Emili vs. DocuPet: pet licensing software for Canadian municipalities
If your municipality is comparing pet licensing vendors, this page explains what Emili does, what it does not do, and the questions worth asking every vendor on your list — including us.
We describe Emili, because it is our product and we can stand behind every line. We do not publish claims about DocuPet’s product, coverage, pricing or security. We have no first-party source for them, they change, and a comparison built on guesses would not survive a procurement review — which is the only place a page like this actually gets used.
So this page does two things instead. It sets out what Emili does, in the specific terms a municipal evaluator needs. And it gives you the questions to put to both vendors, so the answers come from the vendors rather than from either vendor’s marketing page. For DocuPet’s side, ask DocuPet.
Who Emili is designed for
Emili
Canadian municipal animal services — the licensing clerk, the animal-control team, the shelter or SPCA the municipality works with, and the residents who have to license a pet. Emili is built by Emili Tracking Solutions Inc. in Montreal and is used by more than 170 municipalities across Quebec, in English and French.
It is not a shelter-only database and not a licensing-only portal. Licensing, shelter operations and field work run on one connected record.
DocuPet
DocuPet is another vendor Canadian municipalities evaluate for pet licensing. For how their product works, where they operate, what they charge and what they commit to contractually, use DocuPet’s own published material and their answers to your RFP — we do not restate them here.
What Emili does, in evaluator’s terms
Each item below is described in more detail on the linked page.
Canadian and Quebec context
Built in Montreal, founded 2016, serving more than 170 municipalities across Quebec. Fees, species, discounts and renewal periods are configured to each municipality’s own bylaw rather than to a national default.
English and French service
The platform, the resident-facing screens, the renewal reminders and the support lines all operate in English and French. Staff and residents each choose their own language.
Data hosting
Data is hosted in Canada, with access based on role and authorization. Emili’s Information Privacy Policy is published in full and describes how personal information is handled under Quebec’s Law 25 and Canadian law.
Municipal pet licensing
Registrations, licences, renewals, reminders, payment collection, licensing records and reporting, in one municipal registry configured to your bylaw.
Resident registration and renewals
Residents apply, pay and renew online, and keep their pet and contact details current. Shelters, veterinary clinics and partners can also sell licences at the counter, into the same registry.
Implementation and migration
Implementation is run by the Emili team with a dedicated project manager. Existing records — spreadsheets, local databases or an export from a previous provider — are migrated at no additional cost, and small and mid-sized communities typically launch within a week.
Support and training
Staff training is included at onboarding. Support is available to municipal staff in English and French, and resident support is included rather than being passed back to the municipality.
Connected licensing, shelter and field work
The record a field officer updates is the record the licensing clerk and the shelter team read. An adopted animal can leave the shelter already registered and microchipped instead of being retyped into the registry.
What Emili is not
Not a dispatch or ticketing system. Field records, licences and animal files feed the municipal registry and its reports; enforcement paperwork stays with your existing municipal processes.
Questions to ask every vendor on your list
Put these to Emili and to DocuPet, in writing, and compare the answers rather than the brochures.
- 01Where does our data live?Which country hosts it, who can access it, and what happens to it if we leave.
- 02Is the whole service bilingual?Not only the interface — resident emails, renewal notices, printed material and the support line.
- 03Who supports our residents?If a resident cannot complete a renewal at 8pm, whose staff answers, and in which language.
- 04What does migration cost?Our current records, in whatever shape they are in, moved across — and what that is priced at.
- 05Does it follow our bylaw?Our species, our fee schedule, our discounts, our renewal dates — configured, not approximated.
- 06What does the resident pay?Whether the resident is charged anything beyond the licence fee our council set.
- 07What does the municipality pay?The full cost over the contract term, including anything billed per transaction or per record.
- 08Does it connect to the rest?Whether shelter intake, adoptions and field work write to the same record as licensing, or to a separate system.
- 09How do we get our data out?Export format, notice period and cost, written into the contract rather than promised in a meeting.
Emili’s answers to all nine are on this page and on the linked product pages, and the Emili team will put them in writing for a procurement file. The Municipal Procurement Centre has the documents municipalities usually need.
Frequently asked questions
Is Emili an alternative to DocuPet?
Emili is a Canadian municipal animal-services platform that includes pet licensing, so municipalities do evaluate it alongside DocuPet and other pet-licensing vendors. Whether it is the right alternative for your municipality depends on your bylaw, your languages of service, where you need data hosted, and whether you want licensing connected to shelter and field work or kept separate.
Why does this page not compare features side by side?
Because we have no first-party source for DocuPet’s current feature set, and publishing a competitor’s capabilities from memory or from search results is how comparison pages end up wrong. We would rather give you the questions than an answer we cannot stand behind.
Is Emili available outside Quebec?
Emili is built for Canadian municipalities and currently serves more than 170 municipalities across Quebec, in English and French. If you are a municipality elsewhere in Canada, book a demo and the team will tell you directly what is and is not in place for your province.
Is Emili bilingual for residents as well as staff?
Yes. Staff and residents each work in English or French — the platform, the renewal reminders and the support lines are bilingual.
Where is Emili data hosted?
Data is hosted in Canada, with access based on role and authorization.
What does it take to switch providers?
Implementation is handled by the Emili team with a dedicated project manager, and existing records — including an export from a previous provider — are migrated at no additional cost. Small and mid-sized communities typically launch within a week.
Can we talk to a municipality already using Emili?
Ask during the demo. Reference conversations are arranged with the municipality’s agreement rather than published here.
See Emili against your own bylaw, not against a feature list.
A demo walks through licensing, renewals, reporting and the connected shelter and field workflows — configured around how your municipality actually runs.