How much does SOC 2 cost?

The question everyone asks but nobody answers clearly. “It depends” is the standard answer from firms such as Deloitte , PwC  and A-LIGN . That is true, but you can still give realistic ranges. This article does that, based on data from hundreds of SOC 2 projects and the AICPA SOC 2 guidelines .

The short answer: for a mid-sized SaaS company (25-100 people), budget €40,000-€70,000 for your first Type II. That sounds like a lot, but it is less than a senior engineer costs for a year. And without SOC 2 you will not win enterprise deals that could return that investment 10-100 times over.

SOC 2 costs: the total investment in perspective

Note one important distinction: the audit fee (what the accountant charges) is not the same as your all-in cost (audit plus tooling, consultancy and internal time). People often confuse the two. Below, first the pure audit fee, then the full picture.

Audit fee: what does the accountant charge?

This is only the external auditor, separate from everything else. Firms quote this figure when you ask for an offer.

All-in costs: the full picture

The audit fee is often less than half of your actual cost. Add consultancy, tooling and internal time.

Small companies benefit from simplicity, but often lack a dedicated security team. For mid-sized organisations, compliance tooling is a smart investment: €15,000 a year for automated evidence collection saves 200 hours of manual work. For large organisations, a phased approach pays off: start with one product, security only, and extend the scope later.

The SOC 2 cost items explained

External audit fees: what are you paying for?

The CPA firm’s fees are your largest external cost.

What affects the price:

• Company size: more people means more access reviews and more onboarding and offboarding to test
• Number of systems: 5 AWS accounts vs 1, or 20 third-party integrations vs 5
• Chosen criteria: security only vs security plus availability, confidentiality and privacy
• Type I vs Type II: Type II costs 1.5-2 times more because of the testing over the observation period
• Complexity: multi-tenant, several data centres, compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA)
• Readiness: if you are not prepared, the audit takes longer and costs more

Firm pricing models: Some firms charge a fixed price, others charge by the hour. Fixed price gives certainty, but you may pay too much if you are well prepared. Hourly means you only pay for what is needed, but the bill can overrun.

Big 4 vs boutique: Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG are 20-40% more expensive than smaller firms. You pay for the brand. If your customers specifically ask for a Big 4 firm, it is worth it. Otherwise, smaller firms are often excellent and closely involved.

Dutch vs American firms: Dutch firms can combine ISAE 3000 and SOC 2. American firms do pure SOC 2. For Dutch companies with European customers, the ISAE 3000 element is useful. Prices are comparable.

Consultancy: necessary or nice to have?

Many companies hire a specialist to help with preparation. Is that necessary? It depends.

What a consultant does:

• Performs a gap analysis
• Writes or reviews policies
• Advises on control implementation
• Sets up evidence collection
• Runs a readiness assessment
• Acts as liaison with the auditor during the audit

When it makes sense:

• You have no security or compliance experience in-house
• Your team has no time (it is faster with help than struggling alone)
• You want certainty that you get it right the first time
• Your situation is complex (M&A, legacy systems, hybrid cloud)

When you can skip it:

• You already have ISO 27001 (you know how compliance works)
• You have an experienced security lead who has done this before
• You have the time and can do the research yourself
• You use compliance tooling with good guidance (Vanta, Drata, Secureframe)

Costs: €5,000-€30,000 depending on scope. Boutique consultants: €1,000-€2,000 per day. Larger firms: €2,000-€4,000 per day. Package deals are common, such as an “SOC 2 Readiness Package” at a fixed price.

Return on investment: If consultancy saves you 100 hours of internal time (likely), and your engineers cost €75 per hour fully loaded, you save €7,500. A €10,000 consultant pays for themselves if they save you 150 hours. That is realistic.

Compliance tooling: automated evidence collection

These platforms monitor your infrastructure and collect evidence. They are not mandatory, but strongly recommended.

What they do:

• Scan your AWS/GCP/Azure for misconfigurations
• Monitor MFA, user access and encryption settings
• Collect daily screenshots (evidence)
• Dashboard with compliance status per control
• Integrations with 100+ tools (GitHub, Jira, Google Workspace, etc.)
• Policy templates and guidance
• Continuous monitoring (alerts on changes)

Well-known platforms compared:

Pricing: Usually by employee tier: 1-50, 50-100, 100-250, and so on. Plus add-ons for extra frameworks (ISO 27001, GDPR, etc.).

Return on investment: Without tooling: 200-300 hours of manual evidence collection for Type II. With tooling: 30-50 hours of review time. You save 150-250 hours. At €75 per hour, that is €11,000-€18,000 saved. Tooling pays for itself, and you also get real-time visibility.

Downside: Not cheap for very small teams. If you have 5 people and pay €15,000 a year, that is €3,000 per person. That feels expensive. But the time savings are real.

Internal costs: the underestimated item

This is where companies get it wrong. “The audit costs €40,000, that is manageable.” But your own time also costs money.

Hours breakdown:

This comes on top of your external fees. For a mid-sized company, the total investment is therefore €45,000 (audit) + €15,000 (tooling) + €60,000 (internal) = €120,000.

Opportunity cost: Those 500 hours of project management could have gone to product development, sales or customer success. This is not an argument against SOC 2 (you need it), but it is a reason to plan realistically.

How to reduce costs:

• Compliance tooling: saves 150+ hours
• Good preparation: a readiness assessment prevents duplicate work
• Reuse policies: if you have ISO 27001, copy and adapt them
• Phased approach: start small, extend the scope later

Hidden costs you forget

Tooling subscriptions: Not only the compliance platform, but also SIEM, vulnerability scanner, password manager, backup solution and monitoring tools. €500-€2,000 per month extra.

Third-party audits: Some vendors must be audited as part of your vendor risk management. You request their SOC 2 report for free, but some do not have one. Then you must audit them yourself or accept the risk, which is not ideal.

Training programmes: Security awareness training: €10-€30 per user per year for platforms such as KnowBe4. With 50 people: €500-€1,500 per year.

Penetration testing: Required for most SOC 2 audits. €5,000-€20,000 depending on scope. Repeat every year.

Insurance: Cyber insurance premiums fall with SOC 2, but you must have a policy. €3,000-€15,000 per year depending on revenue and coverage.

SOC 2 lead time: how long does it take?

Costs are one thing, time is another. You can spend money to speed things up, but some steps are bound to time.

Type I lead time

Type II lead time

At small companies, the bottleneck is that founders handle sales, product and compliance at the same time. Hiring a consultant for policies and gap analysis saves 4-6 weeks. At mid-sized organisations, coordination between teams (engineering, IT, HR, legal) takes the most time. At large organisations, a phased approach pays off: start with one product or business unit while other teams begin preparing. Enterprise customers often ask for a 12-month observation period instead of 6.

How to reduce SOC 2 costs: practical tips

1. Start with Type I, upgrade to Type II

Type I is cheaper and faster. It gives you a report to unblock sales. After 6-12 months, once your controls run reliably, do Type II.

Saving: €15,000-€30,000 in the first year, plus you spread the investment.

2. Start with security only

All five Trust Services Criteria look impressive, but they are not always necessary. Start with security (mandatory). Add availability if you are bound by an SLA. Confidentiality and privacy are useful but optional, and each adds 20-30% to audit time.

Saving: €8,000-€20,000 through a limited scope.

3. Reuse ISO 27001 work

If you have ISO 27001 (or are working towards it), there is about 80% overlap. Policies, risk assessments and controls can all be reused. You must reword them into TSC language, but the content is already there.

Saving: 30-40% on preparation time = €10,000-€25,000.

4. Invest in tooling

€15,000 a year for Vanta sounds expensive, but it saves 200 hours of manual work. At €75 per hour, that is €15,000 saved. Break-even. You also get real-time visibility and are ready for re-audits.

Saving: €5,000-€15,000 net (after tooling costs) through efficiency.

5. Do a readiness assessment

€5,000 for a pre-audit sounds like extra cost. But findings during the real audit cost you more: delays, extra fieldwork days (€2,000-€3,000 per day for the auditor), and possibly findings in your report that customers can see.

Saving: €10,000-€20,000 by avoiding unexpected issues.

6. Prepare well

The better your evidence is organised, the faster the audit. Auditors charge by the day. If you spend two weeks searching for documents, you pay for two extra weeks.

Saving: €5,000-€15,000 through shorter fieldwork.

7. Compare quotes

Request at least three quotes. Prices vary 2-3 times. €80,000 vs €40,000 for the same work does happen. Check references, but do not choose the most expensive option just because “it will probably be good.”

Saving: €10,000-€30,000 through careful comparison.

Is SOC 2 worth the investment?

€50,000-€150,000 is a lot of money. Especially for startups. But look at the return:

Direct benefits:

• Enterprise deals that would otherwise not close (€50k-€500k ARR per deal)
• Shorter sales cycles (no months of security questionnaires)
• VC funding: due diligence goes faster, higher valuation
• Cyber insurance: 10-20% discount on premiums
• Efficiency: 1 SOC 2 report instead of 50 security questionnaires a year

Indirect benefits:

• Your security is genuinely better. Breaches cost €100k-€5M+ in damage.
• Team confidence: engineers know they are building securely
• Hiring: security-minded talent wants to work at compliant companies
• M&A: acquirers value compliance, which raises exit value

Break-even: If SOC 2 gives you access to two enterprise deals of €100k ARR each, you have €200k in extra revenue. At a 70% gross margin, that is €140k profit. Investment: €80k. Break-even in year 1.

If you cannot win enterprise customers without SOC 2, the question is not whether it is worth it. It is a must-have.

The full picture: what you will spend

Summary table for realistic planning:

Plan a 10-20% buffer for unexpected costs (extra penetration testing, tooling add-ons, consultant days, auditor overruns).

More information

• Step-by-step plan: the 12 steps to SOC 2
• The audit process: what the auditor does exactly
• Type I vs Type II: which one do you choose
• Trust Services Criteria: the 5 pillars explained
• For startups and scale-ups: cost indications by team size and when to start
• Compliance tooling: Vanta, Drata, Secureframe and Sprinto compared
• AICPA SOC 2 : official source