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Honest comparison

Best Alternatives to RAMS App for UK Builders (2026)

The best like-for-like alternative to RAMs App for most UK small builders is The Site Book: Pro is £39/month or £360/year with RAMS, CPPs, COSHH and inductions bundled, while Business adds site attendance, site files, portal users and evidence workflows. Haspod is the closest template-library equivalent. RAMS Pro covers narrower RAMS-led workflows. CDM Wizard is the free fallback.

The top credible alternatives to RAMs App for builders who have outgrown template-only tooling - The Site Book for full CDM coverage, site attendance, site files and evidence workflows, HandsHQ for enterprise, RapidRAMS for pay-per-document, Evalu-8 for broader EHS, CDM Wizard as a free learning starting point, and Word/Excel for DIY paperwork.

Reviewed

Nicola Dobbie, Founder of The Site Book
Nicola Dobbie·Founder, The Site Book

HandsHQ pricing and signup claims were refreshed from its current first-party individual and team pages on 2026-07-21; other retained vendor sources were last reviewed on 2026-05-31.

At-a-glance comparison

Pricing, fit, and feature coverage side by side.

FeatureThe Site BookHandsHQRAMS ProRapidRAMSEvalu-8CDM WizardExcel templates
PricingStarter £0; Pro £39/mo or £360/yr; Business £199/mo£44-£190/mo individual; teams from £275/moFree; GBP15-45/mo£15 per document, no subscriptionCore GBP2.50/licence/mo (min 10); RAMS module GBP295/moFreeMicrosoft 365 licence (£7.90+/mo per user) + your time
Team size1 internal user on Pro; 10 management logins and 50 active site portal users on Business. Any invited seat can be a field-only Site Supervisor limited to assigned sites/projects. Worker document signing has no per-signature charge; Business can optionally require a 4-digit PIN for shared-link sign-off, and project workers count as active portal users while assignedOne-person RAMS accounts through to enterprise teamsSmall-midSolo / occasional50+Any -small/domestic jobsAny
Best forUK builders and principal contractors - from sole traders to builder-run firms of around 50 staff - who need CDM documents plus lightweight site H&S operations: RAMS, CPP, COSHH, inductions, toolbox talks, site attendance, site files, document review evidence, subcontractor evidence and worker/visitor portal access.Individuals who want a template-led RAMS subscription and organisations with a dedicated health and safety function that need formal RAMS governance, approvals and integrations.UK contractors who want AI RAMS on a low monthly tier, with COSHH, inductions, inspections, toolbox talks, and other modules from Pro upward.UK contractors needing occasional task-specific RAMS for routine, non-specialist work without a monthly subscription.Large contractors and enterprise teams with 50+ people who need a broad EHS platform covering compliance, training, audits, and incident management.Builders on small or domestic works who want a free tick-box questionnaire that generates a compliant CDM 2015 Construction Phase Plan.Anyone willing to write each document by hand who already has Microsoft 365 and doesn't produce RAMS often.
Not ideal forNew product (launched 2026) -smaller customer base and shorter track record than established tools like HandsHQ.Pricing starts at £44/mo for Basic with 1 RAMS; Advanced is £99/mo for 3 RAMS, Pro is £190/mo for 6 RAMS, and Small Team starts from £275/mo billed annually plus setup.Document and back-office user limits apply on the lower tiers, so growing teams need to watch usage and plan fit.£15 per document becomes expensive fast once you need more than two RAMS a month -flat-rate tools pay for themselves quickly.The RAMS module is GBP295/mo on top of core EHS (GBP2.50/licence/mo, 10-user minimum) -heavy for a sole trader who only needs RAMS, and most other add-on modules are still quote-only on the pricing page.Scoped to a single CPP for small or domestic works — no RAMS, COSHH, method statements, inductions, permits or worker tracking.Each RAMS is written by hand from a blank workbook -manual work that purpose-built tools draft in minutes for competent-person review.
RAMSAI-generated, site-specific, edit in-browser.Template library with editor.AI RAMS generator with monthly limits.Structured pay-as-you-go RAMS generator for routine, non-specialist work; payment is taken on submission and the RAMS PDF is emailed shortly afterwards.Module within wider EHS platform.DIY -manual Word/Excel template, no substance database.
CPPFull Construction Phase Plans - not just RAMS.Included on team plans and annual individual plans.Pro/Enterprise module.Questionnaire-driven Construction Phase Plan generator for small/domestic projects; emailable branded PDF.
COSHHStandalone COSHH document + site-specific register, SDS upload with extraction, and construction-focused library entries that appear in search only after review.Unlimited assessments on Advanced and above; 15,000+ substance library advertised.Pro/Enterprise add-on module.
Method statementsManual Word template.
Site inductionsWorkers sign from their phone - on Business, key H&S details are readable in 9 languages.Not listed in the current RAMS product feature set.Pro/Enterprise add-on module.
Multilingual inductions (9 languages)On the Business plan, workers read and acknowledge key H&S details in 9 languages; the language used is recorded in the audit trail and translations are site-team reviewable.
Worker cert trackingCert plus right-to-work evidence records, with expiry reminders.Separate Training Register tracks training, certificates and expiry dates and integrates with RAMS.Training matrix on Pro/Enterprise.
Incident logAccident records on Pro/Enterprise.
Permits to work
Site diaryPro includes editable daily entries; owner/admin deletion is permanent, while a Business Site Supervisor's delete can be restored. Live entries and photo counts appear in the Audit Pack.Site logbook present in the app bundle.
Subcontractor trackingSeparate Training Register distinguishes employee and subcontractor personnel.Engineers and client contacts.
Toolbox talksPro/Enterprise add-on module.
Site attendanceBusiness includes check-in/check-out and live H&S attendance.Can be covered by configured EHS workflows.
Site portalBusiness includes up to 50 active site portal users.
Site filesDrawings, plans, H&S docs, procedures, RAMS, CPP and emergency information.RAMS/project files, not a small-builder site portal.Documents can sit in broader EHS modules.
Document reviewBusiness review status and history, plus optional named-approver routing (accept/reject each version with recorded reasons before issue) and client review via share links.Approval workflows on team-led plans.Workflow capability depends on quoted modules.
Subcontractor evidenceBusiness evidence record, review and archive workflow.
Site inspectionsBusiness inspections with checklist items.Pro/Enterprise add-on module.Audits and inspections are core EHS modules.
Corrective actionsBusiness corrective actions with owner, due date and completion state.Site snagging modules cover some actions.Actions are part of the broader EHS platform.
PCPP importUpload an existing PCPP and reuse the structure.
Document checking
Data exportIncludes the Audit Pack: one merged PDF covering documents, sign-offs, worker evidence, attendance, incidents, COSHH, permits and up to the latest 500 live Site Diary entries.RAMS PDFs; Training Register reports and training-matrix export.Excel exports natively.
AI chat
RAMS / CPP / COSHH generationThe flagship: generates site-specific UK RAMS, CPP and COSHH from a plain-English brief.
Right to workRight-to-work evidence records with expiry reminders, alongside cert tracking.
Mobile appWorkers sign and get inducted from their phone browser with nothing to install; a native builder app is in development, not yet in the public app stores.
QR / mobile sign-inSite Control (per-site tier) adds a permanent entrance QR for sign-in/out from the worker's phone.
Contractor self-onboardingSite Control (per-site tier) adds contractor self-join via the entrance QR with CSCS upload and approval.
RFIsSite Control (per-site tier) adds RFIs - create, attach, comment, answer and close.
RAMS sign-off (per worker)Per-worker RAMS sign-off is tracked on Business; an optional 4-digit PIN adds shared-link identity evidence, and Site Control can block check-in until the current version is signed.
Live people-on-siteBusiness adds a live people-on-site H&S view plus evacuation and muster roll-call.
Document-review evidenceBusiness keeps version history with a per-version record of review, issue and worker acknowledgement.
Multi-site dashboard & exportsUnlimited projects with account-wide exports and the merged Audit Pack; no cross-site rollup dashboard below the Site Control tier.
SSOWDelivered as the method statement inside the RAMS rather than a separate safe-system-of-work document.

Reading this table: a tick means supported, a dash means partly supported, and a cross means we checked and it is not supported. An em dash (—) means we have not verified that capability for that product either way — treat it as unknown, not as a missing feature, and check with the vendor.

Why this matters

RAMs App does a good job at what it does - a template-based library that has helped thousands of UK builders produce professional RAMS quickly. But every builder is different. Maybe you want site-specific documents generated from a job description instead of browsing templates. Maybe you need more than RAMS - your CPP, site inductions, and COSHH records all in one place. Maybe you are a sole trader looking for a free tier, a larger firm needing enterprise features, or a beginner who wants a free learning tool first. Every tool here has trade-offs. For sole traders and small builders we think The Site Book is the best option - we built it - but we believe in trying before you buy, which is why the free tier is there.

Who each tool is for

At-a-glance fit per product - pulled from the same data that drives the snapshot table.

The Site Book

Best for
UK builders and principal contractors - from sole traders to builder-run firms of around 50 staff - who need CDM documents plus lightweight site H&S operations: RAMS, CPP, COSHH, inductions, toolbox talks, site attendance, site files, document review evidence, subcontractor evidence and worker/visitor portal access.
Not ideal for
New product (launched 2026) -smaller customer base and shorter track record than established tools like HandsHQ.
Team size
1 internal user on Pro; 10 management logins and 50 active site portal users on Business. Any invited seat can be a field-only Site Supervisor limited to assigned sites/projects. Worker document signing has no per-signature charge; Business can optionally require a 4-digit PIN for shared-link sign-off, and project workers count as active portal users while assigned

HandsHQ

Best for
Individuals who want a template-led RAMS subscription and organisations with a dedicated health and safety function that need formal RAMS governance, approvals and integrations.
Not ideal for
Pricing starts at £44/mo for Basic with 1 RAMS; Advanced is £99/mo for 3 RAMS, Pro is £190/mo for 6 RAMS, and Small Team starts from £275/mo billed annually plus setup.
Team size
One-person RAMS accounts through to enterprise teams

RAMS Pro

Best for
UK contractors who want AI RAMS on a low monthly tier, with COSHH, inductions, inspections, toolbox talks, and other modules from Pro upward.
Not ideal for
Document and back-office user limits apply on the lower tiers, so growing teams need to watch usage and plan fit.
Team size
Small-mid

RapidRAMS

Best for
UK contractors needing occasional task-specific RAMS for routine, non-specialist work without a monthly subscription.
Not ideal for
£15 per document becomes expensive fast once you need more than two RAMS a month -flat-rate tools pay for themselves quickly.
Team size
Solo / occasional

Evalu-8

Best for
Large contractors and enterprise teams with 50+ people who need a broad EHS platform covering compliance, training, audits, and incident management.
Not ideal for
The RAMS module is GBP295/mo on top of core EHS (GBP2.50/licence/mo, 10-user minimum) -heavy for a sole trader who only needs RAMS, and most other add-on modules are still quote-only on the pricing page.
Team size
50+

CDM Wizard

Best for
Builders on small or domestic works who want a free tick-box questionnaire that generates a compliant CDM 2015 Construction Phase Plan.
Not ideal for
Scoped to a single CPP for small or domestic works — no RAMS, COSHH, method statements, inductions, permits or worker tracking.
Team size
Any -small/domestic jobs

Excel templates

Best for
Anyone willing to write each document by hand who already has Microsoft 365 and doesn't produce RAMS often.
Not ideal for
Each RAMS is written by hand from a blank workbook -manual work that purpose-built tools draft in minutes for competent-person review.
Team size
Any

The bottom line

Pick the option that matches how your team actually works.

Choose The Site Book if…

Choose The Site Book if you are a sole trader or running a small firm. Pro is GBP39/month or GBP360/year, Business is GBP199/month, the free tier lets you test on a real project, and AI drafts a RAMS from a brief. The CDM suite - RAMS, CPP, COSHH, inductions, worker sign-off, site attendance, files and evidence workflows - is materially wider than RAMs App's RAMS-only scope.

Recommended for: Sole traders and small builders on domestic or small commercial work

Choose HandsHQ if…

Choose HandsHQ if you have a dedicated in-house health and safety department that wants enterprise-grade team collaboration, formal approval workflows and a curated template library. Its team plans use published user bands, annual billing plus setup, and a sales-assisted route; individual RAMS plans offer direct signup. Builder-run firms without a dedicated H&S department - including those with 10 to 50 staff - usually get wider coverage from The Site Book's Business plan.

Recommended for: Organisations with a dedicated in-house H&S department

Choose CDM Wizard if…

Choose CDM Wizard if you are brand new to CDM 2015 and want a free, CITB-backed walkthrough to understand the basics. It produces a basic CPP checklist and is genuinely free, which makes it a reasonable first stop before you commit to a paid tool. Outgrow it and The Site Book is the natural next step once you need actual RAMS, site inductions, COSHH records, and the wider CDM document pack.

Recommended for: Builders brand new to CDM 2015 who want a free learning tool

Why switch to The Site Book

  • Site-specific documents generated from a plain-English brief - not a template picker that still leaves you hunting and customising every time.
  • Full CDM 2015 suite in one workflow: RAMS, CPP, COSHH, site inductions, emergency plans, F10 checks, worker sign-off, and Business site attendance/files/evidence workflows.
  • Clear self-serve pricing: Starter is GBP0, Pro is GBP39/month or GBP360/year, and Business is GBP199/month with 10 internal logins, 50 active site portal users and evidence workflows.
  • Free tier with full feature access and no credit card - create your first real RAMS and CPP before deciding whether to upgrade.
  • Mobile-first authoring and a compliance dashboard that tracks everything in one place - features none of the narrow RAMS tools attempt.
  • Self-serve signup with no demo gate - sign up on Monday morning and have RAMS ready for a Monday afternoon site visit.

Full breakdown per product

Strengths, weaknesses, fit, and the sources every claim came from.

The Site Book

REDCLAN VENTURES LTD (trading as The Site Book)

Starter £0; Pro £39/mo or £360/yr; Business £199/mo

Best for
UK builders and principal contractors - from sole traders to builder-run firms of around 50 staff - who need CDM documents plus lightweight site H&S operations: RAMS, CPP, COSHH, inductions, toolbox talks, site attendance, site files, document review evidence, subcontractor evidence and worker/visitor portal access.
Team size
1 internal user on Pro; 10 management logins and 50 active site portal users on Business. Any invited seat can be a field-only Site Supervisor limited to assigned sites/projects. Worker document signing has no per-signature charge; Business can optionally require a 4-digit PIN for shared-link sign-off, and project workers count as active portal users while assigned
Sweet spot
A builder-run principal contractor on a domestic or commercial project who needs ready-to-sign CDM documents, worker sign-off, a live people-on-site view, practical site files, subcontractor evidence records and lightweight inspections/actions - without a dedicated H&S department to run them.

Strengths

  • UK construction compliance tool that ships RAMS + CPP + COSHH + inductions (readable and acknowledgeable in 9 worker languages on Business, with the language audit-recorded) + worker sign-off, including optional 4-digit shared-link PIN evidence on Business, plus site attendance, portal users, site files, document reviews, subcontractor evidence and inspections/actions.
  • Generate a site-specific RAMS first draft from a natural-language brief in under five minutes, ready for competent-person review - not a template library you hand-fill.
  • Controlled document workflow without an enterprise contract: version history and a recorded issue confirmation before a document is shared with a client or downloaded in the app on every plan, re-sign on revision with superseded signatures preserved plus PCPP import, cert tracking and document checking from the £39/month Pro plan - and on Business, optional named-approver routing (a designated approver accepts or rejects each version, with recorded reasons, before it can be issued) plus client approve/reject/request-changes via share links.
  • Transparent pricing: Starter £0, Pro £39/month or £360/year, Business £199/month with 10 management logins and 50 active site portal users. Worker document signing has no per-signature charge; project workers count as active portal users while assigned.
  • Build RAMS for any trade - add your own work types and method statements alongside the built-in library, reusable across projects, including a ready-made Commercial Solar PV group. Save a finished job as a reusable project template, or clone it, so the next job of the same shape starts from your own setup.
  • COSHH goes deep: a standalone COSHH assessment document, upload-a-Safety-Data-Sheet extraction, a site-specific substance register and an expert-reviewed library - plus per-worker RAMS sign-off and a one-click Audit Pack covering documents, sign-offs, worker evidence, attendance, incidents, COSHH, permits and up to the latest 500 live Site Diary entries.

Weaknesses

  • New product (launched 2026) -smaller customer base and shorter track record than established tools like HandsHQ.
  • Procore integration is in final testing rather than publicly launched -until it ships, compliance docs export as PDFs rather than syncing into Procore. A public REST API and signed webhooks are live on the Site Control tier; Autodesk Construction Cloud is not integrated.
  • Site files are a practical portal for drawings, plans and procedures, not formal drawing revision control.
  • UK-focused content (CDM 2015, HSE guidance) -international contractors on non-UK projects would need to adapt the output.

Check the product detail

These maintained Help Centre guides show exactly how the controls behind this comparison work.

Source basis

  • pricing - https://thesitebook.co.uk/pricing (fetched 2026-08-06) · Starter £0; Pro £39/month or £360/year; Business £199/month with 10 internal logins, assigned-site Site Supervisors, optional sign-off PINs and 50 active portal users; setup £249 one-off for one job.
  • features - https://thesitebook.co.uk/features (fetched 2026-08-06) · RAMS, CPP, COSHH/SDS, 9-language Business inductions, optional Business PIN evidence, editable Site Diary, right-to-work, PCPP import, attendance, files, muster and Audit Pack.
  • overview - https://thesitebook.co.uk (fetched 2026-07-21) · Homepage positioning - CDM compliance for UK builders.
  • mobile-app - https://thesitebook.co.uk/privacy/mobile (fetched 2026-07-02) · Mobile privacy addendum documents the forthcoming iOS + Android app (same backend and account as the web app); not yet in the public app stores.
  • site-control-features - https://thesitebook.co.uk/site-control (fetched 2026-07-02) · Site Control per-site tier: permanent entrance QR sign-in/out, contractor self-join with CSCS upload and approval, and contractor RFIs.
  • features:august-2026 - https://thesitebook.co.uk/changelog (fetched 2026-08-06) · Pro templates and diary edits; Business+ assigned-site supervisors, optional PINs, named approvers and restorable supervisor deletions; Audit Pack adds live diary entries.

HandsHQ

HandsHQ, part of HSI

£44-£190/mo individual; teams from £275/mo

Best for
Individuals who want a template-led RAMS subscription and organisations with a dedicated health and safety function that need formal RAMS governance, approvals and integrations.
Team size
One-person RAMS accounts through to enterprise teams
Sweet spot
A buyer who values a large curated RAMS and COSHH library, with published individual allowances or team workflows organised by user band.

Strengths

  • Established compliance platform with published customer case studies across UK high-risk work.
  • Now part of HSI, with HSI's acquisition announcement citing more than 2,000 client organisations.
  • Curated RAMS library plus a COSHH library advertised at more than 15,000 substances.
  • Published individual pricing offers direct signup; team tiers publish user bands and prices before a sales conversation.
  • Digital RAMS signatures, approvals, review history and integrations suit dedicated H&S teams producing documents regularly.

Weaknesses

  • Pricing starts at £44/mo for Basic with 1 RAMS; Advanced is £99/mo for 3 RAMS, Pro is £190/mo for 6 RAMS, and Small Team starts from £275/mo billed annually plus setup.
  • HSI ownership may be a positive for enterprise buyers, but small UK builders may prefer a UK-SME-first product roadmap.
  • The public RAMS and Training Register feature sets do not list a built-in incident log, permits-to-work, site diary, attendance workflow or general site portal.
  • Individual RAMS plans offer direct signup, while team plans are billed annually plus a setup fee and higher-capability packages remain sales-assisted.

RAMS Pro

RAMS Pro

Free; GBP15-45/mo

Best for
UK contractors who want AI RAMS on a low monthly tier, with COSHH, inductions, inspections, toolbox talks, and other modules from Pro upward.
Team size
Small-mid
Sweet spot
A small contractor writing regular RAMS that is happy with monthly document limits and can accept broader site modules being tier-gated.

Strengths

  • Low published entry point: free tier, Basic at GBP15/mo, Pro at GBP25/mo, and Enterprise at GBP45/mo.
  • Pro and Enterprise include a broad set of add-on modules: COSHH, toolbox talks, site inspections, site inductions, asset register, training matrix, accident records, site snagging, and environmental assessments.
  • AI RAMS positioning and digital signatures make it more modern than a static template library.

Weaknesses

  • Document and back-office user limits apply on the lower tiers, so growing teams need to watch usage and plan fit.
  • The broader site modules are tier-gated; Basic is still mainly RAMS, templates, notifications, engineers, signatures, contacts, and PDF export.
  • Permits to work and PCPP import are not clearly published in the current public pricing/module data.

Source basis

  • overview - https://www.ramspro.co.uk/ (fetched 2026-06-15) · Homepage metadata positions RAMS PRO as AI RAMS software with digital signatures and COSHH integration.
  • pricing - https://www.ramspro.co.uk/pricing (fetched 2026-07-28) · Public pricing page lists Free (2 RAMS), Basic GBP15, Pro GBP25, Enterprise GBP45 per seat/month with annual options; back-office users count as seats. Re-verified 2026-07-28: unchanged.
  • pro-tier-modules - https://www.ramspro.co.uk/assets/index-hqEaX4rL.js (fetched 2026-06-15) · Pro/Enterprise feature list includes COSHH, toolbox talks, inspections, inductions, and other add-on modules.

RapidRAMS

RapidRAMS

£15 per document, no subscription

Best for
UK contractors needing occasional task-specific RAMS for routine, non-specialist work without a monthly subscription.
Team size
Solo / occasional
Sweet spot
A sole trader or small contractor who needs occasional pay-as-you-go RAMS and wants no subscription lock-in.

Strengths

  • Pay-per-document pricing is friction-free for builders who only need a RAMS occasionally -no monthly commitment.
  • Structured on-demand workflow for single RAMS documents, with adaptive logic rather than a static Word template.

Weaknesses

  • £15 per document becomes expensive fast once you need more than two RAMS a month -flat-rate tools pay for themselves quickly.
  • No CPP, COSHH, site inductions, or any site management tools -RAMS-only scope.
  • Narrow public scope: the homepage supports RAMS/method statement generation, but gives no evidence of CPP, COSHH, site inductions or broader site-management tools.

Source basis

Evalu-8

Evalu-8 EHS

Core GBP2.50/licence/mo (min 10); RAMS module GBP295/mo

Best for
Large contractors and enterprise teams with 50+ people who need a broad EHS platform covering compliance, training, audits, and incident management.
Team size
50+
Sweet spot
An organisation that needs EHS across multiple business units and is willing to build a quoted package around core EHS plus RAMS, COSHH, audits, and other modules.

Strengths

  • Broad EHS platform covering compliance, training, audits, and incident management in one tool.
  • Suitable for large contractors and enterprise teams that need multi-module EHS across business units.
  • Includes site inductions, worker cert tracking, and toolbox talks -bigger functional spread than RAMS-only tools.

Weaknesses

  • The RAMS module is GBP295/mo on top of core EHS (GBP2.50/licence/mo, 10-user minimum) -heavy for a sole trader who only needs RAMS, and most other add-on modules are still quote-only on the pricing page.
  • Requires demo, onboarding, and configuration -slow to get running compared to self-serve tools.
  • Desktop-focused enterprise UI is not optimised for builders working from a phone on site.

Source basis

  • overview - https://evalu-8.com (fetched 2026-06-19) · Vendor homepage -broad EHS platform positioning.
  • pricing - https://evalu-8.com/ehs/ehs-pricing/ (fetched 2026-06-19) · Core EHS is listed at GBP2.50 per licence per month with a 10-user minimum; RAMS, COSHH, risk assessments, incidents, audits, and inspections are shown as Get A Quote on the pricing page itself.
  • pricing - https://evalu-8.com/ehs/the-best-5-rams-software-free-and-paid-in-2026/ (fetched 2026-06-19) · Evalu-8's own article quotes the RAMS module at a flat GBP295/mo (bundling risk assessments + COSHH); it's in vendor content, not on the formal pricing page, so it could change.

CDM Wizard

CITB (Construction Industry Training Board)

Free

Best for
Builders on small or domestic works who want a free tick-box questionnaire that generates a compliant CDM 2015 Construction Phase Plan.
Team size
Any -small/domestic jobs
Sweet spot
A first-time principal contractor on a small or domestic job who needs a basic Construction Phase Plan generated quickly from a questionnaire.

Strengths

  • Free official CITB tool that generates a CDM 2015 Construction Phase Plan in minutes via a tick-box questionnaire.
  • Cross-device account with company logo and signature on an emailable PDF output.

Weaknesses

  • Scoped to a single CPP for small or domestic works — no RAMS, COSHH, method statements, inductions, permits or worker tracking.
  • Limited editing of a plan once it has been generated (per user reviews).

Microsoft 365 licence (£7.90+/mo per user) + your time

Best for
Anyone willing to write each document by hand who already has Microsoft 365 and doesn't produce RAMS often.
Team size
Any
Sweet spot
A builder who only writes a RAMS once a quarter and has time to manually fill in and version-control spreadsheets.

Strengths

  • Near-zero incremental cost if the team already has a Microsoft 365 subscription.
  • Familiar tooling -no learning curve for builders comfortable with Word and Excel.

Weaknesses

  • Each RAMS is written by hand from a blank workbook -manual work that purpose-built tools draft in minutes for competent-person review.
  • Manual version control (v1, v2, v2-FINAL, v2-FINAL2) makes it easy to send the wrong document or miss required sections.
  • No COSHH substance database, no worker sign-off, no audit trail -missing every feature regulators expect on a principal-contractor workflow.
  • Excel on mobile is painful -unusable for builders working from a phone on site.

Related comparisons

The Site Book vs RAMS App: UK CDM Compliance Compared

The Site Book wins for principal contractors needing the full CDM 2015 suite; RAMs App is the right choice for contractors who only need template-based RAMS and nothing else.

See comparison →

RAMS Pro vs The Site Book: Pricing & Features (2026)

The Site Book is the better RAMS Pro alternative for UK builders who want RAMS, CPPs, COSHH, inductions, toolbox talks, and worker sign-off in one project record.

See comparison →

The Site Book vs RapidRAMS — UK CDM Compliance Tools

The Site Book wins as soon as you need more than two documents a month or the wider CDM suite; RapidRAMS suits one-off pay-per-document needs where a monthly subscription is unjustified.

See comparison →

Best RAMS Software UK (2026)

Best overall for a typical 30-person UK builder: The Site Book Business. It combines RAMS, Construction Phase Plans, COSHH, controlled document review, worker sign-off, inductions, attendance, certificates, subcontractor evidence, inspections and audit exports. HandsHQ remains the stronger specialist choice for dedicated H&S teams focused on mature RAMS governance, while RapidRAMS suits occasional pay-per-document use.

See comparison →

Alternatives to HandsHQ for Small Builders (UK 2026)

This guide is primarily for smaller builders comparing HandsHQ alternatives. HandsHQ serves individuals as well as larger teams, so the decision is about workflow rather than company size alone. The Site Book is the closest wider-scope alternative when you need RAMS, CPP, COSHH, inductions and worker sign-off together; Haspod suits template-library buyers, RAMS Pro suits RAMS-led teams, and CDM Wizard is a free fallback. Contractors with approximately 10 to 50 staff should also review The Site Book Business and the full HandsHQ comparison.

See comparison →

Frequently asked questions

Short, straight answers - the same questions real builders ask.

Why look for an alternative to RAMs App?

RAMs App is a template-based RAMS-only tool with a lower monthly entry tier. As soon as you need CPPs, COSHH assessments, site inductions, or the wider CDM 2015 suite, you need a broader tool. The Site Book covers all of these in a single flat-rate subscription from GBP39/month or GBP360/year, with AI generating site-specific documents from a brief instead of a template picker.

What's the closest like-for-like replacement?

For template-based workflows, RAMS Pro and RapidRAMS are the closest peers - same approach, similar pricing. For an upgrade path that keeps you on monthly flat-rate but adds the full CDM suite, The Site Book is the natural next step - same pricing band, materially wider scope, and AI-generated documents that are site-specific rather than copy-pasted from a generic library template every time.

Are there any free RAMS generators?

Yes. The Site Book offers a free tier that lets you create a full, site-specific RAMS for your first project with no credit card required. Describe your job and a complete Risk Assessment and Method Statement is produced, covering hazards, controls, method of work, PPE, and emergency procedures. CDM Wizard is free but CPP-only. Word and Excel templates are free but not site-specific and require manual effort.

Which alternative is cheapest?

It depends on usage. RapidRAMS is the cheapest if you only write one or two RAMS a month at fifteen pounds per document. The Site Book is the better value at any regular cadence at £39/month or £360/year for the full CDM suite. RAMS Pro and RAMs App are similar in price but narrower in scope. HandsHQ is tiered for larger teams, and Evalu-8 is modular EHS with a published GBP295/month RAMS module on top of core EHS.

Which RAMS software is best for sole traders?

The Site Book is designed specifically for sole traders and small builders - transparent flat-rate pricing from GBP39/month or GBP360/year, a free tier to test on a real project, mobile-first authoring for use on site, and site-specific documents created from a plain-English job description. It also covers more than RAMS, bundling CPP, site inductions, COSHH, and a compliance dashboard in one platform without any H and S qualifications required.

Can I migrate my existing RAMs App data?

Yes. The Site Book accepts PCPP uploads and reuses the structure, so existing RAMs App exports give you a head start on each new project. Day-to-day authoring then moves into a natural-language brief that generates a site-specific RAMS first draft in under five minutes, ready for competent-person review. Most teams switch project by project rather than all at once, which keeps live work safe during the transition.

How we built this comparison

HandsHQ pricing and signup claims were refreshed from its current first-party individual and team pages on 2026-07-21; other retained vendor sources were last reviewed on 2026-05-31.

Every pricing, feature, and fit claim in this comparison is checked against public vendor documentation and, where relevant, independent sources. The “source basis” footer on each product card lists the exact URLs and the date we fetched them. The internal freshness dashboard flags source evidence after 45 days; priority pricing is scheduled for monthly review and feature or ownership claims for quarterly review. Last reviewed on .

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Why The Site Book

  • UK construction compliance tool that ships RAMS + CPP + COSHH + inductions (readable and acknowledgeable in 9 worker languages on Business, with the language audit-recorded) + worker sign-off, including optional 4-digit shared-link PIN evidence on Business, plus site attendance, portal users, site files, document reviews, subcontractor evidence and inspections/actions.
  • Generate a site-specific RAMS first draft from a natural-language brief in under five minutes, ready for competent-person review - not a template library you hand-fill.
  • Controlled document workflow without an enterprise contract: version history and a recorded issue confirmation before a document is shared with a client or downloaded in the app on every plan, re-sign on revision with superseded signatures preserved plus PCPP import, cert tracking and document checking from the £39/month Pro plan - and on Business, optional named-approver routing (a designated approver accepts or rejects each version, with recorded reasons, before it can be issued) plus client approve/reject/request-changes via share links.
  • Transparent pricing: Starter £0, Pro £39/month or £360/year, Business £199/month with 10 management logins and 50 active site portal users. Worker document signing has no per-signature charge; project workers count as active portal users while assigned.
  • Build RAMS for any trade - add your own work types and method statements alongside the built-in library, reusable across projects, including a ready-made Commercial Solar PV group. Save a finished job as a reusable project template, or clone it, so the next job of the same shape starts from your own setup.
  • COSHH goes deep: a standalone COSHH assessment document, upload-a-Safety-Data-Sheet extraction, a site-specific substance register and an expert-reviewed library - plus per-worker RAMS sign-off and a one-click Audit Pack covering documents, sign-offs, worker evidence, attendance, incidents, COSHH, permits and up to the latest 500 live Site Diary entries.