Spreadsheets and e-mail
Flexible and familiar. Check how evidence, approvals and changes would be recorded around them.
How to compare ESG reporting software, criterion by criterion
There is no single best ESG reporting software — there is the one that fits your frameworks, your sites and what your assessor will test. Here are the criteria worth comparing, a test for each one in a demo, and ESGTrack's own answers, so you can put the same questions to every vendor, us included.
The kinds of tool buyers compare
Shortlists often mix tools built for different jobs. Knowing which job each was built for makes the comparison fair.
XBRL conversion tools
Built to turn a BRSR prepared elsewhere into the exchanges' XBRL format. Check how the figures in it are collected and evidenced.
Carbon accounting tools
Built for a GHG inventory. Check how the rest of the BRSR, and the frameworks beyond emissions, would be answered.
ESG data and reporting platforms
Built to collect, check and report across frameworks. Check which frameworks, and whether the XBRL file and assurance are part of it.
Consultant-led preparation
Expertise and capacity. Check where the data, evidence and approvals live after the engagement ends.
Twelve criteria, with a test for each demo
The last column is ESGTrack's answer, in the words of its own product pages. Ask every other vendor the same question and fill in their column yourself.
| Criterion | Why it matters | How to test it in a demo | ESGTrack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frameworks | The software should answer every framework you report from one set of figures, not one tool per framework. | Ask to see each report you file produced from the same approved figure — Scope 1, say — and check the numbers agree. | BRSR and BRSR Core with XBRL; CSRD and ESRS; ISSB; a GRI content index; CDP figures; custom topics. |
| Collection at the source | Figures re-keyed at year end are where errors start. | Have a site colleague enter a month of data in the demo, on a phone, without a connection. | Paste from Excel, CSV and Excel import, an offline field app in English or Hindi, bills by mailbox, ERP and HR imports. |
| Evidence with each figure | An assessor tests figures against documents; a figure without its document cannot be supported. | Ask to open the bill or log behind a reported figure, from the report. | Evidence attached to the figure, fingerprinted with SHA-256, in one register; a trace from any KPI to its documents. |
| Approvals and separation of duties | Someone other than the preparer should check each figure, and it should be recorded. | Try to approve a figure you entered yourself. | Refused. Named approvers, multi-step workflows and electronic signatures. |
| Audit trail | You will be asked who changed a figure, when and why — sometimes a year later. | Ask what changed last week, with the before and after, and how the log is protected from editing. | Every change with before and after, in a hash-chained activity log whose chain can be checked. |
| Calculation transparency | Emissions depend on factors and units; an unexplained factor is an unexplained number. | Ask for the factor, its source and edition behind one emission figure. | A library of 10,380 emission factors, each with its publisher, edition, unit and gases; Scope 2 both ways. |
| BRSR Core intensities | Intensities per PPP-adjusted revenue and per physical output depend on two approved denominators. | Ask where the PPP conversion factor and the output measure come from, and who approved them. | Both recorded with their source or rationale and approved; approving either recalculates the intensities. |
| XBRL filing | NSE and BSE ask for the BRSR in XBRL, and it must agree with the PDF. | Ask for the XBRL file from the demo data and how it is validated. | Built on SEBI's 2026-02-28 BRSR taxonomy from the same figures as the PDF, validated before download, with Arelle where installed. |
| Assessment and assurance | BRSR Core needs third-party assessment or assurance on SEBI's glide path. | Ask how your provider would query, sample and sign. | An assurance workspace: engagements limited to their years, queries and samples beside the figures, the statement signed in ESGTrack. |
| Value chain and suppliers | Suppliers rarely want another account to create. | Ask how a supplier sends figures and how partners are chosen for the BRSR. | A supplier portal by private link; value-chain partners chosen by SEBI's 2% rule. |
| Security and access | ESG data includes payroll, safety incidents and complaints. | Ask about single sign-on, two-step verification, roles, backups and data export. | SAML or OpenID Connect and SCIM; two-step verification; roles by pillar; encrypted backups with restore drills; full export. |
| Pricing model | Modules priced separately can raise the cost as you add frameworks or obligations. | Ask what changes the price, and which modules cost extra. | Plans differ by users, frameworks, the API and single sign-on; every module is in every plan. |
Updated 15 November 2026. ESGTrack wrote this page. It describes no other vendor's software and scores or ranks nobody; what other vendors publish about their prices is on the pricing page, with links to their own pages.
Running the comparison
Write down your frameworks, your sites and how they measure, who will approve, and when your assessor or assurer starts. Ask each vendor to run the tests above on that scope rather than on its own sample company, and keep the answers side by side.
Then compare price on the same scope: users, entities, frameworks, integrations, and which modules each vendor charges for separately.
Questions about choosing ESG software
What is the best ESG reporting software?
The one that covers the frameworks you report, the way your sites measure, and what your assessor or assurer will test, at a price that fits. This page does not rank vendors, and a ranking written by a vendor deserves caution. Use the criteria here to put the same questions to each one, ESGTrack included.
Which ESG software vendors publish their prices?
Some do. ESGTrack's pricing page lists what five vendors publish on their own pricing pages, with links and the date they were read, and shows which of their tiers fits the scope you set out.
Is ESG software better than Excel?
Spreadsheets can hold the numbers. What they do not keep is the evidence behind each figure, who approved it, and what changed since — which is what an assessor, an auditor or the board will ask for. ESGTrack still takes figures pasted from Excel or imported from CSV and Excel files.
How long should an evaluation take?
Long enough to run the tests in the table on your own data: one site's month, one supplier, one KPI traced to its documents, and the XBRL file. A demo on sample data shows the screens; one on your figures shows the fit.
Guides on this topic
All guides and resourcesChoosing ESG reporting software for BRSR: a buyer's checklist
A practical checklist for Indian listed companies comparing ESG reporting software — what it must file (BRSR, BRSR Core, XBRL), how it collects and calculates, the approvals and evidence an assurer will test, data protection under the DPDP Rules, and the questions to ask in a demo.
6 min read
Getting ready for BRSR Core assessment or assurance: evidence, controls and audit trails
An assessor or assurer tests whether each BRSR Core figure can be supported — by source records, a documented method, named approvals and a trail of every change. It helps to collect evidence with each figure as it is entered, separate who enters from who approves, explain unusual movements, and fix the boundary and factors before year end rather than during fieldwork.
5 min read
Filing BRSR in XBRL: what the exchanges require, and the mistakes that cause trouble
The BRSR is filed with NSE and BSE in two forms on the same day as the annual report — a PDF for people and an XBRL file for machines — and the two must match. The XBRL is usually prepared with the exchanges' BRSR utility, validated and uploaded; common causes of trouble are units, scaling, "not applicable" answers without reasons, and figures that differ from the PDF.
5 min read
Run the twelve tests on ESGTrack
Bring your scope to a demo and we will go through each criterion on it.