CSRD software comparison: scope before shortlist
Confirm what your organisation needs to report and for which year before buying a reporting platform. Then identify the missing process: collecting operational records, calculating emissions, documenting materiality judgements or controlling the final disclosure.
Regulatory status checked against EUR-Lex on 4 October 2026; guide updated 4 October 2026. This guide separates enacted legislation, published standards that are not yet in force and vendor documentation. The Commission describes CSRD reporting through ESRS, including sustainability risks and impacts (European Commission: corporate sustainability reporting overview). This guide does not determine an individual company's legal obligations or report hands-on software results.
Editorial responsibility: Dimitris Mitsios (Founder of The QHSE Standard; product marketing at Tekmon) · Tekmon pays for sponsored placements on this site (disclosure) · How pages are made · LinkedIn · Content date: 4 October 2026
Software categories to explore
Use this Process to define the work, then explore these software types. Confirm the exact workflow and module with each vendor.
See all software categoriesWhat changed, and what still needs checking
Enacted: scope and transition
Directive (EU) 2026/470 entered into force on 18 March 2026. Its core EU reporting threshold is more than 1,000 employees and net turnover above €450 million, with group-level assessment where applicable. Third-country structures have separate conditions. Council adoption summary — 24 February 2026
The revised general reporting population applies for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027. Member States may exempt certain first-wave entities falling outside the new thresholds for financial years starting in 2025–2026; this is not an automatic exemption everywhere. Articles 1–3 must be transposed by 19 March 2027. Check national implementation and the entity's circumstances. Directive (EU) 2026/470 — adopted 24 February 2026
Enacted: the earlier timing amendment
Directive (EU) 2025/794 postponed the then second and third reporting waves by two years. Read that timing change together with the later scope amendment, rather than presenting the old listed-SME wave as an unchanged future obligation. Directive (EU) 2025/794 — stop-the-clock amendment
Published: revised ESRS, in force on 10 November 2026
The Commission adopted revised ESRS and a voluntary standard on 3 July 2026. Commission revised ESRS adoption — 3 July 2026
Both were published in the Official Journal on 21 September 2026. The revised ESRS (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563) enter into force on 10 November 2026 and apply to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027; for years beginning in 2026 the regulation lets an undertaking already in scope apply the revised standards, the previous ones, or the previous ones with specified reliefs, provided the sustainability statement says which. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 (revised ESRS) — published 21 September 2026 The voluntary standard (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560) is a separate act. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560 (voluntary standard) — published 21 September 2026 Confirm the reporting year and version before accepting a vendor's “2026 ESRS” configuration; the Commission's register lists the acts. Commission implementing and delegated acts register
Document the entity or group, reporting year, national rules and standards version in the project brief. Proposed changes, Commission adoption, EU entry into force and national implementation are distinct milestones.
The same dates as above, laid on one axis so the order and overlap are visible. It adds no date that is not stated in the paragraphs above.
- Reporting scope
- Enacted
- Standards
Text version of this diagram
- Optional exemption, some first-wave entities. Quarters 1 to 8. Group: Reporting scope. Financial years starting in 2025 to 2026. Member States may exempt certain entities outside the new thresholds; this is not an automatic exemption everywhere.
- Revised reporting population applies. Quarters 9 to 10. Group: Reporting scope. Financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027. The period continues beyond the last quarter drawn.
- Directive 2026/470: adopted, in force. Quarter 5. Group: Enacted. Adopted on 24 February 2026 and in force on 18 March 2026.
- Transposition due, Articles 1 to 3. Quarter 9. Group: Enacted. Due by 19 March 2027.
- Revised ESRS: adopted, published, in force. Quarters 7 to 8. Group: Standards. Adopted on 3 July 2026, published in the Official Journal on 21 September 2026 and in force on 10 November 2026.
Choose the process you need to improve
Still preparing a mandatory statement
Confirm scope and year, then map the required disclosures to data owners, review steps and evidence. Test version changes before committing to a reporting package.
Reassessing scope after the amendment
Obtain a documented applicability decision. Retain useful source records and avoid purchasing a full mandatory-reporting workflow solely because an old threshold appeared in a guide.
Responding to customer or finance requests
Define the requested information and purpose separately from a mandatory CSRD statement. Agree a proportionate response and check the applicable voluntary standard and value-chain rules.
Ask the reporting owner to record whether each request is mandatory reporting, a customer request or voluntary information, and to revisit that decision when legislation or the group structure changes. Avoid copying an old company-size threshold, supplier survey or list of every ESRS datapoint directly into mandatory tasks; preserve the rationale for inclusions and exclusions.
Six controls to demonstrate
Begin with the records your team needs to explain and approve, then test whether a proposed tool supports the complete path from source data to disclosure.
Reporting boundary
Record the entity or group, reporting period, applicable legal basis and approved standard version. Keep the decision and its owner alongside the reporting workspace.
Materiality decisions
Capture the assessment inputs, rationale, review and changes. Software should retain the reasoning behind a decision rather than imply that a questionnaire decides materiality automatically.
Source records
Assign a data owner and retain period, unit, calculation method and source evidence for each required metric. Distinguish measured data, estimates and unresolved gaps.
Review and correction
Separate preparation from approval. Introduce an incorrect value, reject it, correct it and inspect the history that remains available to reviewers.
Consolidation
Reconcile site or entity submissions to the group result. Demonstrate currency and unit conversions, missing data and the treatment of changes after a reporting cut-off.
Reporting and retrieval
Retrieve a disclosed figure, its calculation and supporting records. Confirm required exports and version support; a report template is not proof of a filing or assurance outcome.
Double materiality software: what to look for
Double materiality considers both an organisation's impacts on people and the environment and sustainability-related financial risks and opportunities. Products document different ways to organise that work; this is documentation-based research, not a hands-on evaluation or a set of user reviews.
What to look for
- Impact and financial assessment methods that your team can explain and review
- Evidence supporting topic inclusion, exclusion, thresholds and scoring changes
- Clear roles for stakeholder input, subject-matter review and final approval
- Editable AI suggestions with traceable sources and accountable human decisions
- Disclosure mappings that can be checked against your reporting requirements
- Exports preserving rationale, sources, versions and links to reporting data
In the product list below, the records of Dunya Analytics, osapiens HUB, Datamaran, Novisto, Position Green, Tekmon, Enablon and VelocityEHS document a materiality capability; their cards carry what each documents.
To test stakeholder engagement, use a real topic with conflicting stakeholder views. Ask the vendor to show how input is collected, reviewed and connected to a documented decision, and check access permissions and export completeness for the participants you intend to involve.
Compare documented product scope for CSRD inputs
The list applies one published rule to every researched product. No entry establishes complete ESRS coverage, legal compliance or suitability for every disclosure programme; each card states what its record documents, or this guide's note.
Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered
Same rule for every product: tagged “ESG Reporting”, “ESG Frameworks Reporting”, “Sustainability Reporting”, “Materiality Assessment”, “ESG & Sustainability” or “Sustainability & ESG”, with a sourced CSRD, ESRS or materiality capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. 14 qualify; the first 8 are shown, then the other 6.
Dunya Analytics
Documented: ESRS E4, GRI, CDP and SBTN aligned reports (conditional). Source: dunya-analytics.com
osapiens HUB
Double materiality: Consider its dedicated materiality solution alongside Reporting Cockpit. Confirm which assessment, collection and disclosure modules the proposal actually includes. Source: osapiens.com
Datamaran
Double materiality: Consider Core for topic screening, external evidence and reviewable IRO suggestions. Confirm the handover into your reporting system and separate Regulatory Monitoring entitlement. Source: datamaran.com Source: help.datamaran.com Source: datamaran.com
NatureMetrics
Documented: TNFD, ESRS E4 and GRI reporting support (conditional). Source: naturemetrics.com
Normative
Documented: ESG disclosure collection (conditional). Source: normative.io
Novisto
Documented: Double-materiality assessment (conditional). Source: novisto.com
Persefoni
Documented: Disclosure review record. Source: persefoni.com
Plan A
Documented: CSRD Manager (conditional). Source: plana.earth
Also meet the rule, in the same order (6)
Compare up to three documented CSRD workflow entry points
This comparison becomes useful only after the regulatory, reporting-year and process decisions above. It uses the same rule-based product population and existing vendor-source records; it does not establish CSRD applicability, complete ESRS coverage, legal compliance, assurance readiness or the modules included in a proposal.
Select at least two platforms from the rule-based list; deselect one to replace it when you reach three. Compare the documented entry point, then run the same disclosure-to-source demonstration with every selected vendor.
0 of 3 selected. Choose at least two to compare.
Run a disclosure-to-source demonstration
- Select one proposed disclosure and identify the standards version, materiality judgement and responsible reviewer.
- Trace a reported value to the entity, period, original record, units and calculation assumptions. Identify any external system involved.
- Correct the source record after approval. Show the prior value, reason, reapproval and effect on an issued report.
- Revise a short policy narrative and show which approval and version will accompany the report.
- Demonstrate access for preparers and reviewers, then export the record, supporting evidence and approval history.
- Change the reporting-version mapping. Show what can be reused, what needs reassessment and how the earlier output remains reproducible.
These are proposed acceptance exercises. Ask for evidence of each requirement; do not mark a vendor's advertised feature as a passed test.
Build a reporting demo scorecardScope the proposal and implementation
Specify entities, users, reporting periods, data connections and required exports. Separate subscription, implementation, migration, advisory work and external assurance. Ask who maintains standards updates and mappings, whether they are included, and how a change is tested before entering a live reporting cycle.
Begin with a representative disclosure and its evidence chain. Agree acceptance criteria and ownership before expanding, and measure reconciliation effort, missing evidence and retrieval time during a pilot. This guide does not claim a standard cost, implementation duration, supplier-response rate or audit-time saving.
Compare carbon and operational sustainability requirementsOfficial regulatory sources
The two Official Journal acts were opened on 4 October 2026; the other regulatory sources were retrieved on 19 September 2026. Materiality product sources were checked on 20 September 2026 and are listed in each product entry.
- Directive (EU) 2026/470 — adopted 24 February 2026
- Council adoption summary — 24 February 2026
- Directive (EU) 2025/794 — stop-the-clock amendment
- Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 (revised ESRS) — published 21 September 2026
- Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560 (voluntary standard) — published 21 September 2026
- Commission revised ESRS adoption — 3 July 2026
- Commission implementing and delegated acts register
- European Commission: corporate sustainability reporting overview









