With S&P 500 board members meeting seven times a year (median average), having superior board management software is crucial for informed decision-making. This article compares BoardEffect and OnBoard, two popular enterprise collaboration tools for remote and hybrid meetings. Keep reading to learn the following:
- System requirements
- Feature-by-feature comparison
- Pros and cons
- Alternative corporate governance tools
Overview of OnBoard and Boardeffect
OnBoard
OnBoard has over 22 years of experience and over 170,000 users across 30,000 boards.
OnBoard summary
| Release date | 2002 |
| Operating systems | macOS, iOS, Windows, Android |
| Deployment | Cloud |
| User base | 170,000+ |
| Industries | For financial institutions For healthcare organizations For government For private equity and VC firms For higher education For nonprofit entities |
| Web app requirements | Minimum: Intel I3 2GB RAM 5GB storage Recommended: Intel i5 or higher 6GB RAM or more 10 GB storage or more |
| Mobile app requirements | Minimum for Apple: iPad Air 2 or higher iPhone 6s or higher Apple iOS 15 or higher 16 GB Storage Minimum for Android: Android 6.0 or higher 512 MB RAM 4 GB Storage Recommended for Android: Android 13 or higher 4 GB RAM 32 GB Storage |
BoardEffect
BoardEffect has over 17 years of experience in the board meeting management industry. It has over 200,000 users across 14,000 boards.
BoardEffect summary
| Release date | 2007 |
| Operating systems | macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Amazon Kindle |
| Deployment | Cloud |
| User base | 200,000+ |
| Industries | For non-profits For educational boards For healthcare institutions For community banking |
| Mobile compatibility | Minimum for Apple: iOS 14.0 or later iPadOS 14.0 or later macOS 11.0 or later Apple M1 chip or later Minimum for Android: Android 7.29.02 |
| Wondering, what is a board portal? Explore the buying guide on board portal vendors and discover use cases, pricing details, key features, and more. |
Feature-by-feature comparison of Boardeffect vs Onboard
Let’s compare OnBoard and BoardEffect side-by-side based on the following categories:
- Document management
- Meetings
- Collaboration
- User experience
- Security
- Customer service
Document management
| Document handling | BoardEffect | OnBoard |
| Rating | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Drag and drop upload | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Document repository | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Digital board packs | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Automated board pack creation | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Customizable Table of Contents | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Customizable board book cover page | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Meetings
| Meeting management | BoardEffect | OnBoard |
| Rating | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Meeting schedule (calendar) | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Meeting RSVP | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Meeting agenda builder | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Meeting minutes taker | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Collaboration
| Collaboration features | BoardEffect | OnBoard |
| Rating | 3.5 | 4 |
| E-signature | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Notes & annotations | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Digital votes | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Tasks | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Built-in agenda action items | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Surveys | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| D&O questionnaires | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Board assessments | ❌ | ✔️ |
User experience
| User experience | BoardEffect | OnBoard |
| Rating | 4 | 3.8 |
| User Interface | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| Mobile view | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Mobile app | iOS iPadOS Android | iOS iPadOS Android Windows |
| Board portal search | Full-text search | Full-text search |
| Videoconferencing | Zoom Microsoft Teams GoTo Meeting Webex | Zoom Microsoft Teams Webex |
| Integrations | Microsoft 365 Google Drive OneDrive Sharepoint API | Microsoft 365 Sharepoint Dropbox API |
| Interface language | English Italian Dutch French German Portuguese (Brazil) Chinese Simplified Japanese Spanish (Latin America) | English Italian Dutch French Russian Spanish |
| System requirements | Low | High |
Security
| Security comparison | BoardEffect | OnBoard |
| Rating | 3.9 | 4 |
| Data encryption | AES 256-bit | AES 256-bit |
| Two-factor authentication | SAASPASS Google Authenticator | SMS code Google Authenticator |
| Single-sign-on (SSO) | Azure AD Google Apps Salesforce ADFS Shibboleth JWT | Azure AD Salesforce Duo OneLogin OKTA OpenAM |
| Access permissions | Admin Workroom admin User | Admin Creator Member |
| Security compliance | ISO 27001 ISO 27701 SOC 2 Type II CSA STAR – Level 1 EU-US Privacy Shield GDPR HIPAA | ISO 27001 ISO 27017 ISO 27018 SOC 1 Type 2 SOC 2 Type 2 HIPAA HITECH |
Customer service
| Customer service | BoardEffect | OnBoard |
| Rating | 3.2 | 4.3 |
| Support channels | Live chat Phone | Email Phone |
| 24/7 support | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| AI assistant | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Help Docs | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Training guides & FAQs | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Training webinars | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Live training | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Dedicated customer success manager | ✔️ | ✔️ |
OnBoard vs Boardeffect: Pros and cons
OnBoard
| Pros | Cons |
| ✔️ Microsoft Azure AI assistant. It answers questions, reviews documents, writes summaries, and navigates the board portal functionality. | ❌ Counterintuitive permissions. Document directories, meetings, meeting agendas, and other functionalities have complicated permission systems. |
| ✔️ Extensive self-service options. OnBoard provides a comprehensive Help Center with usage guides, community posts, troubleshooting guides, and webinars. | ❌ High system requirements. It may limit mobile access in the board portal on old or less powerful devices. |
| ✔️ Activity analytics. You can track and measure meeting views, document downloads, length of board books, and other parameters. | ❌ Price. OnBoard is more expensive than comparable solutions, and many OnBoard customers opt for partial implementation due to high per-user costs. |
BoardEffect
| Pros | Cons |
| ✔️ Popular integrations. Users can integrate more popular collaboration tools in the board portal to create and manage documents. | ❌ Limited permissions. BoardEffect’s security roles and permissions make it less flexible and adaptable to custom workflows. |
| ✔️ Low system requirements. The BoardEffect app is available for older devices and Android systems, like Android 7.29. | ❌ Poor interface navigation. BoardEffect users report difficulties navigating through sections and locating necessary features. |
| ✔️ Tiered pricing. BoardEffect charges customers based on pricing tiers rather than the number of individual directors. | ❌ Limited self-service. BoardEffect provides limited user guides, which pushes teams to opt for more expensive subscription plans with dedicated support. |
| Important: See the board portal pricing comparison and cost analysis of 10+ solutions. |
Use cases and ideal scenarios
BoardEffect and OnoBoard have comparable features and capabilities. Our findings indicate that organizations can perform the following tasks equally within BoardEffect and OnBoard:
- Sharing critical information
- Running virtual and physical meetings
- Preparing reports
- Ensure compliant record-keeping
- Creating votes and evaluating board performance
The difference between OnBoard vs BoardEffect
The two solutions focus on slightly different use cases:
- BoardEffect is for nonprofit organizations. It’s cheaper, has low system requirements, and supports less popular integrations to cater to underfinanced communities and organizations.
- OnBoard is for small and medium companies. OnBoard is more business-centric and releases more frequent updates and new features, like AI assistant and D&O questionnaires.
Exploring alternative board portal software
BoardEffect and OnBoard may be decent document-sharing solutions, but other competitive secure communication platforms may offer a much higher value for the price.
If you seek board meeting software that combines ease of use, powerful security features, and effective collaboration, consider iDeals Board. This platform has over 175,000 happy customers and caters to unique needs of over a million active users. See how iDeals Board compares with BoardEffect and OnBoard.
| Rating | iDeals Board | OnBoard | BoardEffect |
| Total rating | 4.8 | 4.2 | 3.9 |
| Document management | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Meetings | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Collaboration | 4.7 | 4 | 3.5 |
| User experience | 4.8 | 3.8 | 4 |
| Security | 4.7 | 4 | 3.5 |
| Customer service | 4.8 | 4.3 | 3.2 |
| Pricing | $$ | $$$ | $$ |
| Features | iDeals Board | OnBoard | BoardEffect |
| Agenda-built motions & votes | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Quick meeting minute approval | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| KPI tracking | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| SOX-compliant audit log | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Security permissions | Admin Secretary Member Guest | Admin Creator Member | Admin Workroom admin User |
| ISO 9001 | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| DSS Level 1 | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| FedRAMP | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| FISMA | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| DIACAP | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Customer support | iDeals Board | OnBoard | BoardEffect |
| Dedicated project manager | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 15-second response time | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
The bottom line
- BoardEffect and OnBoard have comparable features, making them both reliable options for board meetings.
- BoardEffect caters to associations and nonprofits, while OnBoard supports small and medium-sized businesses.
- Our investigation has shown that iDeals Board offers superior capabilities, including comprehensive audit trails, extensive permissions, meeting minute approvals, and agenda-built motions & votes.
- It’s crucial to select software solutions based on the unique needs of your organization. Compare board portals on our main page to select the best platform for your needs.
Time to use the modern board management software!
iDeals Board serves board of directors, committee members with a comprehensive suite for governance tools
Visit Website
Category
Board portal solutions