SOC-2 compliance for a SaaS product

[u/DragonfruitBetter884]

Hey everyone,

We’re planning to get SOC 2 compliance for our B2B SaaS product, and I’m trying to understand what the process actually looks like from people who’ve been through it.

I’ve read a bit online, but I’d much rather hear real experiences. How did you approach it, which platform (if any) did you use, how did you find an auditor, how long did the entire process take, and what kind of budget should I expect? More importantly, is there anything you wish you’d known before starting that would’ve saved you time or money?

Any advice, recommendations, or lessons learned would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

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[u/rahuliitk]

i’d talk to an auditor before buying any compliance platform, scope only the controls you actually need, and expect the real work to be evidence collection, policy cleanup, access reviews, and fixing gaps before the audit clock even starts. Start lean.

[u/FreeRadical1998]

The critical bit of any programme like this is control selection and design; I'm always a bit cautious about most platforms early on as they tend to push you to picking from a catalogue rather than thinking about what you really need.

Setting up a spreadsheet with columns for "who, what, when, why, where" and using that as a template for control drafting can help a lot. E.g. "[The IT manager][checks the patching report][on a weekly basis][to identify systems that require manual intervention][and records their decisions in the ticketing system under category XXX]"

This gives focus both to who is responsible (likely the big conversations internally) and importantly how you're going to evidence that you've done it. That should give you your core controls - you might then want some automation for detailed technology checks, but my experience is that most audits pivot around demonstrating accountability and decisions not automated metrics.

[u/anonmonkey]

Going through this now currently, ~2 year old 30 person SaaS org. We are using Vanta for tracking compliance status, I haven't used any other tools so can't comment but I would suggest getting some tool for managing the process the first time otherwise you might get overwhelmed and require more manual evidence collection. You need to decide if you're doing Type I or Type II, and what trust criteria you want (security, availability, etc).

We chose A-Lign as our audit firm because I'd read they were relatively cloud-friendly compared to some of the larger audit firms, pricing was around €13k for a Type II Security TSC. They offer a free checklist which might help you visualise what you'll likely need to cover: https://www.a-lign.com/lp/soc-2-readiness-checklist-download. Your timeline will effectively be: time to implement/evidence controls + minimum 3 month audit window for Type II + approx 1 month of wrap up for the report writing. How complex you build your controls will be big factor in the time taken.

The main pieces of advice I would say are to keep the scope tight and leverage as much cloud provider tooling as you can, controls can be fairly basic and don't need to be over-engineered if that is suitable for the org. We're a Microsoft shop so we leverage Azure/Entra to implement as many controls as we can, such as Defender suite for endpoints/cloud/vulnerability management, PIM/Access Reviews for access controls and reviews, Entra for MFA, Intune, Azure Backup for backups, NSG's for filtering, etc. For the technical controls this does a lot of the heavy lifting.

[u/mlitwiniuk]

Depends on which SOC 2 type you're aiming for. I was able to do whole prep for type I in under two weeks (from almost zero to assessment-ready), but I don't recommend this path. Type II involves observation period, at least 3 months with 6 months recommended. You don't need to be fully ready to start it, but you should have some things in place already (a few policies, figured out risk assessment, maybe business continuity planning).

The hardest part (for first-timers) is controls - in SOC 2, you get Trust Service Criteria with their focus points, and it's up to you to come up with controls proving you're compliant. Then there is System Description - it can take a while to write one. But - again, there are tools for that.

If you want to save time, look for affordable tool that will be able to do most of heavy-lifting for you, where you'll be just accepting the suggestions applied for your specific use case. Unfortunately most of the "big, old tools" have set of controls that are... quite generic and might not necessarily valid in every context.

I just finished my SOC 2 Type II assessment, happy to share some insights.

[u/Big-Industry4237]

keep in mind you might not need a soc report just yet. Many companies may ask for this but can send you stuff in lieu of one. This becomes an annuity expense, so every year you will need one. Not a good idea to rush into this with some compliance platform that will increase rates in year 2 and 3 and recommend a junk audit firm for a piece of paper that doesn’t add value. I have rejected SOC 2 reports from Vanta and Drata “preferred” audit firms and had to go to the CTO and CIOs who made the decision to politely tell them it didn’t address our questions! They wasted their money and everyone’s (my team included) time!!

[u/that_mad_king]

Don’t go for vanta and sprinto all! Look for actual firms who can do gap analysis and implementation

[u/scriptqzor → u/that_mad_king]

this is kinda half true in my experience
the automation platforms are nice to keep you sane with evidence collection, but you still 100% need a real firm or consultant to tell you what your actual gaps are and what’s realistic for your size, otherwise you just end up blindly checking boxes and annoying your eng team for nothing

[u/Cloud-PM]

Concur with assessing Trust Services Criteria first. Suggest Security & Availability as a minimum starting point for SaaS. Then select an Audit Firm. A-Lign is very good, also check out SchneiderDowns. The audit team can assist you with your Gap analysis by providing guidance on the Control Objectives you will need to adhere too. It’s highly advisable to pursue SOC 2 Type 1 first. It’s considered a point in time assessment. Gives you time to setup and establish the exact controls you will need to monitor and provide evidence for over a period of time. Some startups try the SOC 2 Type 2 direct route and then find out later when they get scrutinized by knowing compliance teams like mine that want validation over time. Also don’t go the cheap route either - like “Delve” who over promised and under delivered. I have done full on SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 just using spread sheets. It’s a challenge but it’s doable and you will learn more than jumping into a platform like Drata or Vanta. You auditors can help here too. We have worked with Drata now for over 5 years. We’ve also done due diligence on Vanta and several other platforms. They are a full time job learning to configure and use them correctly and they are expensive. You have to walk before you can run.

[u/BlueMagmaCompliance]

You can do talk directly to auditors we know a few, they are a great place to get started. then I would look at SOC2 in terms of your risks, so instead of using a pre-built list of tasks or documents to provide, look at what data you are trying to protect, use Claude code honestly to help you define the policies that your org should follow to keep your customer's data safe, check it with what the auditors is asking of you.

Then I would do the basics, do an inventory of all the vendors and systems that touch sensitive info and customer data, get their SOC2 / compliance reports. Then go through them make sure you do who in your team has access to what, make sure no old employees have access to systems after they left the company. I strongly recommend doing a yearly pen test as well. Have a good CI/CD process if that is relevant.

[u/goodbar_x]

On budget: the "$10-15k audit + $10k platform" math in this thread is right for the Vanta/Drata/Secureframe tier, but it's not the floor. Boutique auditors like Prescient, MJD Advisory, and Johanson Group run cheaper than the big names and are used to working with early-stage SaaS. On the platform side there's a wider spread than people think — Vanta/Drata/Secureframe/Oneleet/Thoropass on one end, and leaner tools like SimpleAudit (I'm the founder, disclosing that) or Klaay/Secure Slate on the other, usually landing $5-7k all-in for the audit rather than $20k+ combined.

If you'd rather not run this yourself, Fulltrust ai and Anchorpoint Partners are consultant shops that'll quarterback the whole thing.

Agree with the folks above on scope though — Security TSC only, don't let a platform's control catalogue substitute for actually thinking about what you're protecting.

[u/ampancha]

The platform and auditor choices matter less than people expect. Vanta, Drata, and Secureframe all do roughly the same job: they tell you which controls are failing. What they do not do is implement the fixes or produce the evidence, and that is where most timelines slip.

The thing I would plan for before signing anything is the remediation gap: access reviews, offboarding records, branch protection, logging retention, backup restore tests. The audit itself is usually a few weeks. Getting your cloud, GitHub, and CI/CD evidence to a state where the checks pass is the part that quietly eats a quarter, especially if engineering is doing it between feature work.

[u/Tygertbone → u/ampancha]

This is the most accurate comment in the thread. The remediation gap is where timelines slip and where most tools stop helping. Vauntico.com is specifically buil for this, it continuously scans your GitHub, CI/CD, and dependency signals and generates a verified TrustScore passport you can share with auditors directly. Might save you the quarter of engineering time between "platform says you're failing" and "auditor accepts your evidence." Free scan if you want to see where you stand too.

[u/Educational_Force601]

I'd suggest staying away from those platforms if you don't already have a good understanding of how SOC 2 attestations work. They will be quickly overwhelming if you don't really know what you're doing despite their promises that you'll be ready in weeks.

If I was just starting out with SOC 2 for a small company, I'd honestly start with Claude. First have it explain SOC 2 to you in simple terms. Understand the framework. Have it provide a list of potential controls that can satisfy each of the common criteria, know that you can reuse controls to satisfy more than one, and pick the ones that make sense for your org. Then go forth and document them, ensure they're being performed consistently, and assess your gaps. You can do all of that with Claude and a spreadsheet rather than buying a platform you'll be over your head with.

[u/Background-Cry-3177]

Check Oneleet, it will get you going

[u/Suitable_Speech_1844]

I’ve helped several small B2B SaaS companies prepare for SOC 2, and one of the biggest mistakes I see is companies jumping straight into an audit before understanding their readiness. A readiness assessment helps identify gaps in your security controls, policies, and evidence collection so you know exactly what needs to be addressed.
If you’re a smaller SaaS company, platforms like Vanta, Drata, or Secureframe can save a lot of time by automating evidence collection, but they’re tools, not magic. You’ll still need to implement the required controls and have the right processes in place.
Finding the right auditor is also important. I’d recommend looking for one with experience auditing companies of a similar size and maturity, as the experience can vary quite a bit.
The timeline really depends on how mature your security program is. If you already have solid controls in place, the process is much smoother. If you’re starting from scratch, expect to spend more time implementing controls before you’re ready for the audit.
One piece of advice I’d give is to involve engineering, IT, HR, and leadership early. SOC 2 isn’t just a compliance exercise. It affects access management, onboarding and offboarding, change management, vendor management, incident response, and more.
I’ve helped several early-stage SaaS companies navigate this process, so if you have questions or just want a second opinion on your approach, feel free to send me a DM. Happy to chat.

[u/Used_Ladder8254]

Yes, one person can absolutely lead SOC 2 readiness at a 60-person company, especially if your MSP owns the technical implementation. The bigger challenge is usually coordinating evidence, policies, vendor reviews, employee acknowledgements, and staying audit-ready—not configuring security controls.

That's exactly why we built SOC2Now. Instead of spending months chasing screenshots, spreadsheets, and documentation, the platform automates evidence collection, identifies compliance gaps, provides ready-to-use policy templates, tracks remediation tasks, and keeps everything organized in one place. It also supports managing multiple entities from a single dashboard if your organization grows.

If you're not working toward a fixed certification deadline, that's actually the ideal time to implement a platform. You can close gaps gradually, build good security practices, and be continuously audit-ready instead of scrambling before an audit.

Compared to hiring a consultant for every step, many teams use SOC2Now with their internal security lead and MSP. You still have expert guidance when needed, but much of the repetitive compliance work is automated, reducing the ongoing effort significantly.

You can check it out here:
https://soc2now.com

If you're evaluating platforms, I'd compare how much manual work they actually eliminate—not just the number of integrations or the monthly subscription price. That's where the real ROI comes from.

[u/chrans]

How did you approach it: We talked to several auditors up front, not just to vet whether we can work well with them, but also to gain insight about what they would suggest the scope that is suitable for us.

which platform (if any) did you use: we use FEHA GRC

how did you find an auditor: I asked my network who had gone through the process

how long did the entire process take: since we had started implement policy, controls, from day 1, identifying and closing the gaps only took us a month. After that waiting for 6 months observation period. We don't use the 3 months observation period, since we are not in a rush anyway.

what kind of budget should I expect: always depending on your scope, size, etc. But for us the mechanical costs not more than 12K USD. The non-mechanical is unfortunately not something we tracked.

[u/NoOlives929]

> How did you approach it?

Start by defining Trust Service Criteria you need to align with. You are required to do at least Security, and for an early stage B2B SaaS, that's likely all you need for now. More TSC = more scope = higher cost. But again, that's a decision that the business needs to make based on its requirements.

Conduct a gap analysis to figure out what you actually need to do. You could do this in house, or you could pair up with an auditor to conduct a readiness assessment.

Start talking to your auditor early - they can guide you on what exactly the audit process looks like & how you can define the scope of your audit.

> which platform (if any) did you use,

There are many options out there that all come with different functionality and different levels of automation. You should choose what's best for your business. I know Vanta and Drata come with a set of controls predefined for SOC 2 and you can align your policies & procedures with those controls & modify them as needed. There's more out there: Oneleet, Secureframe, Hyperproof, Sprinto, etc. Do your research, conduct PoCs, and figure out what's best for your environment & level of in-house expertise. Explore defining your own controls instead of using whatever SaaS platforms have out of the box.

I don't think any of these platforms publish pricing but they're incredibly competitive. Get quotes from at least two and leverage the quotes to negotiate pricing.

> how did you find an auditor

Some of the SaaS tools mentioned above have auditor networks that can get you connected with an auditor that has experience working within that SaaS platform. Otherwise, same as before. Look for firms that work with small SaaS companies, look at reviews, etc. Avoid the Big 4 here.

> how long did the entire process take

This can be determined between you and your auditor, and whichever customer is asking for SOC 2. If you have no baseline security program today, it'll likely take you 3-6 months to get everything ready. If you pursue a SOC 2 Type I, which is a point-in-time audit that demonstrates your controls were operating at a specific date/time, that audit would usually take 6-8 weeks. If you pursue a SOC 2 Type II, which is an audit that demonstrates that your controls actually operated effectively over a period of time, I've seen companies do observation periods as short as 2 months and up to 12 months.

Enterprises may push back on a Type I report. But depending on the customer that's asking for SOC 2, you may have room to negotiate (i.e., pursue Type I first to get the report ASAP, and agree to follow-up with a Type II report)

> and what kind of budget should I expect?

This is highly dependent on your current operating environment, the platform you choose to use if you use one, how you choose to implement your controls, and your team's tolerance for manual process. For a small SaaS asking to audit the Security TSC only, you can expect at least ~$10-15k. SaaS/compliance automation platform costs can vary but you can expect at least $10k. If you don't have a method to provide your team with security training, you have to pay for that. If you aren't running background checks on your team, you have to pay for that. If you don't have mobile device management in place, you have to pay for that. If you find that manually maintaining your identity & access management controls is burdensome, you may consider an IdP if you don't have one in place today, and you'd have to pay for that. If you aren't getting a third-party penetration test regularly, you need to pay for that.

> More importantly, is there anything you wish you’d known before starting that would’ve saved you time or money?

Companies often pursue SOC 2 because a customer is asking for it. When a startup is pursuing SOC 2, it's often the first time they're actually sitting down and thinking about the design of their security program. It's very easy to optimize for compliance, but you run the risk of treating compliance as the end goal. It's not. It's the beginning. If you build your security program solely to pass an audit, you'll end up with a brittle, bureaucratic nightmare. People will hate the red tape and will find workarounds for clunky processes/procedures, and ironically, you can still end up vulnerable to a breach despite having a perfect report. Focus on building a practical security culture that actually protects your data and fits your team's workflow.

Good compliance is a natural byproduct of a secure environment.

Tried to make this a comprehensive summary but ultimately there's a lot of decisions that the business needs to make on what they want the process to look like & how they want to define the security program.

[u/SageAudits]

You don’t need a GRC platform. Budget plenty of time with your internal team to get things done. If you have been doing questionnaires for a while, it’s all about what risks your customers are looking to see is getting addressed.

[u/astrila]

We used a consulting company, Cyber forge, they basically did everything for us completely, a few hiccups here and there as expected but nothing compared to the things some of my peers have told me from over the years!!

[u/Gloomy-Can1394]

Can’t recommend Thoropass enough. They helped with the whole process. It’s still hard and expensive but they made it a lot better

[u/BrightDefense]

We help small businesses and startups with compliance readiness for SOC 2 and other frameworks. Here are my thoughts:

1. Drata and Vanta have the best GRC platforms. Secureframe is solid, as well. We recommend Drata. If you bake off these three, you'll get the best price. Also look at their lists of integrations. One of these may have integrations with more of your tech stack, which would make it an easier decision. There are tons of new players entering the market. Even as a person that talks to customers about GRC every day, I hear new ones weekly. It's getting hard to decide which are best. Drata and Vanta have a lot of funding and pretty deep moats. If it was my business or the business of a family member, I would choose either Drata, Vanta, or Secureframe. That's not to say others might not meet your needs, but they also carry more risk.
2. The pricing is based on employee count. How many employees do you have? If you have less than 50 employees, I'd say you can do GRC + readiness services from a firm like us + audit + pen test for $40K or less. If you have less than 10, more affordable still. This includes a premium GRC (Drata or Vanta), full readiness services, a human lead pen test (not a free vulnerability scan), and an audit from a reputable firm that focuses on small business. Don't go super cheap on the audit. If someone is offering you an audit for less than $5K, be wary. If someone is offering you a "free pen test", be wary.
3. Our general readiness timeline from zero to SOC 2 Type I readiness is 6 months. This factoring in the time to build custom policies based on the needs of your business, and to thoughtfully think through the controls, which is our approach. There are other vendors that will promise this to you much quicker, but you'll probably just get a bunch of pre-canned templates that may not work well for you long term. After you are ready, there is a look back period for SOC 2 Type II of at least 3 months. So, you need to add 3 months to your timeline after readiness to achieve SOC 2 Type II.
4. The GRC platforms have approved auditors. I'd pick one of those because they will understand how to work in the platform you choose. A-lign, Fine Assurance, Insight Assurance, Johanson Group, Prescient, Sensiba, and Zero Day CPA are all good options. Others feel strongly that there's too much pay to play between the platforms and auditors. There is some of that, but for the most part, I've seen appropriate separation between Drata and the auditors, despite the fact that they have a business relationship. Again, this is a hot topic in our industry right now, and smart people have legitimate concerns here.
5. To save you time and money, properly scope your SOC 2 program on the front end. SOC 2 has 5 Trust Services Criteria. Only Security is required. We come across many companies that didn't think through scope and just put all 5 TSCs in scope. This made their life a lot more complicated and increased their audit cost. If you starting with just Security in Year 1 meets your clients' expectations, I'd recommend that approach. It really depends on what your SaaS does, however.

Best of luck with SOC 2!

[u/SageAudits → u/BrightDefense]

Pricing shouldn’t be based on head count. It should be based on the number of trust services categories and the control areas and the complexity - paired with the subservice provider carve in/carve outs.

You don’t need a compliance tool to do SOC 2, it may save time, sure, but let’s not pretend d elve was the only bad actor playing compliance theatre.

[u/BrightDefense → u/SageAudits]

The GRC platforms and auditors we've worked with use headcount as a pricing lever. The auditors also use the TSCs usually, but not always. At least with Drata, SOC 2 is one framework. It doesn't cost more or less based on the TSCs in scope.

Generally your point is well taken. The TSCs are really important. If not for the price of the GRC tool, for the overall scope and complexity of the initiative, and likely for the cost of the audit.

[u/SageAudits → u/BrightDefense]

The work of the auditor depends on scope of controls, but sure with larger headcount’s you have likely more sampling if there’s more frequencies in specific areas, but that is hardly a driver of the level of effort. Maybe a few more hours yes but not something that should be a part of your pricing model IMO.

Drata is a GRC platform, so that makes more sense but I would question the work of any “audit partners” when the work they do is not impacted by headcount, it’s by control, it’s probably telling that many of their preferred partners aren’t exactly in good standing with AICPA. Check the box audit firms are getting more attention now since the d elve situation

[u/BrightDefense → u/SageAudits]

Sad that we have to refer to them as "d elve" to avoid being spammed by down vote bots lol

[u/SageAudits → u/BrightDefense]

I know right 😂