Karma Compass vs Diligent Boards
Diligent Boards is the board portal from Diligent, which also sells the Diligent One governance, risk and compliance platform. It uses AI to assemble agendas and board books and draft minutes, has native apps and is priced on request. Karma Compass is for nonprofit boards of any size: the people who run the board work in the workspace, directors act from their email, and agents draft the agenda, minutes and follow-ups for a person to approve.
At a glance
Compiled on 29 October 2026 from the pages linked below. Tell us at support@karmahq.org if something has changed.
| What | Karma Compass | Diligent Boards |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free is $0. Pro: $99 a month. | Not published; quote on request. |
| Free plan | Yes. 5 meetings a year, unlimited board members and document uploads, voting, RSVPs and quorum tracking. | Not described on the pages we read. |
| Who it is for | Nonprofit boards of any size. | Diligent lists public and private companies, nonprofits, and education and local government. For nonprofits, Diligent also sells BoardEffect: see Karma Compass vs BoardEffect. |
| Directors without accounts | Yes. Directors RSVP, vote and open the board packet from links in their email, with no account or password. | Not described on the pages we read. |
| AI-drafted minutes | Yes, on Pro, from your notes or a transcript. Free drafts minutes from the attendance, quorum and agenda when a meeting is marked held, without AI. The secretary, or another officer who can adopt minutes, edits and adopts them. | Yes. Smart Minutes generates a first draft from typed notes, board materials or transcripts. |
| AI-drafted agendas | Yes, on Pro. Drafted from your board’s record: earlier published agendas, when there are any, and the action items still open; the chair, executive director, secretary or board assistant edits and approves it before it goes to directors. | Yes. Diligent describes AI-powered agenda building, and says the agenda and board materials are pulled together with AI. |
| Votes by email under bylaws | Yes. It will not draft a vote until what your bylaws say about voting outside a meeting is recorded and cited. Each director’s link is theirs alone, works once and expires when voting closes, or after two weeks if voting runs longer. | Directors vote in the app with e-signature and audit logs. Voting by email and a bylaws check are not described on the pages we read. |
| Board packet | Yes. Once the chair, executive director, secretary or board assistant approves the agenda, each director gets a link to the packet in their email. The PDF can be downloaded. | Yes. Smart Builder creates a first draft of a board book by synthesizing documents. |
| Scheduled checks (playbooks) | Yes, on Pro. Checks you turn on can prepare an update for the chair, executive director, secretary or board assistant to send, and remind owners before their action items are due. | An action tracker turns notes and minutes into trackable action items automatically. |
| Integrations | Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom and Slack are included in the Pro plan. | Microsoft 365, Google Docs, DocuSign, NetSuite and S&P Global Market Intelligence. |
| Mobile app | None. Directors act from their email on any device; anyone you invite can also sign in to the workspace in a browser. | Yes. Native apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows. |
| Trial | Two weeks of Pro for every new organization, then Free. Nothing is deleted and nothing is charged. | Diligent offers a free GovernAI trial. A trial of Diligent Boards itself is not described on the pages we read. |
Where Diligent Boards is the better fit
Where Karma Compass is the better fit
Nothing becomes official until someone on your board with the authority to approve it does. See who approves what.
Price
Every new organization starts on Karma Compass Pro, free for two weeks. If you have not upgraded by the end of it you move to the Free plan. Nothing is deleted, and nothing is charged.
Diligent Boards does not publish prices. Its pricing page offers a package tailored to your organization’s size and stage of growth, quoted on request. We did not find a free plan described. Diligent offers a free GovernAI trial; a trial of Diligent Boards itself is not described on the pages we read.
Questions boards ask
Can we move our board from Diligent Boards to Karma Compass?
Moving from another board portal is included in the Karma Compass Pro plan. You can also start without a migration: Karma Compass finds your directors on your website and drafts the roster, and you add your bylaws, your last minutes and the date of your next meeting.
How much does Diligent Boards cost compared with Karma Compass?
Diligent does not publish prices; when we read its pricing page on 29 October 2026 it offered a package tailored to the organization, quoted on request. Karma Compass publishes both of its prices: Free is $0 with 5 meetings a year and unlimited board members, and Karma Compass Pro is $99 a month for the whole board, whatever its size.
Do our directors need to install anything?
No. Directors RSVP, vote and open the board packet from links in their email, without an account or a password, on whatever device they read email on. Anyone you invite can also sign in to the workspace in a browser.
Does Karma Compass have a mobile app?
No. There is no app to install. Directors act from their email on any device, and anyone you invite can also sign in to the workspace in a browser. If your board wants a native app, Diligent Boards has one and Karma Compass does not.
Are votes by email valid under our bylaws?
Karma Compass will not draft a vote until someone records what your bylaws say about voting outside a meeting, the threshold to pass a motion and whether a vote can be changed, with the passage cited. If your bylaws do not allow voting outside a meeting, it will not draft one. Whether a particular vote meets your state’s rules is a question for your counsel.
What happens to our records if we stop paying?
You move to the Free plan. Nothing is deleted and nothing is charged; meetings you already have stay, and new ones are scheduled within Free’s 5 a year. Documents you uploaded can still be downloaded from your document library, unless downloads were turned off for one, and so can the board packet PDF.