Inform Direct

Inform Direct is UK company secretarial software for organisations managing statutory records, filings and share administration. It is best suited to UK-incorporated businesses and advisers handling recurring company obligations. Its broad administrative toolkit is balanced by a 10-company limit on the free and pay-as-you-go options, with transaction charges and VAT to account for.

Overview

Inform Direct brings company records, Companies House filings, deadline reminders and document generation into a browser-based service. It supports limited companies, public companies, LLPs and certain other UK company types, but not overseas-incorporated companies or registered overseas entities. That makes it a focused option for domestic company administration, not a global entity-management system.

The service can submit confirmation statements and many company changes electronically. It also handles dormant company and audit-exempt micro-entity accounts; subscribers with their own presenter code can submit iXBRL accounts files. Its API can add and remove companies and retrieve company lists and high-level company details, which is useful for connecting external systems without turning Inform Direct into a general-purpose integration platform.

Key features

Records, deadlines and filings

Inform Direct maintains statutory registers and reminds users of filing deadlines. Keeping those duties together can make routine compliance easier to coordinate across a portfolio, while electronic Companies House submissions reduce the need to handle many changes outside the service. It also supports audit trails, a useful record of activity where more than one person manages company administration.

Shares and documents

Users can record shareholders, issue and transfer shares, and manage share reorganisations. More than 400 generated secretarial documents, including minutes, resolutions, forms and certificates, cover a wide range of routine company work. This breadth is a strong fit for teams that want share administration and governance paperwork alongside registers and filings.

Access and security

Multi-user accounts allow permissions to be set by company and function, and subscribers can use two-step verification. Inform Direct says it hosts data in UK Microsoft Azure data centres, uses 256-bit SSL/TLS with at least TLS 1.2, and performs regular UK backups. It also says it is PCI DSS and GDPR compliant and that external specialists regularly review and test its security. These controls are relevant for organisations sharing administrative responsibilities, though two-step verification is a subscriber feature.

The browser-based service is available 24/7 without a software download. Inform Direct says it is authorised by Companies House and exchanges data directly with it. UK-based support is available by email, telephone, live chat and social media.

Pricing

The free plan, Free standard functionality, costs free and covers up to 10 companies. It is a sensible starting point for a small portfolio, but chargeable transactions are paid separately, so the free price does not mean every filing or action is included.

Pay as You Go costs £15, paid once, billed per chargeable transaction, with no subscription commitment and a limit of up to 10 companies. Prices exclude VAT, and some transactions also incur Companies House fees. This keeps a small or occasional portfolio out of a subscription, but repeated chargeable work can make costs accumulate.

Subscription has custom pricing, billed monthly according to the number of companies in the portfolio. It includes unlimited access to chargeable transactions, more than 10 companies and unlimited users. Prices exclude VAT. It is the relevant option for larger portfolios or teams whose transaction volume makes per-action billing less suitable; the free and pay-as-you-go plans give up that expanded capacity and included transaction access.

Platforms

Inform Direct is available on the web and through an API. Its browser-based access avoids a software download, while the API covers company creation and removal and retrieval of company lists and high-level details. The service is single-country in scope, focused on UK-incorporated entities.

Who it's for

Inform Direct suits company owners, advisers and secretarial teams responsible for UK company records, deadlines, filings and share changes. Its company-based permissions and unlimited users on subscription can accommodate shared administration; the free and pay-as-you-go tiers are capped at 10 companies. Organisations needing overseas entity coverage should look elsewhere.

Pros and cons

• Broad secretarial coverage: statutory registers, deadlines, filings, share administration and more than 400 document templates address several recurring tasks in one service.
• Useful small-portfolio entry point: free standard functionality covers up to 10 companies, while pay-as-you-go avoids a subscription commitment.
• Costs can extend beyond the headline price: chargeable transactions, VAT and some Companies House fees apply outside the subscription's included transaction access.
• UK-only entity scope: it does not support overseas-incorporated companies or registered overseas entities.
• Subscriber-only security and capacity benefits: two-step verification is for subscribers, and unlimited users and more than 10 companies require subscription.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, browse Legal Entity Management Software.

• EntityFlo is worth considering for a single entity: its free plan gives full access to every feature for one entity, while its Starter plan covers up to 25 entities and five users.
• Alethia may suit a smaller managed portfolio, with a free plan capped at five entities; its Registry plan is £1,000.00 per year and commits users for 12 months.
• Group Vision Web is a neutral alternative for readers considering a hosted SaaS option with an annual subscription model.
• GlobalBoards is another paid option for readers comparing software in this category.
• Computershare BoardWorks may be preferable for organisations seeking all modules and unlimited committees, with additional users charged.
• Diligent Audit is a paid alternative with pricing available by request and no free plan.
• CSC Corptax is an enterprise corporate tax software alternative, with pricing requested through a demo.
• EntityKeeper is an alternative with a full-service annual plan billed per entity, excluding state and filing fees.

Verdict

Choose Inform Direct if your work centres on UK-incorporated companies and you want records, routine filings, share administration and secretarial documents in one browser-based service. The free tier gives small portfolios room to start, but transaction costs, VAT and the 10-company cap make subscription terms important as activity grows. Look elsewhere if your entities extend beyond the UK or you need a different entity-management scope.