Diligent is a big name in governance software. Over a million users, 700,000 board members, an AI-powered platform that ties together board management, risk oversight, audit, compliance, and ESG reporting. It’s a lot of product under one roof, and for large organisations in regulated industries, that can be exactly what they need.

But not every organisation is a Fortune 500 bank with a dedicated GRC team and six-figure software budgets. Diligent’s pricing puts it out of reach for many mid-sized companies and non-profits. The onboarding process can drag. And some directors, the people who actually need to use the board portal day-to-day, find the interface clunky enough that they go back to emailing PDFs around. Which kind of defeats the whole point.

So whether you’re looking for a simpler board portal, a more affordable GRC tool, or something with deeper ESG capabilities, this guide breaks down nine alternatives. We’ve split them into two groups: board management tools and enterprise GRC platforms.

What Diligent Actually Does Well

Credit where it’s due. The Diligent One Platform packs a lot in: board meeting management, secure document sharing, entity management, cap table tracking, and real-time collaboration. On the GRC side, you get AI-driven risk insights, audit analytics, policy management, and data feeds from over 100 third-party providers.

For ESG, Diligent lets teams pull together climate metrics, diversity data, and sustainability performance and feed it all into board-level reporting. If you need one place where the board can see governance, risk, and ESG data side by side, Diligent does that better than most.

The question, as always, is whether you need all of that and whether you can justify the cost.

Why People Switch (or Skip) Diligent

Price. This is the number one complaint in user reviews. Diligent is built for enterprise budgets. If you don’t need the full GRC suite on top of board management, you’re paying for a lot of features that’ll sit unused.

Directors don’t use it. This one matters more than most people think. Board members who sit on multiple boards compare tools. If your portal is harder to use than the one at their other board, they’ll default to email and attachments. Director adoption is the top reason organisations switch board portals, according to industry data.

Too much for what you need. Some teams just want a clean board management tool. Others want deep ESG reporting. Diligent tries to do both, and depending on your situation, that breadth is either an asset or unnecessary complexity.

The interface shows its age. Multiple reviewers call Diligent’s UI dated. Newer competitors have invested heavily in clean, modern design and when you’re trying to get directors to actually log in and use the tool, design matters.

Board Management Alternatives

1. OnBoard

OnBoard is designed around one idea: directors should actually want to use the tool. Its interface is clean and intuitive enough that most directors don’t need training to get started. It works well on mobile, supports AI-generated meeting minutes, digital voting, and secure document storage. And if you’re switching from Diligent, OnBoard’s implementation team handles the migration with the goal of getting you up and running before your next board meeting.

It’s a focused board portal, not a full GRC platform. If that’s all you need, it’s one of the best options on the market right now.

2. Nasdaq Boardvantage

If security is the thing that keeps your general counsel up at night, Nasdaq Boardvantage is worth looking at. It carries the Nasdaq brand and the security infrastructure that comes with it. The platform handles board meetings and leadership collaboration well, and it’s a natural fit for publicly listed companies and financial institutions where data security isn’t negotiable.

It’s aimed at large enterprise boards and priced accordingly. Not the right pick for a small non-profit, but hard to beat if institutional-grade security is a requirement.

3. Convene

Convene stands out for flexibility and global usability. The interface is clean and modern, it works offline (useful for directors who travel internationally or work in areas with spotty connectivity), and it integrates with Microsoft 365. It also supports digital voting, meeting analytics, and task management.

It’s more focused on board meetings than full governance, which makes it a good fit for organisations that want a polished board tool without the GRC overhead.

4. Boardable

Boardable exists for non-profits and smaller boards that don’t need and can’t afford enterprise software. It centralises board communications, meeting management, and document storage at a price point that makes sense for organisations running on tight budgets. Setup is quick, the learning curve is minimal, and it does the basics well.

It won’t scale to handle complex GRC or ESG reporting. But for its target audience, that’s not the point.

Enterprise GRC Alternatives

5. MetricStream

MetricStream is the closest thing to Diligent in terms of scope. It covers risk management, compliance, audit, and third-party management across the entire enterprise, with AI-powered analytics and regulatory tracking that spans multiple jurisdictions. It’s built for large, global organisations that need standardised risk frameworks everywhere they operate.

The difference from Diligent? MetricStream is more focused on operational GRC than board governance. If your governance needs are driven by risk and compliance teams rather than the boardroom, MetricStream is a strong alternative.

6. AuditBoard

AuditBoard is the pick for teams where internal audit and SOX compliance are the main event. It brings audit planning, fieldwork, and reporting together with a modern, user-friendly interface that’s a clear step up from older GRC tools. ESG controls are integrated into the compliance framework, so you’re not running a separate system for sustainability governance.

If you want GRC without the board management layer that comes with Diligent, AuditBoard strips things down to what audit and compliance teams actually use.

7. LogicGate Risk Cloud

LogicGate takes a different approach. Instead of giving you a pre-built suite, it gives you a no-code platform where you build your own GRC workflows. Need a custom risk assessment process? Build it. Need to adjust when a new regulation drops? Reconfigure without waiting on a vendor or your IT team.

That flexibility makes it attractive for mid-market and enterprise teams that find Diligent’s implementation too slow or its structure too rigid. The modular pricing also helps you pay for what you actually use.

8. ServiceNow GRC

If you’re already on ServiceNow for IT service management, this is the path of least resistance. Adding GRC within the same environment means fewer tools, less data duplication, and better visibility across IT and enterprise risk. It handles real-time risk detection and automated compliance workflows out of the box.

It’s not great for organisations that don’t already use ServiceNow, you’d be adopting an entire ecosystem just to get GRC. But for those already in, it’s a logical move.

9. IBM OpenPages

IBM OpenPages is the heavyweight option. It’s powered by Watson AI, runs on IBM Cloud Pak for Data, and offers predictive risk analytics and centralised risk management for large, regulated enterprises. If your risk management needs are complex enough to warrant AI-driven modelling and you’re already in the IBM ecosystem, OpenPages is hard to match.

For everyone else, it’s probably overkill. The price, implementation effort, and technical requirements are all on the high end.

Quick Comparison

Here’s the short version of how these nine alternatives line up.

Platform	Best For	Core Strength	Pricing Model	Key Differentiator
OnBoard	Board adoption & simplicity	Intuitive board portal with AI	Per-user subscription	Highest director adoption rates
Nasdaq Boardvantage	Large enterprise boards	Secure board collaboration	Enterprise licensing	Backed by Nasdaq with strong security
Convene	Global board management	Flexible, customisable interface	Tiered subscription	Offline access and device flexibility
Boardable	Non-profits & small boards	Centralised board communications	Affordable per-board pricing	Purpose-built for smaller organisations
MetricStream	Enterprise-wide GRC	Integrated risk, audit & compliance	Enterprise subscription	AI-powered analytics and global regulatory tracking
AuditBoard	Audit-first GRC teams	Unified audit and compliance	Enterprise subscription	Streamlined audit workflow automation
LogicGate Risk Cloud	Configurable GRC workflows	No-code workflow builder	Modular per-app pricing	Agile, modular approach to GRC
ServiceNow GRC	IT-centric organisations	GRC embedded in ITSM	Platform subscription	Uses existing ServiceNow investment
IBM OpenPages	Large regulated enterprises	AI-driven GRC insights	Enterprise licensing	Watson AI integration for predictive risk

The ESG Angle

If ESG and sustainability reporting are a big part of why you’re looking at governance software, the choice gets more nuanced. Diligent’s ESG modules let you track climate metrics and diversity data alongside board governance, which is useful. But they’re add-ons to a governance platform, not a dedicated sustainability system.

When you’re evaluating alternatives with ESG in mind, ask these questions: Does it support multi-framework reporting like CSRD, GRI, SASB, TCFD, ISSB, CDP? Can it handle carbon accounting, especially Scope 3? Are audit trails and assurance-readiness built in, or are they bolted on? For board-focused tools like OnBoard and Convene, ESG capabilities will be limited. That’s fine, you can pair a board portal with a dedicated ESG platform for a best-of-breed setup.

How to Pick

Start with what you actually need. If it’s board management and director adoption, focus on OnBoard, Convene, or Nasdaq Boardvantage. If it’s enterprise-wide risk and compliance, look at MetricStream, AuditBoard, or LogicGate.

Then evaluate from the director’s seat, not the admin’s. A board portal that your governance team loves but directors ignore is a waste of money. Ask: can a director find what they need on their phone without calling someone? That’s the real test.

Think about total cost, not just the sticker price. Enterprise platforms from Diligent, MetricStream, and IBM OpenPages come with high price tags but may be justified for large organisations. Mid-market teams should look at LogicGate, Boardable, or Onspring for faster deployment and lower costs.

And pay attention to AI and security. Automated agenda drafting, document summaries, and AI-generated minutes save real time, but make sure the AI runs inside the platform’s secure environment. You don’t want board members copying sensitive materials into external AI tools because the built-in features aren’t good enough.

Most of all: run demos with actual board members in the room. The admin team’s opinion matters, but it’s the directors who decide whether the tool gets used or ignored.

Where to Go from Here

Diligent isn’t going anywhere it’s still the default choice for large organisations that need everything in one place. But the market has caught up. There are now genuinely good alternatives for teams that need something simpler, cheaper, more flexible, or more ESG-focused.

We track governance and ESG software at OneStop ESG and regularly publish vendor comparisons and industry analysis. If you’re in the middle of evaluating platforms, our marketplace and resources section has more detailed breakdowns to help you sort through the options.