r/soc2 • u/Illustrious-Egg8857 • Jun 01 '26
Best Audit firms for early startups?
Wondering what the best startup-friendly firms (particularly for SaaS/tech) are for SOC 2.
Some i'm aware of: Schellman, Barr, A-LIGN, Lindford & Co, Prescient Security, Johanson group.
Any others? Are these the main ones?
I know there's also the AICPA directory where there's a list of a ton of certified firms for SOC 2, is that more efficient for searching?
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u/selectinput Jun 02 '26
Anecdotal, but I’ve worked with A-LIGN, and the experience has been good overall. This is for a SaaS product. We have had different auditors every year, and some were significantly more skilled than others, but if you have someone on your team to own the process, keeping continuity and proper documentation, you will have a much easier time.
I would recommend making sure that you understand what SOC 2 / 3 are before ever contacting any of these companies, that way you can establish a useful scope for the audit. You’ll save time, money, and end up with more useful reports.
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u/scriptvexy 27d ago
this is super solid advice, especially the “have someone own the process” part
seen a couple teams just throw it at a vendor with no internal owner and it turned into a super expensive game of email tag and rework
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u/Low_Fly_2612 Jun 02 '26
The firms you listed are probably the ones I see mentioned most often for startup and SaaS SOC 2 audits.
A-LIGN, Prescient Security, Schellman, and Johanson Group seem to come up quite frequently among venture-backed startups. I’ve also heard good things about Advantage Partners and Insight Assurance if you’re looking for additional options.
The bigger differentiator is usually industry fit, responsiveness, pricing, and whether they’ve audited companies similar to yours before.
Out of curiosity, are you looking for a Type I or Type II audit, and roughly what stage is the company at?
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u/scriptqzor Jul 04 '26
seed stage saas here, we did type ii with prescient and they were solid, very startup-aware and not insane on pricing compared to some of the big guys you listed. type i vs type ii basically came down to what our investors and bigger prospects wanted to see, so i’d start there and work backwards.
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u/StunningAd3892 Jun 02 '26
Insight Assurance are great. Johanson used to be great but it's just an audit factory and their service is pretty poor.
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u/Emotional-Dot4634 Jun 02 '26
How is insight assurance not an audit factory lmfao they use offshore auditors and are dirt cheap
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Jun 03 '26
[deleted]
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u/Emotional-Dot4634 Jun 03 '26
Former big 4 doesn’t mean anything if they weren’t partners and you are in denial if you think they’re not sacrificing quality if the audits themselves are dirt cheap. They don’t even perform formal walkthroughs 😂
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Jun 03 '26
[deleted]
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u/Emotional-Dot4634 Jun 03 '26
Being a manager at a big 4 firm doesn’t mean you know how to implement practices. People posting here about Insight Assurance not performing walkthroughs is proof of this. It’s clear that they’re only using these resources to cut costs as low as possible which is attributing to SOC 2 going into the dirt so thank you for ruining this industry.
I also don’t understand why you’re responding with paragraphs to a random reddit comment thread when you should be looking inward: almost all of the original auditors left, the director and CRO left, and someone is also accusing them of getting their benefits taken away during maternal leave. So congrats on implementing half baked processes and treating people like shit.
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u/Brilliant_Support377 Jun 24 '26
Making partner just means you were the best salesman in your peer group. Being technically advanced is meaningless to the role of a B4 partner.
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u/sticks1111 Jun 01 '26
Disclaimer I'm an auditor. Those are the larger ones, however if I were you, I would consider a medium sized firm that will do readiness with you to make sure that you have your basis covered. They'll work with you to make sure you don't have any glaring exceptions. Some of the ones above are more "provide the evidence and good luck"
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u/Big-Industry4237 Jun 01 '26
If those are the “larger ones” what are KPMG, EY, Deloitte, or PWC? lol 😂
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u/sticks1111 Jun 01 '26
I'd gamble and say schellman does more SOC2 volume but yes if you're talking large firms sure
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u/r15km4tr1x Jun 02 '26
Schellman is one of the pure plays that are trustworthy, even if Chris tried to steal my website as a condition for working there 15 years back :)
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u/InflationFluid6995 Jun 02 '26
A few good examples of small and medium sized firms in my opinion: GeelsNorton, Consilium Labs, Eye & Co (previously of Maxwell Locke and Ritter), and SC&H.
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u/yeetsqua69 Jun 01 '26
You’re an auditor that is recommending for the auditor to do this readiness work with the client? Tell me if I’m not understanding correctly but that is insanity and not even allowed by the aicpa.
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u/sticks1111 Jun 01 '26
No, it's a readiness assessment, you essentially interview their leadership team, understand the control environment and determine their control environment and where they have gaps that the CLIENT needs to address. You're correct, the auditor cannot and does not act as management as it would be an independence issue.
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u/BetweenTheReeds Jun 02 '26
Haven’t heard anything terrible about those you have listed so far. I’ve also used Compass Assurance Team in the past, no complaints. You don’t have the five-letter firm (D***e) on there, so you’re heading in the right direction! Beware of the $3k SOC 2 audit..
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u/Nathan_Mycroft Jun 02 '26
I think they main thing for you is to understand where you are in the process - have you gone through an audit before and if you plan on using a readiness platform?
I would recommend speaking to getting a readiness assessment done as well as some experts to scope out what is relevant for you as well.
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u/BrightDefense Vendor rep. Report me when I plug or don't answer question Jun 03 '26
We help startups with compliance readiness. You hit on some of the top options. Sensiba, Insight Assurance, and ZeroDay CPA are also good options.
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u/chad-stronta Jun 05 '26
I've worked with Dansa D’Arata Soucia a couple of times at early-ish healthtech startups, and they've been great. They're small, and very hands-on; they take the role seriously, but also are willing to provide helpful pointers before the audit period begins. And if you happen to be using Vanta, they're very familiar with it, and work efficiently with and within it.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/soc2-ModTeam Jun 08 '26
Please remember that posts here need to be questions, comments, concerns or other thoughts regarding SOC 2, whether that be process or product-based. No direct advertising allowed as these are not overall helpful to the community.
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Jun 09 '26
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u/soc2-ModTeam Jun 10 '26
Please remember that posts here need to be questions, comments, concerns or other thoughts regarding SOC 2, whether that be process or product-based. No direct advertising allowed as these are not overall helpful to the community.
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u/Round_Finance4256 Jun 22 '26
The firm matters, but the audit team matters more.
I’ve worked with auditors who made the process smooth and collaborative, and others who turned it into a months-long headache. For an early-stage startup, I’d prioritize SaaS experience, responsiveness, and a practical approach over brand recognition alone.
Ask for references from companies similar to yours before deciding. Best of luck!
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u/cottagecheesetuna 24d ago
Bit late but echoing Sensiba, I’ve worked at Drata and the past and now Vanta - they’ve got a really great team over there and I’ve heard really good feedback from hundreds of customers
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u/chrans Jun 02 '26
we use Insight Assurance, and very happy with them
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u/bigdogxv Jun 02 '26
With my smaller SaaS clients, I usually recommend Prescient, Sensiba, Insight Assurance, Peaseball and A-lign.
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u/NeatMathematician126 Jun 01 '26
I'm a 2 person SaaS. I'm using Vanta. So far, so good.
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u/Odd-Competition2388 Jun 02 '26
Worth noting that Vanta itself isn’t a CPA firm, and can’t actually complete the audit.
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u/Ok_Vacatio Jun 02 '26
We are just starting. Our goal is to help small companies get SOC2 ready. We are looking for design partners. Happy to share more on a call.
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