Alternatives to CRACheck

Last verified 22 October 2026 · Facts v2026.09.4

If you are evaluating CRACheck — or CRA Toolkit, or OpenRegulatory Formwork — you are really evaluating one claim: that the tool's answer about your product is right, and that you could defend it to a customer or an authority. The honest way to compare is not a feature table; it is to ask, for any given answer, where did that come from?

What every tool in this category is for

The job is the same everywhere: determine whether the Regulation applies to your product — it covers products made available on the market in the course of a commercial activity [1] — then determine your role, your product's class, your conformity route, and what has to exist by when. We will not characterise other vendors' products here; their own sites do that better. What we can state precisely is how CEMarque answers those questions, so you can compare like for like.

How CEMarque answers them

Deterministically, with the citation attached. CEMarque's scoping engine computes scope, role, class and conformity route from a fixed table of legal facts, and every line of the verdict carries the fact behind it. There is no language model anywhere in the decision path, so the same inputs produce the same verdict, every time. The corpus you are reading now is the same facts the engine cites.

Both clocks, kept apart. Article 14 reporting obligations apply from 11 September 2026 [2]. Full application — CE marking, technical documentation, the EU Declaration of Conformity — follows on 11 December 2027 [3]. Those are different deadlines with different consequences, and a tool that collapses them into one date will have you either panicking early or filing late.

Classification without theatre. Whether a product falls under Annex III as an important product in class I or class II changes which conformity route is open to it [4] [5] [6]. Where that route genuinely involves a notified body, CEMarque says so and stops selling — preparing the file is our job; declaring conformity is, and legally remains, yours.

A verdict you can hand to someone. Every check ends in a permanent public permalink with the reasoning visible, exportable as Markdown, JSON or print. When a customer's security questionnaire asks where you stand, you send the link instead of a promise.

The fastest comparison is a real one

Run your product through the free checker. It takes at most nine questions, shows the legal basis behind every step, and the verdict permalink is yours to keep whatever tool you end up choosing.

What to do next

Run your own product through the checker — it takes under a minute and gives you a dated, citable result you can send to a customer.

Check my product

Sources

  1. The Regulation applies to products made available on the market in the course of a commercial activity; charging a price, charging for support, monetising via advertising or data, or otherwise intending to monetise are commercial activity. Art. 2(1), Art. 3(22), Recitals — EUR-Lex ↩
  2. Article 14 (reporting obligations of manufacturers) applies from 11 September 2026. Art. 71(2) — EUR-Lex ↩
  3. The Regulation applies in full from 11 December 2027. Art. 71(2) — EUR-Lex ↩
  4. Annex III Class I — important products, class I (items 1–19). Annex III Class I; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2392 — EUR-Lex ↩
  5. Annex III Class II — important products, class II (items 1–4). Annex III Class II; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2392 — EUR-Lex ↩
  6. Conformity routes: default products may use internal control (Module A), EU-type examination plus internal production control (Modules B+C), full quality assurance (Module H) or a European cybersecurity certification scheme; important class I must use B+C or H (or a scheme at 'substantial' level) unless harmonised standards, common specifications or such a scheme are applied in full; important class II must use B+C, H or a scheme at 'substantial' level; critical products use a European scheme where available, otherwise the class II procedures. Art. 32(1)–(4), Annex VIII — EUR-Lex ↩

Related

  • Does the CRA apply to browser extensions?

    Yes, if it is monetised. An extension is installed software that connects to a network. The class question matters here: browsers are listed as important products, and extensions are not the browser.

  • What must I do by 11 December 2027?

    Everything else. From full application a product placed on the EU market needs a completed technical file, an EU declaration of conformity you sign, CE marking, a stated support period and a software bill of materials.

  • Does my product need third-party assessment under the CRA?

    Most products, no — default products self-assess under Module A. A notified body enters only for important class I products not applying standards in full, for class II, and for critical products without a certification scheme.

  • Does the CRA apply to free or ad-supported apps?

    Charging nothing does not put you outside the Regulation. What matters is whether the product is supplied in the course of a commercial activity, and advertising, data and freemium funnels all count.

CEMarque encodes Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 and the European Commission's published guidance as of 10 September 2026 (Facts v2026.09.4). It is not legal advice. Verify obligations for your product with qualified counsel where the stakes require it.