Last reviewed 8 August 2026 by Tom McNamara. This page is reviewed quarterly; the next review is due November 2026. Market facts are date-stamped “as of 06-08-2026”.
The real cost of SOC 2 is three separate lines, and the auditor quote is only one of them. You pay for readiness work to design and implement the controls, you pay a licensed CPA firm for the examination itself, and you usually pay for a compliance platform to collect evidence. Published CPA fees run from $3,000 for a small Type 1 examination on a posted rate card (Auditsuisse Assurance) to a stated market average of $20,000 to $100,000 depending on scope (Linford & Company LLP), and none of that includes the work to become ready in the first place.
| Cost line | What it pays for | Honest range and source |
|---|---|---|
| CPA examination fee, Type 2 | The CPA firm attests that controls operated effectively over an observation window of months | $5,000 to $15,000 by headcount (Auditsuisse); market average $20,000 to $100,000 across scopes (Linford & Company, checked 06-08-2026) |
| Compliance platform | Evidence collection, control monitoring, policy workflow | $149 per framework per month (CATAAM) to $499 per month all frameworks included (Screenata), checked 06-08-2026; the larger platforms are quote-only |
| Penetration test | Independent test evidence that buyers and auditors commonly expect | £5,000 to £8,000 for a small business, £8,000 to £18,000 standard (EJN Labs published price list, checked 06-08-2026) |
| Readiness work | Designing and implementing the controls themselves | The wild card. Close to zero if good controls already exist; the biggest line in the budget if they do not |
Two honesty notes. First, SOC 2 is an attestation issued by a licensed CPA firm under AICPA standards, not a certificate a vendor can sell you, so the examination fee is unavoidable. Second, published prices are rare: in our research only two CPA firms and two platforms publish figures on their own pages, while 17 providers we checked hide pricing behind a quote.
Why listen to us: Atoro is an Irish AI governance and cyber compliance consultancy for software companies, and the first consultancy in Europe certified against ISO 42001. We prepare software companies for SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 at a fixed price agreed after scoping, so we see what readiness actually costs before the auditor invoice arrives.
What actually drives the cost
Four variables decide where your quote lands: the Trust Services Criteria you include, whether you go Type 1 or Type 2, your headcount and system complexity, and how much readiness work is left to do.
The Trust Services Criteria you include
More criteria means more audit hours, and the fee scales accordingly. Every SOC 2 examination covers the Security (Common Criteria) category; availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy are optional additions, and each widens the scope the CPA firm must test. Auditsuisse’s fee schedule is explicit that its prices cover Security only, with other categories priced separately (auditsuisse.com/soc-2-pricing, checked 06-08-2026). If your buyer’s questionnaire only mentions security, scoping to Security alone is your biggest legitimate cost lever.
Type 1 or Type 2
Type 1 examines whether your controls are suitably designed at a point in time; Type 2 examines whether they actually operated over an observation window of months, which is why Type 2 costs more ($3,000 to $10,000 versus $5,000 to $15,000 on the Auditsuisse rate card). We cover the choice in a separate guide; here it is enough to say Type 2 is the report enterprise procurement teams actually ask for, while Type 1 is a faster, cheaper stepping stone some companies use to unblock a deal.
Your headcount and system complexity
Bigger organisation, bigger fee. Auditsuisse’s schedule rises by headcount band: $3,000 for a 1 to 50 person company at Type 1, climbing to $10,000 at 401 to 999 people. Linford & Company, a Denver CPA firm specialising in SOC examinations, states a market average of $20,000 to $100,000 “depending on a variety of factors that influence the fee” (linfordco.com/services/soc-2-audits, checked 06-08-2026). The gap between those anchors is mostly scope and complexity: criteria, products, cloud environments and the volume of evidence to test.
How ready you already are
This is where budgets blow out. The auditor examines controls; somebody has to design, implement and evidence them first. If you already run MFA everywhere, formal access reviews, branch protection, logging with retention and tested backups, readiness is light. If those controls do not exist, somebody has to build them, and that work dwarfs the examination fee. A compliance platform shows which checks are failing; it does not implement the fixes, and it is usually the smallest of the three cost lines.
The published ranges, with sources
Most of what ranks for “soc 2 cost” recycles the same unsourced figures. Here is what providers actually publish on their own pages.
Audit fees. Auditsuisse Assurance, a licensed US CPA firm enrolled in the AICPA Peer Review Programme, publishes a full fixed-fee schedule, scoped to Security criteria only:
| Headcount | Type 1 | Type 2 | Type 1 + Type 2 combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 to 100 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| 101 to 200 | $7,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| 201 to 400 | $9,000 | $12,000 | $18,000 |
| 401 to 999 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| 1,000+ | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote |
Source: auditsuisse.com/soc-2-pricing, page states pricing last updated 27 July 2026, checked 06-08-2026.
Linford & Company LLP states an average of $20,000 to $100,000 per examination, individually quoted rather than rate-carded. The AICPA publishes no fee benchmark, so every market figure traces to a firm or a platform; treat unattributed ranges with suspicion.
Platform fees. Two platforms publish prices. Screenata charges $499 per month flat with all frameworks included, month to month, and is explicit that the fee excludes the audit because AICPA independence rules mean you pick your own auditor (screenata.com/pricing, checked 06-08-2026). CATAAM publishes partner billing of $149 per framework per month per client (cataam.com/pricing, checked 06-08-2026). Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, Sprinto and other better known platforms are quote-based.
Worked example, small software company, arithmetic only. A 20 person company going straight to Type 2 on Security criteria: $5,000 examination fee (Auditsuisse band), roughly $6,000 a year for a platform at Screenata’s published rate, and £5,000 to £8,000 for a small-business SOC 2 pen test (EJN Labs). A five-figure first year before readiness work, and readiness decides where in five figures it lands.
What the cheap option gets you vs the real option
Founders who have been through it describe the same pattern: a quote that looks too cheap, a report that arrives fast, and a procurement security reviewer who rejects it. A SOC 2 report is only worth what your buyer’s security team thinks it is worth.
| The cheap route | The real route | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Security-only checkbox regardless of what your buyer asked about | Criteria matched to what your buyers actually review |
| Evidence | Screenshots in a shared Drive, assembled in a panic | Continuous evidence pulled from your cloud, code and identity systems |
| Effort | Your team does the readiness work anyway, unguided | Readiness planned, priced and done before the window opens |
| Outcome | A report a security-conscious buyer may value at less than none at all | A report that survives enterprise security review |
The hidden costs nobody mentions
Your team’s time. Policies need owners, access reviews need to happen on schedule, and evidence needs collecting for every control, repeatedly, for as long as you hold the report. Founders consistently describe this, not the invoice, as the real cost of the first cycle.
The penetration test. A current, independent pen test is commonly expected as evidence alongside a SOC 2 report, and it is a separate engagement with a separate invoice. EJN Labs, a UK CREST member firm that publishes its prices, lists SOC 2 pen tests at £5,000 to £8,000 for small businesses, £8,000 to £18,000 standard and £18,000 to £35,000 for enterprise scope (ejnlabs.com/pricing, checked 06-08-2026). Our penetration testing services page covers what a properly scoped test involves.
Renewal. SOC 2 reports go stale: buyers ask for a current report in their own vendor risk reviews, so the examination recurs annually and the platform subscription runs alongside it. Keeping controls operating between examinations is an ongoing programme, not a project; that is the gap our TrustOps service exists to fill.
Remediation after findings. A readiness assessment or Type 1 examination can surface gaps that must be fixed before Type 2 begins. Fixes cost engineering time and occasionally new tooling, none of which appears in the audit quote.
How to reduce the cost honestly
Start by asking the buyer, not the auditor. Some procurement teams accept a detailed security questionnaire, or a committed report date, as a bridge while your examination runs. Founders report this working often enough to be worth the email. Then cut scope before you cut quality:
- Scope to Security criteria first. Add availability or confidentiality only when a buyer actually asks.
- Ask about a shorter first observation window. A shorter window gets a Type 2 report in hand sooner; your CPA firm can advise what window it will stand behind.
- Fix controls before the window opens. Every control that fails mid-window costs findings, delays and re-testing. Readiness done properly is cheaper than remediation done urgently.
- Choose a platform on fit, not fame. Published-price platforms exist from $149 per framework per month to $499 per month all-in; quote-based platforms may still be right for you, but make them quote. Atoro works with Drata as our partner platform; whichever you pick, remember it shows failing checks rather than fixing them.
- Get readiness priced as a fixed number. Open-ended consulting is where first-year budgets double. Our SOC 2 implementation service is scoped and priced up front for exactly this reason.
When the number is worth paying
Pay it when the pipeline says so. If enterprise deals stall at security review and the waiting contracts are worth multiples of the total cost, the maths is simple: the first year of SOC 2, all three lines included, is smaller than one lost mid-market contract, and the report keeps paying at every renewal and procurement review.
Do not pay it because a sticker would look nice on the website. If your buyers do not ask and a questionnaire closes the gap, spend the money on the product and come back when the deals demand it.
The honest next step is a scoping conversation, not a rate-card quote: what your buyers expect, which criteria that implies, and what state your controls are in. Atoro prepares software companies for SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 at a fixed price agreed after that scoping; start at our SOC 2 implementation page if you want the number before the commitment.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a SOC 2 audit cost?
The examination fee from a licensed CPA firm runs from $3,000 to $10,000 for a Type 1 and $5,000 to $15,000 for a Type 2 on Auditsuisse Assurance’s published rate card, banded by headcount and scoped to Security criteria. Linford & Company LLP states a market average of $20,000 to $100,000 depending on scope. The AICPA publishes no fee benchmark, so any figure without a named source deserves suspicion.
How much does SOC 2 certification cost in total, all in?
Budget three lines: the CPA examination fee, a compliance platform (published prices run from $149 per framework per month to $499 per month all-in), and readiness work to design and implement controls. Add a penetration test, commonly expected as evidence, at £5,000 to £18,000 from EJN Labs’ published prices. For a small software company the external spend is five figures in year one; readiness decides where in five figures it lands.
Is a very cheap SOC 2 quote legit, for example $1,200 per report?
Treat it as a red flag. A SOC 2 report must come from a licensed CPA firm, and a price that is a small fraction of any published fee schedule cannot cover a real examination. Founders and security reviewers describe mill reports as worse than none at all when a buyer’s security team reads them. Check the firm is licensed, ask about peer review, and be suspicious of any provider that prices before it scopes.
Why does SOC 2 Type 2 cost more than Type 1?
Type 1 examines whether controls are suitably designed at a single point in time. Type 2 examines whether they actually operated over an observation window of months: more evidence, more testing, more auditor hours. On Auditsuisse’s published schedule the difference is $3,000 to $10,000 for Type 1 versus $5,000 to $15,000 for Type 2, depending on headcount.
Can I skip the compliance platform and do SOC 2 manually?
Yes, the platform is optional and the auditor is not. AICPA independence rules mean the auditor cannot also run your compliance tooling, so you are free to collect evidence yourself. Founders who went manual describe months of assembling policies and screenshots across shared drives and long email threads. The platform is usually the smallest cost line, so weigh its fee against your team’s hours.
Is SOC 2 a hard requirement, or would a security questionnaire bridge the gap?
It depends entirely on the buyer, so ask before you spend. Some procurement teams accept a detailed questionnaire, or a committed report date, as a bridge while your examination runs. Others treat SOC 2 Type 2 as a hard gate. The question costs one email and can save a five-figure year.
Do I need a penetration test for SOC 2, and what does it add to the cost?
A current, independent pen test is commonly expected as evidence alongside a SOC 2 report, and it is invoiced separately from the examination. EJN Labs publishes SOC 2 pen test prices of £5,000 to £8,000 for small businesses, £8,000 to £18,000 standard and £18,000 to £35,000 for enterprise scope. Budget it as its own line, not as part of the audit fee.
How much does SOC 2 cost per year after the first report?
Expect the examination to recur annually, because buyers ask for a current report in their own vendor risk reviews, and the platform subscription runs alongside it. What drops away after year one is most of the readiness work, provided you keep the controls operating. The recurring year is usually much cheaper than the first, but it is never free.
Sources
- Auditsuisse Assurance, SOC 2 pricing (published fee schedule; page states pricing last updated 27 July 2026): https://auditsuisse.com/soc-2-pricing, checked 06-08-2026.
- Linford & Company LLP, SOC 2 audit service page (stated market average $20,000 to $100,000): https://linfordco.com/services/soc-2-audits/, checked 06-08-2026.
- Screenata pricing ($499 per framework per month; auditor excluded under AICPA independence rules): https://screenata.com/pricing, checked 06-08-2026.
- CATAAM pricing ($149 per framework per month, partner billing): https://cataam.com/pricing/, checked 06-08-2026.
- EJN Labs pricing (SOC 2 pen test £5,000 to £8,000 SMB, £8,000 to £18,000 standard, £18,000 to £35,000 enterprise): https://ejnlabs.com/pricing/, checked 06-08-2026.
- Atoro research R5, published market prices SOC 2 and penetration testing (provider pricing coverage finding: 4 of 21 checked providers publish figures), 06-08-2026.
- Atoro research R6, SERP map for “soc 2 cost” (AICPA publishes no cost guidance; unattributed figure recycling across ranking pages), 06-08-2026.
- Atoro research R2, founder phrasing corpus from Reddit (used as language source only; no Reddit figure is cited as fact).