Novata Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Confused by endless ESG reporting headaches?

If you’re looking at Novata, chances are you’re trying to sort out complex, time-consuming ESG data collection and regulatory compliance across your private market investments.

But here’s the tough part: All this manual data management just drains your resources and leaves your team stressed and chasing errors every month.

What sets Novata apart is its integrated platform—combining automated ESG data collection, built-in carbon accounting, robust analytics, and compliance tools tailored specifically for private equity and private companies like yours. This isn’t just another generic platform; their dedicated approach streamlines workflows so you finally get clarity and control over sustainability metrics.

In this review, I’ll break down how Novata actually lightens your ESG workload and why their solution stands out for private market needs.

We’ll go through every key feature, pricing, the brand-new ESG Due Diligence tool, alternatives, and real use cases in this Novata review—so you can make an informed investment.

By the end, you’ll know the features you need to transform ESG headaches into real results for your business.

Let’s get started.

Novata Overview

Novata aims to simplify the complex ESG data challenge for private markets. Based in New York City, they’ve been tackling this problem since their founding in 2021.

What I find compelling is their unwavering focus on private market stakeholders. They aren’t built for massive public corporations; their platform is tailored for private equity, credit funds, and the diverse portfolio companies you manage daily.

Their new ESG Due Diligence solution, launched in 2025, shows they’re listening. You’ll see its time-saving impact as we go through this Novata review.

Unlike broad platforms like Workiva, Novata provides a purpose-built private markets ESG solution. This focus means less complexity and a workflow that feels like it was built by people who understand your unique reporting pressures and limited resources.

They work with many private equity and venture capital firms, helping them get a standardized view of ESG performance across an entire, complex portfolio.

Their current strategy powerfully combines intuitive technology with accessible, hands-on expert advisory. This hybrid model helps you translate raw data into an actionable strategy and generate clear reports your investors are demanding.

Now let’s examine their core capabilities.

Novata Features

Drowning in fragmented ESG data?

Novata features provide an integrated approach to environmental, social, and governance (ESG data management) for private markets. These are the five core Novata features that can help simplify your sustainability efforts.

1. Sustainability Management Solution

Is your sustainability data scattered everywhere?

Fragmented data collection and storage can make ESG reporting a nightmare, leading to inefficiencies and compliance headaches for your team.

This solution offers a flexible workspace to centralize, secure, and collaborate on all your sustainability data, guiding you through metric reporting. From my testing, the guardrails for high-quality data submission really shine, making it easier even for ESG newcomers. This feature streamlines workflows and ensures data integrity.

This means you can transform chaotic data into organized, audit-ready insights without major manual effort.

2. Carbon Accounting (Novata Carbon Navigator)

Struggling to accurately track carbon emissions?

Measuring Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions is incredibly complex and time-consuming, making it hard to meet climate targets or regulatory demands.

The Novata Carbon Navigator is a digitized calculator that simplifies carbon footprint measurement, supplier categorization, and target setting. What I found impressive is how it provides audit-ready reporting effortlessly, helping you meet climate action targets. This feature allows for accurate and efficient carbon management.

So you can confidently track and manage your carbon footprint, ensuring compliance and demonstrating real environmental impact.

3. Regulatory Compliance (CSRD Solution)

Worried about keeping up with evolving ESG regulations?

Navigating complex regulations like CSRD or SFDR can feel overwhelming, risking non-compliance and potential penalties for your business.

Novata offers purpose-built tools for readiness assessment, double materiality, and EU taxonomy alignment, simplifying your compliance journey. Here’s what I found: the platform’s integrated task and file management streamlines subsidiary reporting and content publishing. This feature helps transform compliance from a burden into a strategic advantage.

This means you can confidently meet regulatory obligations, turning compliance efforts into a more strategic approach to risk management.

4. Analytics & Benchmarking

Need to see how your ESG performance stacks up?

Without clear insights and industry benchmarks, it’s difficult to assess your sustainability performance or identify areas for improvement.

Novata provides robust data visualization tools and benchmarks that highlight your sustainability performance and drive measurable impact. This is where Novata shines: you can compare your fund and portfolio against industry peers, gaining valuable competitive insights. This feature helps you make data-driven decisions.

The result is you gain objective, real-time insights into your relative ESG performance, enabling you to show progress and drive measurable impact.

5. ESG Due Diligence Solution

Are pre-investment sustainability assessments slowing deals?

Integrating ESG data into due diligence is often cumbersome, adding significant burden to deal teams and extending the investment process.

Launched recently, this solution centralizes the diligence workflow, allowing deal professionals to request, review, and contextualize sustainability data pre-investment. What I love about this is how it seamlessly connects diligence data to post-deal monitoring, reducing manual effort. This feature helps you assess risks and opportunities efficiently.

This means you can streamline your deal process, reduce burdens on your team, and link critical ESG data to financial outcomes during the holding period.

These Novata features work together to create a holistic platform for ESG data management, streamlining processes and providing actionable insights.

Novata Pricing

What will Novata’s pricing actually cost your business?

Novata pricing is based on a custom quote model, which means you’ll need to contact sales directly to get pricing tailored to your specific ESG management needs.

1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors

Understanding Novata’s custom pricing.

Novata’s pricing structure is not publicly disclosed, reflecting its enterprise focus and the tailored nature of ESG solutions. What I found regarding pricing is that it depends heavily on your specific requirements, including the number of users, level of customization, and which key features you utilize like Carbon Accounting or Regulatory Compliance.

From my cost analysis, this means your total cost will be highly individualized, aligned with your specific operational scale.

2. Value Assessment & ROI

Is Novata worth the investment?

For private markets, Novata’s integrated platform can significantly streamline complex ESG data management, reducing manual effort and ensuring regulatory compliance. What makes their pricing valuable is how it provides a comprehensive solution for critical ESG needs, potentially saving you significant resources compared to fragmented tools or in-house development.

This helps you see clear ROI by transforming a compliance burden into a strategic asset for your business.

3. Budget Planning & Implementation

Prepare for a comprehensive investment.

Since Novata offers a customized solution, anticipate costs beyond just the software license. Budget-wise, you’ll need to factor in potential implementation support, integration services, and ongoing advisory from their experts. This approach helps ensure a successful deployment tailored to your existing systems and reporting requirements.

So for your business, planning for these additional services helps you understand the total cost of ownership.

My Take: Novata pricing prioritizes delivering a precise, high-value ESG solution for private markets, making it ideal for organizations that need a deeply integrated and expert-supported platform rather than a generic tool.

The overall Novata pricing reflects customized value for complex enterprise ESG needs.

Novata Reviews

What do real customers actually think?

To help you understand real-world experiences, I’ve analyzed Novata reviews from various user feedback sources, breaking down what customers truly think about this platform.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Most users feel Novata provides significant value.

From my review analysis, Novata consistently receives positive feedback, especially regarding its ability to simplify data collection. What stood out in user feedback is how Novata increases efficiencies for General Partners (GPs), even for those new to ESG data management.

This suggests you can expect a generally positive experience that streamlines your data processes.

2. Common Praise Points

Users consistently love the support and usability.

Review-wise, users frequently praise the “useful guidance material and hands-on support” provided, which simplifies data collection. What I found in user feedback is how the platform is also described as “easy to navigate and intuitive, allowing for a seamless user experience.”

This means you’ll likely find the platform user-friendly, with readily available assistance when needed.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some areas still need refinement, say users.

Several Novata reviews indicate that the platform “still needs further development, as it is considered a young platform.” What emerges in common complaints is the “difficult or non-intuitive” interface for uploading Excel data, with users desiring a more streamlined process.

These issues are generally considered areas for improvement rather than major deal-breakers.

Overall, Novata reviews suggest high user satisfaction despite acknowledging its youth and areas for future development.

Best Novata Alternatives

Seeking Novata alternatives for your business needs?

The best Novata alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations, target audiences, and specific ESG reporting priorities.

1. Workiva

Need a unified platform beyond just ESG?

Workiva makes sense if your organization requires comprehensive, integrated reporting solutions that extend beyond ESG to include financial reporting, audit, and risk management. From my competitive analysis, Workiva offers broader connected reporting capabilities, providing a more holistic approach to enterprise data.

Choose Workiva when you need a single platform for diverse, interconnected business reporting needs.

2. Persefoni

Is detailed carbon accounting your top priority?

Persefoni excels when your primary and most urgent need is highly detailed, robust carbon accounting and climate-related financial disclosures. What I found comparing options is that Persefoni is a leader in advanced carbon accounting, making it ideal for climate-focused organizations.

Consider this alternative if deep emissions management and climate disclosures are more critical than broader ESG.

3. Greenly

Are you an SMB just starting your ESG journey?

Greenly provides an accessible, simplified approach to sustainability, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses due to its ease of use and cost-effectiveness. From my analysis, Greenly is more affordable for smaller businesses, offering essential features without overwhelming complexity for new users.

Choose Greenly if you’re an SMB needing a straightforward, budget-friendly ESG solution over Novata’s private markets focus.

The best Novata alternatives depend on your specific business size and reporting complexity rather than features alone.

Novata Setup

Is Novata difficult to set up?

This Novata review includes an implementation section to help you understand the deployment process, setup requirements, and potential adoption challenges for your business.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Don’t expect an instant flip of a switch.

Novata setup involves initial data migration, understanding the platform’s guidance, and integrating your sustainability metrics. From my implementation analysis, initial data upload can be a tricky part for some users, especially with Excel data, requiring careful attention to detail.

You’ll need to plan for data preparation and potentially some initial support to ensure a smooth transition.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Minimal technical hurdles, but watch the details.

Novata is a web-based platform, meaning you won’t need any software downloads or complex server configurations. What I found about deployment is that it’s compatible with various operating systems, simplifying technical setup immensely compared to on-premise solutions.

Your team will need a reliable internet connection and a modern web browser; no specialized hardware is required.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption is generally positive, but prepare.

The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate for most users, which helps with a smooth learning curve. From my analysis, useful guidance material simplifies data collection and helps new users quickly get up to speed with ESG concepts.

Invest in familiarizing your team with the platform’s unique features, particularly around data input and reporting functionalities.

4. Support & Success Factors

Expect responsive help throughout your journey.

Novata’s support team is readily available and easy to work with, providing assistance whenever needed. From my analysis, responsive support is a critical success factor for a developing platform, ensuring you overcome any initial hurdles quickly.

You’ll want to leverage their advisory services and support team to maximize your implementation success and ongoing platform value.

The overall Novata setup process is straightforward, but successful data migration is key for effective deployment and ongoing use of the platform.

Bottom Line

Is Novata the right ESG solution for you?

This Novata review provides a decisive recommendation based on a comprehensive analysis of its features, target users, strengths, and limitations.

1. Who This Works Best For

Private markets seeking dedicated ESG management.

Novata is an ideal fit for private equity firms, venture capital, and private companies (10-50 employees, $200M-$1B revenue) requiring robust ESG data collection and reporting. What I found about target users is that your business needs a purpose-built solution for comprehensive ESG tracking and regulatory compliance, especially if you’re an investor monitoring portfolio companies.

You’ll succeed if you need to streamline complex ESG processes and demonstrate transparency to stakeholders.

2. Overall Strengths

Comprehensive ESG management for private markets.

Novata excels in simplifying ESG data collection, carbon accounting, and regulatory compliance for private market participants, offering valuable benchmarking capabilities. From my comprehensive analysis, its tailored approach to private market needs sets it apart, providing specific tools for due diligence and investor reporting.

These strengths directly translate into increased efficiency, confident compliance, and better insights for your sustainability efforts.

3. Key Limitations

Interface and guidance need refinement.

While powerful, Novata is a relatively young platform, and some users note the Excel data upload interface isn’t intuitive, and certain guidance can be vague. Based on this review, you might experience a slight learning curve with specific data entry processes, requiring patience or reliance on support.

These limitations are largely manageable trade-offs for the specialized functionality, but they are areas for future development.

4. Final Recommendation

Novata is highly recommended for its target audience.

You should choose Novata if your private market firm needs a comprehensive, purpose-built platform to manage and report ESG data, especially for portfolio monitoring and regulatory compliance. From my analysis, this solution is vital for professionalizing your ESG efforts and navigating increasing demands for transparency.

My confidence level is high that Novata will empower your team with robust tools for confident ESG management.

This Novata review demonstrates strong value for private market participants seeking a dedicated, robust ESG solution, though some minor interface improvements would enhance the user experience.