Locus Technologies vs. Cority: Product Comparison for Modern EHS, Environmental, ESG & Water Data Management
Picking the Right Platform Depends on Your Business Needs
Both Locus Technologies and CorityOne are powerful, enterprise-grade SaaS platforms for EHS and sustainability, but they serve slightly different core use cases.
Bottom line:
| For companies in heavily regulated, environment-intensive industries (water utilities, chemicals, pharma, food & beverage, mining, manufacturing), seeking a future-proof, cloud-native, configurable environmental + compliance + ESG platform: | Locus Technologies stands out for its technical architecture, deep environmental data capabilities, and modular SaaS design. |
| For companies requiring robust safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene, and quality support alongside broad EHS compliance needs with less environmental intensity: | Cority is a popular provider for broad EHS functionality with deep health and safety capabilities. |
The following tables provide more specific comparisons of practice areas, use cases, capabilities, and key attributes of the two companies.
Practice Areas Overview Table
| Vendor | Heritage & Strengths | Cloud Architecture |
|---|---|---|
| Locus | Science-first EHS & ESG platform | True multitenant cloud-native SaaS, no legacy |
| Cority | Strong in safety & ergonomics | Mix of legacy and acquisitions; not fully integrated |
| Locus | Science-first EHS & ESG platform | True multitenant cloud-native SaaS, no legacy |
| Cority | Strong in safety & ergonomics | Mix of legacy and acquisitions; not fully integrated |
Use Case Comparison Table
| Use Case | Locus Technologies | Cority |
|---|---|---|
| Air Permit Compliance | Robust and scalable air emissions, permit tracking, modeling inputs, calculation engine, and configurable workflows. | Offers air compliance modules but with less depth in scientific emissions calculations. Expertise comes from defunct acquisition of Enviance built on old technology. |
| Waste Permit Compliance | Comprehensive hazardous/non-hazardous waste tracking, manifests, profiles, and regulatory reporting. | Provides structured waste management but typically less configurable and less integrated with sampling data. |
| Wastewater Compliance | Strong wastewater sampling, lab data integration, NPDES/DMR reporting, and automated calculations. | Supports wastewater compliance conceptually but lacks scientific lab data management depth. |
| Safety/Incidents/OSHA | Solid safety modules within unified system; configurable, mobile-enabled; not a primary focus for the suite. | One of Cority’s strongest areas with deep OSHA/health workflows. |
| Radionuclide Compliance | Supports radiological sampling and lab data with specialized calculations in accordance with NRC requirements and guidance. | Does not natively support radionuclide sampling analytics or compliance. |
| Emissions Tracking | Strong emissions modeling, factor libraries, and configurable calculations tied to environmental and ESG programs, including state programs like California SB253. | Provides mature emissions tracking for ESG reporting but may lack detailed source-level scientific modeling. |
| Refrigerant Tracking | Full refrigerant and leak tracking app with EPA 608/609 support. | Not a core feature; available only through more generic asset or compliance tools. |
| Embodied Carbon Tracking | Provides embodied carbon and LCA-style inputs within ESG suite. | Limited LCA/embodied carbon tools outside of carbon accounting frameworks. |
| Energy Use | Integrated energy data, meters, sensors, and ESG linkage. | Broad enterprise energy-usage tracking for ESG but not deeply integrated with environmental scientific systems. |
| Facilities/Asset Management | Multisite facilities and assets data tied directly to environmental, sampling, and safety data within unified architecture. | Asset management available; typically safety-focused rather than environmental-data-driven. |
| Service Orders Management | Native service order/work order functionality integrated with field sampling and assets. | Work orders available but often oriented towards health/safety processes. |
| Water Quality Analytics | One of the strongest offerings on the market with advanced statistical, chemical, and regulatory tools. | Not focused on analytical water chemistry or regulatory sampling. |
| Water Use Data | Strong water balance, pumping data, meters, industrial water inputs, and ESG water KPIs. | Basic tracking available via ESG module but not scientific water management caliber. |
| Chemical Inventory | Native chemical inventory with SDS, locations, approvals, and environmental tie-ins. | Chemical management included in EHS modules. |
| Asbestos & Lead Data | Supports environmental media sampling for asbestos/lead. | Not a core specialty; may require custom configuration. |
| CA SB253 | Provides working prototype of new regulatory driver in California. | Unknown. |
| Subsurface management | Provides application for subsurface data on geology and geotechnical. | None. |
Product Capabilities
| Capability | Locus Technologies | Cority |
|---|---|---|
| Data Validation | Advanced environmental and EHS data validation, rules-based, configurable. | Standard validation; not designed for scientific lab datasets. |
| APIs | Full REST APIs built for environmental, EHS, and ESG integrations; plus EDD and EPD uploads. | APIs available, several based on modular/acquired systems. |
| IoT/SCADA Connectors | Native connectors for continuous monitoring, SCADA, sensors, and meters. | Available in some modules but not a core specialty; typically requires partners. |
| Mobile Use | Mobile-first field data capture (offline capable, barcode / QR / RFID support) for water, sampling, compliance, inspections. | Strong mobile support for safety; less robust for scientific sampling. |
| Sample Planning | Top-tier sample planning for environmental and water programs. | Not a core capability; limited sampling workflows. |
| Analytical Data Management | Best-in-class chemistry handling of large volumes of analytical records, lab data, PFAS tracking, water chemistry, emissions, contaminants, with GIS, spatial & temporal data modeling. | Limited compared to environmental science focused platforms. |
| Geotechnical & Geological Data | Full subsurface, borehole, lithology, and remediation integrations. | Not provided. |
| Calculation Engine | Highly configurable calculation engine across environmental, EHS, and ESG. | Calculations available but not oriented to scientific data. |
| Emissions Factor Libraries | Extensive libraries; customers may add custom factors. | ESG carbon factors available; environmental factors limited. |
| Rules Engine | Robust out of the box rules for environmental and EHS triggers; strong power user configurability. | Mature rules engine for EHS workflows, particularly safety/health modules. |
| Tasks & Scheduling | Built-in tasks tied to assets, samples, audits, inspections, corrective actions and compliance tasks, data reviews, notifications, and reminders. | Includes audits/inspections scheduling, permit-to-work, non-conformance/corrective action workflows, task management across EHS/Q safety and compliance domains. |
| Compliance Calendars | Powerful environmental + EHS compliance calendars including regulatory deadlines, permits, water, waste, audit and reporting schedules. | Compliance management module offers central compliance records, automated compliance actions, regulatory scanning, task generation, and dashboards for compliance status. |
| Work Orders / Field Service | Native and tied to assets and environmental field work. | Work orders available and more aligned with operational and maintenance-oriented management; less environmental integration. |
| Custom Workflows | Metadata-driven architecture enables power users to configure workflows, forms, and compliance rules without coding or consulting services. | Customizable but more dependent on vendor services. |
| Audits & Inspections | Fully supported. | Fully supported. |
| GIS | Strong, integrated GIS engine supports spatial analysis for sampling, environmental data, assets, contamination sites, pipelines, etc. | Cority’s public materials do not highlight GIS or spatial analysis capabilities. |
| Data Visualization | Unified dashboards, charts, maps, AI-ready analytics, spatial and temporal visualizations (GIS, maps), and BI visualization of emissions, water, waste, and contaminant data. | Includes BI dashboards, reporting tools, analytics, sustainability & ESG reporting, and real-time dashboards for compliance, safety and EHS performance. |
| Compliance Reporting Templates | Robust regulatory reporting for environmental, water, waste, and emissions. | Strong regulatory and enterprise ESG reporting. |
| ESG/CSRD/SB253 Reporting | Full sustainability suite including water, plus environmental depth needed for SB253. | Cority’s Sustainability Cloud and ESG reporting modules support ESG data collection, reporting, and analytics across operations globally. |
| Configurability by Power Users | Metadata-driven design allows non-developers to create or modify workflows, forms, data structures, compliance rules, without custom coding or vendor support. | Configurable but generally requires vendor support for deeper changes. |
Other Technical and Company Attributes
| Attribute | Locus Technologies | Cority |
|---|---|---|
| Truly Unified, Integrated Platform | Yes, all modules (water, waste, air, chemical, compliance, ESG) live on a single metadata-driven platform with a unified database and interface. | No, multi-system architecture resulting from acquisitions; marketing messaging claims a converged system. |
| Hosting and Uptime | Fully cloud-hosted with strong uptime history and real-time performance published by a 3rd party. | Cloud-hosted; uptime varies across older and newer modules. |
| Cloud-Native | Yes, built in the cloud since 1997. | Not originally; some modules cloud-native, others migrated. |
| Multitenancy | True multitenant SaaS. | Typically single-tenant or hybrid model depending on module. |
| Built on Software Stack | Modern metadata-driven stack. | Mixed stack due to acquired products. |
| On-Prem Install Option | No, SaaS-only. | Yes, some modules can be deployed on-prem. |
| Product Has a Version Number | No versions; continuous updates to SaaS platform. | Yes, versioned releases across modules. |
| How Updates Roll Out | Automatically for all customers at once. | Updates delivered by module; may require customer scheduling or assistance. |
| Security Credentials | Industry-standard security controls. | Industry-standard security controls. |
| SOC 1 Type 1 | Yes. | Not publicly indicated. |
| SOC 2 Type 2 | Yes. | Not publicly indicated. |
| ISO Certification | Hosting partners ISO-certified. | Yes. |
| Implementation Process & Cost | Fast, due to metadata-driven configuration, modular apps, ability for in-house configuration by power users (so less need for heavy consulting). | Typically longer and more professional service-heavy due to configuration across clouds (EHS, environment, quality, ESG), especially for large enterprises. |
| Overall Licensing Cost | Potentially lower total cost of ownership due to configurability and modular licensing — less reliance on vendor custom code. | Varies; enterprise pricing often higher due to modular architecture. |
| Training Program | Comprehensive, configurable, and customer-admin-friendly. | Strong training programs, often tied to specific modules. |
| Technical Support | Direct access to product experts and domain scientists. | Strong support organization; tiered structure. |
| Domain Experts In-House | Yes — environmental scientists, engineers, chemists, hydrogeologists. | Primarily safety and occupational health expertise. |
| Independent Company | Yes, privately held, founder led. | No, acquired and private equity–owned (Thoma Bravo). |
| Year Founded | 1997 | 1989 |
| AI & ML Capabilities | Strong AI readiness due to unified data model; AI features already offered; ML models available for environmental datasets. | Emerging AI offerings; impacted by multi-module architecture. |
Locus is the only self-funded water, air, soil, biological, energy, and waste EHS software company that is still owned and managed by its founder. The brightest minds in environmental science, embodied carbon, CO2 emissions, refrigerants, and PFAS hang their hats at Locus, and they’ve helped us to become a market leader in EHS software. Every client-facing employee at Locus has an advanced degree in science or professional EHS experience, and they incubate new ideas every day – such as how machine learning, AI, blockchain, and the Internet of Things will up the ante for EHS software, ESG, and sustainability.
