Sustainability software for SMEs: how to choose and what the options are

Eight sustainability platforms realistically fit an SME's budget and way of working today: Manglai, Greenly, Normative, AirCO2, Greemko, Plan A, Cozero and APlanet. None of them publishes rates on its website, so the useful comparison is not price but regulatory coverage, product language, time to the first calculation and whether it solves the Spanish MITECO registry or not.

Every claim in this article was checked against each vendor's own website in August 2026. Where something is not published, we say so instead of filling the gap.

What does an SME actually need from sustainability software?

An SME does not choose the way a multinational does. Five things outrank everything else.

• Time to first result. An SME has no sustainability team. If the system needs three months of setup before producing a number, the project gets dropped.
• Whether a consultant is required. Many platforms come with mandatory assisted implementation. That is not a flaw, but it changes total first year cost and it has to be asked before signing.
• Language of the product and the support. Not the marketing site, the product. If the people uploading invoices work in Spanish, an English only interface multiplies errors.
• Coverage of the rules that actually apply to you. For a Spanish SME that usually means the MITECO registry, answering large customer questionnaires and, if the sector demands it, ISO 14064 or the GLEC Framework.
• What happens with scope 3. It is the heaviest part of the work and the one customers ask about most. Check whether the tool covers it properly or only through spend based factors.

Comparison of eight sustainability platforms for SMEs

Manglai: AI driven environmental platform with Spanish regulatory coverage

Manglai is an environmental platform with five integrated modules: scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint, water footprint, waste management, product footprint and logistics emissions calculated per shipment and route. It declares coverage of GHG Protocol, ISO 14064, ISO 14046, ISO 14083, GLEC, SQAS, MITECO, CSRD, product environmental footprint and the digital product passport. Its AI layer reads invoices and unstructured files, extracts consumption and classifies it by scope, offers a copilot to query the data in natural language, and proposes action plans ranked by impact and cost. According to its website it has clients in 70 countries, more than 30,000 users, 25 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent under management and an average rating of 4.7. It offers Starter, Pro and Enterprise plans on twelve month subscriptions, with no published rates.

Greenly: broad framework coverage with an AI assistant

Greenly reports more than 3,500 clients, from small business to large account. Its suite covers greenhouse gas assessment, life cycle assessment, ESG management and supplier engagement, with an AI assistant called EcoPilot that automates carbon accounting tasks. On frameworks it covers CSRD, CDP, IFRS, SBTi, ISO 14067, EcoVadis, CBAM, EUDR and the digital product passport, plus Californian regulations. It has three tiers and does not publish rates: you have to talk to sales. The site is in English. It is a solid option if your company has to answer several international frameworks at once rather than only the Spanish block.

Normative: carbon accounting with independent verification

Normative sits towards mid and large enterprise. It is built on a catalogue of more than 349,000 verified emission factors and a GHG Protocol calculation independently verified by TÜV SÜD. Every account gets a named climate strategy advisor, and the product includes a dedicated CSRD solution and support for setting SBTi targets. For scope 3 it runs a supplier data network. It does not publish prices and the product is in English. For a very small company it is probably more tool than needed, but if you already face external assurance or investor scrutiny, the accounting rigour fits.

AirCO2: the Spanish option built around the MITECO seal

AirCO2 is a Spanish platform based in Galicia, with a site in Spanish, English, Portuguese and Galician. It covers four stages: data entry and dashboards, a tailored reduction plan, automated report generation and certification. It declares coverage of GHG Protocol, ISO 14064 and CSRD, and specifically automates MITECO certification and SBTi registration. It also runs a marketplace of local offsetting projects. Its public client base concentrates in logistics, agrifood, textiles and technology. Pricing is not published. If your priority is entering the Spanish carbon footprint registry with the least detour, it is a natural candidate.

Greemko: full environmental management, not just carbon

Greemko is a Spanish SaaS platform headquartered in Madrid, with declared presence in more than 25 countries and clients across more than twelve sectors, including industry, transport and public administration. It covers carbon footprint with scopes 1, 2 and the fifteen scope 3 categories, environmental management of energy, water, waste and raw materials, reduction plans and customisable reporting. It declares alignment with GHG Protocol, ISO 14064, the Sustainable Development Goals and the CSRD. It has three product tiers, SMART, Starter and Pro, with no published price. The product is available in Spanish and English. It fits industrial SMEs that need to track more environmental vectors than emissions alone.

Plan A: decarbonisation with a certified methodology

Plan A is a German company with offices in Berlin, Paris and London. Its platform covers three blocks: carbon accounting, sustainability reporting and decarbonisation through concrete actions. Its methodology carries a GHG Protocol conformity certification issued by TÜV Rheinland, and the company is B Corp certified and SOC 2 compliant. It covers CSRD and ESRS, SBTi, CDP, the EU taxonomy and UK and US disclosure regimes. Its public client roster leans towards large brands, which tells you something about typical deal size. The product is in English and pricing is not published. It is worth a look if the goal is setting and defending climate targets in front of third parties.

Cozero: built for transport, logistics and industry

Cozero is a German platform founded in 2020 with three modules: Log for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions accounting, Act for reduction planning with scenario modelling and return evaluation, and Share for regulatory reporting with an audit trail. It declares coverage of GHG Protocol, ISO 14083, GLEC, CSRD, SBTi and CDP, with sector solutions for transport and logistics, industrial manufacturing and supply chain. It is available in English and German, with no published prices. Alongside Manglai it is the most transport specialised option on this list, which makes it relevant for logistics operators whose team works in English.

APlanet: ESG reporting beyond carbon

APlanet is an ESG management and reporting platform with three modules: Sustainability for structuring and analysing ESG data, Neutrality for carbon footprint calculation and decarbonisation planning, and Materiality for double materiality assessment. It automates reporting under CSRD, GRI, IFRS, ISSB, SFDR and the GHG Protocol. It is available in six languages, including Spanish and Portuguese, with clients across Europe, Latin America and North America. Pricing is not published on the main site. It is the one to look at when the pressure is not only carbon but the full set of social and governance indicators, for example in front of an investor or a customer with a long ESG questionnaire.

How much does sustainability software cost for an SME?

None of the eight platforms publishes rates. All of them work with tailored quotes after a demo. This is not gratuitous opacity: the price depends on variables that vary a lot between companies.

• Number of sites or facilities to consolidate.
• Sector and complexity of the inventory.
• Whether you calculate only scopes 1 and 2 or also scope 3 with supplier data.
• Number of users and modules contracted.
• Whether implementation is guided or self service.
• Whether you buy support for external assurance.

When you ask for a quote, the figure to compare is the total first year cost, licence plus implementation plus consulting hours, not the monthly fee in isolation. And ask what happens in year two, once implementation is done.

When do you not need software yet?

There are cases where a well built spreadsheet is enough for a while. Spain's MITECO publishes free Excel calculators for the scope 1 and 2 organisational footprint, with specific versions for municipalities and farms, plus one for emission reductions and one for absorption projects. They embed emission factors from 2007 to 2025 and their use is optional when registering in the carbon footprint section of the registry.

That route works if your company has a single site, calculates only scopes 1 and 2, gets no customer questionnaires and needs no assurance. It stops working as soon as any of four signals appears: several sites or entities to consolidate, material scope 3, annual repetition with year on year comparability, or a traceability requirement for an audit. The full argument sits in the comparison of software to measure the carbon footprint.

Ten questions to ask a vendor before signing

1. How long does a company like mine take to close its first calculation?
2. Is implementation self service or does it require consulting hours? Are they included?
3. Which scope 3 categories does it really cover, and with which method?
4. Where do the emission factors come from and how often are they updated?
5. Can I export the report in the format the MITECO registry expects?
6. What audit trail does each figure leave for an external assurance provider?
7. Are the product and the support in Spanish, or only the marketing site?
8. Does it integrate with my ERP or fleet management system, and how?
9. What happens to my data if I leave?
10. What is the year two cost, without implementation?

Frequently asked questions about sustainability software for SMEs

What is the difference between a footprint calculator and sustainability software?

A calculator gives you a number at a point in time. Software keeps the data alive: it stores the source of every consumption figure, applies updated factors, consolidates several sites, lets you compare years and leaves an audit trail. If the calculation is an isolated annual formality, a calculator is enough. If it has to be sustained and defended, it is not.

Do any of these help with the Spanish MITECO seal?

Manglai and AirCO2 explicitly declare coverage of the MITECO carbon footprint registry on their websites. Greemko declares ISO 14064 and GHG Protocol, which is the methodological base, but does not mention the registry. None of the others cite it. Remember that registration is voluntary for private companies. The process is broken down in the guide to the MITECO registry and its three seals.

Do I need a consultant on top of the software?

For scope 1 and 2 calculations with your own data, usually not. For double materiality, for target setting and for preparing external assurance, expert support tends to pay for itself. The important thing is that the consultant is not a hidden requirement for the tool to work at all.

What do I do if a large customer asks me for CSRD data and I am an SME?

Since Directive (EU) 2026/470 there is a value chain cap: a company in scope of the CSRD cannot require companies with fewer than 1,000 employees to provide more information than the voluntary SME standard contains, and the delegated act for that standard was adopted on 3 July 2026. Preparing that information once and reusing it is the efficient answer, as explained in the posts on the CSRD and SMEs in the supply chain and on simplified standards for SMEs.

Do these platforms already cover the voluntary SME standard?

The delegated act dates from July 2026 and vendors are still adapting. Not all of them declare it explicitly on their websites yet, so ask during the demo and request a sample generated report rather than a roadmap promise.

Is an AI tool worth it in an SME?

It depends where your bottleneck is. If the problem is that nobody has time to key in hundreds of electricity, fuel and waste invoices, automatic document reading removes most of the work. If the problem is deciding what to measure, AI does not solve that.

If you want a reference point before talking to any vendor, you can run a first estimate with the carbon footprint calculator for companies and see how Manglai's AI automation works. The use case by use case comparisons live in the analyses of carbon accounting software and software for MITECO certification.