Guides / PAT software without a subscription

Ownership and switching checklist

PAT software without a subscription: check what you still own

A one-off payment can make costs easier to understand, but the payment label does not tell you whether your records are portable. Test access, export and recovery before moving real jobs into any system.

Last reviewed: 31 August 2026 · Sources and product boundary checked: 31 August 2026

“Lifetime” and “no subscription” need a boundary

A lifetime purchase might mean the current app, the current major version, or access while a service remains available. A subscription might include hosting, support and ongoing updates. The label alone says little about data ownership.

Ask the vendor to define:

• what the payment unlocks and whether there are further usage limits;
• whether operating-system compatibility updates are included;
• whether the app depends on a vendor server to open existing work;
• what remains available if the product is discontinued;
• where the records and exported documents are stored.

Check what “free” actually gates

A useful trial lets you complete the real workflow: create a client and site, record tests, produce the same certificate a paying user gets, and export the data. A count-limited trial is easier to evaluate than one that quietly removes fields, watermarks documents or expires before a full job can be checked.

Write down whether the limit applies to items, tests, jobs, certificates or time. Those are not interchangeable. Also record what happens when the limit is reached: only new output should stop; existing records should remain usable.

Export needs relationships, not just rows

Open each export with software other than the original app. A CSV should expose stable identifiers or other keys that preserve the links between client, site, asset and test. Check dates, units, special characters, multiline notes and failed results. Count the source and exported rows.

Keep the certificate PDFs as well. They preserve the fixed document a client received, while the structured rows support searching, checking and migration. Neither necessarily replaces a complete backup capable of restoring the working app state.

Test recovery before you need it

The National Cyber Security Centre advises checking that a backup contains the important data and knowing how to restore it. For PAT records, that means more than seeing a backup filename. Restore a copy, then sample relationships, results, notes and documents across several jobs.

Keep the original export and backup until the new system has been checked. If the new app cannot import a proprietary database directly, retain a working copy of the old software or a readable archive long enough to deal with gaps.

Plan for imperfect migration

There is no universal interchange format for a complete PAT database. CSV can carry structured rows, but app-specific attachments, signatures, settings and internal history may need separate handling. Ask the destination vendor to show a test import using a copy of your export before you commit to a wider move.