SimpleAudit vs Drata
Drata automates compliance monitoring. SimpleAudit uses AI to do the compliance work for you, from policy generation to risk assessment.
Feature comparison
| Feature | SimpleAudit | Drata |
|---|---|---|
| AI Policy Generation | AI for questionnaires, vendor risk and control mapping | |
| Conversational AI Interface | ||
| Continuous Monitoring | ||
| Integration Marketplace | ||
| Risk Register | ||
| Vendor Management | ||
| Access Reviews | ||
| Multiple Frameworks | SOC 2 (more planned) | |
| Published price |
AI Policy Generation
Conversational AI Interface
Continuous Monitoring
Integration Marketplace
Risk Register
Vendor Management
Access Reviews
Multiple Frameworks
Published price
Pricing
Time to value
Total first-year cost including the audit
No platform on this page includes the audit. The CPA firm that signs your SOC 2 report is a separate purchase. Our row uses our audit partner's starting price; for the others, add the fee your auditor quotes.
SimpleAudit Prepare
- Platform, first year
- $480
- Audit
- Type 1 from $5,000
- First-year total
- from $5,480
Drata
- Platform, first year
- $12,000–$28,000
- Audit
- + your auditor's fee
- First-year total
- Depends on your auditor
| Option | Platform, first year | Audit | First-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleAudit Prepare | $480 | Type 1 from $5,000 | from $5,480 |
| Drata | $12,000–$28,000 | + your auditor's fee | Depends on your auditor |
From $480 one time (Prepare, 12 months of access). Prove is $299.99 a month or $2,999.88 a year. Our row is the lowest first-year cost: Prepare ($480 one time) plus a SOC 2 Type 1 from MJD Advisors, a peer-reviewed, US-based CPA firm, from $5,000. Prepare covers all five SOC 2 areas for up to 5 seats. It gets you audit-ready, but audit tracking is on Prove, so on Prepare you hand your auditor the package. A Type 1 is the option when a prospect needs a report in under about 3 months. Our recommended path is a security-only SOC 2 Type 2 with a 3-month observation window: MJD prices it from $7,500, and with Prove ($2,999.88 a year), which runs the audit, the first year starts at $10,499.88. MJD Advisors is SimpleAudit's audit partner.
Drata's range is Vendr's buyer data for companies under 50 employees on SOC 2 (read 2026-09-29). Drata publishes no prices.
Why teams switch from Drata
Teams choose SimpleAudit over Drata when they want AI to do the compliance work, not just monitor the compliance infrastructure they build themselves.
Sales overpromise, delivery underdelivers
"Be aware of their salespeople who overpromise and underdeliver", "They are not 'holding your hand' through the process as they sell it out to be."
Source: Verified Drata User, G2 2/5 (Feb 2026, Organic)
Integration setup comes first
Drata's automation depends on connecting your systems (it lists 200+ integrations). Someone on your team sets those up before the automated checks mean much.
Source: drata.com, read 2026-09-29
No published price
Drata's pricing page has no prices, only a demo request. Vendr's buyer data puts companies under 50 employees at $12,000–$28,000 a year before the audit.
Source: drata.com/pricing and Vendr buyer data, read 2026-09-29
What makes SimpleAudit different
Drata monitors. SimpleAudit guides.
Drata is a control-monitoring platform: you configure integrations, it watches for drift. SimpleAudit is an AI-guided compliance partner: you talk to it, it builds your program, explains your auditor’s questions in plain language, and keeps you on cadence month after month.
Guidance is the product, not an add-on
SimpleAudit's AI walks you through each step in plain language, from your first policy to your auditor's questions, on every plan. Drata's 2026 releases put its AI to work on questionnaires, vendor risk and control mapping for GRC teams; SimpleAudit's AI is aimed at the person doing compliance for the first time.
No security engineer required
Drata assumes you have someone who can wire AWS, Okta, and Jira integrations. SimpleAudit is built for the founder or ops lead who doesn’t have that person yet (common at the seed stage), where policies and evidence come from a conversation, not an integration setup project.
Who Drata is actually right for
Drata is right for a team that already has a security or GRC owner and wants continuous control monitoring across many connected systems (Drata lists 200+ integrations), with room to add frameworks beyond SOC 2. Its 2026 releases, AI agent governance, agentic vendor risk and questionnaire automation, are built for that buyer, usually a company at Series A scale or later. If no one on your team will own integrations and you need one SOC 2 report, Drata's price buys capability you will not use yet: Vendr's buyer data puts companies under 50 employees at $12,000–$28,000 a year before the audit.
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