What is software due diligence?

Software due diligence is a structured technical assessment of a target company's software assets and engineering organisation. It is typically commissioned before an acquisition, investment, or major partnership, and covers codebase quality, architecture, intellectual property, open source compliance, security posture, regulatory compliance, infrastructure, scalability, and the engineering team.

When is a software due diligence required?

It is normally required before signing definitive M&A documents, before leading a Series A or later investment round, before a strategic partnership where one party becomes dependent on the other's technology, and before a corporate spin-out or carve-out where software is transferred between entities.

What is included in a software due diligence report?

A complete report includes a codebase inventory, technology stack assessment, architecture review, IP and open source licence audit, security and compliance review, infrastructure and operations assessment, engineering team and process review, scalability analysis, technical debt evaluation, and prioritised findings with recommended remediation.

How long does a software due diligence take?

A focused engagement on a small SaaS product typically takes one to two weeks. A larger platform with multiple repositories, regulated workloads, or distributed teams can take four to eight weeks. The timeline depends on access to source code, documentation, and key personnel.

Is this software due diligence template customisable?

Yes. The generator captures your specific scope, target details, technology stack, security and compliance posture, repositories, key risks, and findings, and produces a personalised report you can tailor for the deal or engagement.

What format is the template available in?

The Software Due Diligence template is generated as a professionally branded PDF report you can share with your deal team, board, or investors.

Software Due Diligence Template - Technical Assessment

Assessment Information

Report Number:

Report Date:

Engagement Context:

Deal Stage:

Assessment Scope:

Confidentiality:

Executive Summary:

Target Company

Target Name / Entity:

Entity Type:

Registered Address:

Sector / Industry:

Primary Product / Service:

Year Founded:

Total Employees:

CTO / Head of Engineering:

Website:

Acquirer / Investor (Commissioning Party)

Commissioning Party Name:

Entity Type:

Address:

Primary Contact:

Contact Email:

Assessor / Lead Author:

Assessor Firm:

Codebase & Repositories

Total Lines of Code:

Primary Language:

Version Control:

Overall Test Coverage:

Code Review Practice:

Overall Code Quality Rating:

Key Repositories

Technology Stack

Data Stores

PostgreSQL

MySQL / MariaDB

MongoDB

DynamoDB

Firestore

Redis

Elasticsearch / OpenSearch

BigQuery / Snowflake / Redshift

Additional Technologies / Notes:

Architecture

Architecture Style:

Deployment Model:

Primary API Style:

Architecture Quality Rating:

Architecture Observations:

Intellectual Property

IP Assignments from Founders / Employees:

Contractor IP Assignments:

Patents Filed / Granted:

Registered Trademarks:

Open Source Licence Compliance:

Copyleft Licence Exposure (GPL / AGPL):

IP Observations:

Notable Open Source Dependencies

Security Posture

Security Posture Rating:

Last Penetration Test:

Known Critical / High Vulnerabilities:

Recent Security Incidents (24 months):

Compliance & Regulatory

Data Protection Officer Appointed:

Records of Processing Activities (Article 30):

Compliance Observations:

Infrastructure & DevOps

CI/CD Maturity:

Deployment Frequency:

Infrastructure as Code:

Observability:

Backup & Disaster Recovery:

RTO / RPO Targets:

Production Uptime SLA:

Trailing 12-Month Uptime:

Engineering Team & Practices

Engineering Headcount:

Contractors / Outsourced:

Methodology:

Team Location Model:

Key-Person Risk:

Bus Factor:

Team & Process Observations:

Key Engineering Personnel

Performance & Scalability

Current Production Load:

Peak Load Observed:

Scaling Approach:

Load Testing Practice:

Identified Bottlenecks:

Scalability Rating:

Technical Debt & Risks

Overall Technical Risk Rating:

Technical Debt Level:

Deprecated / Unsupported Dependencies:

Estimated Remediation Cost:

Key Risks & Findings

Documentation Quality

Documentation Available

Architecture documentation

API documentation

Operational runbooks

Engineer onboarding documentation

End-user documentation

Security policies and procedures

Disaster recovery plan

Data Protection Impact Assessments

Overall Documentation Quality:

Documentation Observations:

Findings & Recommendations

Overall Recommendation:

Assessor Confidence Level:

Key Strengths:

Key Weaknesses:

Recommended Pre-Close Actions:

Approval & Sign-Off

Assessor Sign-Off Name:

Assessor Title:

Commissioner Acknowledgement Name:

Commissioner Title:

Distribution List:

Report Validity:

Software Due Diligence Generator