Relay and IVANS, side by side.
A factual comparison of how carrier download data reaches agencies. IVANS facts come from the public sources cited below, as of October 20, 2026. Relay facts describe how Relay works today.
| IVANS | Emerald Relay | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Carrier setup is described as taking 6–9 months.1 | Sandbox on sign-up. Carriers upload an existing file and pilot with invited agencies after verification. |
| Delivery speed | Downloads arrive once a night, around 6:30 AM ET, with no delivery on Sundays or Mondays for this carrier.2 | Each transaction is delivered as it's processed, by webhook or pull feed. An hourly AL3 batch is available for file-based systems. |
| Initial book load | No initial load of existing policies.2 | Book sync sends a newly connected agency its full book once. |
| Update model | Each download is a full image that overwrites fields in the agency system.2 | Thin events with a change summary. Sync records are marked as upserts, not new business. |
| Readable transaction viewer | Not described in the cited sources. | Plain-English summary of what changed, the full policy, documents and delivery status. |
| Search window | Transaction search covers 90 days.3 | Transactions are searchable for 13 months. |
| Webhooks | Not described in the cited sources. | Signed webhooks (Standard Webhooks) with retries, plus a cursor pull feed. |
| Ownership | Owned by a company that also sells agency management systems.4 | Emerald Infinite also builds Emerald AMS, which connects as an ordinary partner under a published neutrality policy. |
Sources
Retrieved October 20, 2026. Third-party descriptions may change; tell us at the contact page if something here is out of date and we’ll correct it.
- 1.BriteCore, “IVANS overview,” help center article. https://help.britecore.com/hc/en-us/articles/10153055294355-IVANS-overview
- 2.EMPLOYERS, “IVANS Download FAQ.” https://employers.com/insurance-agents/ivans-faq
- 3.IVANS, “IVANS Exchange” product release hub. https://ivans.com/product-release-hub/ivans-exchange
- 4.Sonant, “IVANS review.” https://www.sonant.ai/blog/ivans-review
IVANS is a trademark of its owner, used here only to identify that service. Emerald Relay isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by it.