Cohiva Quorum compared with Better Boards

Better Boards is an Australian governance and board management platform with a strong reputation among not-for-profits, associations, and member-based organisations. It handles membership, AGMs, voting, and board papers well. Cohiva Quorum is also built for Australian boards, but its emphasis is the statutory entity register, Corporations Act 2001 framing, and oversight across a group of companies. Both are Australian and both serve boards, so this page sets out where each one genuinely fits.

Because both products are local, the choice between them is not about Australian focus, which they share. It is about the type of organisation you govern. Better Boards is shaped around member-based bodies, where the membership, the annual general meeting, and member voting are the centre of governance life. Quorum is shaped around company-style governance under the Corporations Act, where the statutory register, conflicted-voting rules, and the minute book carry the weight, and where a group may run several related entities. Working out which description fits your organisation answers most of the question.

At a glance

| Area | Better Boards | Cohiva Quorum | | --- | --- | --- | | Primary market | NFPs, associations, member-based organisations | Australian boards and groups of companies | | Australian focus | Yes | Yes | | Membership and AGM tools | Strong, a core focus | Board governance focus rather than membership | | Board papers and voting | Yes | Yes, with the resolution lifecycle | | Statutory entity register | Not the core focus | Built in, a core part of the product | | Multi-entity group oversight | Single organisation focus | Built in, central to the design | | Corporations Act framing | General governance | s194 and s195, s251A, citations on resolutions |

Where Better Boards is strong

Better Boards has earned its place with Australian not-for-profits and associations, and that is genuine. It understands the member-based world: membership management, AGMs, and member voting are first-class parts of what it does, not afterthoughts. For an association or a charity whose governance revolves around its members and an annual general meeting, that depth is valuable and hard to match with a portal designed for companies. Running an AGM well, with motions, proxies, and member participation, is its own discipline, and Better Boards has built for it.

It is Australian-built and Australian-focused, so it speaks the language of the local NFP sector and understands the obligations that community organisations actually face. Boards in the community, sporting, and association space will often find that Better Boards covers their needs closely, from keeping the membership in order to running the meeting calendar across a volunteer committee. For organisations where the members are the point, that alignment matters more than any company-law feature would. If your organisation is a not-for-profit or a member-based body and membership and AGM workflows are central to your governance, Better Boards is a strong and well-suited choice.

Where Cohiva Quorum is strong

Quorum's emphasis is statutory company governance and groups. The statutory entity register sits inside the same product as the board portal, so officer records and the details you must keep current live beside the board's decisions, rather than in a separate register that has to be updated by hand. Resolutions carry citations to the relevant Corporations Act 2001 section or ACNC guidance, recording the basis for each decision so the reasoning is preserved with the outcome.

Conflicted-voting handling follows the entity type, applying the difference between s194 and s195 for you, which removes a common point of confusion when a director has a material personal interest. The minute book is designed around s251A and is immutable once recorded, so the record cannot be edited after the fact. For an organisation that runs several related entities, Quorum gives oversight across the group in one place, which Better Boards, with its single-organisation focus, is not built to do. Quorum helps you comply and is designed to meet Australian governance obligations, while the entity and its officers remain responsible for compliance. For company boards and groups of companies that want the statutory register and group view alongside the portal, that is Quorum's territory.

Choose Quorum if / Choose Better Boards if

Choose Cohiva Quorum if you are an Australian company board or a group of Australian companies and you want the statutory entity register, Corporations Act 2001 citation framing, and group oversight built into the board portal. It suits organisations whose governance is shaped by company law and by managing several entities at once.

Choose Better Boards if you are an Australian not-for-profit, charity, or member-based association and your governance centres on membership, AGMs, and member voting. For that segment, Better Boards offers depth that a company-focused portal does not, and it is the better fit. That recommendation is sincere: if members and the AGM are the heart of your governance, Better Boards is built for you in a way Quorum is not.

Some organisations sit in between, for example a company limited by guarantee that also has a membership and an AGM. In those cases the deciding question is usually which obligations carry the most weight day to day. If your time goes into the statutory register, conflicted-voting rules, and a defensible minute book across one or more entities, Quorum will feel closer to home. If your time goes into managing members and running the annual general meeting, Better Boards will. There is no wrong answer in the abstract, only the better fit for the work your board actually does.

Part of the Cohiva platform

Cohiva Quorum is part of the Cohiva platform. You can learn more at [www.cohiva.com](https://www.cohiva.com). When a board resolution or circular resolution needs signing, Quorum works with [Cohiva Sign](https://www.cohiva.com), so the signed document flows back into the minute book.