The Real Cost of SOC2 Compliance for Startups (2026 Guide)
Every SOC2 pricing guide online quotes the auditor fee and stops there. The auditor fee is usually the third or fourth largest cost. This guide breaks down what SOC2 actually costs in 2026 — including the line items that blindside most founders — and compares three approaches: DIY, compliance automation platforms, and managed services.
The short version: you will spend somewhere between $18,000 and $150,000+ getting and maintaining SOC2 Type II, depending on your approach, company size, and existing security posture. Here's how to estimate your number.
SOC1 vs SOC2: If your product touches financial data flows (payroll, payments, benefits), enterprise buyers may also request a SOC 1 report in addition to SOC 2. SOC 1 audits are scoped to controls relevant to financial statement reporting. Budget an additional $8,000–$20,000 for a SOC 1 Type II audit if your customer base requires it.
The Full Cost Stack
SOC2 compliance has five distinct cost categories, and most guides only mention one or two.
1. Auditor / CPA Firm Fees
The SOC2 audit must be performed by a licensed CPA firm. You cannot self-certify. Auditor fees in 2026 range from:
- SOC2 Type I: $8,000–$25,000
- SOC2 Type II (6-month period): $15,000–$40,000
- SOC2 Type II (12-month period): $20,000–$60,000
- Annual renewal (subsequent years): $12,000–$35,000
The wide range reflects firm size, your system complexity, how many Trust Service Criteria you're auditing, and how much prep work you've done before the audit starts. Big 4 firms charge more; regional CPA firms that specialize in tech SOC2 audits are often just as rigorous at 60% of the price.
One often-missed cost: readiness assessment. Many auditors offer a pre-audit gap assessment ($3,000–$8,000) before the formal audit. This is optional but recommended — it tells you what you'll fail before the clock starts on your Type II observation period. Skipping it risks starting your 6-month window before your controls are actually operating.
2. Compliance Automation Platform
The market assumption now is that you'll use a compliance automation platform (Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, Sprinto, Tugboat Logic). These platforms connect to your cloud infrastructure, code repositories, identity providers, and MDM systems to automate evidence collection.
2026 pricing (annual contracts):
| Platform | Startup Tier | Growth Tier | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | Vanta | ~$15,000/yr | $25,000–$40,000/yr | Auditor partner network built in | | Drata | ~$10,000/yr | $20,000–$35,000/yr | Strong integrations, good UX | | Secureframe | ~$8,000/yr | $15,000–$25,000/yr | More manual, lower cost | | Sprinto | ~$6,000/yr | $12,000–$20,000/yr | Popular with international startups | | Tugboat Logic | ~$9,000/yr | $18,000–$30,000/yr | Acquired by OneTrust |
These prices are starting points. All vendors negotiate. Seed-stage companies with fewer than 20 employees often get 30–50% discounts if you push. If you're going through an accelerator (YC, a16z portfolio), platform discounts are typically available.
Important: these platforms automate evidence collection, not control implementation. If you don't have multi-factor authentication enforced, endpoint detection installed, or access reviews actually happening — the platform will show a failing check, not fix the underlying issue.
3. Engineering and Security Implementation Time
This is the largest hidden cost, and it's rarely mentioned in pricing guides because it doesn't show up as a direct payment.
Getting SOC2-ready requires implementing real security controls. The time cost depends on your starting posture. For a typical 8–15 person seed-stage startup that hasn't prioritized security:
Infrastructure and access control (~60–120 hours):
- Enforce MFA across all systems (AWS, GitHub, GSuite, Slack, etc.)
- Implement least-privilege IAM policies in cloud environments
- Enable CloudTrail / audit logging (AWS) or equivalent
- Set up network segmentation and remove public-facing resources that shouldn't be public
- Configure VPC flow logs, security groups, and alerting
Endpoint security (~20–40 hours):
- Deploy MDM (Jamf, Mosyle, or Kandji for Mac-heavy teams)
- Enforce full-disk encryption, screen lock policies, and automatic updates
- Deploy EDR/antivirus across all employee devices
- Establish a policy for contractor and BYOD device access
Application security (~40–80 hours):
- Implement dependency scanning (Snyk, Dependabot, or similar)
- Set up SAST tooling in CI/CD
- Review and document data encryption at rest and in transit
- Implement and document a vulnerability management process
Compliance framework mapping (~10–20 hours):
- Map your control set to NIST CSF (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover) and OWASP Top 10 at the start of the program. This mapping pays dividends when enterprise customers ask which frameworks you align to — and reduces redundant documentation as you add ISO 27001 or FedRAMP later.
Policies and procedures (~30–60 hours):
- Write, review, and get management sign-off on 15–25 required policies (acceptable use, incident response, change management, access control, vendor management, etc.)
- Establish a security training program and document completion
- Document your system description (required for the audit report)
Ongoing evidence collection (~5–10 hours/month):
- Quarterly access reviews (who has access to what, is it still appropriate?)
- Monthly review of security alerts and vulnerability scans
- Change management tracking (every production deploy needs a record)
- Vendor risk assessments when adding new tools
At a fully-loaded cost of $150–$250/hour for an engineer's time, the initial implementation runs $50,000–$90,000 in staff cost. The ongoing maintenance is $9,000–$30,000/year.
Most startups absorb this into existing engineering capacity, so it doesn't appear as a budget line — but it is absolutely a real cost, measured in delayed product features and diverted engineering attention.
4. Tooling and Infrastructure Changes
Beyond the compliance platform, SOC2 readiness often requires purchasing or upgrading:
- MDM solution: $4–$9/device/month (Jamf, Mosyle, Kandji). For 15 devices: ~$1,500–$1,600/year
- EDR/antivirus: $5–$15/device/month. For 15 devices: ~$900–$2,700/year
- Password manager: $4–$8/user/month if not already in use
- SIEM or log aggregation: $0 (CloudWatch free tier) to $20,000+/year depending on log volume
- Secrets management: AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, or 1Password Secrets — usually $0–$5,000/year depending on scale
- Penetration testing: Required by many enterprise customers alongside the SOC2 report. $10,000–$30,000 annually from a reputable firm
- VAPT automation workflow: Integrating automated DAST/SAST (OWASP ZAP, Snyk, Semgrep) into CI/CD reduces the scope — and cost — of annual manual pentests. A well-configured automated VAPT pipeline mapped to the OWASP Top 10 can cut manual pentest hours by 30–50%
Tooling additions are typically $15,000–$40,000/year for a 10–20 person company that starts from scratch.
5. Legal and HR
Often overlooked:
- Employment agreements and NDAs that include security obligations: $2,000–$5,000 one-time (attorney review)
- Background check program for new hires: $30–$100/employee/year
- Security awareness training platform: $15–$30/user/year (KnowBe4, Proofpoint Security Awareness, etc.)
Total Cost Summary by Approach
Option 1: DIY (No Compliance Platform)
Best for: Technical founders who want to understand compliance deeply, or budget-constrained startups under 5 people.
| Item | Year 1 | Annual Renewal | |---|---|---| | Auditor (Type II) | $20,000–$40,000 | $15,000–$30,000 | | Engineering time (implementation) | $50,000–$90,000 (staff cost) | $15,000–$25,000 | | Tooling (MDM, EDR, etc.) | $5,000–$15,000 | $5,000–$15,000 | | Legal/HR | $3,000–$7,000 | $1,000–$2,000 | | Total | $78,000–$152,000 | $36,000–$72,000 |
DIY is only cheaper if you have the engineering bandwidth. When you factor in opportunity cost — features delayed, engineers context-switching — most founders say they'd pay for automation if they could do it over.
Option 2: Compliance Automation Platform (Vanta/Drata)
Best for: Series A startups with 10–30 employees who have some existing security hygiene.
| Item | Year 1 | Annual Renewal | |---|---|---| | Auditor (Type II) | $15,000–$30,000 | $12,000–$25,000 | | Compliance platform | $10,000–$25,000 | $10,000–$25,000 | | Engineering time (implementation) | $30,000–$60,000 (staff cost) | $8,000–$15,000 | | Tooling | $5,000–$15,000 | $5,000–$15,000 | | Legal/HR | $3,000–$7,000 | $1,000–$2,000 | | Total | $63,000–$137,000 | $36,000–$82,000 |
The platform automates evidence collection significantly, reducing ongoing engineering time. But you still need someone who understands what the platform is actually checking and can implement the controls it reports as failing.
Option 3: Managed Service (100x Engineering)
Best for: Seed-stage companies that don't have security bandwidth, startups under enterprise sales pressure, teams that want audit-ready in the shortest possible time.
We handle the implementation (cloud configuration, policy writing, tooling setup), the ongoing evidence collection, audit preparation, and coordination with the auditor — while your engineers focus on the product.
Pricing is scoped to your environment, but the total cost including auditor fees is typically $35,000–$65,000 for initial SOC2 Type II — less than hiring a compliance consultant separately and paying for the implementation on top. Get a quote.
What Nobody Tells You About Timing
The most expensive mistake in SOC2 is starting too late. The audit period for Type II is a minimum of 6 months. That means if you need a SOC2 Type II report in hand to close a deal, you need to start at least 8–10 months before you need it (accounting for readiness time before the observation period begins).
Startups routinely:
- Get a security questionnaire in a deal and promise the prospect a SOC2 report
- Realize Type II takes 9+ months
- Rush into a Type I to buy time (adding Type I cost)
- Pay for an expedited/rushed auditor engagement (premium pricing)
- Lose the deal anyway because the enterprise procurement cycle moved on
The right time to start SOC2 is before you need it — ideally as soon as you're processing customer data in production, not when the enterprise deal is already at legal review.
The Question We Get Most
"Can we just get SOC2 Type I to start?"
Yes, and it's often the right call. Type I certifies that your controls are suitably designed at a point in time — it doesn't prove they operated over a period. Many enterprise customers will accept a Type I report while your Type II observation period runs. It's a credible interim step.
Type I timeline: 2–4 months. Cost: $15,000–$45,000 all-in. It buys you 6–12 months of credibility while you get the Type II clock running.
If you're staring down an enterprise deal and wondering whether compliance is actually blocking it, we'll scope the situation in a 30-minute call — no cost, no pitch deck.
Related Resources
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- Fintech SOC 2 Type II in 3 Weeks
- Healthcare SaaS: HIPAA + SOC 2 Compliance
Our solution: Security & SOC 2 Compliance Engineering
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- Vanta vs Drata vs 100x.ai: Which Compliance Approach is Right?
Free Tool: Get your personalized SOC2 readiness score and timeline estimate for free. → SOC2 Readiness Assessment