The big platforms
Vanta, Drata, Secureframe
- Platform subscription$10,000 to $25,000 / yr
- CPA audit, billed separately$7,500 to $20,000
- Onboarding help, if quoted$5,000 to $25,000
- Pen test, sold separately$5,000 to $15,000
SOC 2 readiness
Get SOC 2 ready, without the enterprise price tag.
Everything you need to get audit ready, from gap analysis to real evidence to finished policies. Built for small teams, and priced for them too.
Start at $2,000 for onboarding, or $4,000 with the SOC 2 Type 1 examination and report included. Then $600 per month on a 12 month term, and your first SOC 2 Type 2 audit is included in the term.
Evidence ledgerLive
- CC6.1Access controlAWS IAM
- CC6.7Data encryptionRDS config
- CC7.2System monitoringCloudWatch
- CC8.1Change managementGitHub
- CC9.2Vendor managementContract vault
24 of 24 in-scope controls mapped
- Independent
- A U.S. licensed CPA firm signs the report, not us.
- Traceable
- Every piece of evidence maps back to a real source.
- For 2 to 50
- Built for teams with no compliance hire.
Built for the teams that move fastest
- Y Combinator
- Techstars
- Antler
- 500 Global
- South Park Commons
The SOC 2 path for founders who ship. Real, traceable evidence, nothing invented.
§ 01The problem
SOC 2 is blocking your next deal, and the usual options cost a fortune.
Nearly half of software buyers now rank security certifications as the top reason they pick a vendor, and security reviews stall deals for more than half of sales teams. The standard fix is a compliance platform subscription plus a separate auditor, which runs $25,000 to $50,000 in year one for most startups, by the platforms’ own published math. So you either overpay, or the deal stalls.
§ 02Who this is for
cybersoftware is small team sized. On purpose.
We build one thing well: the shortest path from "the deal needs SOC 2" to a package an independent CPA firm will sign. For companies still small enough that the founder is the one reading this.
Two founders and a Notion doc. Twelve engineers and a Linear board. Forty people and a real HR function.
If a prospect just asked for your SOC 2 report, you do not have one, and you cannot spare three months or $35,000, this was built for you. B2B software, cloud native, handling customer data, somewhere between two and fifty people, with nobody whose job is compliance.
Any founder can drive the whole thing. The intake reads like a survey, not a GRC questionnaire, and the dashboard tells you what to upload next.
Where we fit, and when you outgrow us.
We are deliberately built for the bottom of this ladder. Keep using it as long as it fits. When it stops fitting, we will say so.
| Team size | What that looks like | What fits |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 10 | Seed, pre revenue | cybersoftware |
| 10 to 50 | Closing enterprise deals | cybersoftware, you are here |
| 50 to 100 | First compliance hire | cybersoftware, or graduate |
| 100 to 300 | Dedicated GRC team | A larger platform |
| 300+ | Multi framework, global | Enterprise GRC |
Stay as long as the shoe fits. $2,000 one time for onboarding with no examination, or $4,000 with the SOC 2 Type 1 examination and report included. Then $600 per month on a 12 month term, or $7,000 for the first 12 months on one invoice, and your first SOC 2 Type 2 audit is included in the term once your 3 month observation period closes. When you outgrow us, take your audit history and evidence with you.
§ 03How it works
From zero to audit ready, in one place.
No tool sprawl, no consultant relay race. One system carries you from first question to signed report.
The dark panels on the right are the actual product, live. Move your cursor into one and drive it yourself.
- 01Guided
Readiness assessment
Answer plain questions about how your company actually runs.
- 02Automated
Gap analysis
See exactly where you stand against every SOC 2 requirement.
Intake progress: 62%
Select “Yes” if MFA is enforced for AWS, Azure, GCP, or similar admin consoles.
Live demoThe readiness assessment, answering itself - 03Your team, guided
Evidence collection
Gather and organize real evidence, each piece traceable to its source.
- 04Your team, guided
Remediation
Clear, prioritized tasks to close every gap.
Live demoA gap card going from open to closed - 05Human reviewed
Policies and documents
Generated from your real setup and tailored to your company, never boilerplate.
- 06CPA firm
Your audit
Handed to a trusted auditor who already knows the system, so it moves fast.
Ready to Generate
All compliance items are complete.
All policies completeAll evidence uploadedOnboarding data completeLive demoThe audit binder assembling
§ 04No guesswork
Real evidence. No guesswork.
A lot of compliance tools lean on AI to auto generate evidence and documents. That is the shortcut that got parts of the compliance industry in trouble. Everything here is grounded in your actual setup and traceable back to a real source. When something needs your input, it asks. It never invents.
Auditors are tightening their standards on auto generated evidence. This was built for that from the start.
Evidence trail4 / 4 traced to source
- EV-0147access-review-q2.csvAWS IAM
- EV-0211mfa-enrollment.jsonOkta API
- EV-0309deploy-approvals.logGitHub
- EV-0384backup-restore-test.pdfRDS snapshot
Nothing invented. Every line resolves to its origin.
§ 05Why it costs less
$2,000 to start, or $4,000 with the examination. $600 a month to stay.
Same deliverable, a SOC 2 report an enterprise buyer will accept, for a fraction of what the usual path costs in a first year. Ours is the only row below that can have an examination inside the figure at all. The bigger platforms are not bad. We are built for an earlier company with a thinner margin for compliance spend.
Here is the part of compliance pricing nobody puts on the pricing page: the platform subscription is not the price of a SOC 2 report. The audit is almost always a second bill, from a separate CPA firm, that shows up after you have already signed. Software now does the heavy lifting that used to take consultants hundreds of billable hours, so we can put readiness, evidence, policies and the Type 1 examination on one bill, the way it should cost a small team. That puts a first year at $9,200, or $11,200 with the examination in it, where those platforms’ own cost guides put year one at $25,000 to $50,000.
| Vendor | What you pay | First year cost |
|---|---|---|
| cybersoftwareThis is usSOC 2 Type 1 optional | $2,000 once, or $4,000 with the examination, then $600 a month. | $9,200 or $11,200Type 1 examination optional. First Type 2 audit included either way. |
| The big platformsVanta, Drata, Secureframe | A reported average of $21,500 a year for the platform alone. The audit is billed separately by a CPA firm. | $21,500Audit not included |
| The budget toolsSprinto, Scytale and peers | $6,000 to $13,000 a year for the platform. The audit is still a separate engagement with a separate CPA firm, and the policies are templates. | $6,000 to $13,000Audit not included |
| ConsultantsTraditional firms and Big 4 | A typical $35,000 prep engagement. The audit is billed separately by a CPA firm. | $35,000Audit not included |
Even our higher figure, with the Type 1 examination and the first Type 2 audit already inside it, lands under what the platforms and the consultants spend before their auditor invoices at all. No consultant overhead, no enterprise sales team, no renewal cliff. Both our figures are the entry paid once plus 12 months of Type 2 at $600, so you can check either one against the rates in the same row rather than take our word for a total. The examination is the only difference between them, and your first Type 2 audit is inside the term on both. You can also pay the first 12 months up front and save $200, a single $7,000 invoice covering the first 12 months rather than twelve payments; the column quotes the monthly path so the arithmetic stays in plain sight. The budget tools are the one row that can start cheaper than us on sticker, and the difference is what the sticker buys: their audit is a separate engagement with a separate CPA firm and their policies are templates, so an examination is still ahead of them and is not in that number. The competitor figures above are subscription and readiness spend only. Add the CPA audit at $7,500 to $20,000, plus onboarding help and a pen test, and the same first year reaches the $25,000 to $50,000 those platforms publish in their own cost guides, which is what the receipts below itemize. Platform figures are averages of observed contract values across every customer size, so a very small team would be quoted nearer the bottom of the range.
Read any competitor quote like an auditor would: line by line.
The budget tools
Sprinto, Scytale, EasyAudit and friends
- Platform subscription$6,000 to $13,000 / yr
- CPA audit, still separate$7,500 to $20,000
- PoliciesTemplates
- Pen testAdd-on
cybersoftware
One billSOC 2 Type 1, complete
- Readiness and gap analysisIncluded
- Evidence, traced to sourceIncluded
- Policies written from your setupIncluded
- Independent CPA examinationIncluded
- Separate auditor invoiceNone
§ 06Pricing
Get audit ready. Stay audit ready.
Pick how you start, then Type 2 keeps you there on a 12 month term that includes your first Type 2 audit. That is a first year of $9,200, or $11,200 with the examination in it.
Step 01Your entry
Get audit ready
Audit ready in as little as a week
Onboarding puts your controls, policies and evidence in place. Adding Type 1 puts a signed report in your buyer’s hands.
$4,000one time
The SOC 2 Type 1 examination and report are included.
- Everything in onboarding
- The independent CPA firm engagement fee, paid by us
- The SOC 2 Type 1 examination itself
- Your issued Type 1 report
First year, all in$11,200
$4,000 once, plus 12 months of Type 2 at $600.
Step 02SOC 2 Type 2
Stay audit ready
$600per month, 12 month term
or $7,000 for the first 12 months on one invoice, $200 less than twelve monthly payments, then $600 a month after that
Your first Type 2 audit is included and starts once your 3 month observation period completes
Prove your controls keep working over time. What most enterprise buyers ultimately want.
- Continuous evidence collection with monthly check-ins
- Drift alerts when a control slips
- Your first Type 2 audit, included in the term
- No separate auditor invoice for it, the engagement fee is inside the term
- Re-audit readiness every cycle, with your evidence already in place
- Performed by an independent, licensed U.S. CPA firm
Start your intake· $2,000 or $4,000
You pick onboarding or onboarding with Type 1 at checkout. Type 2 starts from there, with no upsells in the middle of your workflow.
Every step includes
- Evidence traceable to a real source
- Policies written from your actual setup
- Your first Type 2 audit, included in the term
- No surprise auditor invoice
Audits after the first oneQuoted per engagement
Request an audit quote from your dashboard and our team negotiates with independent audit firms on your behalf to get you the best price. Every engagement is quoted before it begins.
You pick your entry once at checkout, then Type 2 starts from your dashboard. cybersoftware is not a CPA firm. SOC 2 examinations are performed by independent licensed U.S. CPA firms. The audit opinion is theirs alone.
§ 07FAQ
Questions, answered.
SOC 2 is an independent report on how you handle customer data across security and a few related areas. If a customer is asking for it before they sign, then yes, you need it. It is how larger buyers get comfortable trusting a smaller vendor.
Type 1 shows your controls are in place at a single point in time. Type 2 shows they keep working across a period. You choose at checkout whether your entry includes the Type 1 examination; either way you continue to Type 2, which is what most enterprise buyers want over the long run.
All 12 months. What those months carry: continuous evidence collection with monthly check-ins, drift alerts when a control slips, and your first SOC 2 Type 2 audit, which is included in the term. Paying $600 a month is the payment schedule for that term rather than a month to month contract, and you can settle it instead as one $7,000 invoice covering the first 12 months, which is $200 less than twelve monthly payments.
We do not publish a price for it, because we do not set it. You request an audit quote from your dashboard and our team negotiates with independent audit firms on your behalf to get you the best price, then you see the number before the engagement begins.
Audit ready for Type 1 starts at about a week, that is the fastest path when your setup is simple and your team moves quickly. Most teams land within a few weeks depending on how many gaps they need to close. Your first Type 2 audit is included in the term and starts automatically once your three month observation period completes.
Two reasons. First, software now handles work that used to take consultants hundreds of billable hours. Second, and this is the one nobody advertises: the big platforms do not include the audit. Their subscription gets you audit ready, then a separate CPA firm bills you $7,500 to $20,000 for the audit itself, by the platforms’ own published cost guides. Our $4,000 entry includes the Type 1 examination, and your first SOC 2 Type 2 audit is included in the term. Different sticker, but also a genuinely different amount of stuff on the receipt.
None of the three publishes a price, which tells you something. Reported contracts for teams under 50 people run $10,000 to $25,000 a year for the platform alone, before the separate audit fee, before onboarding help, and before a pen test. Their own cost guides put total first year SOC 2 spend at $25,000 to $50,000 for most startups. They are good products, built and priced for companies bigger than the teams we serve.
Read the quote line by line. At that price the audit is almost always still a separate engagement with a separate CPA firm, the policies are templates, and the pen test is an add-on. The handful of bundles that genuinely include an audit start around $15,000 a year. Our $4,000 entry includes the readiness work, evidence traced to source, policies written from your actual setup, and the independent CPA examination. One bill.
No, and you should not want us to. We get you fully ready, then hand you to an independent licensed U.S. CPA firm. The audit opinion is theirs, which is exactly what keeps the report credible with the enterprise buyer who asked for it.
Ready to get audit ready?
Start the free readiness assessment and see exactly where you stand. No payment until you generate your report.
Start your intake
Onboarding is $2,000, or $4,000 with the SOC 2 Type 1 examination and report included. Then $600 per month on a 12 month term, which puts the first year at $9,200 or $11,200. The big platforms’ own published cost guides put year one at $25,000 to $50,000, with the audit still billed separately on top.