Cairn - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

Cairn is a calm system of record for regulated work. It gives teams a durable, evidence-backed record that a defined procedure was followed for a client, case, asset or other subject.

In most regulated firms the work gets done, but the proof is scattered across email, shared drives, spreadsheets and notes. When a regulator or auditor asks what happened on a particular file, someone has to piece it back together after the fact. Cairn replaces that reconstruction with a record made at the time.

You author a procedure once: the steps, the guidance, and the evidence each step needs. Each record is carried out against a specific published version of that procedure and keeps that version, even after the procedure is later changed. As the work is done, each step gets an outcome and the evidence is attached to the step it supports.

Four things set Cairn apart. Any record can be viewed exactly as it stood on an earlier date, so you can show the FCA what your record looked like on the day a decision was made rather than a reconstruction. Departing from a procedure is allowed but never silent: the record says it happened and why, which is a better answer for an auditor than a suspiciously perfect checklist. Records stay connected to the client, case or asset they concern, so history builds up over years and outlives any single review. And every customer gets version binding: your procedure can change, but your record of what the procedure said cannot.

Cairn deliberately does not assign work, automate decisions, chase people or decide whether you are compliant. It is not a CRM, a document store or a workflow engine. It sits alongside the tools you already use as the authoritative record for procedure execution and evidence.

Cairn is built for compliance, operations and oversight teams in small regulated firms, starting with UK financial services such as discretionary fund managers. Early access is open at cairnriver.io.