (so it’s hard to track multiple procedures in real time)

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Free templates
  • Very simple checklists
  • Task assignment
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Google Docs.

Document360

Document360 is a cloud-based self-serve knowledge base and documentation platform used to create and share company knowledge. 

Best for: Creating, managing, and sharing simple SOP documents & creating knowledge bases.

Pros: 

  • Easy to use once you get it set up
  • Rich media documents
  • Budget option

Cons: 

  • Limited customization options
  • Lacking mobile app
  • No support for multi-language documents
  • Complex technical setup

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Task assignment & tracking (sort of, with the project status feature)
  • 26 integrations (easy to set up, low-code native integrations), and more Extensions (their name for a more technically involved integration, requiring the use of Javascript snippets)

Check out the pricing plan for Document360.

Microsoft Word

Good old Microsoft Word. Reliable. Flexible. Free with Office 365. Though there may be more powerful options out there, for many people, the simplicity of Word does the trick.

But if you’re using (or considering using) Microsoft Word for writing SOPs, you should understand its limitations.

Best for: Old-fashioned teams who just need a simple, reliable way to document procedures

Pros: 

  • Very simple
  • Free with Office 365

Cons: 

  • Very simple
  • Limited rich media (images, videos, etc)
  • Limited standalone collaboration or document management features

Features:

  • Free templates
  • Limited checklists
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Microsoft Word.

Notion

Notion is like a Swiss army knife of productivity software; it’s a powerful modern workspace tool that many businesses are starting to use as a modern SOP management platform because it’s so easy to collaborate on and organize knowledge. 

In some ways, Notion is like a hybrid of a spreadsheet software like Excel, a document workspace like Dropbox Paper, and a database platform like Airtable.

Best for: Teams looking to collaborate on document management with database features

Pros: 

  • Easy to use
  • Great team collaboration & permissions features 
  • Very versatile
  • One of the best knowledge management solutions available

Cons: 

  • Lacks workflow and task management features
  • Lacks extensive automation tools
  • Not as actionable (in terms of task tracking, assignment, and approval) as other options

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Limited reporting
  • Free templates
  • Limited checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Notion.

Trainual

Trainual is an employee onboarding and training platform designed to help teams create and manage onboarding processes.

Best for: Creating, managing, and sharing training materials.

Pros: 

  • Easy to use interface
  • Easy setup
  • Track training progress
  • Administer “tests” to quantify training success

Cons: 

  • Limited native integrations 
  • Limited template customization
  • Simple workflow capabilities
  • No automation features
  • Navigation can become cumbersome with complex training materials

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Product tutorials / training center
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • 32 native integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Trainual.

Confluence

Confluence is a robust, SOP focused platform with a focus on process documentation for IT teams that are already using Atlassian products like Jira. 

Best for: IT users who need solid process documentation (sans workflow or database features)

Pros: 

  • Fully featured process documentation
  • Works well with Jira
  • Easy to use

Cons: 

  • Linking of documents not well supported
  • Formatting tables not intuitive
  • Permissions management lacking 

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Confluence.

Google Sites

As far as SOP solutions go, Google Sites is quite similar to Google Docs in terms of functionality. Despite sounding like a traditional website builder – it’s not. It’s primarily a tool that helps you work on projects and collaborate with your team. In this way, it can be a useful tool to record standard operating procedures and share them with your team.

Best for: Teams who want a simple, free, easy to use tool to document and share their SOPs

Pros: 

  • Has a free plan.
  • Easy to use
  • Zero technical knowledge required

Cons: 

  • Limited features
  • More initial set up effort required than Google Docs

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Free templates
  • Simple checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Google Sites.

Scribe

Scribe is a document collaboration and management platform designed to help teams create and manage documents by auto-generating step-by-step guides from screen recordings. 

Best for: Auto-generating simple processes from screen recordings.

Pros: 

  • Novel idea of using screen capture tech to auto-generate tasks and processes
  • Easy to use browser extension
  • Great for recording processes then importing to Process Street, Word, Confluence etc.

Cons: 

  • Captured information is often messy & requires manual clean-up
  • Limited customization
  • Desktop app lacks some features vs Chrome extension
  • More of a documentation tool than an actionable procedure tracker

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Reporting
  • Checklists
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Scribe.

SweetProcess

SweetProcess is an online documentation and process management platform designed to help teams create and manage documents.

Best for: Creating and managing simple procedures.

Pros: 

  • Easy to start using ASAP
  • Design customizable (visually appealing) knowledge bases

Cons: 

  • Limited integrations
  • Collaboration with other team members can be overcomplicated
  • Very light weight checklists with limited functionality
  • Poor UX

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations (limited)

Check out the pricing plan for SweetProcess.

Coassemble

Coassemble is an online learning management system (LMS) designed to help teams create and manage online training courses. 

Best for: Creating, managing, and delivering online courses.

Pros: 

  • Easy to use drag-and-drop interface
  • Customizable courses
  • Team collaboration features

Cons: 

  • Limited customization of media once you’ve designed a course
  • Limited integrations

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Coassemble.

Guru

Guru is a knowledge management platform focusing on IT and MSP. As a solution designed to provide a single-source of truth for company documentation, it can be used to record and document SOPs for easy access, sharing & collaboration.

Best for: IT teams and MSPs looking to manage SOPs

Pros: 

  • Slack integration
  • Able to link “cards” for related knowledge points/pages
  • Easy to set up

Cons: 

  • Lacking content organization
  • Chrome interface has bugs
  • UI not user friendly

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Guru.

monday.com

monday.com is a “work OS” designed to provide a modular solution to workflow building and documentation.

Best for: Complete project and document collaboration

Pros: 

  • Versatile use cases (build what you need)
  • Templates to get started
  • Easy to use

Cons: 

  • Lacking automation
  • Limited forms 
  • Limited real-time customer support

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Limited product education / training
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for monday.com.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a productivity platform that offers project management and collaboration features. Their core mission is to make the world more productive by removing friction caused by using many different applications.

Because ClickUp is such a broad application, users looking for a simple SOP solution may be overwhelmed. There are some SOP templates available, but expect to have to put more time into tailor-fitting your own solution if you want to get the most out of this software.

Best for: Those who need to build their own versatile, robust SOPs with extra functionality

Pros: 

  • Great for project management
  • Versatile 
  • Range of task overviews/dashboard views
  • SOP templates

Cons: 

  • Too many features can be overwhelming
  • Basic reporting features
  • Lacking mobile experience
  • Slow loading times

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Limited reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for ClickUp.

Microsoft SharePoint

SharePoint is Microsoft’s document management system software. It’s designed to allow users to document and maintain information in a shared repository. It’s offered as a part of Office365 and depends on Microsoft Suite to function. 

SharePoint can be a powerful tool for document management, but the biggest drawback is that you will need a dedicated engineer to manage and maintain it.

Best for: Teams who are already heavily Microsoft-dependent

Pros: 

  • Localized storage
  • Secure platform
  • Co-authoring and version tracking
  • Easy integration for Microsoft users

Cons: 

  • Not usable out-of-the-box
  • User count limitations
  • Enterprise price tag
  • Lacking knowledge base features

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Limited knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Sharepoint.

Tallyfy

Tallyfy is an online documentation and process management platform designed to help teams create and manage processes.

Best for: Individuals & small teams to create, manage, and automate simple tasks.

Pros: 

  • Simple to use
  • Simple task automation
  • Forms for data collection

Cons: 

  • Limited dashboard configuration
  • Requires online connection
  • Limited templates – all workflows must be built in-house

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Tallyfy.

Dozuki

Dozuki is an online documentation and process management platform designed to help frontline workforce teams create and manage processes. 

Best for: Creating, managing, and sharing technical documentation for frontline workforces.

Pros: 

  • Easy to use
  • Can store and organize various types of documents
  • Guide formatting helps with consistency
  • Training manual templates

Cons: 

  • Limited reporting
  • Template format can be restrictive in documentation of novel information
  • No quiz feature for training content
  • Slow performance with larger documents

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Limited reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Dozuki.

WayWeDo

WayWeDo is an online workflow management platform designed to help teams create and manage workflows. 

Best for: Documenting simple policy and procedure documents.

Pros: 

  • Easy to use
  • Simple search function
  • Limited productivity features

Cons: 

  • SOP templates must be purchased
  • No approvals features

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Reporting
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking

Check out the pricing plan for WayWeDo.

SOPTracker

SOPTracker is an online SOP management platform designed to help teams create and manage SOPs. 

Best for: Creating, managing, and tracking simple procedures (if you don’t need integrations)

Pros: 

  • Employee segmentation allows for SOPs to be assigned to different employee groups
  • Compliance tracking

Cons: 

  • Lacking SOP creation features (more focused on tracking)
  • Lacking advanced SOP tracking (despite the name – better for simple SOP tracking)

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Simple task assignment & tracking

Check out the pricing plan for SOPTracker.

Zavanta

Zavanta is a document collaboration and management platform designed to help teams create and manage documents. 

Best for: If you need to translate a lot of SOPs

Pros: 

  • Translation management features
  • Customizable web portal
  • Feedback system for SOPs
  • Public sharing of documents
  • Knowledge testing features

Cons: 

  • Poor/no integrations
  • Limited product documentation

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Reporting
  • Free templates

Check out the pricing plan for Zavanta from Comprose (you’ll have to contact their team).

SafetyCulture

SafetyCulture (iAuditor) is an online safety and compliance platform designed to help teams create and manage safety and compliance processes. 

Best for: Automated safety checks, employee training and certification, and incident tracking.

Pros: 

  • Auditing features
  • Focused on safety procedures
  • 1000s of safety templates
  • User friendly

Cons: 

  • Slow performance when you have lots of documents
  • Inflexible audit scoring system
  • You need to be aware of the reporting/analysys feature to properly write your SOPs

Features:

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for SafetyCulture.

ProcedureFlow

ProcedureFlow is an online workflow management platform designed to help teams create and manage business procedure documents. 

Best for: Creating, managing, and optimizing procedure documents.

Pros: 

  • Solid BPM functionality
  • User friendly
  • Easy to view existing procedures

Cons: 

  • Clunky UX
  • Limited work tracking
  • Limited user controls
  • Documenting new procedures is not as streamlined as other options

Features: 

  • Limited permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Limited task tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for ProcedureFlow.

JobRouter

JobRouter is a low-code digitization platform designed to help teams digitize all of their business tasks and processes. An interesting feature is their integration tool which they brand JobLink, which works to hook JobRouter up with Automation Anywhere (a leading RPA provider) for robot controlled process automation.

Best for: Robotic process automation.

Pros: 

  • Highly customizable BPM engine
  • Audit logs
  • KPI reporting
  • Proprietary integration with leading RPA provider

Cons: 

  • Setup fee
  • Despite being advertised as “low-code”, there is a steep learning curve
  • Integrated document reader can be slow to load content

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for JobRouter (you’ll have to contact their team).

EtQ Reliance

EtQ Reliance is a SOP software that offers real-time monitoring and analytics, document indexing, and risk assessment tools for organizations. 

Best for: Real-time monitoring and analytics, document indexing, and risk assessment. 

Pros: 

  • Compartmentalization of SOP attributes
  • Intuitive layout
  • Strong access permission controls

Cons: 

  • Limited dashboard & data visualization
  • Limited integrations

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for EtQ.

Whale

Whale is a SOP software designed to create cloud-based templates and checklists, automate tasks, and provide reporting capabilities. 

Best for: Simple cloud-based templates and checklist creation, task automation, and reporting. 

Pros: 

  • Automation features
  • Simple yet powerful wiki tools
  • Handy Chrome extension

Cons: 

  • No custom branding
  • Editor can’t parse formatting from PDF or Word documents (meaning more manual work)
  • Doesn’t integrate with popular communication tools like Slack

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Knowledge management features
  • Extensive product documentation (help site)
  • Approvals
  • Process control
  • Reporting
  • Free templates
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Dynamic due dates
  • Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for Whale.

MaintainX

Maintainx is a SOP software that helps organizations to create and manage checklists, custom forms, and workflows.

Best for: If you need a mobile friendly SOP solution, or custom forms integrated into your SOPs.

Pros: 

  • Very mobile friendly (mobile-first)
  • Great for industrial & front line workers
  • Easy to use
  • Great support team

Cons: 

  • Difficult to update & continuously improve processes
  • Limited integrations

Features: 

  • Permission controls
  • Dashboard overview
  • Approvals
  • Reporting
  • Checklists
  • Task assignment & tracking
  • Dynamic due dates
  • Limited Integrations

Check out the pricing plan for MaintainX.

SOP software must-have features

Permission controls & sharing

Allows for secure sharing of documents, which enables effective team collaboration. 

Dashboard overview

Provides a single place for employees to easily access and search for updated documents, reducing information clutter and ensuring that employees find the information they need when they need it.

Customer education resources

Allows for training and education of employees on best practices for using, designing, and improving SOPs, ensuring that the material is understood and followed & ROI is maximized. 

Approvals

Allows for approval processes to be automated and streamlined, saving time and resources. 

Process control features

Gives managers the ability to monitor, control, and optimize processes, ensuring that tasks are completed within standard guidelines. 

Version control

Ensures that the most up-to-date version of a document is always accessible. 

Reporting

Allows for tracking and reporting on employee performance and procedural compliance. 

Free templates

Provides a quick and easy way to create SOPs, reducing implementation time and costs. 

Conditional logic

Allows for customization of documents based on different conditions, giving users more control over the process. 

Checklists

Enables employees to easily record and track tasks, ensuring that nothing gets forgotten or overlooked.

Task assignment & tracking

Automatically distributes SOP materials to employees and sends reminders in case of non-completion, providing managers with insight into any non-compliance.

Dynamic due dates

Allows for tasks to be assigned with due dates that can be adjusted based on certain criteria, ensuring that tasks are completed on time. 

Integrations

Allows for automated processes to be triggered based on certain criteria, giving users more control over the process and reducing manual effort.