Certio is the cheaper, on-site-capture app; Certly is the broader certificate library with a stronger QS workflow. Certio costs £4.99 or £9.99 a month with no VAT to add, plus a Free plan. Certly costs £14.99 plus VAT a month per licence, or £149.99 plus VAT a year (both websites, checked 3 November 2026). Certio adds a board photo schedule, voice dictation and Megger MFT-X1 screen reading. Certly lists 27 certificates, including EV, solar, fire and emergency lighting, and QS review through QC Relay. Certly says offline working is still in development.
- Price. Certio Pro costs £119.88 a year. Certly's annual licence costs £149.99 plus VAT, which is £179.99 if you can't reclaim the VAT.
- Getting readings in. Certio offers board photo scheduling, voice dictation and camera reading of the Megger MFT-X1. Certly's public pages describe none of those.
- Certificates. Certly lists 27, against Certio's EICR, EIC, Minor Works and PAT records.
- QS review. Certly's QC Relay is a named, published workflow with multiple QS support.
- Offline. Certio's site says it works offline. Certly's says offline working is in development.
- Both vendors change quickly. Every Certly fact here comes from its public pages on 3 November 2026. We have not run a timed test of its app.
What is the difference between Certio and Certly?
Both are dedicated certification tools rather than job-management suites, and both run on iPhone, Android and in a browser. They were built to solve different problems.
Certio goes after the time spent getting data onto the form. You photograph the consumer unit and the schedule drafts itself, dictate readings as you take them, or point the phone at a Megger MFT-X1 so the camera reads the screen. It also suggests C1, C2, C3 and FI observation wording for you to check. Pro adds quotes and invoices.
Certly goes after the paperwork around a growing electrical and compliance firm. Its founders say they ran a national electrical compliance company before building it, and it shows in the feature list: a broad certificate library, QS review, reusable templates, DB copy and import, job calendar and a QC notebook.
Neither of those is the wrong idea. A sole trader doing landlord EICRs and a ten-engineer firm doing fire and emergency lighting have different problems to solve.
How do Certio and Certly compare feature by feature?
| Certio | Certly | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Certio Software Ltd | Certly Ltd |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, web | iPhone and iPad, Android, web browser |
| Electrical certificates | EICR, EIC, Minor Works | EICR, EIC, Minor Works, Multiple Minor Works, isolation certificate, danger notification, domestic visual condition report |
| PAT | PAT testing records | In-service inspection and testing form included |
| Other trades and systems | Not offered | EV charging, solar PV, BS 5839 Part 1 and Part 6 fire, emergency lighting, fire extinguisher, Part F ventilation |
| Board photo to schedule | Yes, on paid plans | Not described |
| Voice dictation of readings | Yes | Not described |
| Instrument capture | Megger MFT-X1 read by phone camera only at present | Not described |
| Observation wording | AI suggests C1/C2/C3/FI wording to edit | Observations and classifications with linked images; no AI wording described |
| Reading checks | Not covered here | Warns when measured Zs exceeds the permitted maximum |
| QS review | Not described on public pages | QC Relay: submit, return notes, resubmit, approve; multiple QS support |
| Offline | Yes, per certio.uk | In development, per certly.co.uk |
| Quotes and invoices | On Pro | Not mentioned; jobs and calendar included |
| Free entry | Free plan, no card, no time limit | "Try for free"; trial length not stated on the homepage |
Sources: certio.uk (pricing and llms.txt) and certly.co.uk (homepage and EICR software page), checked 3 November 2026. "Not described" means the vendor's public pages do not mention it. It does not mean we tested the app and found it missing.
What does each one cost over a year?
Certly charges per licence and quotes prices before VAT. Certio's site says there is no VAT to add. So the answer depends on whether you are VAT registered.
| Plan | Monthly | Year, ex VAT | Year, paid if VAT isn't reclaimed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certio Free | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Certio Starter | £4.99 | £59.88 | £59.88 |
| Certio Pro | £9.99 | £119.88 | £119.88 |
| Certly annual, per licence | n/a | £149.99 | £179.99 |
| Certly monthly, per licence | £14.99 + VAT | £179.88 | £215.86 |
A sole trader below the VAT threshold pays £60.11 a year more for Certly's annual licence than for Certio Pro, and £120.11 more than Starter. If you can reclaim the VAT, Certly's annual licence is £30.11 a year more than Certio Pro.
That is before what you get for it. Certly includes unlimited certificates, PAT and all new releases. Certio Free also has no certificate limit, but its PDFs carry a small Certio mark and the AI features are off. Starter adds your own logo and a small monthly AI allowance, while Pro adds unlimited certificates with quotes and invoices. Certly's price is per licence, so a firm needs to multiply by the number of people who need their own login. For cost traps across the market, see Best Electrical Certification Software UK 2026.
Which is quicker for getting readings on site?
On published features, Certio has more ways to get data in. Certly relies on typed entry with good schedule tools around it: drag-to-reorder circuits with automatic renumbering, single and three-phase switching, and copying a board.
Do the sums on your own work. A 12-way board has 12 lines of circuit details before you touch an instrument, then r1+r2, insulation resistance, polarity, Zs and RCD results for each way that needs them. Our guide on how to fill in a schedule of test results covers each column. If you test with a Megger MFT-X1, camera capture is worth trialling. If you don't, voice is the capture method that applies, and it is still you saying what you see.
However the number arrives, you own it. A measured Zs on a B32 circuit has to meet the 1.37 Ω in BS 7671 Table 41.3, and the usual rule of thumb is to compare a cold reading with 80% of that, about 1.10 Ω. Certly's maximum Zs warning is a useful catch, but it says itself that a high reading can still be recorded, which is correct. An app can't decide whether a reading is a real fault, a poor connection on your leads or a C2. The limits are in our maximum Zs tables.
Does offline working matter for an EICR?
It matters more on inspection work than people expect. The usual places you're writing up are a cellar, a riser, a plant room or the far side of a steel-framed unit. On a domestic EICR you will also isolate the board for dead tests, and that takes the client's router down with it.
Certly's homepage said on 3 November 2026 that offline working is in development, with availability to be confirmed on its website and mailing list. When we looked on 29 September, its site described partial offline data entry, so the wording has moved and is worth rechecking with Certly. Certio's site says it works with no signal on site.
The fair test is simple. Put the phone in airplane mode, complete a full certificate with photos, then reconnect and see what synced. Do it with any app before you trust it.
How do QS review and multi-engineer work compare?
This is Certly's strongest ground. QC Relay lets the engineer submit a certificate, the QS send it back with notes against the sections that need correcting, and approve the resubmission. Certly also lists multiple QS support. If you are a registered contractor, your QS is accountable for work done under the enrolment, and a recorded review trail is useful at assessment. Our QS sign-off guide covers what that responsibility looks like.
Certio's public feature list does not describe an equivalent workflow, so a firm that needs one should treat this as a real gap and ask before switching.
Which certificates does each app cover?
Certly lists 27 new and updated forms. Beyond the electrical set, those include EV charging, a run of solar PV forms, BS 5839 Part 1 and Part 6 fire alarm certificates, emergency lighting, fire extinguisher service reports and a Part F ventilation sheet.
Certio covers the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT testing records. If most of your paperwork is EICRs and Minor Works, that may be all you use. If you commission fire alarms or solar each month, Certly saves running two systems.
Whichever you pick, check the form edition. BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 was published on 15 April 2026, and Amendment 2 and Amendment 3 were withdrawn on 15 October 2026. Certly's homepage and EICR page made no statement on Amendment 4 when we checked. So issue a sample from either app and compare it with the current IET model forms. See what BS 7671 is and how the amendments work.
Which should you choose?
| If your work looks like this | Look at first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sole trader doing domestic and landlord EICRs | Certio | Lower price, photo schedule and voice entry |
| You test with a Megger MFT-X1 | Certio | Camera reading of the instrument's screen |
| Often without signal on site | Certio | Offline working stated; Certly's is in development |
| You invoice from the same app | Certio Pro | Quotes and invoices with CIS and reverse charge |
| Firm with a QS reviewing several engineers | Certly | Published QC Relay workflow |
| Fire alarm, solar PV or emergency lighting certificates | Certly | Forms in the same library |
Landlord work is a fair test for both. GOV.UK guidance on the private rented sector regulations calls for an inspection at least every five years, so you will see the same properties again and old records need to be easy to find. Before switching from anything, make sure you can get your existing certificates out; our guide on certificate retention and GDPR covers what you should keep.
How should you trial them fairly?
Run one real job through both apps, on the same day:
- Use a real 10-way or 12-way domestic board, not the demo data.
- Enter the full schedule and time it from start to PDF.
- Write three observations from your own notes and check the codes against Electrical Safety First's Best Practice Guide 4.
- Complete a certificate in airplane mode, then reconnect.
- Read the PDF as your client or scheme assessor would, including the amendment shown on the form.
The buyer's guide to certification software lists the questions to ask any vendor. For other comparisons, see Certio vs TestFast and Certio vs Tradehand.
How Certio helps
Certio produces the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT records on the BS 7671 model forms and turns them into branded PDFs. Photograph the consumer unit and the circuit schedule drafts itself; point the phone camera at a Megger MFT-X1 and the reading goes straight into the schedule of test results, or dictate it while your hands stay on the probes. Suggested observation wording with the regulation reference is there for you to check and confirm. The judgement stays yours; the typing goes. Starter is £4.99 a month, charged when you sign up.