BlueNotary vs. NotaryLive

Notarization is moving online! 

In a time of horse and carriage, where one would have to ask their neighbor how to find a “notary near me”, the local notary public would thrive! As long as they were consistent and diligent within their community. 

But then came the cars, and the suburbs, and the internet.  Communities changed, moved online, and underwent a massive transition. The same consistency and diligence is still required to be a successful notary, but these days, the whole world has gotten a little bit more “comfortable” with the idea of not leaving their homes and conducting as much business as the possibly can from home around their families.  Especially in a post-covid worlds where employers have been struggling to motivate and justify employees coming into work 5 days a week.

A New Notarization Era

Out of this new paradigm has been the advent of Remote Online Notarization which is becoming more and more ubiquitous.  Younger generations don’t want to waste time doing clerical tasks that can be done online in person and older generations have accordingly joined the movement. Even banking has evolved,  78% percent of Americans prefer banking online as of 2022. Personally, I can’t name a single person in my inner circle who does their banking in person (unless they have to).  So it’s only natural that legal documents will follow the same fate of online banking, Uber, and even dating.

Today we’re breaking down two of the spiciest Remote Online Notarization platforms from the perspective of users getting one-off notarizations, independent notaries, and larger companies such as Law Firms and Title Agencies.  These two platforms are Notary Live out of Newark, New York (GO BILLS?) and BlueNotary out of Chicago, Illinois (DA BEARS).  

The Support

We wanted to start off by comparing customer support between the two companies. BlueNotary touts a 24/7 on demand live support chat ready to help anybody with questions at any point in the process. NotaryLive offers the same chat & email support, but if they have instant chat it appears to be behind a wall of handing over your card number. That is necessary for both platforms, however, when you begin the process of notarization.

One difference here is that where BlueNotary does not charge you unless your Notarization session is completed, but NotaryLive seems at least charge you for a few days and then refund you after a few days if you do not complete your session.

NotaryLive is one of the better notarization platforms on the market still when it comes to customer support. They are still relatively prompt with their email responses compared to the rest of the field. NotaryLive also offers phone support phone support for businesses operating at adequate volume. BlueNotary doesn’t publicly advertise this feature, but obviously does the same for serious businesses within reason. 👍

Edge: BlueNotary, for their INSTANT chat support

For Notaries

NotaryLive and BlueNotary both charge a flat rate of $25 per notarization for General Notary Work (GNW). For NotaryLive, they also charge you $5 extra for each person that comes into the session. It’s pretty similar to BlueNotary, except there are some differences regarding how people can login.

With NotaryLive, you can have multiple signers, but you MUST all be in the same room for signings.

BlueNotary does not have this same requirement and has the capability of hosting multiple different signers from different locations. BlueNotary also features Signer Biometric Verification that allows for the easiest and highest percentage method for getting your clients onboard and into a session.

You can check out BlueNotary’s Fee Schedule on our Crisp Helpdesk.

Edge: BlueNotary, for the versatility of multiple location hosting and Biometric Verification

Plans for notaries is where these two platforms really start to differ from each other. We’re going to breakdown all the different BlueNotary and NotaryLive Notary Plans in all one section.

Both Platforms have a $0 set up fee if you are signing up for their free plans. The primary difference is in how much each one pays out to their notaries. NotaryLive pays out just $10 for each Remote Online Notary session performed, however, BlueNotary, in their freshness to the market is still paying out a full $25 for GNW work. BN eNotaries also are paid $5 for when they serve as a witness, and $4 for each additional seal!

NotaryLive and BlueNotary Differences

Jumping into some of the less straightforward differences. NotaryLive runs off a Tier system that we’ve sourced the chart for below. Accordingly, the ability to paid from NotaryLive’s customer pool is only available to Silver, Gold and Platinum Level Notaries.

This differs from BlueNotary’s Pro-Hybrid membership, providing an Open Call program available to all members on a first come first serve basis. The process to get promoted with NotaryLive is a bit more subjective. Here are some of the factors that determine the chances of moving up through their ranks and the ability to source customers.

Subsequently, it is a rather exclusive environment. But it does give you the potential opportunity for full-time employment if you can surpass all their barriers and highest of their ranks. However this would take significant time and multiple invitations.

BlueNotary’s bread and butter is catering to the needs of individual notaries.  They recognize the need to treat those doing and performing the service with respect.  To do so, BlueNotary empowers notary users in multiple different ways. 

Aside from paying out notaries, more than anybody in the business, BlueNotary recognizes the entrepreneur in all of us. BN built their Pro-Hybrid membership plan around creating flexibility for eNotaries.

Under their Pro Hybrid Plan, you can bill your clients outside of BlueNotary for a fee of $2 per notarization. You can do the same with Loan Signing Packages for the flat rate of $25!

Edge: BlueNotary, for 2.5x the payout rate and a more customizable features for building your own business.

For Businesses

BlueNotary’s Business packages start at the same price as the cheapest Netflix subscription of just $7 / month and then $25 per notarization. Packages then jump to $147 / month with 7 free notarizations lumped in + $13 per notarization after that.

NotaryLive business plans start at $59/month and only range up to $69/month. The main difference between these two packages, however, is a higher charge rate of $23/session and $22/session.

Price Breakdown

So how does this compare if you’re doing 10-20 notarizations per month or more? We’ve got the breakdown below.

NotaryLive:
10 documents monthly
$69 monthly fee + [10 * $22 notarizations] = $289 monthly
$59 monthly fee + [10 * $23 notarizations] = $289 monthly
20 documents monthly
$69 monthly fee + [20 * $22 notarizations] = $509 monthly
$59 monthly fee + [20 * $23 notarizations] = $519 monthly

BlueNotary:
10 documents monthly
$7 monthly fee + [10 * $25 notarizations] = $257 monthly
$147 monthly fee + [7 free + (3 * $13 notarizations )] = $186 monthly
20 documents monthly
$7 monthly fee + [20 * $25 notarizations] = $507 monthly
$147 monthly fee + [7 free + (13 * $13 notarizations)] = $316 monthly

Edge: BlueNotary, anyway you cut it, with any volume, you’re going to be paying less with BlueNotary

For Title Companies

BlueNotary has multiple different plans in place for Title Companies. Remote Online Notarization for Title Companies is looking like an absolute game changer for the industry with the younger generations aging into buying homes.

NotaryLive does not appear to have any unique support for Title Companies.

Edge: BlueNotary, they’re the only ones with a plan 😉

State Availability

NotaryLive is only approved in 4 states for notaries: Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

BlueNotary is approved for notaries in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hapshire, New Jersey, New Mexico New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming

and is currently pending in: Nebraska and Michigan. (if you don’t see your state in either of these lists, please let us know and we will see about getting the ball rolling if it isn’t already)

Here’s some of our previous head-to-head breakdowns if you want to do more RON Platform Comparison Research.

• BlueNotary vs. Signix
• BlueNotary vs. Cyberize It!
• BlueNotary vs. OneNotary
• BlueNotary vs. DocVerify
• BlueNotary vs. Secured Signings
• Best Remote Online Notary Platforms Ranked 2022