Pick by who does the filing work.
If your own legal team keeps the records and files the paperwork, buy software. A governance suite such as Diligent Entities fits if you already run Diligent for the board. A standalone platform such as Athennian or Corporify fits if you want entity records, ownership and structure charts without a wider suite.
If you want a provider to act as registered agent and handle filings in many jurisdictions, buy software bundled with services, such as CSC Entity Management or Computershare GEMS. The software then sits on top of work someone else does.
If outside counsel maintains your minute books, ask whether they use a law-firm platform such as MinuteBox, and whether you can get direct access.
Why entity management software matter
Every acquisition, divestiture and restructuring changes the group's legal structure. Due diligence asks for it. Banks ask for it before opening accounts. Tax teams model on it.
Without a system, the structure chart lives in a PowerPoint and the records in spreadsheets, shared drives and the minute books held by outside counsel. Three things go wrong. A subsidiary misses an annual filing and falls out of good standing. A director who left 2 years ago is still listed as a signatory. A deal team spends the first week of diligence reconstructing the ownership chart.
The rules also move. FinCEN finalized a rule effective August 14, 2026 that exempts U.S. companies from beneficial ownership reporting. In the UK, identity verification for directors and people with significant control became a legal requirement on November 18, 2025. Someone has to track which entity owes what, where.
Who buys it
General counsel, corporate secretaries, legal operations, tax and treasury teams at groups with dozens to hundreds of subsidiaries. Private equity and fund managers with many SPVs and portfolio entities. Law firms that keep minute books for clients.
Triggers include an acquisition that doubles the entity count, a missed filing or lost good standing, an audit or KYC request that took weeks to answer, and a new regulatory filing requirement.
Before you buy: what teams do without one
Most groups start with spreadsheets, a structure chart in PowerPoint or Visio, and minute books kept by outside counsel or a corporate service provider.
That works for a handful of entities in one country. It breaks when entities span several jurisdictions with different filing calendars, when officers and signatories change often, or when diligence and KYC requests need answers in days. A registered agent can carry the filing calendar without new software, but the group's own record of ownership and authorities still needs a home.
What good looks like
| Capability | What good looks like | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Central entity record | One profile per entity: registrations, addresses, officers, directors, ownership, authorities and documents. | It becomes the answer to every diligence, audit and KYC request. |
| Structure charts | Ownership charts generated from the entity data, current and as of past dates. | Deal teams, lenders and tax advisors ask for the chart first. |
| Compliance calendar | Annual reports, registrations and other deadlines by jurisdiction, with reminders and owners. | A missed annual filing can cost an entity its good standing. |
| Electronic filing | Filings submitted to registries from the platform, such as Companies House. | Removes rekeying between the record and the registry. |
| Officers and signing authority | Appointments, resignations and powers of attorney tracked with dates and documents. | Banks and counterparties need to know who may sign for each entity. |
| Ownership and beneficial owners | Share registers, equity and debt transactions, and calculated beneficial ownership. | Beneficial ownership rules differ by country and change often. |
| AI with human approval | AI that extracts data from legal documents and proposes updates, with approval and an audit trail. | Loading a large entity portfolio by hand takes months. |
How entity management software are built, and who sells each kind
Vendors in this category can take a labeled Spotlight slot on this guide. How Spotlight works
Governance suites
Entity management as one module of a platform that also runs board portals, policies and compliance. Example: Diligent Entities.
Fits: Groups that already use the suite for the board and want entity documents to flow into board approvals.
- DiligentGroups using Diligent Boards that want entity documents connected to board approvals.
Standalone entity platforms
Software for entity records, ownership, structure charts and compliance tasks, run by the group's own team. Examples: Athennian, Corporify.
Fits: Legal, tax and finance teams that do the work themselves and want a dedicated system.
- AthennianCorporate groups and private markets firms with many funds, SPVs and portfolio entities.
- CorporifyGroups that want share registers, beneficial ownership calculations and entity records in one tool.
Software bundled with registered agent services
Entity software from a provider that also acts as registered agent and handles filings across jurisdictions. Examples: CSC, Computershare.
Fits: Groups that want to outsource filings and keep the record in the provider's system.
- CSCLegal departments that want entity software that e-files directly to Companies House and the SEC.
- ComputershareGroups that already use Computershare for entity services and want GEMS for records.
Law firm and registry platforms
Minute book and entity software used by law firms for clients, connected to government registries. Example: MinuteBox.
Fits: Law firms, and companies whose outside counsel maintains their records.
- MinuteBoxLaw firms and legal departments managing minute books and Canadian registry filings.
How to choose
Software or software plus service
Decide whether your team does the filings or a provider does. That choice narrows the field more than any feature.
Jurisdictional coverage
Check which countries' filing calendars, registries and beneficial ownership rules the product supports, not only how many.
Data onboarding
Loading hundreds of entities from minute books is a major cost. Ask how the vendor does it and who checks the result.
Ownership depth
Some products hold entity records. Others also hold share registers, equity and debt transactions, and calculate beneficial owners.
Connection to the board and deals
Check whether entity documents connect to a board portal for approvals and e-signatures, and whether records can be shared in a data room.
How pricing works
Entity management software is sold on annual subscriptions. Most vendors quote after a demo; Athennian is an exception and publishes the price of its entry package.
The main driver is the number of entities. Athennian's packages each include a set number of entities. MinuteBox prices on entities, user seats and features. Corporify quotes on entities, users, the complexity of the structure and the integrations required. Providers that bundle software with registered agent services also charge for those services, so price both.
Ask for the onboarding fee as a separate line. Loading the data is often a project of its own.
| Model | How it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Per entity subscription | An annual fee scaled by the number of entities managed, sometimes with user and feature tiers. | The price step after an acquisition adds dozens of entities. |
| Software plus services | Software access bundled with registered agent and filing services from the same provider. | Whether leaving the services contract also means losing the software and the record. |
| Suite license | Entity management priced as a module of a governance or GRC platform. | Modules you pay for but do not use. |
| Onboarding project | A one-time fee to load entity data and documents, by the vendor or a partner. | Who verifies the loaded data, and what happens to errors found later. |
Implementation
- Inventory the entitiesList every entity, jurisdiction, officer and registered agent, including dormant entities.
- Load and verifyLoad records and documents, then check each entity against its registry. Fix discrepancies before going live.
- Set the calendarTurn on filing deadlines by jurisdiction, assign owners and connect to your registered agent where possible.
- Connect the workflowsConnect entity documents to the board portal for approvals, and give tax, treasury and deal teams read access to the structure chart.
Confirm before you sign
- Pricing by entity count, users and modules, and the cost of adding 50 entities.
- Onboarding fee, method and who verifies the loaded data.
- Jurisdictions covered for filing calendars and electronic filing.
- Beneficial ownership calculations for the countries where you operate.
- Structure charts generated from live data, including historical dates.
- Role-based permissions and an audit trail for every change.
- Export of all records and documents if you leave, including from a bundled services contract.
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 reports.
- How AI features handle legal documents, and whether approvals are required before records change.
- Connections to e-signature, board portal and data room tools you already use.
Questions to ask in a demo
- Load 5 of our entities from their minute books. What did the AI or your team extract, and what did a human check?
- Generate our structure chart as it stood on the date of our last acquisition.
- Show the filing calendar for a UK, a Delaware and a German subsidiary. Where do the deadlines come from?
- Show how a director's resignation flows through every entity they served, with signing authorities updated.
- How do you track changes such as the 2026 FinCEN rule or UK identity verification? Who updates the rules in the product?
- Quote 120 entities today and 200 in 2 years, with onboarding as a separate line.
- If we end the services contract, what do we keep, and in what format?
Frequently asked questions
What is entity management software?
Entity management software keeps the official record of a group's legal entities: registrations, officers and directors, ownership, signing authorities and documents. It generates structure charts, tracks filing deadlines by jurisdiction and, in some products, files with registries. Legal, tax, treasury and corporate secretary teams use it to answer diligence, audit and KYC requests.
Do U.S. companies still need to file beneficial ownership reports?
No. FinCEN finalized a rule, effective August 14, 2026, that exempts U.S. companies from beneficial ownership information reporting. Only certain foreign companies registered to do business in the U.S. must report, and they do not report U.S. person beneficial owners.
How much does entity management software cost?
Most vendors quote after a demo; Athennian publishes the price of its entry package. Quotes depend mainly on the number of entities, then users, features and integrations. Providers that bundle software with registered agent services also charge for those services. Ask for the onboarding fee as a separate line, since loading hundreds of entities is often a project of its own.
What are the alternatives to Diligent Entities?
Athennian and Corporify are standalone entity platforms. CSC and Computershare bundle entity software with registered agent and filing services. MinuteBox is used by law firms for client minute books and Canadian registry filings. Diligent Entities fits when the board already uses Diligent Boards, since entity documents connect to board approvals.
Sources
- FinCEN: Beneficial ownership information reporting (updated August 11, 2026)
- Companies House: verifying your identity (GOV.UK, updated June 1, 2026)
- Diligent Entities
- CSC Entity Management
- Computershare Global Entity Management System (GEMS)
- Corporify pricing FAQ
- Athennian entity management
- MinuteBox
- Athennian pricing and packages
- MinuteBox pricing
Written by Stratrix editors from public sources and checked claim by claim by a second AI model against those sources. Vendors named in the editorial sections did not pay to be included. Spotlight listings are paid and labeled. Methodology and corrections