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Vanta is quote-based, and Vendr's buyer data puts small companies at $12,000–$28,000 a year. SimpleAudit is from $40/mo (Starter, billed annually at $480). Essentials is $199/mo billed annually. No integration setup, no enterprise contract.
| Feature | SimpleAudit | Vanta |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $40/mo (Starter, billed annually at $480). Essentials is $199/mo billed annually. | $12,000–$28,000/year (Vendr) |
| Setup time | Minutes | Integration setup first |
| AI Policy Generation | ||
| Conversational AI Interface | Vanta Agent (July 2026) | |
| Automated Evidence Collection | ||
| Integration Marketplace | ||
| Risk Register | ||
| Vendor Management | ||
| Access Reviews | ||
| Multiple Frameworks | SOC 2 (more planned) | |
| Published price |
At Vendr's observed range for small companies, $12,000–$28,000 a year, Vanta's platform alone costs 5 to 11 times SimpleAudit Essentials ($2,388 a year). Most startups don't need enterprise compliance infrastructure. They need their SOC 2 report and the deal it unlocks.
No platform on this page includes the audit. The CPA firm that signs your SOC 2 report is a separate purchase. Our row uses our audit partner's starting price; for the others, add the fee your auditor quotes.
| Option | Platform, first year | Audit | First-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleAudit Starter | $480 | Type 1 from $5,000 | from $5,480 |
| Vanta | $12,000–$28,000 | + your auditor's fee | Depends on your auditor |
From $40/mo (Starter, billed annually at $480). Essentials is $199/mo billed annually. Our row is the lowest first-year cost: Starter ($480 a year) plus a SOC 2 Type 1 from MJD Advisors, a peer-reviewed, US-based CPA firm, from $5,000. Starter covers the Security criteria only, for one user and one audit preparation. It gets you audit-ready, but the audit tools (audit window tracking, the audit package export, audit documents and auditor fields) are on Essentials, so on Starter you hand your evidence to the auditor yourself. A Type 1 is the option when a prospect needs a report in under about 3 months. Our recommended path is a security-only SOC 2 Type 2 with a 3-month observation window: MJD prices it from $7,500, and with Essentials ($2,388 a year), which runs the audit, the first year starts at $9,888. MJD Advisors is SimpleAudit's audit partner.
Vanta's range is Vendr's buyer data for companies with 1 to 50 employees on one framework (read 2026-09-29). Vanta publishes no prices.
Vanta does not publish prices. Its pricing page lists four tiers, Essentials, Plus, Professional and Enterprise, and every one leads to a demo. Buyer data from Vendr puts companies with 1 to 50 employees at $12,000–$28,000 a year for one framework, and the median contract across all company sizes is about $20,000. No tier includes the audit.
The price is not the only cost. Vanta's automation runs on its integrations, 400+ of them, and someone has to connect your cloud, identity and code tools and keep those connections healthy. For a team where every engineer is shipping product, that work competes with the roadmap, and it never appears on an invoice.
Vanta has moved toward small teams. In July 2026 it launched Vanta Agent, pitched as a compliance co-founder for early-stage startups with no security hire. That narrows the gap on guidance. It does not change the model underneath: quote-based pricing and standing connections into your systems. SimpleAudit holds no credentials into your infrastructure, and evidence arrives only when you upload it.
Vanta makes sense when you need several frameworks, want continuous automated monitoring, and have a security owner to run it. Below that point, you are paying for capacity you will not use for a while.
If a specific prospect already asked for your SOC 2 report, see what to send this week and how fast you can actually get one.
Teams switch to SimpleAudit when they need SOC 2 compliance but cannot justify the cost or complexity of Vanta at their current stage.
"The system is not very intuitive, and the cost/benefits do not match, especially for small companies."
Source: Christian Visti L., Verified Vanta User, G2 1.5/5 (Feb 2026, Organic)
Vanta's pricing is quote-based, and Vendr's buyer data puts companies with 1 to 50 employees at $12,000–$28,000 a year for one framework, before the audit. That is a large commitment for a startup still finding product-market fit.
Source: Vendr buyer data, read 2026-09-29; Vanta's pricing page lists no prices
Vanta's automated evidence collection runs on its integrations (it lists 400+). Someone on your team has to connect them and keep them working, which takes engineering time away from building product.
Source: vanta.com, read 2026-09-29
If you're pre-Series A with one or two enterprise deals riding on SOC 2, paying $12,000 or more a year before you've validated the revenue is hard to justify. SimpleAudit is designed for the seed stage where compliance is a sales requirement, not a full-time program.
Source: Founder experience, r/soc2 community feedback
Vanta added an AI agent for small teams in July 2026, so guidance alone no longer separates us. The model underneath does: Vanta's automation runs on standing connections into your cloud and identity tools. SimpleAudit holds no credentials into your systems. Evidence arrives only when you upload it, or push it from your own tools on Pro.
Start generating policies and assessing risks immediately. No integration setup before you can make progress.
Essentials from $199/mo with a 7-day free trial (14-day on the Partner tier), no credit card required. Starter is $480/yr with a 3-day free trial, also with no credit card required. Designed for startups and small teams (1–150 people) who need SOC 2 without enterprise pricing.
Vanta is right for a company that wants automated, continuous evidence collection and has someone to own it: an engineer or security lead who will connect and maintain its integrations (Vanta lists 400+). It is also the safer pick if you need several frameworks now, since SimpleAudit covers SOC 2 only, or if your buyers want a vendor name they already recognize. That is usually a team at Series A and beyond. For a small team that needs its first SOC 2 report, the bottom of Vendr's small-company range for Vanta, $12,000 a year, is more than a year of SimpleAudit Essentials plus a security-only Type 2 audit ($9,888).
Vanta does not publish prices; every tier leads to a demo. Vendr's buyer data puts companies with 1 to 50 employees at $12,000–$28,000 a year for one framework. SimpleAudit is from $40/mo (Starter, billed annually at $480). Essentials is $199/mo billed annually. Neither price includes the audit. Starter plus a SOC 2 Type 1 from MJD Advisors starts at $5,480 for the first year; Starter covers the Security criteria only, and the audit tools are on Essentials. Our recommended path, a security-only Type 2 with Essentials, starts at $9,888. MJD Advisors is SimpleAudit's audit partner.
For a small team pursuing its first SOC 2 report to close deals, yes. SimpleAudit is conversation-first, needs no integration setup, holds no credentials into your systems, and publishes its price. Vanta is the better fit once you want continuous automated monitoring, need several frameworks, and have a security owner to run it.
No. Vanta's automated evidence collection runs on its integrations (it lists 400+), which someone has to connect and maintain. SimpleAudit starts working immediately: the AI generates policies, builds your risk register, and guides remediation through conversation, and evidence arrives when you upload it.
SimpleAudit setup takes minutes: you answer questions in an AI conversation and start generating policies right away. Vanta's automated checks depend on connecting your cloud, identity and code tools first, so setup time depends on how many systems you connect and who on your team does it.
Yes. Essentials and Pro start with a 7-day free trial (the Partner tier gets 14 days), no credit card required. Starter has a 3-day free trial, also with no credit card required.
Vanta is right for a company that wants automated, continuous evidence collection and has someone to own it: an engineer or security lead who will connect and maintain its integrations (Vanta lists 400+). It is also the safer pick if you need several frameworks now, since SimpleAudit covers SOC 2 only, or if your buyers want a vendor name they already recognize. That is usually a team at Series A and beyond. For a small team that needs its first SOC 2 report, the bottom of Vendr's small-company range for Vanta, $12,000 a year, is more than a year of SimpleAudit Essentials plus a security-only Type 2 audit ($9,888).
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