Tired of permit approval delays?
Juggling spreadsheets and outdated systems makes it hard to track progress, causing frustrating delays and putting your projects behind schedule.
The real danger is failing to meet compliance requirements. This oversight can lead to expensive fines or even complete project shutdowns from regulators.
These administrative bottlenecks aren’t just an inconvenience. They introduce serious operational risks and make maintaining a clear, auditable trail nearly impossible for your team.
Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of regulatory reporting software helpful for proactively managing compliance.
The right software solves this by automating the entire permit lifecycle, from initial application to final approval, so no detail is ever missed.
In this guide, I’ll break down the best permit software available today. I will help you find a platform that streamlines your unique workflows and ensures compliance.
You’ll discover how to slash processing times, improve cross-departmental collaboration, and choose a solution that scales with your future needs.
Let’s dive in.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenGov → | Municipal governments | |
| 2 | Accela → | Growing municipalities | |
| 3 | Clariti → | Governments of all sizes | |
| 4 | CivicPlus → | Operations managers | |
| 5 | Cloudpermit → | Growing municipalities |
1. OpenGov
Struggling with slow, fragmented permit processes?
OpenGov’s Permitting & Licensing solution is purpose-built to streamline operations. This means your [municipality can streamline operations] and transform how your community handles permits.
It helps you manage permits, licenses, and inspections, improving daily interactions between government and citizens, whether for opening a business or building a home. This is your solution for efficiency.
OpenGov eliminates manual work and delays, creating a better experience for everyone. This platform’s AI-enabled features and workflow automation simplify approvals. For example, the intuitive applicant portal and self-service tools make submissions easier, reducing your team’s administrative burden. You get a virtual front desk and a mobile app for inspections, ensuring your team has the right tools for field operations. Plus, automated renewals save valuable time, letting your team focus on more complex tasks and deliver better public service.
Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of marketing analytics tools helpful for leveraging data.
Key features:
- Intuitive Applicant Portal: Simplifies the application process for citizens, reducing errors and questions, and speeding up initial submissions.
- Workflow Automation and Approvals: Automates routing and approvals, minimizing manual intervention and accelerating permit issuance significantly.
- Mobile App for Inspections: Empowers inspectors with real-time access to information and updates from the field, enhancing accuracy and reducing delays.
Learn more about OpenGov features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: OpenGov stands out as the best permit software for governments seeking to modernize. Its AI-enabled platform, built for real-world needs, offers robust features like workflow automation and mobile inspection capabilities. City of Gahanna, OH, cut approval times by 50% using OpenGov, demonstrating its effectiveness in improving efficiency and citizen satisfaction.
2. Accela
Tired of fragmented permit processes and compliance headaches?
Accela offers unified cloud solutions to automate all aspects of the building permitting process. This means your agency staff gain total visibility, helping to address your information overload.
For growing municipalities and construction firms, Accela’s solutions are designed with best practices built-in for rapid implementation, reducing risk, and shortening time to value by an estimated 30-50%.
Want to modernize your government services?
Accela’s robust, secure, and compliant government software adapts to your evolving needs. This high-performance cloud platform can connect you to other departments and agencies to share data. You can expect to save around 44 hours a month by offering ePermits, streamlining documentation uploads, and removing manual processes. This also improves resident experiences, like enabling 90% of applications to be submitted online and reducing residential permit turnaround from three weeks to three days. Accela can help you build communities, grow businesses, and protect residents. Additionally, its scalable solutions help agencies eliminate data silos, cut costs, and innovate service delivery.
Accela offers ready-to-deploy civic applications unified on a single, scalable, and extensible platform.
While we’re discussing modern government solutions, understanding best SaaS billing software is equally important for managing operational costs.
Key features:
- Building Permit Automation: Automate the entire building permitting process, providing total visibility and drastically reducing turnaround times for residential and commercial permits.
- Comprehensive Licensing Solutions: Streamline business, occupational, alcohol beverage control, cannabis, and short-term rental licensing with automated workflows and online portals.
- Enhanced Public Services: Provide residents with easy online access to submit requests, track updates, and engage with community services from any device.
Learn more about Accela features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Accela stands out as a best permit software choice for growing municipalities and construction firms. Its proven ability to cut permit processing times, as seen with the City of McAllen reducing residential permits to three days, alongside significant savings for entities like Manatee County, makes it an excellent investment for modernizing civic services.
3. Clariti
Struggling with outdated permit workflows and fragmented systems?
Clariti offers community development solutions tailored for governments, helping you provide exceptional customer and staff experiences.
This means you can streamline permit issuance and tracking, reducing manual data entry and ensuring regulatory adherence.
It’s time to permit your way.
Clariti solves common permit management pain points with its intuitive, easy-to-manage software that adapts to your needs without breaking with updates. Its solutions range from Enterprise for larger organizations with complex requirements to Launch for small to mid-sized governments, offering essential workflows and quick setup.
Additionally, the Clariti Guide provides a pre-application assistant, significantly reducing customer inquiries and incorrect applications. This includes a first-of-its-kind cloning feature to accelerate your implementation and uses GIS for 100% accuracy, configurable with simple drag-and-drop actions. Plus, you can easily integrate with existing systems to get more from your Clariti setup.
The result is faster processing times and improved compliance.
Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of best long term care software helpful.
Key features:
- Ready-to-go processes: Offers a starting framework of leading local government processes, configurable to your unique rules and regulations.
- Flexible and adaptable: Built with government input, providing extensive functionality and the flexibility to make it your own without needing code.
- Cloning feature: Accelerates implementation by allowing you to clone permit-type configurations from other customers, saving valuable time.
Learn more about Clariti features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Clariti stands out as a strong contender for the best permit software, providing community development solutions for governments of all sizes. Its intuitive design, flexible configuration options, and unique cloning feature directly address the need for automated compliance checks, reduced processing times, and seamless integration for your municipal systems.
4. CivicPlus
Are compliance requirements complicating your permit process?
CivicPlus offers comprehensive Community Development solutions designed to streamline planning, permitting, and licensing. This means you can cut through the fragmented tool ecosystem.
Your team can say goodbye to manual data entry and disjointed workflows, thanks to features that automate permit submissions, approvals, and inspections.
Here’s how to simplify your operations.
CivicPlus streamlines operations and boosts engagement by serving residents online through automation and intelligent workflows. This platform helps increase process efficiency by up to 40% for staff.
Its Community Development module empowers residents to easily apply and pay for permits and licenses online, fostering better citizen service delivery. The system also allows you to manage, track, and report on complaints effectively. Additionally, you can track annual license renewals and automatically remind residents when applications are due, ensuring timely compliance and reducing administrative burdens.
The unified platform creates singular resident experiences, where community members can find answers and submit forms with a single sign-on and profile, enhancing trust and satisfaction.
Achieve audit-trail integrity and scalability.
Key features:
- Community Development Module: Manages planning, permitting, licensing, code enforcement, and fire safety, centralizing essential functions for municipalities and construction firms.
- Process Automation & Digital Services: Automates workflows and offers online services, helping to increase operational efficiency by up to 40%.
- Resident Portal & Online Payments: Empowers residents to apply and pay for permits/licenses online, improving accessibility and reducing manual processing times.
Learn more about CivicPlus features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: CivicPlus offers robust solutions for operations managers and compliance officers, making it the best permit software for streamlining complex workflows. Its Community Development module and process automation features are designed to enhance efficiency and ensure regulatory adherence, enabling municipalities to reduce permit processing times.
5. Cloudpermit
Is managing municipal permits a constant headache?
You’re likely wrestling with fragmented tools and manual data entry, making regulatory adherence a complex dance. Cloudpermit offers an online platform that speeds up approvals and reduces administrative burdens.
This means you can say goodbye to outdated workflows, as automatic updates and an easy-to-use application process free up your team for more critical tasks.
Streamline your entire community development process.
Cloudpermit allows you to accept complete applications and issue permits online, centralizing your operations. This includes managing building and land use permits, licensing, and planning, helping you maintain compliance and improve collaboration across departments.
You can also conduct mobile inspections in the field, even offline, and easily integrate your GIS for up-to-date property information. This comprehensive platform allows you to organize complaints, create cases, and streamline engineering reviews, boosting efficiency in the office and field.
Your permit processing times will significantly drop.
While we’re discussing compliance, understanding PCI compliance software is equally important for secure data handling.
Key features:
- Comprehensive Permitting & Licensing: Manage building and land use permits, licensing, and renewals online, including payment acceptance and document sorting for simplified operations.
- Mobile Inspections & GIS Integration: Conduct field inspections on any mobile device, even offline, with real-time GIS integration for optimal route planning and property data access.
- Streamlined Planning & Enforcement: Circulate and accept planning applications, automate public notices, and handle code enforcement cases with online complaint submissions and field reviews.
Learn more about Cloudpermit features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Cloudpermit positions itself as a strong contender for the best permit software by offering a comprehensive, centralized platform for permitting, licensing, and enforcement. Its mobile capabilities, GIS integration, and online application features address key pain points for municipalities, aiming to reduce processing times and ensure compliance for your growing urban development needs.
6. iWorQ
Struggling with outdated permit processing workflows?
iWorQ’s permit management software streamlines your day-to-day tasks, offering a comprehensive solution for community development departments.
This web-based system helps you manage everything, including permitting, code enforcement, and licensing, ensuring you stay organized and compliant easily.
It’s time to simplify your agency’s operations.
iWorQ addresses fragmented tool ecosystems by providing a unified software suite, eliminating the need for multiple disparate systems. You can manage various aspects from one simple location, whether it’s permit issuance, code enforcement, or even payment processing. This integrated approach ensures real-time updates on permits and inspections are accessible securely from any device. The mobile capabilities mean your field teams can work from a tablet or smartphone, streamlining collaboration without compromising data security. Plus, iWorQ is hosted on AWS GovCloud, protecting sensitive information and meeting high compliance standards under U.S. jurisdiction.
Protect your data and strengthen community trust.
While we’re discussing comprehensive software solutions, my article on best Azure management tools provides insights into optimizing cloud environments.
Key features:
- Permit Management: Streamlines the entire permit issuance and tracking process, reducing manual data entry and improving efficiency for municipalities and construction firms.
- Integrated Software Suite: Combines various management solutions like code enforcement, licensing, and payment processing into one platform for centralized control and data visibility.
- Mobile and Secure Access: Provides web-based mobile capabilities and AWS GovCloud hosting, enabling secure field-to-office connections and compliant data handling.
Learn more about iWorQ features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: iWorQ stands out as a strong contender for the best permit software, particularly for local governments. Its comprehensive, web-based suite and robust security features hosted on AWS GovCloud address key pain points for operations managers seeking automated compliance checks and improved cross-departmental collaboration. Client testimonials highlight significant improvements in efficiency and record-keeping.
7. PermitFlow
Struggling with fragmented permit processes and compliance headaches?
PermitFlow offers a purpose-built platform for construction and trades, streamlining permit research, preparation, and submittals. This means you can submit right the first time, every time, minimizing errors and costly delays for your projects.
The platform goes deeper into the solution by automating the entire permit process.
PermitFlow centralizes all your permit-related tasks, from document submission to final approval. Here’s how it ensures compliance and predictability for your projects, regardless of location or complexity.
You can prepare applications directly within the system, digitizing the process to save time and reduce costs. This capability is vital for operations managers seeking to cut administrative overhead and ensure audit-trail integrity.
Additionally, PermitFlow provides real-time updates and notifications on permit status, leveraging AI to automate time-consuming steps. This feature, combined with direct communication with AHJs on your behalf, reduces back-and-forth and prevents delays, ensuring your projects stay on track and within budget. The result is a 60% faster time to permit.
Key features:
- Full permit research and compliance: Access a proprietary database of nationwide municipal codes, ensuring comprehensive, up-to-date permit information for any project.
- Real-time updates and notifications: Gain total visibility into permit status, receive instant risk alerts, and get communication tailored to your team’s needs on all devices.
- AI-powered software platform: Leverage artificial intelligence to automate time-consuming permitting tasks, freeing your team to focus on critical project aspects.
Learn more about PermitFlow features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: PermitFlow stands out as the best permit software for municipalities and construction firms needing to cut processing times. Its comprehensive research, AI-powered automation, and direct AHJ communication simplify complex workflows, helping home builders, for instance, get permits approved 60% faster.
Conclusion
Tired of permit approval delays?
Choosing the right tool is daunting. The wrong fit leads to compliance failures, costly project shutdowns, and frustrated citizens who expect better from you.
These administrative bottlenecks are more than a simple inconvenience; they introduce serious operational risks. Failing to meet compliance requirements can bring entire projects to a halt, damaging your budget and public trust.
Here is my top recommendation.
After evaluating all the options, OpenGov is my clear choice. Its platform is purpose-built to eliminate manual work and directly address your compliance risks.
While addressing permit workflows, maintaining overall compliance is vital. My guide on DSAR software to simplify compliance decisions offers further insights.
I was impressed by how clients like the City of Gahanna cut approval times by 50%. The best permit software delivers this kind of measurable efficiency for your organization.
I strongly recommend you book a free demo of OpenGov and see firsthand how its AI-enabled platform can transform your workflows.
You’ll deliver faster, more reliable approvals.
