Best NDIS shift note software 2026: which tools prove the care plan was followed?

By NoteGate Research Team · Published 9 October 2026 · Last reviewed 9 October 2026

Short answer: most NDIS platforms record shift notes. Few prove those notes meet the standard. Of the three tools compared here, NoteGate is the only one that stops a below-standard note being saved and links every note to the participant’s care plan, risks and incidents for audit. It runs alongside your existing platform. For rostering and billing, ShiftCare has the most advanced built-in note coaching and Brevity the simplest per-client pricing.

Disclosure: this comparison is written by NoteGate, so we have an interest in the outcome. To keep it fair, every claim about ShiftCare and Brevity comes from their own public pages, linked in Sources and checked on 9 October 2026. Where a competitor does something better than NoteGate, we say so. If anything here is out of date, email us at info@notegate.com.au and we will correct it.

Why shift notes matter more from December 2026

The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 turned shift notes into a revenue and penalty issue, not just an audit one.

The practical test is no longer “do we have a note?” It is “does this note show what the participant’s plan said should happen, and that it did?” That is the test used to judge the tools below.

Side-by-side comparison

Only NoteGate blocks a below-standard note and links it to the care plan, risks and incidents in one evidence chain. ShiftCare and Brevity run your whole operation; NoteGate sits beside whichever you use.

NoteGate: the only one of the three that enforces note quality

NoteGate is built for one question auditors ask: can you prove the care plan was followed? It does not roster, bill or claim, so it runs alongside ShiftCare, Brevity or any other platform.

What it does well

• A hard quality gate. Every shift note is scored against that participant’s profile before it can be saved. A note below standard cannot be saved, and no supervisor can override it. The worker gets specific correction guidance while the shift is fresh. See what an NDIS shift note quality score is.
• The bar moves with risk. A note that passes for a low-complexity participant can fail for a participant with active risk flags, because the documentation obligation is different.
• One evidence chain per participant. Shift notes, care plans, risks, incidents and reviews are linked. Missing links raise risk signals, and an audit pack can be pulled on demand.
• Incident evidence. Structured incident reports with supervisor approval and a timestamped stakeholder notification log, bound to the participant.
• Care plans aligned to SIL Module 5A, with a coverage map showing which Practice Standards each plan addresses.
• Plan Reassessment Pack. Compiles frontline evidence for support coordinators preparing change-of-circumstance or funding requests.
• Shift Primer. Short training for support workers covering all 14 NDIS learning modules.
• Workers write their own notes. NoteGate never writes shift notes or incident reports. It drafts progress reports, plan reviews and care plan content for a person to review.

Limits

• No direct integration with ShiftCare or Brevity yet. Connectors are in development. Today, workers write shift notes in NoteGate and your platform keeps rostering, billing and claiming. Plan the workflow so notes are not entered twice.
• The gate adds friction at first. Workers whose notes were accepted before will have some rejected. That is the point, but expect a short adjustment period.
• Not ISO 27001 certified. Controls are mapped to the standard. Data is held in AWS Sydney.
• No free trial on Solo or Starter.

Pricing (notegate.com.au/pricing): per participant, unlimited workers, AUD inc GST, all-in monthly totals.

Annual billing is charged at 10 months. Growth and above include a 14-day trial.

Best for: registered providers already on a platform they like, who need note quality enforced rather than encouraged, especially SIL providers and anyone with an audit coming.

ShiftCare: strong note coaching, but no enforcement

ShiftCare is a full care management platform with the most advanced note coaching of the major platforms. It encourages better notes but leaves the final call to the worker.

What it does well

• Notes are checked against the care plan. When a worker saves a note, a note coach compares it with the participant’s care plan and asks about supports the note did not mention. ShiftCare calls this the Completeness Coach on its pricing page and the Smart Note Coach elsewhere.
• Admins see weak notes. Care Signals reads every note against the shift and the client’s profile. It flags empty template sections, notes too short for the shift length, and boilerplate such as “all tasks completed”.
• Incidents surface from notes. Care Signals tags concerns by severity. On Premium, a confirmed flag becomes a prefilled incident record.
• Notes can be required before clock-out. With the setting on, mandatory notes, tasks and forms must be complete before the shift closes.
• Voice notes. Workers can dictate, and ShiftCare tidies the transcript into a structured summary the worker checks before saving.

Limits

• The coach advises; it does not enforce. ShiftCare states the coach does not block the note, and a worker can save without it. Clock-out rules check that a note exists, not that it meets a standard.
• No worker scoring, by design. ShiftCare does not grade or rank workers on note quality. Some quality managers want that data for coaching; others prefer this approach.
• Per-user pricing. Every login counts, including care workers. Costs grow with headcount, not participants.
• Care plans, goals and advanced incident management are Premium only.

Pricing (pricing page): Basic $8, Professional $13, Premium $20 per user per month, billed annually, AUD ex GST. Monthly billing is $9, $15 and $25. Minimum 5 staff. 7-day free trial, no card.

Best for: providers choosing a new all-in-one platform who want strong note tooling built in.

Brevity: notes recorded, not checked

Brevity is an all-in-one platform with per-client pricing. It can confirm a note exists, but we found no evidence it checks what the note says.

What it does well

• Pricing does not grow with staff. You pay per client, and the price covers all your staff and management.
• Notes can be made mandatory. An organisation setting requires a note before a shift is completed in the mobile app (help docs).
• Notes sit next to goals and incidents. The Business plan includes shift notes, client goals, incident management and a form, report and alerts builder.
• Certified security. Brevity states it is ISO/IEC 27001 certified.

Limits

• No automated note-quality checks found. We found no public documentation of Brevity checking note content against the care plan, or flagging vague notes. Mandatory notes confirm a note exists, not that it is good enough for an audit.
• Voice notes use the phone’s own dictation, with no tidy-up or summary step.
• Setup fee on Business and Enterprise. Enterprise is price on application.

Pricing (pricing page): Business $6.49 per client per month, AUD ex GST, plus a setup fee. Plan management $3.99 per client per month. Enterprise on application. Free trial on the Lite version.

Best for: providers with many staff per client who want one system at a predictable price, and who handle note quality through supervision.

When to add NoteGate to ShiftCare or Brevity

Add NoteGate when note quality has to be enforced and proven, not just encouraged.

NoteGate is worth adding if:

• Weak notes keep turning up in audits or internal reviews, even though the notes exist.
• You need notes that cannot be saved below standard, not notes that are flagged after the fact.
• You run SIL or high-risk supports and must show, participant by participant, that care plans and risk controls were followed.
• Your quality team spends days before an audit pulling notes, incidents and reviews together by hand.
• You use Brevity or another platform without automated note checks, and switching platforms is not an option.

When your current platform may be enough:

• You are on ShiftCare, your notes pass audits, and your quality team reviews the Care Signals queue every day.
• You are a small provider whose supervisors read every note and give feedback within the week.

If you are choosing a new platform anyway, pick the one that suits your rostering and billing, then add NoteGate where note quality must be enforced.

What it costs: a provider with 30 participants and 40 staff logins

Adding NoteGate to Brevity costs less than ShiftCare Premium alone in this scenario. Adding it to ShiftCare Premium costs about $1,319 a month.

Assumptions: ShiftCare and Brevity list prices are ex GST, so 10% is added here for a like-for-like view. ShiftCare is billed annually at 40 logins. NoteGate is billed monthly; annual billing (10 months) brings it to about $366 a month. Prices checked 9 October 2026; confirm current pricing with each vendor.

Also providing aged care?

All three tools serve aged care too, so this comparison holds if you run both. ShiftCare sells to NDIS, aged care and home care providers, with a Support at Home add-on at $5 per client per month on Premium and Enterprise. Brevity offers separate Support at Home and CHSP software. NoteGate applies the same quality gate and evidence chain to NDIS, aged care and DVA providers.

Aged care runs under different standards and reporting rules, so it gets its own comparison.

How we compared

We judged each tool on one question: does it help a provider prove the care plan was followed, shift by shift? Evidence for ShiftCare and Brevity comes only from their own public product, pricing and help pages, opened on 9 October 2026. We did not have hands-on accounts for either. Where we found no public evidence of a feature, we say “no public documentation found” rather than “no”. NoteGate details come from our own product.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Pricing (AU) (ShiftCare, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Progress notes (ShiftCare, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Care Signals (ShiftCare, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Help Center: progress notes in the mobile app (ShiftCare, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Pricing (Brevity, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Help: Manage shift notes (Brevity, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Help: Mobile app settings (Brevity, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Bill 2026 fact sheet (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, retrieved 9 October 2026)
• What the 2026 NDIS law changes mean (People with Disability Australia, retrieved 9 October 2026)

Related

• What is an NDIS shift note quality score?
• How pre-save note checking prevents NDIS non-conformance
• NDIS compliance software vs a CRM
• NDIS record keeping requirements