Compliance automation software compared

A sales lead at a software company hears the same sentence from a prospect's security team: send us your SOC 2 report. Compliance automation software exists for that moment. It maps your systems to a framework, collects the proof that controls are working, and gives an outside auditor a place to review that proof. The eight products on this page each ship framework templates such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, collect evidence automatically, and give auditors a way into the work. We read each vendor's own pages on November 4, 2026, and each product page links to the sources.

What the software does and does not do

The software does not certify anyone. A SOC 2 report comes from an independent CPA firm. The AICPA, which sets the professional standards for these engagements, describes SOC as a suite of services CPAs may provide about the controls at a service organization. An ISO 27001 certificate comes from an independent certification body, because ISO itself does not certify organizations.

What the platform does is shorten the work around that audit. It holds the control list, the policies, the tasks assigned to staff, and the evidence. Strike Graph, for one, says independent audit fees are set by the auditor and are separate, so the first question for any vendor is whether the audit is included, sold separately, or left to you.

Framework templates

Most buyers start with SOC 2, which the AICPA frames around five categories: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality and Privacy. A company chooses which categories to put in scope, and the audit tests the controls it chose. A template saves you from writing that control list by hand.

ISO 27001 works differently. The 2022 edition lists 93 controls in four themes, organizational, people, physical and technological. Certificates issued under the 2013 edition had to move to the 2022 edition by October 31, 2025, so any template a vendor shows you should name the 2022 version.

Coverage beyond those two varies, and so does what counts as a framework. Hyperproof advertises 160 or more pre-built frameworks, and Scrut says it supports more than 70. Thoropass lists SOC 1, SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITRUST, NIST CSF 2.0, NIS2 and GDPR. Secureframe names SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, NIST and CMMC. Vanta adds AI governance frameworks such as ISO 42001 and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

Count matters less than limits. Drata restricts its Foundation tier to one pre-mapped framework from a short list: SOC 2, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, HIPAA or GDPR. Secureframe's pricing table likewise shows one included framework with more sold in quantities. Strike Graph prices extra frameworks at $2,000 to $8,000 a year, depending on plan and on whether the framework sits in its Tier 1, 2 or 3. A company that wants SOC 2 now and ISO 27001 next year should ask what the second framework costs before signing the first contract.

Scrut states the opposite. Its FAQ says plans carry no limits or hidden charges based on users or usage, and that a unified control library maps common controls between SOC 2 and ISO 27001. That mapping is the saving to look for, since many controls on the two lists overlap.

Evidence collection

Evidence is the proof that a control operated, such as a screenshot of a multi-factor setting, an export of user access, or a record that a laptop disk is encrypted. Collecting it by hand is the work these products set out to remove. Automation connects to cloud accounts, identity providers, code hosts and HR systems, then pulls that proof on a schedule.

The claims are easy to state and hard to compare. Thoropass says integrations with cloud providers, identity systems, HR platforms and ticketing tools automate collection. Hyperproof says its Foldersyncs and Hypersyncs extract evidence on a schedule you choose or when new proof appears. Scytale says evidence stored in the platform flows into its Audit Hub automatically. Scrut gives two different counts, over 80 tools in its FAQ and more than 150 integrations on its home page, which shows why a number on a web page is a starting point and not a specification.

Three checks separate real automation from a screenshot folder. First, list the systems you run and ask for each one by name, since an integration count means little if your identity provider is missing. Second, ask what the connector reads, because some only confirm that a setting exists while others pull the underlying records an auditor samples. Third, ask what happens when a connector breaks, who is told, and how long the evidence gap is.

Plan level can hide features. Secureframe's pricing page lists Evidence Collection in its first tier and Automated Evidence Collection with an evidence library in a table whose columns carry no labels, so we could not tell which plan holds which row. Vanta's page marks automated evidence collection under Essentials and agentic evidence collection elsewhere in its table. Drata lists automated evidence collection in all three compliance tiers. Get the plan-by-plan answer in writing.

Auditor access

An auditor needs to sample evidence, ask questions and record findings. Platforms handle this in one of three ways: a read-only seat in the product, a shared workspace for requests, or a partner network of audit firms that already know the tool.

Secureframe is the most specific about the first model. An admin adds an auditor to an audit, picks which modules that person can see, and the auditor loses access once the audit closes unless another audit is active. Scrut describes the same pattern, with auditors added to a specific audit team and given read-only, scoped access. Hyperproof invites auditors into a dedicated audit space where they see only what they need, and requests can be assigned to the staff who know the work.

Drata and Scytale lean on the workspace model. Drata's Audit Hub is its place to centralize communication with your auditor and store documentation, and it appears in all three compliance tiers. Scytale's Audit Hub holds requests, approvals and updates, and lets you talk to your auditor and a dedicated compliance expert in the same place. Vanta lists an Auditor API on its Essentials plan and rows for its auditor network and for bringing your own auditor.

Strike Graph says its platform works with any auditor and can introduce vetted independent ones. Thoropass takes another route. It says it is a licensed auditor that delivers audits through its own audit team, with the platform handling evidence, controls and collaboration. Buying the platform and the audit from one company can reduce handoffs. It also means you should ask how the vendor separates its software sales from its audit work, and whether you can take the evidence to a different firm later.

What the vendors charge

Only one of the eight publishes a price list. Strike Graph shows a free Launch plan with the SOC 2 security criteria, limited policy templates and one user manager. Its Scale plan starts at $21,500 a year and Enterprise starts at $35,000 a year. The Certify plan has no price on the page, only a free trial button and an inquiry form.

The other seven send you to a sales call. Vanta, Drata, Secureframe and Scytale name their plans but show no figures, and Scytale sizes its plans by headcount: under 150 employees, 150 to 1,000, and more than 1,000. Thoropass says its quote depends on frameworks, audit scope, company size and required services. Scrut and Hyperproof route buyers to a demo or proposal request, and neither site had a working pricing page when we checked.

Product	Published price	What the page shows
Strike Graph	Scale from $21,500 a year, Enterprise from $35,000 a year	Free Launch plan, extras itemized
Vanta	None	Five plan names, free demo
Drata	None	Foundation, Advanced, Enterprise
Secureframe	None	Fundamentals, Complete, Defense
Scytale	None	Build, Scale, Enterprise by headcount
Thoropass	None	Tailored quote
Scrut	None	Custom quote, no user or usage limits
Hyperproof	None	Demo or proposal request

The itemized extras at Strike Graph show where the bill grows. SSO costs $3,000 on its Certify plan, a penetration test costs $10,000 on paid plans and an enhanced one costs $20,000, and its ISO 27001 internal audit costs $7,000 to $8,000 a year. Its own assessment and audit services for approved certifications run $4,000 to $8,000 a year, while independent audit fees are set by the auditor and are separate. Quote-only vendors sell comparable extras. They just do not list them, so ask for a line-item quote that separates the platform, each framework, the audit and any penetration test.

Where US buyers get caught

Prices on this page are in US dollars where a figure exists, and none of the eight vendors showed a currency other than USD. Audit fees depend on the firm, the scope and the report type, and are not set by the software vendor except where a vendor provides the audit itself. Ask the customer's security team which report type and which SOC 2 categories it expects before you pick a scope.

Two contract points deserve attention. Ask whether the price rises at renewal when employee count or framework count grows, since several plans are sized by headcount or by number of frameworks. Ask also what you can export if you leave, because controls, policies and evidence history are the working record that the next vendor or auditor will want to see.

Government work adds a framework of its own. Secureframe's Defense plan is positioned for CMMC and lists a system security plan, a plan of action and milestones, and an SPRS score tracker. Strike Graph lists CMMC Level 1 as a Tier 2 framework and CMMC Level 2 as a Tier 3 framework. A defense contractor should check the exact CMMC level the vendor supports, not the framework name alone.

Choosing among the eight

A company with under 50 staff and one target framework fits Drata's Foundation tier or Scytale's Build plan, though neither shows a price. A company that wants a published number can start with Strike Graph. A team that wants one vendor to supply the software and the audit should look at Thoropass. A team with many overlapping frameworks, such as SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA together, should compare how Hyperproof, Scrut and Vanta map controls across them. Companies that sell to the US defense sector should start with Secureframe's Defense plan.

What to test during a trial or demo

• Connect your actual cloud account, identity provider and code host, and list every control that stays manual.
• Ask for a sample auditor view and check whether the auditor can see only the audit in scope.
• Request a line-item quote that shows the first-year and renewal price for each framework you plan to add.
• Ask the vendor to confirm in writing whether the audit fee is included, and which firms have completed audits on the platform.
• Export your policies and evidence history from a test account and check that the files open without the vendor's software.