Complys vs SafetyCulture for Canadian contractors (2026)

SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) is one of the best-known safety apps in the world, and Canadian contractors weighing it against Complys are asking a fair question. The honest answer is that they are built to do different jobs, and the right choice depends on what you actually need. This comparison lays out the real differences — pricing, features and fit — for a Canadian business, and where SafetyCulture is the better choice, we say so.

The one-line difference

SafetyCulture is, at its core, a digital inspection and audit platform, sold per user, per month. Complys is a compliance-readiness and win-work platform, sold at a flat, size-based price, and built around Canadian compliance — provincial OHS, WHMIS, hazard assessments and COR. SafetyCulture is excellent at turning paper checklists into mobile inspections at scale. Complys is built to keep a contractor's whole compliance picture — health and safety program, hazard assessments, WHMIS and training, certifications, incident log — audit-ready, and to help you get hired by sharing that compliance with general contractors. If your main problem is "I need crews running standardized inspections on their phones," SafetyCulture is strong. If it is "I need to stay OHS- and COR-ready and win work without drowning in paperwork," that is what Complys is for.

Pricing: per-seat vs flat

This is where the models diverge most. SafetyCulture's paid plan is priced per user per month (around US$24/user/month on annual billing at the time of writing; confirm current Canadian pricing with the vendor), with a free tier for small teams. Complys is a flat price for the whole business, sized by your operation rather than your headcount, and capped. The practical consequence is simple: for a one- or two-person shop, SafetyCulture's free tier is generous, but the moment you need paid features across a real crew, per-seat pricing climbs with every worker you add, while Complys does not. For any team past a handful of paid users, that is a large and widening difference — and Canadian safety SaaS is typically per-seat, so a flat price reads as strong value.

Where SafetyCulture is the better choice

It would be dishonest to pretend Complys does everything better. SafetyCulture is the stronger tool if inspections are your centre of gravity. Its template library is enormous, its mobile app is genuinely best-in-class with solid offline capability, and it scales inspection workflows across large, distributed operations better than almost anything. It also bundles training courses and, at the enterprise level, sensors and advanced analytics. If you run thousands of standardized audits a month and per-seat cost is not a concern, SafetyCulture earns its reputation.

Where Complys is the better choice

Complys is the stronger fit if your goal is staying compliant and winning work rather than running inspections at scale. Three things set it apart for a Canadian business. First, flat, size-based pricing — you are not taxed for adding a worker. Second, compliance that helps you get hired: Complys keeps a live compliance profile you can share with GCs and owners, lists you in a contractor directory, and is built around the prequalification that increasingly gates Canadian work — COR, ISNetworld, Avetta. Third, Canadian, province-aware framing: it speaks provincial OHS, WHMIS, hazard assessments and the WCBs, rather than a UK or US product with the labels swapped. Add AI-assisted hazard assessments and health and safety programs, an incident log with the provincial reporting timelines, and certification reminders, and Complys covers the compliance a Canadian contractor is judged on — at a price that does not punish growth.

So which should you pick?

Pick SafetyCulture if inspections and audits are the heart of what you need, you want the deepest template library and mobile experience, and per-seat pricing works for you. Pick Complys if you want your whole compliance picture — safety program, hazard assessments, WHMIS, training, certifications, incident log — kept audit-ready, you want to share that compliance to win work and pass COR and prequalification, and you would rather pay one flat price than a per-seat bill that grows with your crew. Because Complys starts with a 90-day free trial and a free-forever plan, the cheapest way to decide is to run your own paperwork through it.