What five SOC 2 tools publish about price for startups
Of the five tools in this guide, only Secureframe publishes a price: Fundamentals 'Starting at $7,500/year'. The other four publish plan names, contents or price factors, which is enough to build a sensible quote request.
We read five pricing pages on 2026-09-29. The headline is short: one number. But a founder trying to budget a first SOC 2 can still learn a lot from what each vendor chooses to publish, and from what it leaves out.
Which SOC 2 tool publishes a price?
Secureframe. Its Fundamentals plan is listed as 'Starting at $7,500/year' and includes one compliance framework, 300+ native integrations, infrastructure monitoring, evidence collection, personnel, risk and policy management, a Trust Center and access to the Secureframe Audit Partner Network. Its Complete and Defense plans are quote-only. The word 'starting' matters: the figure is a floor for one framework, and it does not say whether the audit fee is included.
What do the quote-only vendors publish instead?
Vanta lists four plans with their contents. Essentials covers one framework with the Vanta AI Agent, automated evidence, a Trust Center and access to expert partners. Plus adds Questionnaire Automation at 25 questionnaires per year and Access Management. Professional, which Vanta marks as most popular, raises the allowance to 144 questionnaires per year and adds risk management, an advanced Trust Center and custom tests. Enterprise is custom. There are no figures, but the plan boundaries are unusually clear.
Scytale lists startup bundles by name and content. Build Starter is the platform with one framework and add-ons. Build DFY, 'Done for you', which Scytale marks as most popular, combines the platform with LaunchReady Consulting and a web application black box pen test. Build Stronger pairs the platform with StayReady Consulting and a gray box pen test. Scale and Enterprise serve larger security teams. Every plan leads to a demo request. The useful detail for a startup is that consulting and a pen test are named inside the bundle rather than implied.
Comp AI takes a different approach. It says it does not hide a rate card and presents pricing on a 20-minute call. It lists the factors that set the price: frameworks, company size, timeline, and audit and security needs. It also states a money-back guarantee on its form.
Thoropass publishes no plans or prices; its pricing address showed homepage content when we read it.
What should a founder ask for in a quote?
Use what is published to make every quote comparable. Ask each vendor for: the price for SOC 2 alone and with one additional framework; whether the audit fee is included and which firm performs it; whether a pen test is included and of what kind; the number of security questionnaires included per year; the headcount or employee band the price assumes; and the contract length. For Scytale, ask which Build bundle matches your scope. For Vanta, ask which plan your questionnaire volume puts you on. For Secureframe, ask what moves you above the starting price.
How does price transparency affect our scores?
Pricing transparency carries 15% of the weight in our first-audit ranking. Secureframe leads it at 4.5 / 5. Vanta scores 2.6 for its detailed plan contents, Scytale 2.2 for published bundle contents, Comp AI 2.0 for listing its price factors, and Thoropass 1.0. The criterion rewards what a buyer can see before a call, not whether the eventual price is low.
What we did not do
We did not request quotes, and we do not estimate prices that vendors do not publish. Any figure you see elsewhere for these tools should come with a source and a date.
Sources
- Secureframe pricingSource: secureframe.com · Read 2026-09-29
- Vanta pricingSource: vanta.com · Read 2026-09-29
- Scytale pricingSource: scytale.ai · Read 2026-09-29
- Comp AI pricingSource: trycomp.ai · Read 2026-09-29
- Thoropass pricingSource: thoropass.com · Read 2026-09-29
Questions founders ask
How much does SOC 2 software cost for a startup?
Only one of the five tools here publishes a figure: Secureframe Fundamentals starts at $7,500/year for one framework. The others quote after a demo or call.
Does Scytale publish prices?
No. It publishes its startup bundles and their contents, and every plan leads to a demo request.