PromulgaPromulga and the alternatives, honestly
Governance documents can be managed with what you already have. Here is what each option does well, where it costs effort, and when Promulga is the better choice.
| Criterion | Promulga | SharePoint + Power Automate | ConvergePoint | Alfresco | Google Docs + Apps Script |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for the life cycle of governance documents | Yes, out of the box | To design with Power Automate flows | Yes (policy management product) | Generic ECM, workflows to model | To script with Apps Script |
| Fixed deadlines, reminders, manager digest | Built in, configurable | Custom flows to build and maintain | Yes | Possible with workflow development | Custom script, quotas apply |
| Editing in Word | Check-out / check-in, or online editor | Excellent (Office co-authoring) | Yes (Microsoft 365) | Yes (with add-ons / integrations) | Google Docs format |
| One shared version, comments of all reviewers | Yes (OnlyOffice, self-hosted) | Yes | Yes | Depends on the editor integration | Yes |
| Official versioned PDF, cover page, stamped and sealed | Automatic | Requires extra flows or tools | Product-dependent options | Renditions, to configure | Manual |
| Portal of published documents, browsed by tags | Built in (public, sign-in or intranet) | A SharePoint site to design | Yes, inside Microsoft 365 | Share / custom front-end | Shared folders or Google Sites |
| Read & acknowledge, periodic review | Built in | Custom development | Yes | Development or Enterprise modules | Custom script |
| Audit trail of every step | Append-only, CSV export | Spread over SharePoint, flows and Purview | Yes | Yes | Partial (Drive activity + script logs) |
| Publish public documents to your web site | GitHub export + DCAT-AP catalogue | Not native | Not its purpose | Development | Manual |
| Where the data lives | Your server (any cloud or on premises) | Microsoft cloud tenant | Microsoft cloud tenant | Your servers, or Hyland cloud | Google cloud |
| Licence cost for 20 editors | Free | Microsoft 365 licences per user (+ premium flows) | Commercial licence on quotation, on top of Microsoft 365 | Community free; Enterprise subscription | Free accounts possible; Workspace per user for organisations |
| Effort to set up | One Docker Compose, about an hour | Weeks of design for a robust process | Vendor-assisted onboarding | Specialist skills, heavy stack | Days of scripting, then maintenance |
| Vendor support and maturity | Young project (0.x), best-effort; services on request | Microsoft, very mature | Commercial support | Mature, large community | Your own script |
Assessment by the author of Promulga, October 2026, based on public documentation and project experience; products evolve: check the vendors' current offers. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
SharePoint + Power Automate
Choose it if your organisation lives in Microsoft 365 and has people to design, document and maintain the flows. Co-authoring in Word is excellent and identity is solved. Watch out: deadlines, reminders, attestation and publication are yours to build; the process is spread across sites, flows and licences, and must itself be governed.
ConvergePoint
Choose it if you want a commercial, supported policy management product inside Microsoft 365 and have the budget. It covers review cycles, attestation and reporting. Watch out: licence on quotation on top of Microsoft 365, data and process tied to the vendor and the platform.
Alfresco
Choose it for an organisation-wide content management platform (records, millions of documents, complex workflows) with an IT team or an integrator. Watch out: a large Java stack to operate; the governance-document life cycle still has to be modelled and the interface is not designed for occasional Data Owners.
Google Docs + Apps Script
Choose it for a quick, low-cost pilot: co-editing and comments are excellent (Promulga started as such a prototype). Watch out: the workflow is a script you maintain, with quotas, identity limits for free accounts and no official versioned publication.
Why Promulga is the better offer for governance documents
- Purpose-built: the life cycle of policies, standards and procedures, not a toolkit to assemble.
- Usable by Data Owners: one e-mail says what to do and by when; one page shows the task.
- Evidence by design: audit trail, versioned stamped PDFs, acknowledgments, periodic reviews.
- Sovereign and light: your server, your data, one Docker Compose, no cloud subscription.
- Free up to 20 editors, unlimited readers on a public portal.
When Promulga is not the right choice
- You need a full records management system (retention schedules, legal holds, millions of records): look at an ECM.
- You want each process to be different: Promulga's workflow is deliberately fixed (only its timing is configurable).
- You need a vendor with a service level agreement: Promulga is a young project with best-effort support; professional services are available on request, without SLA.