A simpler myCOI alternative for small GCs
myCOI is a well-established certificate-of-insurance compliance platform. SubCover is a much smaller tool built for residential general contractors with a handful of subcontractors. They are aimed at genuinely different buyers, and the honest answer to "which is better" depends entirely on which of those you are.
We build SubCover, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to be accurate about where myCOI is the stronger choice, because sending the wrong customer our way helps nobody.
Where myCOI is genuinely stronger
These are real advantages, not throat-clearing:
- Humans review the certificates. myCOI's model includes trained staff reading incoming certificates against your requirements and pursuing deficiencies. SubCover shows you the document and asks you to confirm the date. If you do not want to look at certificates at all, that is a decisive difference.
- Deep compliance rules. Requirement sets per project or per trade, additional-insured and waiver-of-subrogation tracking, endorsement review, and automated deficiency notices. SubCover tracks expiration dates and coverage types, and stops there.
- Scale. Built for hundreds or thousands of vendors across many entities, with the reporting and audit trails that implies.
- Integrations. Connections into construction and accounting systems that a small tool does not have.
- Risk-management expertise. The company has been at this a long time, with people who know insurance far better than a date-tracking tool needs to.
- It is a real company with support. SubCover is a small independent product. That is a genuine consideration for anything holding compliance records.
If you are a commercial GC with a risk manager, a compliance requirement from your carrier, or subcontractors numbering in the hundreds, myCOI is very likely the right tool and SubCover is not.
Where SubCover fits instead
SubCover exists because a residential contractor with eight subs has the same underlying problem — certificates expire, and chasing them is nobody's favourite job — without the budget, the volume, or the appetite for a sales process.
| myCOI | SubCover | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Commercial GCs, risk managers, enterprises | Small residential GCs, 3–25 subs |
| Getting started | Contact sales, demo, onboarding | Sign up and use it |
| Pricing | Quoted; not published | Free for 5 subs; flat paid tier planned |
| Certificate review | Their team reviews and pursues deficiencies | You confirm the date; we show you the document |
| Compliance rules | Detailed, per project and trade | Expiration dates and coverage type only |
| Sub's experience | Vendor portal | Emailed link, upload, done — no account |
| Setup time | Onboarding project | About ten minutes |
The subcontractor experience is the real difference
Most COI tools, myCOI included, give subcontractors a portal to log into. For a subcontractor who works for one large GC, that is fine — they will learn it.
For a two-person plumbing outfit working for six different residential builders, six portals with six passwords is not a system they will ever use. The certificate ends up arriving as a photo in a text message, or not arriving at all.
SubCover is built around that reality. The sub gets an email with a link that opens directly to an upload form with their name already filled in. They attach the certificate, type the expiration date, and they are finished. No account exists for them to forget the password to, because no account is created.
How to choose
Choose myCOI if you need certificates reviewed for compliance rather than just tracked, you have detailed insurance requirements varying by project, you have dozens or hundreds of vendors, or someone else — a carrier, an owner, a lender — is requiring a formal compliance program.
Choose SubCover if you have a manageable number of subs, you know what coverage you need and can recognise it on a certificate, the thing you actually want is for renewals to stop slipping, and you would like to be using it this afternoon.
If you are currently on a spreadsheet, that guide covers where it stops working — and it includes a free template if you would rather stay there for now.
myCOI is a trademark of its respective owner. This comparison reflects publicly available information about their product and our understanding of the market as of August 2026; check directly with them for current capabilities and pricing.