Certio vs NAPIT FastTest: Which Certificate App Suits You?

NAPIT FastTest is the broader, scheme-backed package; Certio is the cheaper phone-first app with more ways to capture readings. FastTest lists at £195 plus VAT a year (£234 including VAT) for one Windows and two mobile licences, and covers electrical, fire, gas, emergency lighting and ventilation certificates. Certio costs £4.99 or £9.99 a month, plus a Free plan, and covers the EICR, EIC, Minor Works and PAT records. Both use AI to build a board from a photo. Certio adds voice dictation and Megger MFT-X1 screen reading. All facts were checked on 4 November 2026.

What is the difference between Certio and NAPIT FastTest?

FastTest is a compliance package for a business that certifies several kinds of work. Certio is a narrower app built to shorten the job of filling in electrical certificates and getting paid for them.

FastTest was launched in November 2020 as a collaboration between NAPIT and Trimble MEP, after Trimble's own FastTest product. NAPIT now sells it as "multi-platform" software, and says it won Trade Tool (including Test & Measurement) at the Electrical Industry Awards 2026.

Certio is built around the phone in your hand at the board. 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 suggests C1, C2, C3 and FI wording for you to check and edit, and Pro adds quotes and invoices with CIS and reverse charge.

How do Certio and FastTest compare feature by feature?

Sources: certio.uk (pricing and llms.txt), the NAPIT FastTest shop pages, NAPIT's October 2020 launch article and the 2021 Trimble and NAPIT flyer. "Not described" means the vendor's public pages don't mention it. It doesn't mean we tested the software and found it missing.

What does each one cost over a year?

Sole traders who aren't VAT registered pay the full £234 for FastTest. If you're VAT registered and can reclaim it, the real cost is nearer £195. Certio's site says there's no VAT to add.

So FastTest costs £114.12 a year more than Certio Pro for someone who can't reclaim VAT, and £75.12 more for someone who can.

Our buyer's guide to certification software covers the wider market and the usual cost traps.

How do the AI features compare?

NAPIT includes 200 AI credits with each one-year full licence and another 200 on renewal. It charges one credit per AI circuit generation, then 2p per credit once they've gone. Buying extra licences in the same period doesn't add any credits.

The terms don't spell out whether a "circuit generation" is one circuit or one run across a board. If it's per circuit, 200 credits would cover about sixteen 12-way boards, and a further 1,000 credits would cost £20. Ask NAPIT which applies if you do a lot of boards.

Certio's board scan is on Starter and Pro. Starter has a small monthly AI allowance, so check it against your workload. The Free plan has the AI switched off.

Check the output from either app. The Amendment 4 model schedule runs to 31 columns, 16 of circuit details and 15 of test results, so a 12-way board has up to 372 boxes, though plenty will be N/A. Our guide on filling in a schedule of test results goes through them.

Which is quicker for getting readings on site?

On published features, Certio has more ways to get readings in, because voice and camera capture work at the moment of testing. Camera reading only works with a Megger MFT-X1 at present, so with a different instrument, voice is the capture method that applies.

FastTest's strengths lie elsewhere. It offers saved templates for certificate and circuit details, according to the 2021 flyer, plus automatic Zs calculation and high Zs warnings. Its flyer also describes capturing data on the mobile app and syncing back for completion, so check how much of the job you can finish on the phone.

However the number arrives, you own it. A measured Zs on a B32 circuit is judged against 1.37 Ω in BS 7671 Table 41.3, and the usual rule is to compare a cold reading with 80% of that, about 1.10 Ω. Neither app can tell you whether a high reading is a poor lead connection, a real fault or a C2. The limits are in our maximum Zs tables.

Which covers more certificate types?

FastTest, and it isn't close. NAPIT says it offers more certificates and documentation than any other multi-platform solution, and its 2021 flyer counted over 25 types. If you regularly certify emergency lighting, fire alarms, EV chargers or solar PV, having them in one system is a real saving, and a Certio user would need another route for specialist paperwork.

For a domestic electrician, most of the work comes down to the same three documents in either app: the EICR, the EIC and the Minor Works.

Does being a NAPIT member change the answer?

It can. NAPIT lists NAPIT-branded certificates, Building Control notification from the software and a NAPIT foundation training licence as member-only features. If you're registered with NAPIT, notifying from the same screen removes a step on every notifiable job. Our guides on Part P notification and NICEIC vs NAPIT explain how that side works.

Notification isn't on Certio's feature list, so plan on using your scheme's own route.

Are both apps up to date with Amendment 4?

Both vendors say so. NAPIT lists BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 as a key feature, and Certio's site describes its certificates as A4:2026 model-form documents. BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 was published on 15 April 2026, and the previous amendment was withdrawn on 15 October 2026.

Don't take either vendor's word for it, ours included. Produce a sample EICR and check it against the IET model form. Look for section lettering A to K, Zdb on the distribution board block and the FI wording. Under A4, only C1 and C2 make a report unsatisfactory, and FI is advisory. Our guide to BS 7671 lists the changes, and our observation codes guide covers coding with the Electrical Safety First best practice guide alongside.

Which should you choose?

Before moving, read our notes on certificate retention, because old records still need to be retrievable whichever app you end up with. If you're weighing up other apps, see Certio vs Pro Certs and Certio vs Certly.

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.

Written by the Certio team. Last checked 4 November 2026.