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Buyer's guideBest AI-powered COI tracking software (2026): who makes the final call
Every COI tool says AI now. The difference that matters is what happens after the AI reads the certificate: does it decide, does a person check it, or does it hand you the evidence?
Two years ago, "AI" on a COI tracking page meant it could read the dates off an ACORD 25. Now every tool in the category uses AI to read certificates, and most read endorsements too. So the question for a general contractor isn't whether a tool uses AI. It's what the AI is allowed to decide, and whether you can see why it decided.
This guide sorts AI-powered COI tracking software by that question. It covers the same eight tools as our full comparison of COI tracking software for construction, using what each vendor says on its own pages, linked under Sources.
Five ways AI COI tracking works
| Model | Tools | What the AI does | Who signs off |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI decides | illumend | Reads every COI and endorsement and makes the compliance call | AI, with escalation on items it can't resolve |
| AI with a second check | bcs, TrustLayer | Reads and flags, then a second model or a person checks | A person on disagreements or confirmations |
| AI explains, your team decides | Forsured, PINS Advantage | Finds each gap and shows the reasoning and the page | Your team, on every result |
| AI plus a service | Billy, Jones, and bcs and TrustLayer service plans | Reads and flags, and the vendor's reviewers work the result | The vendor's reviewers, or your team |
| AI extracts, you judge | Certificial | Pulls carrier, form number, policy number and exclusions | Your team accepts or rejects |
The tools, by model
AI decides: illumend
illumend, the AI platform from myCOI, is the clearest example. Their site says their AI, Lumie, "reads everything and makes a compliance decision," reviews all of your COIs and endorsements automatically, and raises its hand only on the rare item it can't resolve, where a reviewer can step in. More human oversight is something you add to your subscription.
Good fit if you track high volume across many vendors and you're comfortable with the AI's call standing unless it flags itself.
AI with a second check: bcs and TrustLayer
bcs reads each certificate twice, with a long-running extractor and a separate vision model, and sends any disagreement to a person. TrustLayer's Enhanced Endorsements check for the language you require and show where it appears, and a person confirms the result.
Good fit if you want speed on the clean certificates and a human on the doubtful ones.
AI explains, your team decides: Forsured and PINS Advantage
PINS Advantage says its AI reads every endorsement in full and answers pass, fail or needs review, with its reasoning and a link to the exact page. Nothing is auto-approved. Forsured reads each certificate and endorsement against the requirements of the project the subcontractor is on, explains each gap, and a person on your team approves or waives it. The broker sees the same gap in a shared workspace.
Good fit if you want a named person behind every accepted gap.
AI plus a service: Billy and Jones
Billy's AI checks each COI for missing endorsements such as CG 20 10, CG 20 37 and waiver of subrogation, and on their managed plan their reviewers check every certificate. Jones uses AI with their own insurance specialists. bcs full service and TrustLayer+ add a service layer too.
Good fit if you'd rather pay someone than staff the review.
AI extracts, you judge: Certificial
Certificial's EndorsementIQ pulls the details from each endorsement so you can accept or reject it against your criteria. Their bigger AI story is data: certificates come from the agent of record, and Certificial says it alerts you when coverage changes.
How to test an AI COI tool in one afternoon
- Pick three real certificates: one clean, one missing completed operations additional insured coverage, and one with a carrier's own endorsement form instead of an ISO form.
- Run them through each tool against the same project requirements.
- For every result, ask to see the page, the wording and the requirement it was checked against.
- Ask who changed the result if it was wrong, and where that change is recorded.
The carrier-form test is the one that separates tools. Wording that does the same job under a different form number should be judged on its words. See which COI tracking software checks endorsements, not just certificates.
What regulators say about AI
Insurance regulators have written rules for insurers' use of AI, not for a contractor's COI review. Our COI Journal brief on what regulators say about AI and what it means for COI review covers the NAIC model bulletin and why a documented human decision still matters on your side.
About this guide
This guide was written by the Forsured team. Forsured makes one of the tools described here. No vendor paid to be included or saw this page before it was published. Every vendor fact comes from that vendor's own public pages as of the dates under Sources. Products change, so confirm with each vendor.
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About Forsured
Forsured is construction insurance compliance software for general contractors and the brokers who insure their trade contractors. You set each project's insurance requirements once. Forsured reads every contractor COI and endorsement against them, flags each gap with the reason, and keeps checking through renewals until the job is done.
- Project requirements with exceptions, not one template for every job
- Endorsement review (additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary and noncontributory), not just the certificate
- A shared workspace where the contractor's broker sees exactly what's missing
- A person on your team approves every result, with a full review history
“What stood out to us is that Forsured doesn't just organize the paperwork. It helps us understand what meets the project requirements, what needs attention, and what needs to happen next. That clarity across the GC, subcontractor, and broker is where we see the real value.”
Send us one project's requirements and a contractor COI or two. We'll show you every gap we find, free.
Common questions
What is the best AI-powered COI tracking software?
It depends on how much you want the AI to decide. For AI that makes the compliance call on its own, illumend. For AI with a second check, bcs and TrustLayer. For AI that finds and explains each gap and leaves the decision to your team, Forsured and PINS Advantage. Test each one on the same deficient certificate before you pick.
Can AI review a certificate of insurance on its own?
Some tools let it. illumend says its AI makes the compliance decision and raises a hand only on items it can't resolve. Most other tools use AI to read and flag, then route the result to a person. AI can misread a scanned form or a carrier's own endorsement wording, so whoever signs off should see the evidence.
Does AI COI tracking read endorsements?
The better tools do. PINS Advantage, TrustLayer, illumend and Forsured read endorsement wording against your requirements. Certificial pulls endorsement details for you to accept or reject. Ask whether a tool reads the wording or only checks that a form number is present.
Sources
- illumend home page, illumend, checked Nov 13, 2026
- AI COI review, PINS Advantage, checked Nov 11, 2026
- Enhanced Endorsements, TrustLayer, checked Nov 11, 2026
- Pricing and plans, bcs, checked Nov 13, 2026
- Certificial home page, Certificial, checked Nov 13, 2026
- FAQ: requirements, renewals and pricing, Billy, checked Nov 11, 2026
- Jones home page, Jones, checked Nov 13, 2026
We link to the original reporting and research behind every post. This post is general information, not legal or insurance advice: Forsured is a software company, not a law firm or a licensed insurance agency, so confirm anything you'll rely on with your broker or attorney. Spotted something we got wrong? Write to hello@forsured.ai and we'll fix it.