Comma Compliance vs. FirmScribe
FirmScribe is a mobile message capture platform focused on iMessage, WhatsApp, and Android for financial services firms. If you’re evaluating mobile capture for compliance, it may be on your list. Here’s how Comma Compliance compares across architecture, channel coverage, and exam readiness.
At a Glance
FirmScribe is a capture-only layer. It captures iMessage, WhatsApp, and Android messages and routes them to a third-party archive of your choice. It has no built-in archive, no supervision, no policy matching, and no case management.
Comma Compliance is an end-to-end solution: capture, archive, supervision, policy matching, and exam-ready case management across 35p[+ channels, at a flat per-user price.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Feature
Comma Compliance
FirmScribe
Architecture
End-to-end — capture, archive, supervision, policy matching, and exam-ready case management, with open source transparency.
Capture-only — routes messages to a third-party archive.
Built-in archive
Yes — included in platform
No — exports to a third-party archive.
WORM storage
Yes — written at point of capture
Dependent on third-party archive
iMessage capture method
Point-of-delivery — not iCloud-dependent
Capture methodology not publicly detailed; offers all-threads or business-threads-only mode
WhatsApp capture
Captures both WhatsApp Business and personal WhatsApp
WhatsApp Business and personal; all threads or business threads only
Signal capture
Yes — open-source capture code published on GitHub
Not supported
Transparency
WhatsApp and Signal capture code published openly on GitHub — no NDA, no request required
Proprietary; capture methodology not publicly disclosed
Channels supported
30+ channels where conversatiosn happen: iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, SMS, Voice, Microsoft 365, Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, Gmail, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Webex, Bloomberg Chat, Salesforce, Telegram, and more.
iMessage, WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business, Android SMS
Pricing model
Flat monthly pricing, all platforms included, no per-connector fees, free unlimited exports
Not publicly listed; quote required
Free trial
Yes
Not publicly offered
Personal vs. business separation
Automatic contact-based filtering — personal contacts can be excluded automatically
User-tagged — employees manually tag business threads; or all threads captured
Policy processing
Yes — built in
Not supported
Custom policy matching
Yes
Not supported
Case management
Exam-ready — built for regulatory examination prep
None
AI compliance monitoring
Real-time policy scanning; human validation before escalation; no client data used for training without consent
Not supported
Data ownership
Client retains full ownership; never sold or shared outside authorized sub-processors
Routed to customer’s designated archive
When FirmScribe may be a better fit
- Compliance programs built around limited communication channels rather than broad app coverage
- Firms with policies that restrict use of third-party messaging apps
The Archive Gap
FirmScribe captures messages and routes them to whichever third-party archive the customer designates. This requires two vendors, one for capture and one for archival.
Channel Coverage
FirmScribe supports three channels: iMessage, WhatsApp, and Android SMS. Comma Compliance covers 30+ channels in a single platform at a flat price.
Book a Demoorlearn more here.
Due Diligence
Questions to Ask Any Compliance Vendor
01
Where exactly is the message first captured — at the point of delivery, or after a backup or sync cycle?
02
What conditions must be true for a message to be captured? What happens if any of those conditions aren’t met?
03
If a user edits or deletes a message before capture occurs, what version gets archived?
04
Can you show documentation — architecture diagrams, code, or an independent audit — of how your capture actually works?
05
Where are encryption keys stored, and who controls them?
06
Are all channels included in the base price, or are there per-connector fees?
07
Are there export or egress fees?
08
Does your case management workflow support regulatory examination prep?
09
Can cases be opened directly from flagged message threads?
10
Is any client data used to train your models? Under what conditions?
11
Can we adjust, refine, or contribute feedback to my policy models? (e.g., different languages, customer-complaint responses)
Also compare
Global Relay Alternative
Global Relay offers enterprise capabilities lacks support for Signal.
SnippetSentry Alternative
SnippetSentry requires a separate archive and acts as a capture model only.
Smarsh Alternative
Smarsh offers enterprise scale but has known gaps in WhatsApp and Signal capture.
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