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EU AI Act compliance tools for small businesses in 2026: an honest comparison

Checked and written on 14 October 2026. Every competitor fact below comes from that tool's own public page, linked with the date we checked it. Where a fact is not public, we write "unknown". Not legal advice.

Who this page is for (the job to be done)

You run or work in a small or medium-sized business in the EU, or you sell into the EU. Your team uses AI: a chatbot on the website, a writing assistant, AI features inside your CRM or accounting software, maybe an image generator for marketing. You have read that the EU AI Act is now in application and you want to know what you must do, by when, and whether a tool can help without a consultant's bill.

The job is rarely "become an AI governance department". It is usually:

• "Tell me which of my AI uses the Act actually touches, and why."
• "Give me a record I can show if a supervisor or a customer asks what we did about AI literacy."
• "Remind me of the dates, so I do not miss one."
• "Do not make me hand my internal data to yet another cloud service unless I need to."

Keep these four jobs in mind while reading the table. A tool that is excellent for a company building high-risk AI may be more than a five-person agency needs, and the reverse is also true.

The official dates that matter (with sources)

The legal text is Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the Artificial Intelligence Act, published on EUR-Lex (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) (checked 14 Oct 2026). The European Commission's summary page is AI Act | Shaping Europe's digital future (checked 14 Oct 2026). From those two sources:

• Article 5 (prohibited practices) and Article 4 (AI literacy): in application from 2 February 2025. The Commission page states that prohibited practices and AI-literacy obligations "entered into application from 2 February 2025". Article 4 asks providers and deployers to take measures to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy among the staff dealing with AI systems on their behalf. It applies whatever the risk level of the system.
• Article 50 (transparency obligations): in application from 2 August 2026. Typical examples: telling people they are interacting with a chatbot, and marking or labelling certain AI-generated or manipulated content. The Commission page says the transparency rules come into effect in August 2026, and that the Act as a whole became applicable on 2 August 2026, with exceptions.
• High-risk rules: according to the Commission page (checked 14 Oct 2026), after the "AI Omnibus" amendment the rules for Annex III high-risk areas apply from 2 December 2027, and those for AI embedded in regulated products (Annex I) from 2 August 2028.

Every tool in this comparison is a working aid. None of them can make a legal decision for you, and several say so plainly on their own pages.

How we judged the tools (honest criteria)

We used criteria a small business can check for itself on a public page, before signing up:

1. Free tier: can you start without paying, and what is the limit?
2. Entry paid price: the cheapest published paid plan, as shown on the page, in the currency shown.
3. Annual option: whether a yearly price or discount is published.
4. Account needed: whether the page says you need to register.
5. Where your data lives: what the page says about storage or hosting.
6. Article 4 AI-literacy support: whether the page lists a literacy record, test, course or certificate.
7. Article 50 transparency support: whether the page explicitly mentions Article 50 or transparency obligations.
8. Languages: as stated on the page.

We did not log in, did not start trials, and did not read paywalled material. We did not score "ease of use" because we could not test it fairly from public pages alone. We list no weaknesses for any competitor beyond what its own page states; "unknown" means only that we did not find it on the public page, not that the feature is missing.

The comparison table

All prices as published on the date checked; VAT treatment is unknown unless stated. Prices change, so re-check the linked page before you buy.

A note on currency: our price is published in US dollars because we sell through Gumroad; the others publish in euros. Compare after conversion on the day you buy.

What each tool is built for, in plain words

EURO AI Register (ours, Unadhi)

We built the EURO AI Register for the deployer job above: list the AI systems you use, see which obligations and dates apply, and keep a dated Article 4 literacy record you can print. It runs in your browser and stores your register in that browser, with export and import for backups. There is no Unadhi server holding your data. The membership at $19/month (or $190/year) adds a monthly "What changed in the EU AI Act" update, a readiness kit, your organisation's name on reports, email help and unlimited systems and evidence. What it is not: a full high-risk provider programme with conformity workflows. If you build high-risk AI, look at the deeper tools below or at specialist advice.

Honest trade-off: because your data stays in the browser, you are responsible for backups. The page reminds you, but if you clear your browser without exporting, the register is gone.

AI-Act-Kompass

According to its public page, AI-Act-Kompass is a local-first app for web, iPhone, iPad and Mac. It offers a guided risk-classification wizard with legal references, a cross-system task list with calendar export and reminders, more than 15 document types (including FRIA and works council information), templates for internal AI policy, and an Article 4 literacy test with certificate and training register. One AI system is free with all core features; Pro at €9.99/month or €79/year unlocks unlimited systems. It is available in nine European languages. On published price alone, it is the lowest-cost paid option we found.

AiCompliBot.eu

AiCompliBot.eu leads with a free diagnosis: 12 questions, a result in about five minutes, with no registration for the check. The free Starter gives one classification, obligations, a summary PDF and a shareable link. Pro at €49/month adds unlimited assessments, compliance checklists, generated regulatory documents (the page names Annex IV and FRIA) and a progress dashboard. There is also a custom plan with volume pricing. The site is in French, English and German.

SetAIComply

SetAIComply publishes four plans from €39/month, with a 14-day trial and no card. Starter covers up to 5 AI systems, 3 users and 5 DPIAs, plus an AI copilot, Annex IV templates, a risk classifier, an AI literacy course and certificate, and AI document generation. Higher plans add workflows, EU database registration, SSO, bias testing and an API. The page lists article coverage including Art. 5, 9 to 15, 43, 49, 50, 53/55 and 72, and offers a free Compliance Snapshot (Annex IV starter, gap report, risk classification). It is the broadest tool here for teams heading towards high-risk documentation.

Veritome

Veritome is in public beta with a launch planned for late November 2026, per its pricing page. "Classify" is free for up to three systems with five AI-assisted assessments a month. Starter at €79/month targets one or two non-high-risk systems and covers Article 4 literacy records and Article 50 transparency with owners, dates and evidence. Govern and Manage add high-risk programmes (Arts. 9 to 15), and the page lists ISO/IEC 42001, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST AI RMF and GDPR on the same register. A 30% founding rate is offered to organisations that join before launch.

We also looked at AIComply (ai-comply.app), which appeared in search results with a €0 plan, but its page did not load for us on 14 October 2026 (server error), so we left it out rather than repeat facts we could not check.

How to choose: four common situations

1. "We only use ChatGPT and a couple of AI features in our software."

You are most likely a deployer of minimal- or limited-risk systems. Your core duties today are Article 4 literacy and, from 2 August 2026, any Article 50 transparency duty that applies to how you use AI (for example a customer-facing chatbot). A free tier from AI-Act-Kompass, the EURO AI Register or Veritome's Classify plan covers inventory and classification. For the literacy record, AI-Act-Kompass and the EURO AI Register both include it at no cost; Veritome includes it from Starter.

2. "We want everything on paper but do not want our data in another cloud."

Two tools state that data stays on your device: AI-Act-Kompass and the EURO AI Register. That is a real privacy benefit and a real responsibility: keep backups.

3. "We have a team and want shared workflows."

Browser-local tools are designed for one person on one device, with export to share. If several people need to work in the same register at once, look at hosted tools with users and roles, such as SetAIComply or Veritome, and check their user limits per plan.

4. "We might be building or deploying high-risk AI (Annex III)."

The Annex III rules apply from 2 December 2027 according to the Commission page. You will need risk management, data governance, logging, technical documentation and human oversight. The tools with explicit high-risk modules are SetAIComply and Veritome (Govern and above). Pair any tool with qualified legal advice.

What a tool cannot do for you

• It cannot decide your legal classification with certainty. Every tool here describes its output as an assessment or a starting point, not a legal ruling.
• It cannot train your staff by itself. A literacy record documents training; the training still has to happen and fit the people and systems involved.
• It cannot replace your supplier's obligations. If you use a vendor's AI, ask the vendor what it does as a provider; your record should show that you asked.
• It does not end the job. The Act and its guidance keep changing, as the 2026 Omnibus showed. Re-check dates at least quarterly against the official sources above.

A 30-minute starting checklist

1. List every AI tool your team uses, including AI features inside other software. Ten minutes with your team leads usually finds most of them.
2. For each, note what it is used for and whether people outside the company see its output.
3. Run a free classifier on each entry and save the reasoning.
4. Write down who has been trained on AI use, on what, and when. That is the core of your Article 4 record.
5. For customer-facing chatbots or published AI content, check whether Article 50 disclosure applies and add the disclosure.
6. Set a calendar reminder for 2 December 2027 if anything might be high-risk, and a quarterly reminder to re-check official guidance.

Frequently asked questions

Is AI literacy really required for a small business?

Article 4 applies to providers and deployers, with no size exemption in the text, and it has been in application since 2 February 2025 according to the Commission page. What is "sufficient" depends on your staff and systems, which is why a dated record of what you did is useful.

Do I need a certificate?

The Act asks for measures to ensure sufficient literacy; it does not create a mandatory certificate. Some tools offer certificates as evidence, which can be helpful, but a clear dated record of training is the essential part.

Which tool is cheapest?

On published prices checked on 14 October 2026, AI-Act-Kompass Pro (€9.99/month or €79/year) is the lowest-priced paid plan in this table. Several tools have free tiers that may be all a very small business needs.

Why should I trust a comparison written by one of the vendors?

You should check it. That is why every fact links to the vendor's own page with a date, and why we wrote "unknown" instead of guessing. If you find an error, email us and we will correct it with the date of the change.

Try the free tier

If the deployer job above sounds like yours, you can start the EURO AI Register for free: build your AI inventory and keep your Article 4 literacy record in your browser, without an account.

Open the free EURO AI Register

Not legal advice. This page compares public information as of 14 October 2026. Check the linked official sources and each vendor's current page before making decisions.