Get SOC 2 ready through conversation, not integration

SOC 2 is a security and privacy audit framework developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). It evaluates how a company handles customer data across five Trust Services Criteria: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy. A SOC 2 report is issued by an independent CPA firm after reviewing your policies, controls, and evidence. For SaaS companies and B2B software providers, SOC 2 has become the de facto standard that enterprise buyers require before signing contracts. It signals that your company takes data protection seriously and has the controls to back it up.

Type 1 is a point-in-time report that confirms your security controls exist and are designed correctly. Type 2 covers a full observation period (typically 6–12 months) and verifies those controls were operating effectively throughout. Most enterprise procurement teams require Type 2, but Type 1 can unblock a deal quickly when you need proof of controls today. The right choice depends on your sales cycle: if a prospect needs a report in 30–60 days, start with Type 1 and plan for Type 2 in the next audit window. Both are accepted; Type 2 carries more weight.

A realistic timeline for a first SOC 2 audit is 3–9 months total, split into two stages. Readiness (getting your policies, controls, and evidence in place) typically takes 4–12 weeks depending on your starting point and team size. The observation period for Type 2 is usually 6 months, though some auditors will accept a 3-month period for early-stage companies. Type 1 has no observation period, so you can complete the full audit in 6–10 weeks if you move quickly. Using a compliance platform like SimpleAudit significantly compresses the readiness phase.

For a lean seed or small team (5–50 people) doing a security-only Type 2, budget roughly $37,000–$84,000 all-in for year one. That covers six buckets: the CPA audit ($7,000–$25,000), an annual third-party penetration test ($7,000–$10,000), annual incident response testing ($8,000–$10,000), security and monitoring tooling ($3,000–$12,000/year), a compliance platform, and your team’s time. The first four are largely unavoidable whichever vendor you choose — which is why platform-only pricing understates the real floor. The controllable part is the platform and consultant lines: SimpleAudit ($199/month billed annually, ~$2,388/year) replaces a $10,000–$50,000 enterprise GRC platform and a ~$24,000/year vCISO. Year-two costs fall about 20–35%, since the audit and annual testing recur.

No. The AI assistant asks you plain-English questions about your company — cloud providers, team size, tools you use — and generates everything for you. You review and approve. No jargon, no certifications required.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial with full access to the platform from day one. No credit card required.

Full access to the platform: AI policy builder, risk registry, vendor management, evidence vault, access reviews, and task management. Everything you need to get SOC 2 ready.

It depends on your starting point, but most teams generate their SOC 2 policies in their first session with the AI. The journey readiness tracker shows your progress across all compliance areas, so you always know what’s left.

Yes. The AI generates policies based on SOC 2 best practices, customized to your company’s actual tools and processes. Every policy is fully editable in a rich text editor — you review, modify, and approve before anything goes to your auditor. Version history and approval workflows provide the audit trail auditors expect.

Three key differences: (1) Zero integrations — no weeks of technical setup, (2) AI-native — the AI does the compliance work through conversation, you don’t need to learn a complex dashboard, (3) Built for startups — purpose-built for 5–200 person companies, not enterprise teams managing 40+ frameworks.

SimpleAudit is conversation-first from the ground up. Rather than a dashboard with AI features bolted on, you interact with compliance through natural language. The AI asks questions, learns about your company, generates policies, identifies gaps, and builds your action plan — all through chat. We’re also founded by someone who went through SOC 2 from scratch and built this to solve the exact pain points we experienced.

You’ll still need to hire a CPA firm to conduct your SOC 2 audit — that’s unavoidable and the same cost ($12k–$50k) regardless of which platform you use. SimpleAudit replaces the expensive compliance platform and consultant fees, not the auditor.

SimpleAudit Essentials is $299/mo or $199/mo billed annually ($2,388/year). All plans include a 7-day free trial with no credit card required. We’re dramatically more affordable than enterprise platforms while delivering the same (or better) audit outcomes.