SOC 2 certification costs $30k-$200k.
Know exactly what you will pay.
Updated 26 March 2026
Free SOC 2 cost calculator for startup CTOs. Enter your company size, security maturity, and audit type to get a full cost breakdown across every phase of certification.
Your Organisation
1-50 employees
Basic policies exist, partial access controls, some monitoring in place
Operating effectiveness over 6-12 months. Required by most enterprise customers.
Timeline Estimate
6-18 months
From gap assessment to Type II report issuance
Total Estimated Cost - SOC 2 Type II
Low
$39k
Mid (typical)
$96k
High
$205k
First-year cost. Excludes internal staff time. Maturity: medium.
Cost Breakdown by Phase
Readiness review against SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria. Identifies control gaps, produces a remediation roadmap. Cost scales with company complexity and how far you are from compliance.
Writing and implementing information security policies, access control procedures, incident response plans, and vendor management documentation. Lower maturity companies need significantly more work here.
Compliance automation platforms, security monitoring (SIEM), endpoint detection, cloud security posture management (CSPM), and vulnerability scanning tools. Type II requires continuous evidence collection.
Annual penetration test required to meet CC6.1 (logical access) and provide evidence for the audit. Includes external network, web application, and API testing. Report must be available to auditors.
CPA firm audit fee. Type I auditors assess design of controls at a point in time. Type II auditors assess both design and operating effectiveness over 6-12 months. Big 4 firms charge 2-3x boutique CPA firms.
Annual Maintenance Cost (Year 2+)
$45k/yr
Range: $18k - $68k/yr
Ongoing costs include annual audit renewal ($25k/yr), tooling subscriptions ($20k/yr), annual penetration test ($18k/yr), and internal compliance team time. SOC 2 is not a one-time cost - budget for continuous compliance.
Not included in these estimates
200-600 hrs
Internal staff time
Engineering, legal, HR, and management time building controls and gathering evidence
$15k-$80k
Legal and HR costs
Vendor contract reviews, employee training programmes, background check processes
Varies
Remediation work
Infrastructure changes, encryption implementation, access control refactoring
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does SOC 2 certification cost?
SOC 2 Type I typically costs $15,000-$80,000 for a first-time certification. SOC 2 Type II costs $30,000-$200,000+. The wide range reflects company size, current security maturity, and auditor choice. Startups with mature security practices and a boutique CPA firm can achieve Type II for $35,000-$60,000. Enterprises using a Big 4 auditor may spend $150,000-$250,000. These figures cover gap assessment, policy development, tooling, pen testing, and the audit fee.
What is the difference between SOC 2 Type I and Type II cost?
SOC 2 Type I assesses whether your controls are suitably designed at a single point in time. It costs 30-50% less than Type II and takes 2-6 months to complete. SOC 2 Type II assesses whether controls actually operated effectively over a 6-12 month period. Most enterprise customers require Type II before signing contracts. The main cost difference is audit fees (Type II auditors must review months of evidence) and compliance tooling (Type II needs continuous monitoring and evidence collection).
How long does SOC 2 certification take?
SOC 2 Type I takes 2-6 months from kick-off to report issuance, assuming reasonable security maturity. SOC 2 Type II takes 6-18 months total because the audit observation period alone is 6-12 months. Companies with low security maturity often spend 3-6 months building controls before the audit period starts. Total time from zero to Type II report is typically 9-15 months for a well-resourced startup.
What does a SOC 2 audit actually cover?
SOC 2 audits assess your organisation against the AICPA Trust Services Criteria. Security (CC series) is mandatory. You can optionally include Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy. Most startups pursue Security-only or Security + Availability. The auditor reviews your policies, tests controls, interviews staff, and samples evidence like access logs, change management records, and incident response documentation.
Can I use compliance automation software to reduce SOC 2 cost?
Yes, significantly. Compliance automation platforms ($10,000-$40,000/year) connect to your infrastructure via integrations, continuously collect evidence, monitor control health, and generate audit-ready reports. Without automation, companies spend hundreds of hours manually gathering evidence. With automation, audit preparation time drops by 60-80%. The tooling cost pays back in reduced consultant and internal staff time, especially for Type II where evidence collection runs continuously for months.
What are the biggest hidden costs in SOC 2 certification?
The four most underestimated costs are: (1) Internal staff time - SOC 2 typically consumes 200-600 hours of engineering, legal, and management time that is rarely costed at full rate; (2) Remediation work - infrastructure changes like encryption, MFA enforcement, and logging pipelines often require significant engineering effort; (3) Vendor management - reviewing and documenting security of all your third-party vendors; (4) Ongoing maintenance - SOC 2 is annual and ongoing costs of $18,000-$80,000/year surprise many first-time certification teams.