The Short Answer
SOC 2 certification cost runs from about $30,000 for a company under 25 people to $155,000 for a company of 250, in year one, all in. The CPA audit fee itself is only 35 to 40 percent of that. The rest is readiness work, compliance tooling, and penetration testing.
If you are holding a quote right now and want to know whether it is reasonable, skip to cost by company size. If the quote covers the audit alone, roughly double it to get your true budget.
This page assumes you already know what SOC 2 is and how Type 1 differs from Type 2. If not, read the complete SOC 2 guide first.
"Certification" vs Attestation — and Why It Changes Your Budget
A necessary correction, and it is not pedantry: SOC 2 is not a certification. There is no certificate and no certification body. A licensed CPA firm examines your controls and issues a written opinion. The correct term is an attestation report.
Almost everyone still says "SOC 2 certification," including procurement teams, so the phrase is not worth fighting. But the distinction has a direct and expensive budget consequence that catches finance teams out.
ISO 27001 works on a three-year certification cycle: one full audit in year one, then two cheaper surveillance audits. SOC 2 has no such cycle. Because a report only covers a stated observation window, you need a complete audit every single year, effectively at full price, forever.
Budget SOC 2 as a recurring operating cost, not a capital project. Companies that model it as one-time spend are typically 40 percent short by year two.
SOC 2 Cost by Company Size
Headcount is the strongest single predictor of cost, because it drives the number of accounts to review, systems in scope, and evidence to collect. These are year-one, all-in ranges for a Type 2 report scoped to the Security criterion.
| Company size | CPA audit fee | Compliance tooling | Readiness & remediation | Year-one total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | $12,000 – $20,000 | $8,000 – $15,000 | $10,000 – $20,000 | $30,000 – $55,000 |
| 25 – 50 | $18,000 – $30,000 | $12,000 – $20,000 | $15,000 – $30,000 | $45,000 – $80,000 |
| 50 – 100 | $25,000 – $45,000 | $15,000 – $30,000 | $25,000 – $45,000 | $65,000 – $120,000 |
| 100 – 250 | $35,000 – $60,000 | $20,000 – $40,000 | $30,000 – $55,000 | $85,000 – $155,000 |
Two things to notice. First, the auditor's fee is 36 to 41 percent of the total in every band. That ratio is the most useful budgeting heuristic on this page: take any audit quote, multiply by roughly 2.5, and you have a realistic all-in figure. Second, tooling is an annual subscription, not a one-off — it recurs for as long as you hold the report.
If you are at the smaller end, our guide to SOC 2 for small businesses goes deeper on scoping down and passing without a dedicated security hire.
Internal time: the cost nobody budgets
None of the figures above include your own team's hours, and that omission is usually the largest single error in a SOC 2 budget.
- Under 25 people: 150 – 250 hours
- 25 – 50: 250 – 400 hours
- 50 – 100: 400 – 600 hours
- 100 – 250: 600 – 1,000 hours
At a loaded engineering cost of $80 per hour, that is $12,000 at the low end and $80,000 at the high end — capacity diverted from product. It rarely appears in a spreadsheet, and it is the reason SOC 2 projects feel far more expensive than the invoices suggest.
Get a figure for your actual scope
Headcount is only one input. Criteria, cloud footprint, and current maturity move the number substantially.
Calculate my SOC 2 costThe Four Cost Components
1. The CPA audit fee
Paid to the licensed firm issuing your report, and the only genuinely non-negotiable line. It scales with the number of criteria in scope, the length of the observation window, and the complexity of your environment. Type 1 reports typically run $10,000 to $30,000; Type 2 costs more because the auditor tests evidence across an entire period rather than a single date.
2. Readiness and remediation
The largest variable, and the one most affected by where you start. A company already running SSO, MFA, centralised logging, and formal onboarding may need very little. A company starting from scratch is paying to build a security programme, not just to document one. Remediation of whatever the readiness assessment surfaces sits here too, and it is genuinely unpredictable until the assessment is done.
3. Compliance tooling
Platforms such as Vanta, Drata, or Secureframe automate evidence collection across the observation period. Annual subscriptions typically run $8,000 to $40,000 depending on headcount. Below roughly 50 employees they usually pay for themselves in saved manual effort, though they neither create controls nor replace readiness work. We compare options and pricing in our guide to compliance platform alternatives.
4. Penetration testing and third-party services
Not strictly mandated by the Trust Services Criteria, but effectively expected by auditors and enterprise buyers alike. An annual external penetration test runs $5,000 to $20,000. Add background check services, security awareness training, and in some cases a virtual CISO retainer.
What Drives Your Number Up or Down
- Type 1 vs Type 2. A Type 1 is materially cheaper but most enterprise buyers treat it as provisional. Doing Type 1 then Type 2 means paying two audit fees.
- Number of criteria. Security alone is the baseline. Each addition typically adds 10 to 20 percent to the audit fee plus the control work behind it. Privacy is the most expensive by a distance.
- Scope. Systems, environments, and locations included in the system description. The single biggest lever you actually control.
- Observation window. A three-month first window costs less than twelve and gets you a report sooner, though buyers generally prefer longer periods over time.
- Starting maturity. The gap between where you are and where the criteria expect you to be. This is what a readiness assessment measures, and why quotes given without one are guesses.
A Worked Example: 40-Person SaaS Company
Ranges only get you so far. Here is how the numbers actually assemble for a realistic case: a 40-person B2B SaaS company hosted on AWS, scoping to Security only, going straight to Type 2 with a six-month observation window. They already have SSO and MFA, but no formal policies, no centralised logging, and no evidence of access reviews.
They approach a regional CPA firm and receive a quote of $22,000. That is the number that goes into the board deck. Here is what the year actually costs:
- CPA audit fee — $22,000. The quoted figure, and the only one they had budgeted.
- Readiness, remediation and penetration testing — $23,000. Writing 16 policies, standing up centralised logging, formalising onboarding and offboarding, building a vendor register, and one external penetration test.
- Compliance tooling — $14,000. An annual platform subscription to automate evidence collection across the six-month window. This recurs every year.
Cash total: $59,000 — comfortably inside the $45,000 to $80,000 band for their headcount, and 2.7 times the quote they started with. The audit fee lands at 37 percent of the total, exactly where the heuristic predicts.
Then add internal time. Roughly 320 engineering hours went into evidence gathering, walkthroughs and remediation. At a loaded $80 per hour that is another $25,600 of diverted capacity, taking the true all-in figure to around $85,000.
The lesson is not that the auditor's quote was misleading — it was accurate for the work it described. The lesson is that an audit quote is a line item, not a budget.
Year Two and Beyond: Renewal Economics
This is where SOC 2 budgets most often break, and where the contrast with ISO 27001 matters commercially.
Because SOC 2 has no multi-year cycle, the audit fee and tooling recur at close to full price annually. What genuinely falls away is the one-time readiness and remediation build. Expect years two and three to run roughly 65 to 75 percent of year one.
| Framework (50 – 100 staff) | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Three-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type 2 (annual full audit) | $65k – $120k | $45k – $90k | $45k – $90k | $155k – $300k |
| ISO 27001 (3-year cycle) | $25k – $58k | $9k – $22k | $9k – $22k | $43k – $102k |
These are indicative ranges, and the ISO 27001 figures are broken down in full in our guide to ISO 27001 certification cost. The gap is not a reason to choose ISO 27001 over SOC 2 — they serve different markets, and North American enterprise buyers overwhelmingly ask for SOC 2. But if you are weighing both, the three-year view is the honest comparison, not the year-one sticker price. Our ISO 27001 vs SOC 2 comparison covers the strategic side.
Why Quotes Vary So Widely
Two quotes for "SOC 2" can differ threefold and both be honest, because they frequently describe different work. Before comparing numbers, establish:
- What is included. Audit only, or readiness and remediation bundled in?
- How many criteria. A Security-only quote against a four-criteria quote is not a comparison.
- Which report type, and whether a Type 1 is being charged separately on the way to Type 2.
- Observation window length.
- Next year's fee. Some firms discount year one and recover it later. Ask for the year-two number in writing.
- Who performs fieldwork, and whether any of it is outsourced.
One structural point worth knowing: a firm that sells you the readiness work cannot independently audit you. That is an independence conflict, and a serious buyer's security team will notice it in your report. Keep readiness and audit with separate providers.
Seven Ways to Cut SOC 2 Cost Without Weakening the Report
- Scope to Security only until a signed contract demands more. The largest single saving available.
- Tighten the system boundary. Exclude marketing sites, internal tools with no customer data, and sandbox environments.
- Use a regional CPA firm rather than a national or Big 4 practice. Same report, often a third of the fee.
- Do a readiness assessment first. Counterintuitive, but finding gaps before fieldwork is far cheaper than a failed control restarting your observation period.
- Skip Type 1 unless a specific deal is blocked right now.
- Inherit your cloud provider's controls through the carve-out method instead of evidencing infrastructure you do not operate.
- Start the observation window early, as soon as controls are genuinely operating. Waiting adds calendar time, not quality.
Not sure which of these apply to you?
A scoped conversation will tell you more than any published range. We have guided 3,000+ organisations through certification and attestation.
Get a free scoped quoteFrequently asked questions about SOC 2 cost
Is SOC 2 a certification or an attestation, and does the difference affect cost?
SOC 2 is an attestation, not a certification. A licensed CPA firm issues an opinion on your controls rather than awarding a certificate. This matters for budgeting because there is no multi-year certification cycle: unlike ISO 27001, which has one full audit followed by two cheaper surveillance years, SOC 2 requires a complete audit every year at close to full price.
What share of total SOC 2 cost is the auditor's fee?
Typically 35 to 40 percent. The CPA firm's invoice is the number most companies budget for, but readiness work, remediation, compliance tooling, and penetration testing together account for the remaining 60 to 65 percent. Budgeting from the audit quote alone understates the real figure by roughly two and a half times.
Does SOC 2 cost less in year two and three?
Somewhat, but far less than people expect. The audit fee and tooling recur at close to full price every year because SOC 2 requires a complete audit annually. What genuinely falls away is the one-time readiness and remediation work. Expect years two and three to run roughly 65 to 75 percent of year one, not the steep drop ISO 27001 offers in its surveillance years.
How much does each additional Trust Services Criterion add to the cost?
Each criterion beyond Security typically adds 10 to 20 percent to the audit fee, plus the control implementation work behind it. Availability and Confidentiality are the cheaper additions. Privacy is the most expensive by a wide margin and is rarely justified unless a customer contract explicitly requires it.
Why do SOC 2 quotes vary so widely between firms?
Because quotes often cover different things. One firm may quote the audit alone while another bundles readiness, remediation support, and the following year's report. Scope assumptions also differ, particularly the number of criteria, the length of the observation period, and how many systems and locations are included. Always ask what is excluded rather than comparing headline numbers.
Is an unusually cheap SOC 2 auditor a red flag?
Sometimes. A regional CPA firm can legitimately charge far less than a national one for the same quality of work. The genuine warning signs are a firm that guarantees a clean opinion in advance, one that also sold you the readiness work and so cannot audit you independently, or one that outsources fieldwork without disclosing it. Price alone is not the signal.
Which SOC 2 costs are most often left out of the budget?
Internal engineering time is the largest omission, commonly 150 to 1,000 hours depending on company size. Others regularly missed are remediation of whatever the readiness assessment uncovers, annual penetration testing, background check services, security awareness training, and the cost of the second and subsequent years, since SOC 2 renews annually.
How should we budget for SOC 2 across three years?
Take your year-one figure, then budget roughly 65 to 75 percent of it for each of years two and three. For a 50 to 100 person company that means approximately $65,000 to $120,000 in year one and $45,000 to $90,000 in each following year, giving a three-year total in the region of $155,000 to $300,000. Get a scoped estimate.
About Avantcert. Avantcert is an ISO and compliance certification consultancy that has guided 3,000+ organisations across 40+ markets to certification, with gap analysis, implementation and accredited audit readiness. See our SOC 2 consulting service or request a free quote.