How Much Does a SOC 2 Audit Cost?
A transparent breakdown of SOC 2 audit costs. We detail auditor fees, hidden costs, and pricing for Type 1 vs. Type 2 audits.
For most startups and mid-market companies in 2026, a SOC 2 audit will cost between $10,000-$50,000. For enterprise organizations, it can cost $100,000+ depending on the size of your organization and the complexity of your cybersecurity infrastructure.
A SOC 2 Type 1 audit will cost between $5,000-20,000 and SOC 2 Type 2 will cost between $10,000-$20,000 for small to mid-sized companies, for a large enterprise it can be $30,000-$100,000+.
But that’s just the audit. Here’s a quick breakdown of the other costs involved with preparing for a SOC 2 compliance:
- Readiness Assessment ($10,000-15,000): Helps your organization to determine whether you’re ready for audit, and if not, what gaps you need to fill before you are ready.
- Documentation and Tools ($10,000-$20,000): Compliance automation platforms (like Vanta/Drata) as well as risk assessments and other documentation you’ll need to prep.
- Penetration Testing ($10,000-15,000): A simulated cyberattack to find vulnerabilities in your system. Not required but often expected, especially by enterprise clients.
- Staff Time (100+ hours): This is the engineering and leadership time spent determining the controls you’ll need to implement, configuring those controls, writing policies, gathering evidence. Plus, training employees.
Keep reading for an in-depth breakdown of these costs and advice on how your organization can streamline your progress towards SOC 2 compliance.
The Factors That Drive SOC 2 Audit Costs
If you ask three different founders what they paid for SOC 2 compliance, you’ll likely get three different answers. The total cost involved in achieving SOC 2 usually come down to four levers:
- Scope and Complexity: This is the biggest driver. If your audit is only focused on SOC 2’s Security criteria (the common criteria), it’ll cost less than if you’re also being audited based on other Trust Service Criteria like Availability, Confidentiality, or Privacy.
- Organization Size: If you have 500 employees, the auditor has more work to do than if you’re a 20-person startup.
- Auditor Reputation: A brand-name CPA firm may cost more than a smaller firm.
- Audit Type: Are you getting a Type 1 or a Type 2 report?
SOC 2 Type 1 Audit Costs vs. Type 2 Audit Costs
SOC 2 Type 1 Costs: $5,000-$20,000
A Type 1 audit is a point-in-time snapshot. The auditor looks at your system on a specific date (e.g., September 1st) and verifies that your controls are designed correctly. A Type 1 audit is generally cheaper than Type 2 because the auditor doesn't need to test if the controls worked over a 6-month period. They just check if they exist right now.
Who it's for: Startups that need to prove security to close their first big enterprise deal.
SOC 2 Type 2 Costs: $10,000-$100,000+
A Type 2 audit focuses on the operating effectiveness of your controls over a period of time (usually 3-6 months). During this time, the auditor is looking to check that your controls are working and policies are followed. For example, if an employee leaves the business, is their access revoked within the 24-hour limit your policies state.
A Type 2 audit costs more because it covers a much longer time period and takes up a lot more of the auditor’s time.
Breaking Down Additional SOC 2 Audit Costs
As we touched on in the introduction, the SOC 2 audit itself is only a part of the overall cost of becoming SOC 2 compliant. Here’s a breakdown of those costs:
Preparation
If you're tackling a SOC 2 audit for the first time, the heavy lifting lies in implementing the right security controls. Because SOC 2 isn’t a rigid checklist, the specific controls you need depend entirely on which Trust Services Criteria (TSC) you select.
This means you can’t just follow a standard instruction manual. Instead, your team will need to dedicate time to planning and designing controls that satisfy the requirements in a way that fits your specific organization.
Most organizations start with a readiness assessment or gap analysis. This is where you compare your current security posture against the Trust Services Criteria (TSC) relevant to your business.
- Gap Assessment: Expect to pay around $15,000 for a professional assessment to identify your control deficiencies.
- Risk Assessment: If you hire a compliance manager or consultant to conduct a formal risk assessment, budget an additional $10,000–$20,000.
Tooling and Remediation
Once your gap analysis reveals what gaps you need to address, your team needs to get to work implementing controls and updating your tech stack. This includes implementing Mobile Device Management (MDM), vulnerability scanners, centralized logging, or endpoint monitoring. The annual licenses for software to help with all of this can run from a few thousand dollars per year up to $100,000+ for large enterprise businesses.
Additionally, while not strictly mandatory, enterprise customers frequently expect a penetration test alongside your SOC 2 report. A pen test will typically cost $5,000 to $15,000 depending on the depth of testing required.
Internal Costs
One of the biggest budget drains when it comes to SOC 2 is your own team’s time. Meeting SOC 2 compliance requirements will mean dragging expensive internal resources (like your engineers and CTO) away from day-to-day tasks.
Your dev team will need to configure evidence collection, rewrite code for security, and manage access controls rather than building features. Someone also needs to write all of your internal documentation and policies.
Legal and Training
Finally, there are the administrative fees that add to your budget. There will likely be legal fees for reviewing your vendor contracts and employee agreements to ensure data protection clauses match your new security policies.
Every employee also needs security awareness training. While some do this in-house, third-party platforms often charge per seat.
One-Time vs. Recurring Costs
SOC 2 isn’t a diploma you frame on the wall and forget about. It needs renewing every year, and comes with ongoing maintenance costs.
Ahead of your first audit, you have to do the majority of the work: writing policies, buying new tools (like Vanta), and configuring everything. Then to remain compliant, you’ll need to continuously collect evidence, maintain controls and ensure everything runs smoothly between audits.
Here are the costs associated with continuous SOC 2 compliance:
- Monitoring: Tools like Vanta will continuously monitor compliance and collect evidence and can cost from $5,000-$20,000 per year.
- Documentation: You want to always be in a state of audit readiness, that means ensuring your documentation and policies are always up-to-date.
- Staff Time: If you have an internal CISO or fractional vCISO some of their time will need to be spent ensuring you’re always compliant. For example, making sure all new staff are onboarded correctly or any departing staff are let go line with your security policies.
How to Optimize Your Costs Without Cutting Corners
1. Scope Ruthlessly
Do not audit the entire company if only one product line touches customer data. If you have an internal dev tool that holds no customer data, exclude it from the audit scope. This reduces the number of systems the auditor has to inspect.
2. Automate Evidence Collection
Tools like Vanta and Drata can automate SOC 2 evidence collection helping to save both internal time (so your team doesn’t have to manually collect thousands of screenshots) and auditor team (as they won’t have to manually review thousands of screenshots).
3. Work with Experts
Going it alone (or trying to, anyway) is one of the biggest mistakes I see founders make. SOC 2 is expensive, for sure. But it’s even more expensive to spend months of internal time prepping for an audit and then leaving with a qualified report.
This is where SOC 2 implementation services pay for themselves. Instead of burning engineering hours trying to interpret control language, you can work with a team that’s been there and done it hundreds of times.
At Workstreet, we help turn compliance into a competitive advantage without burning out your engineering team, check out Workstreet's SOC 2 implementation services. We handle the complexity so you can get audit-ready fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SOC 2 Type 2 Worth the Extra Cost?
Generally, yes. Enterprise buyers generally view Type 1 as a starting point only — it proves you have controls in place, but doesn’t prove they all work as they should. Most buyers will expect to see a Type 1 report followed up by a Type 2 report shortly after.
Can I Do SOC 2 Without a Compliance Platform?
You can, but you will spend significantly more on manual evidence collection hours and auditor fees. The software often pays for itself in time saved.
How Long Does the Audit Take?
A Type 1 audit typically takes 2 - 6 weeks of active auditing once you are ready. A Type 2 audit requires a monitoring period (usually 3 to 12 months) followed by 3 - 6 weeks of auditing.
Do I Need a Penetration Test for SOC 2?
It’s not mandatory but in most cases it’s worthwhile as many enterprise buyers will expect to see penetration test results.
Are SOC 2 costs tax-deductible?
Generally, yes. The costs associated with SOC 2 compliance - including audit fees, software subscriptions (Vanta/Drata), and consultant fees - are typically considered "ordinary and necessary" business expenses. Always verify this with your own CPA, as capitalization rules for software can vary.
Is SOC 2 Cheaper if We’re a Small Startup?
Yes, absolutely. Auditors scale their fees based on complexity. A 10-person startup with a simple AWS environment will pay significantly less than a 500-person company, simply because the auditor has fewer screens to look at and fewer samples to test.
