Introduction
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are documented company processes that ensure employees complete tasks efficiently and consistently. While these documents are vital to a smooth workflow, they can be complex and time-consuming to create.
SOP software is ideal for building and distributing procedures across your business. These tools let you generate guides with detailed steps and screenshots, giving your team accurate instructions without a sizeable time investment.
In this guide, we’ll share the top six SOP software products and discuss what to look for in the best tools.
What’s SOP Software?
SOP software allows users to create, edit and share procedures. It often uses detailed editors or AI to capture and document business processes and then stores the documents in a centralized knowledge base.
Access to effective SOPs helps you establish quality standards, train new employees and maintain consistency. And SOP software captures every vital detail to reduce errors and make sure critical processes are completed properly.
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SOP Software Benefits
Investing in an SOP builder lets you document processes without spending hours manually writing out steps and instructions. You can easily provide your team with actionable guides that help them maintain company standards and produce consistent quality.
Software for SOPs often also includes a knowledge base that centralizes all documentation, from organizational policies and customer service scripts to troubleshooting guides.
Leveraging SOP software helps:
- Improve consistency and reduce errors: Creating a solid process and ensuring employees follow it encourages excellent performance every time.
- Boost productivity: Access to actionable guides helps employees complete their work efficiently.
- Enhance knowledge sharing: Documenting processes from your top performers retains their valuable knowledge and techniques.
- Encourage continuous improvement: Using SOP software lets you quickly update policies and guides so your documentation evolves as your organization does.
- Maintain standards: These tools also help you adhere to SOP best practices, such as creating company protocols for SOP writing and using consistent formatting.
What To Look for in SOP Software
When you find the right tool, SOPs are simple to build, edit and share — but not all platforms are the same. Here are the top features to consider when looking for SOP solutions:
- AI process documentation: AI software enables you to perform tasks while the tool captures each step and takes annotated screenshots.
- Easy editing: Admins should be able to jump in at any time to update documents, keeping them fresh and relevant.
- Centralized information: Organized knowledge bases with high-quality search functionality grant your entire organization access to the information they need.
- Security and permissions: Permission management lets you control which teammates can access specific SOPs and maintain compliance with security requirements.
- Ready-to-use templates: Pre-made SOP templates help you get started quickly, letting you customize as needed.
Great SOP software leads to more effective procedures. Check out our collection of SOP examples and templates to see what an excellent tool can do.
The 6 Best SOP Software Tools
Here are our top six process documentation platforms, including some free SOP software solutions so you can get started at no cost.
1. Scribe
Scribe is a process documentation platform that automatically creates step-by-step guides. Using our SOP generator, simply switch on our application and complete your process as usual while Scribe captures every click and tap. Then, customize and share your auto-generated guide, which already contains text and annotated screenshots.
Scribe’s free SOP software also enters all of your guides into a centralized knowledge base. And if you make any updates to an SOP, this document is updated everywhere it lives so employees always have access to the most current information.
Features:
- AI automatically builds SOPs with detailed steps and screenshots.
- Scribe Sidekick, a feature that lets you view SOPs separately while completing the process.
- 100+ ready-to-use SOP templates.
- Simple permissions management.
- Easy editing.
- Quick sharing through URLs or exporting as a PDF, HTML, Markdown or Confluence.
- Embed Scribes in third-party tools or other company documentation.
Pricing:
- Basic: Free.
- Pro Team: $12 seat/month.
- Pro Personal: $23 seat/month.
2. SweetProcess
SweetProcess is process documentation and task management software in one. It lets you build guides, share them with your team and track tasks as you work.
This tool also provides a centralized knowledge base under your domain so you can build a customized storage space for your SOPs.
Features:
- Manual SOP creator and editor.
- Option to add engaging graphs and videos to your guides.
- Centralized SOP storage.
- Business process automation and task management.
Pricing:
- Basic: $99/month for a team with 20 members, plus $5/month for each additional member.
3. Document360
Document360 is SOP software that helps you build and manage a knowledge base for employees and customers. Its manual SOP builder offers AI-powered suggestions to improve text as you type.
This tool lets you quickly share links with your team so they have instant access to new SOPs. It also allows you to tag and group guides, further improving navigation.
Features:
- Extensive knowledge base management.
- Simple SOP creation.
- User access and permissions control.
- Four knowledge base types: portal, website, widget and API documentation.
Pricing:
- Standard: $149/project/month.
- Professional: $299/project/month.
4. Process Street
Process Street is a workflow management tool with a built-in SOP program. It covers SOP fundamentals by providing basic creation, editing and sharing features.
This tool wasn’t initially built for SOPs, but it’s helpful for teams that want task management software with process documentation as an added bonus.
Features:
- Workflow and task management.
- SOP creator with basic features.
- Ready-to-use SOP templates.
- Easy collaboration and SOP link sharing.
- Permission management to protect privacy.
Pricing:
- Startup: $100/month.
- Pro: $1,500/month.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Contact Process Street for a quote.
5. Tango
Tango is SOP documentation software that uses AI to capture tasks and turn them into guides. Much like Scribe, you turn on the software and perform processes, and Tango creates steps and takes screenshots. But Tango’s free plan limits the number of instructions you can create to 25, whereas Scribe has no limit.
Features:
- AI-powered SOP builder.
- Easy guide editor.
- Permission management.
- Shareable documents shared via links, embedding and downloadable files.
Pricing:
- Basic: Free.
- Pro: $20/user/month.
- Business: Custom pricing. Contact Tango for a quote.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Contact Tango for a quote.
6. Trainual
Trainual is primarily a knowledge base but also provides basic SOP generation so you can fill your database with policies and guides. It offers basic, manual SOP creation with added AI writing suggestions and a screen capture feature.
This software also provides tests so you can assess your direct reports on their capabilities.
Features:
- Knowledge base management.
- SOP creation and editing.
- Easy embedding of PDFs, GIFs and videos into your guides.
- Subject tests to gauge if employees absorbed training.
Pricing:
- Small: 1–15 employees, $299/month.
- Medium: 26–50 employees, $349/month.
- Growth: 51–100 employees, $499/month.
- Custom: 101–10,000+ employees, custom pricing. Contact Trainual for a quote.
Record Procedures in Seconds With Scribe
Investing in SOP software shows your commitment to improving your team’s performance. And quickly transforming your processes into detailed guides ensures you capture company knowledge and pass it on to each employee.
While the best SOP tool for you depends on your company’s unique needs, we recommend Scribe for any business that wants fast, accurate documentation. Turn on Scribe’s AI-powered browser extension, complete your tasks and craft a step-by-step guide instantly.
Sign up for Scribe for free and effortlessly document your business processes.
