SOC 2 Compliance Services: Cost, Timeline & How to Choose an Auditor
SOC 2 isn’t a certification you get from a certification body — it’s an attestation report issued by a licensed CPA firm, and that distinction changes who you actually need on your team. What Type I and Type II cost, how long each takes, and how to tell a real SOC 2 partner from a checklist-in-a-box tool.
What SOC 2 Actually Is
A prospective enterprise customer asks for your “SOC 2 certification” on a vendor security questionnaire, and most SaaS teams go looking for a certification body the way they would for ISO 27001. There isn’t one. SOC 2 is an attestation, not a certification: a licensed CPA firm examines your controls against the AICPA’s Trust Services Criteria and issues a report with their professional opinion attached. No accreditation body issues a SOC 2 seal, and no vendor can legitimately claim to be “SOC 2 certified” — only that they’ve received an unqualified SOC 2 report.
That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should, because it changes who can actually do what. A consultant can run your gap assessment, help you implement controls, and manage your evidence collection. Only a licensed CPA firm can issue the report itself. Vendors who blur that line, or who only offer one half of the work, are why so many SOC 2 projects stall out between readiness and attestation.
The Five Trust Services Criteria
Every SOC 2 report is scoped against some combination of five criteria. Security is mandatory in every report; the other four are added based on what your customers and contracts actually require.
Security
Mandatory in every SOC 2 report. Covers protection against unauthorized access, both physical and logical, across your systems and data.
Availability
Whether systems are available for operation and use as committed or agreed, including monitoring, incident response, and disaster recovery.
Processing Integrity
Whether system processing is complete, valid, accurate, timely, and authorized. Most relevant for platforms handling transactions or financial data.
Confidentiality
Whether information designated as confidential is protected as committed or agreed, typically covering contracts, IP, and internal business data.
Privacy
How personal information is collected, used, retained, disclosed, and disposed of, in conformity with your stated privacy notice.
Most SaaS companies scope their first report to Security plus Availability. Adding criteria later means re-scoping controls, not starting over, so it’s worth deciding upfront which ones your target customers will actually ask for.
Type I vs. Type II: Not Two Stages of the Same Thing
Type I and Type II answer different questions, and confusing them is the single most common SOC 2 planning mistake.
Type I — Point in Time
Tests whether your controls are suitably designed as of a specific date. Faster and cheaper to obtain, and often used as a first report while Type II evidence accumulates. Doesn’t test whether controls actually operated effectively over time.
Type II — Over a Period
Tests whether controls were both suitably designed and operating effectively across an observation window, typically three to twelve months. This is what most enterprise buyers actually mean when they ask for “SOC 2.”
Most vendors that skip straight to Type II underestimate the observation window: the clock only starts once controls are actually implemented and operating, not once the readiness assessment is finished. A Type I report first gives buyers something concrete while the Type II evidence period runs.
Getting Audit-Ready: The Checklist
- 01Scope your criteriaDecide which of the five Trust Services Criteria apply, based on what your customers and contracts actually require. Security is mandatory; the rest is scope.
- 02Run a gap assessmentMap your current controls against the Trust Services Criteria before an auditor does. This is where most of the real preparation timeline gets consumed.
- 03Remediate and implementClose identified gaps: access controls, logging, vendor management, incident response, and the policies that document all of it.
- 04Stand up evidence collectionPut a GRC platform or manual process in place to continuously capture the evidence an auditor will sample from.
- 05Start the observation window (Type II) or schedule Type IType II’s clock starts once controls are operating, not once they’re designed. Type I can be scheduled as soon as controls are in place.
- 06Engage your CPA firmOnly a licensed CPA firm can issue the report. Bring them in with enough lead time to scope fieldwork against your observation window or point-in-time date.
Six steps looks straightforward on paper. Knowing exactly where your controls stand against them, before an auditor tells you, is what a readiness assessment is for.
Book a free SOC 2 readiness assessmentWhat SOC 2 Actually Costs, and Realistic Timelines
Three cost lines, priced separately, get lumped into one number and then argued about: CPA audit fees, readiness or consulting support, and the GRC platform that manages evidence collection.
CPA firm audit fees for a Type I report commonly run $8,000 to $15,000 for a first-time SaaS company with a reasonably scoped environment. Type II audit fees run higher, typically $15,000 to $40,000+, driven by scope (how many Trust Services Criteria are in play beyond Security), the size of the control population being sampled, and the length of the observation window. A GRC platform (the category Vanta, Drata, and Secureframe compete in) commonly runs $7,000 to $20,000+ a year and automates a meaningful share of evidence collection, but doesn’t replace the judgment calls a readiness assessment makes.
| Scenario | Timeline | Typical all-in first-year cost |
|---|---|---|
| Type I, reasonably mature controls | 4–8 weeks | $15,000–$30,000 |
| Type I, building controls from scratch | 3–4 months | $20,000–$40,000 |
| Type II, first report | 6–9 months, kickoff to report | $25,000–$70,000+ |
The audit fee is usually the smallest line item people worry about most. Readiness gaps and evidence collection are what actually blow timelines and budgets — that’s the part worth scoping first, not the audit fee itself.
Do You Need a Compliance Consultant?
Not by requirement — nothing stops a team from running its own gap assessment, writing its own policies, and going straight to a CPA firm for the audit. In practice, most first-time SOC 2 programs bring in outside help for the readiness work, because the Trust Services Criteria are written in audit language, not engineering language, and translating “logical access controls are appropriately restricted” into an actual set of AWS IAM policies and review cadences has a real learning curve.
The part worth asking any potential partner directly: are the readiness consulting and the audit itself coming from the same team, or are you being handed off between a consultant who scopes the work and a separate CPA firm who has no context on what that consultant actually did? Accredify Global runs SOC 2 engagements end-to-end, gap assessment, control implementation support, and evidence management, coordinated directly with the CPA-attested report, so nothing gets lost in a handoff between two vendors who’ve never talked to each other.
Closing a deal that requires SOC 2?
Get a scope review that tells you honestly whether a Type I report is realistic before your next renewal or procurement deadline.
How to Choose a SOC 2 Auditor
- 01Confirm they’re a licensed CPA firmOnly a licensed CPA firm can issue a SOC 2 report. A consultant or platform offering to “certify” you without CPA involvement can’t deliver an actual attestation.
- 02Ask about industry experienceA firm that regularly audits SaaS companies will scope Trust Services Criteria differently than one used to auditing financial institutions.
- 03Clarify who does the readiness workGet a straight answer on whether gap assessment and remediation support come from the audit firm, a separate consultant, or you’re on your own for it.
- 04Check GRC platform compatibilityIf you’re already using or planning to use a platform like Vanta, Drata, or Secureframe, confirm the auditor works with evidence pulled from it rather than requiring a separate manual process.
- 05Ask about Type I as a first stepIf Type II timelines don’t fit a deal cycle, ask whether a Type I report now, followed by Type II once the observation window closes, is a realistic path.
- 06Get a scoping call before a quoteAudit fees vary enough by scope that a number without a scoping conversation first is usually a placeholder, not a real quote.
Find out what a real Type II timeline looks like for your environment.
Accredify Global runs SOC 2 engagements end-to-end — gap assessment, control implementation, evidence management, and a coordinated CPA-attested report — so you’re working with one team instead of being handed off between a consultant and an auditor.
Book your free readiness assessment →Frequently Asked Questions
Is SOC 2 a certification?
No. SOC 2 is an attestation report issued by a licensed CPA firm under AICPA standards, not a certification issued by an accredited certification body. “SOC 2 certified” is common shorthand, but the accurate claim is having received an unqualified SOC 2 report.
How much do SOC 2 compliance services cost?
CPA audit fees alone typically run $8,000–$15,000 for a first Type I report and $15,000–$40,000+ for Type II, depending on scope. Add a GRC platform (commonly $7,000–$20,000+ a year) and readiness or consulting support, and a realistic first-year all-in range for Type II lands between $25,000 and $70,000+.
How long does SOC 2 take?
Type I can be completed in four to eight weeks with reasonably mature controls already in place. Type II is driven by the observation window itself, typically three to six months, plus readiness time beforehand and audit fieldwork after; six to nine months from kickoff to report is realistic for a first Type II.
Do we need both Type I and Type II?
Not always, but many companies use Type I as a fast first proof point for buyers while the Type II observation window runs, rather than waiting months with nothing to show.
Do we need a compliance consultant, or can the CPA firm handle everything?
Most first-time SOC 2 programs bring in outside help for the readiness work, since the audit itself only tests controls that already exist. The real question is whether the readiness support and the audit are coordinated by one team or handed off between two vendors who’ve never worked together.
What’s the difference between SOC 2 and ISO 27001?
SOC 2 is a CPA-issued attestation report focused on US enterprise buyer expectations; ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized certification issued by an accredited certification body. Many companies pursuing both find real overlap in the underlying controls, even though the deliverables and issuing bodies are entirely different.