Sombra vs AdviseWell: AI for Australian advisers, compared
Details about other tools reflect their publicly available information as at the date this page was published and last reviewed, and may have changed since. Check each vendor's own site for the current position.
Quick answer
AdviseWell and Sombra are both Australian-hosted and both start from a client meeting, so on data residency they are level. They are built to solve different bottlenecks. AdviseWell is an advice-production engine: it turns a meeting and raw discovery data into file notes, paraplanner requests, Records of Advice and full Statements of Advice, with an ASIC-aligned compliance engine checking the output and a free file-note tier to start. Sombra starts with the file note and carries it into the ongoing client relationship: a living client record, a practice-wide attention queue and tracked follow-through. Choose AdviseWell if your bottleneck is producing compliant advice documents at scale. Choose Sombra if your bottleneck is staying on top of every client relationship and the work after the meeting.
At a glance
| Sombra | AdviseWell | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Australian advice firms, solo to small practice first | Australian advice firms and licensees scaling advice delivery |
| Primary job | File note, then the client workflow after it | Advice production: meeting to file note, RoA and full SoA |
| AI approach | Structured notes and workflow on Claude, adviser-reviewed | Source-cited generation with an ASIC-aligned compliance engine |
| Australian-hosted | App, database and transcription in Australia, no model training | Sydney on Google Cloud, SOC 2 Type I and ISO 27001, no model training |
| After the meeting | Client record, attention queue, tracked follow-through | Advice documents, compliance checks, follow-ups and client history |
| Compliance | Adviser-reviewed notes in your firm’s format | Checks aligned to ASIC RG 175, RG 244 and RG 271 |
| Pricing model | Flat, bundled: Pro A$89 unlimited, Team A$179 for 3 users | Free file notes, then A$99/adviser Solo, A$299/adviser Firm, custom for licensees |
| Implementation | We assess and optimise your whole client workflow, working with the tools you already use | Named onboarding on the Firm tier, white-glove migration for licensees |
| Free tier | Yes, 3 file notes, no card | Yes, meeting notes and file notes free for life |
Same country, same starting point, different destination. AdviseWell aims at the compliant advice document. Sombra aims at the ongoing relationship.
Where AdviseWell is the stronger choice
Credit where it is due: for compliant advice-document production, AdviseWell goes deep. From a meeting or a pile of raw discovery data, Excel, Word, PDF and images, it produces file notes, paraplanner requests, Records of Advice and 50-page Statements of Advice in your firm’s templates and brand voice, with every claim source-cited back to the input. Its compliance engine checks the output against ASIC RG 175, RG 244 and RG 271, and keeps an adviser review and approval audit trail. It ships an Australian calculation suite, it is Australian-hosted on Google Cloud in Sydney with SOC 2 Type I and ISO 27001, and it does not train public models on your data. Meeting notes and file notes are free for life; paid tiers run A$99 per adviser (Solo) and A$299 per adviser (Advice Firms), with custom pricing for licensees. If the slow, expensive part of your practice is turning discovery into compliant advice documents at scale, AdviseWell is built precisely for that.
Where Sombra pulls ahead
Different bottleneck, different tool. AdviseWell’s centre of gravity is the advice document and the compliance check around it. It is excellent at producing the deliverable. Sombra is built for the part that has no single deliverable: keeping every client relationship moving. The note files into a Client Directory that keeps advice context and the source note linked, Follow Through tracks agreed actions with owner, timing and client context, and Book of Business surfaces which relationships across the whole practice need attention, with the evidence attached. AdviseWell answers “how do I produce this SoA faster and prove it is compliant.” Sombra answers “how do I make sure nothing and no one slips between meetings.”
Note-first, not document-first. AdviseWell does keep client history and track follow-ups, but those sit in service of advice production, the meeting-to-SoA pipeline is the machine. That is heavier machinery than many firms need for day-to-day file notes and the follow-up after them. Sombra starts with the file note and lets you adopt the wider workflow progressively, so the day-one job is simple and the depth is there when you want it. The relationship layer is the product, not a by-product of the document engine.
Flat pricing for the connected workflow. AdviseWell is free at the file-note level, which is a genuine strength, but the connected, firm-wide tier that produces advice and runs the workflow is A$99 per adviser for Solo and A$299 per adviser for Advice Firms, priced per seat. Sombra bundles the client workflow into Pro at A$89 per month unlimited, and Team at a flat A$179 for the first three users. For a growing team that wants the after-the-note workflow rather than an advice-document factory, a flat plan holds its price where per-seat does not.
We optimise the whole machine, and we work with what you already run. AdviseWell will switch you off your current notetaker, rebuild your templates and migrate your knowledge base onto its engine. Sombra’s posture is the opposite. Your firm already uses AI tools and has its own way of working, and we start from that rather than trying to change it. We assess your entire client workflow, from top of funnel through sales, onboarding, advice, ongoing reviews, retention and expansion, across the teams, tools and systems you already run, and help you refine the whole of it. Sombra slots into the part it serves best, the note and the client relationship after it; the rest we help you tune, not replace. You get a partner who optimises the machine you already have and fits Sombra into it, not a migration onto one more platform.
These two are not really rivals for the same hour of your day. Some firms will run an advice-production engine and a relationship workflow side by side. If you are choosing one first, choose on which bottleneck hurts more right now.
When to choose which
Choose AdviseWell if producing compliant advice documents is your bottleneck and you want an engine that turns discovery into RoAs and SoAs with ASIC-aligned compliance checks and a free file-note tier to start. Choose Sombra if the bottleneck is the ongoing client relationship and the work after the meeting, you want it at a flat, bundled price, and you want a partner who assesses and refines your whole client machine, working with the tools you already run rather than migrating you onto one more platform. Try it free on three real meetings first.
FAQ
Is Sombra an AdviseWell alternative? Partly. Both are Australian-hosted and both start from a meeting, but they target different jobs: AdviseWell produces compliant advice documents (file notes, RoAs, SoAs) with a compliance engine, Sombra runs the ongoing client workflow after the note. Some firms use both.
Are both hosted in Australia? Yes. AdviseWell states hosting in Sydney on Google Cloud with SOC 2 Type I and ISO 27001, and no training of public models on your data; Sombra runs its app, database and transcription in Australia, with transcription retaining nothing and no model training. On residency they are level.
Does Sombra generate SoAs and RoAs? No. Sombra is not an advice-document factory. It writes the file note and carries it into the client record, attention queue and follow-through. If full SoA and RoA production, with ASIC-aligned compliance checks, is your priority, AdviseWell is the more direct fit for that specific job.
Does Sombra check advice against ASIC guidance? Sombra keeps the adviser reviewing and accepting the note before anything is filed, in your firm’s format; the judgement stays with the person who carries the liability. AdviseWell goes further on automated document-level checks aligned to RG 175, RG 244 and RG 271. If you want the tool to run those checks on the advice document itself, that is AdviseWell’s design, not Sombra’s.
Can I try Sombra first? Yes, three file notes free, no card. AdviseWell also offers a free file-note tier; run both on a real meeting and see which bottleneck each one actually solves for your practice.
By Kevin Dykes, Cofounder and CEO of Sombra. AdviseWell facts are from advisewell.co, verified 2 September 2026; features and pricing change, so re-verify before relying on this.
Implementation We optimise the whole machine with you → We assess your client workflow, work with the tools you already run, and fit Sombra into the part it serves best.