SOC 2 Statistics: The Definitive Roundup

Every week, clients ask us some version of the same question: how does our compliance program compare? After advising dozens of companies through SOC 2 — from seed-stage startups to mature enterprises — we have accumulated a detailed picture of what costs, timelines, adoption rates, audit findings, and market trends actually look like across the industry. This page is our master reference: the SOC 2 data points we use internally when designing compliance programs, organized by category and updated regularly. Whether you are building a business case for SOC 2 investment, benchmarking your program against industry averages, or planning strategically around compliance, this is the resource we point clients to first.

Cost Statistics

SOC 2 compliance costs vary significantly by company size, scope, audit type, and compliance maturity. What we tell clients is that the total number matters less than understanding where the money goes — and where you can control it.

First-Year Costs

Metric	Value	Context
Average first-year SOC 2 total cost	$40,000-$150,000	Includes auditor fees, GRC platform, consulting, internal labor, and remediation
Auditor fee range (Type I)	$15,000-$50,000	Varies by auditor tier, company complexity, and scope
Auditor fee range (Type II)	$20,000-$80,000	Higher than Type I due to observation period testing
GRC platform annual cost	$8,000-$60,000	Based on headcount and selected framework count
Consulting cost (readiness assessment)	$3,000-$30,000	Optional; higher for organizations requiring extensive gap remediation
Internal labor cost (first year)	$10,000-$100,000	Based on compliance lead time plus engineering, HR, and IT support hours

Cost by Company Size

Company Size	Typical First-Year Cost	Ongoing Annual Cost
Startup (under 50 employees)	$35,000-$80,000	$30,000-$65,000
Growth stage (50-200 employees)	$60,000-$150,000	$50,000-$120,000
Mid-market (200-1,000 employees)	$100,000-$230,000	$85,000-$190,000
Enterprise (1,000+ employees)	$150,000-$400,000+	$130,000-$350,000

Three-Year Total Cost of Ownership

Company Size	3-Year TCO Range
Startup	$90,000-$230,000
Growth stage	$180,000-$400,000
Mid-market	$300,000-$610,000
Enterprise	$475,000-$1,100,000+

In our experience, the three-year view is the right lens for evaluating SOC 2 investment. First-year costs are always the highest due to remediation and setup. By year two, most organizations see a meaningful drop as processes mature and evidence collection becomes routine.

Cost Reduction Factors

Factor	Typical Impact
Using a GRC platform vs. manual compliance	50-70% reduction in internal labor hours
Choosing a specialized SOC 2 auditor vs. Big 4 firm	$10,000-$50,000+ savings on auditor fees
Starting with Security criterion only vs. multiple criteria	30-40% lower first-year cost
Having existing security controls (SSO, MFA, logging) in place	20-30% reduction in remediation costs
Multi-year auditor contract	5-15% discount on annual auditor fees

Timeline Statistics

SOC 2 audit timelines depend on report type, company size, and preparation level. We recommend using these ranges for internal planning and adding buffer for the common delays listed below.

Type I Timeline

Phase	Typical Duration
Readiness and implementation	4-12 weeks
Auditor engagement and scheduling	2-4 weeks
Audit fieldwork	1-3 weeks
Report delivery	1-3 weeks
Total (start to report)	8-22 weeks

Accelerated timeline for well-prepared organizations: as few as 6-8 weeks. We have seen this with clients who already had strong security fundamentals — SSO, MFA, logging, and documented policies — before starting the formal SOC 2 process.

Type II Timeline

Phase	Typical Duration
Readiness and implementation	4-16 weeks
Observation period	6-12 months
Audit fieldwork	2-4 weeks
Report delivery	2-4 weeks
Total (start to report)	9-18 months

Timeline by Company Size

Company Size	Typical Time to First Type I	Typical Time to First Type II
Startup	6-12 weeks	9-14 months
Growth stage	8-16 weeks	10-16 months
Mid-market	10-20 weeks	12-18 months
Enterprise	12-24 weeks	14-20 months

Common Delays

Delay Factor	Impact on Timeline
Auditor scheduling conflict	+2-6 weeks
Policy approval delays	+1-3 weeks
Incomplete employee training	+1-2 weeks
Integration configuration issues	+1-3 weeks
Missing vendor security documentation	+1-3 weeks
Significant remediation requirements	+2-8 weeks

What we see most often is that policy approval delays and auditor scheduling conflicts are the two biggest timeline risks that teams underestimate. We recommend starting auditor selection during week two of readiness — not after readiness is complete.

Adoption Statistics

SOC 2 adoption continues to grow as enterprise procurement increasingly requires security attestation from technology vendors. In our practice, we are seeing companies pursue SOC 2 earlier in their lifecycle than ever before — often pre-Series A.

Market Adoption Trends

Metric	Value
Estimated SOC 2 reports issued annually	10,000-15,000+ (growing year over year)
Growth in SOC 2 audit volume (annual)	20-30% year-over-year increase
Percentage of enterprise RFPs requiring SOC 2	70-85% for B2B SaaS vendors
Most common first framework for US SaaS startups	SOC 2 (followed by ISO 27001)
Average company size at first SOC 2 audit	30-80 employees
Percentage of SOC 2 organizations using GRC platforms	70-80% (up from approximately 40% in 2020)

Adoption by Industry

Industry	SOC 2 Adoption Level	Typical Driver
B2B SaaS / Cloud services	Very high	Enterprise customer requirements
Fintech / Financial services	Very high	Regulatory expectations and institutional buyer requirements
Healthtech	High	Hospital and health plan procurement requirements (alongside HIPAA)
Data analytics / AI	High	Data processing trust requirements
Infrastructure / DevOps tools	High	Developer ecosystem expectations
Professional services (tech)	Moderate	Client trust and competitive differentiation
E-commerce platforms	Moderate	Merchant and partner trust requirements

Trust Service Criteria Selection

Criteria Combination	Approximate Usage
Security only	55-65% of SOC 2 audits
Security + Availability	20-25%
Security + Availability + Confidentiality	8-12%
Security + Availability + Processing Integrity + Confidentiality	3-5%
All five criteria	2-4%

Security is the only mandatory criterion, and the majority of organizations — particularly those pursuing SOC 2 for the first time — include only Security. We generally recommend starting with Security only unless your customers or contracts specifically require additional criteria. Availability is the most common addition, typically for SaaS platforms with uptime commitments.

Audit Findings Statistics

Understanding common audit findings helps organizations prepare effectively and avoid the most frequent exceptions. In our experience, most first-year exceptions are preventable with the right preparation and monitoring cadence.

Most Common Exceptions

Finding Category	Frequency	Description
Incomplete access reviews	Very common	Quarterly access reviews missed or not documented during the observation period
Employee training gaps	Very common	One or more employees did not complete security awareness training
Missing or late evidence	Common	Gaps in evidence collection during the observation period
Change management deviations	Common	Changes deployed without documented approval or review
Vendor management gaps	Common	Critical vendors without current security assessments on file
Endpoint non-compliance	Moderate	Employee devices without required security configurations
Incident response testing gaps	Moderate	No documented tabletop exercise during the observation period
Risk assessment not completed	Moderate	Annual risk assessment missing or incomplete

Exception Statistics

Metric	Value
Percentage of first-year Type II audits with at least one exception	50-70%
Average number of exceptions in first-year Type II	2-5
Percentage of mature (year 3+) programs with zero exceptions	40-55%
Most common exception category	Access management (access reviews, provisioning/deprovisioning)
Percentage of exceptions related to manual processes	60-75%

The high percentage of manual-process-related exceptions underscores the value of GRC platform automation — automated evidence collection and monitoring significantly reduce the risk of evidence gaps and missed recurring tasks. What we tell our clients is that if you are doing access reviews, training tracking, or evidence collection manually, those are exactly the controls most likely to produce exceptions.

GRC Platform Market Statistics

The GRC platform market has grown rapidly alongside SOC 2 adoption, with platforms becoming the standard tool for compliance management.

Market Overview

Metric	Value
Estimated GRC platform market size (SOC 2 segment)	$1-2 billion+
Annual market growth rate	25-35%
Number of GRC platforms supporting SOC 2	30+
Percentage of SOC 2 organizations using a platform	70-80%

Platform Adoption

Platform	Approximate Market Position
Vanta	Largest customer base; 375+ integrations
Drata	Strong adoption among startups; known for UI design
Secureframe	Strong multi-framework support; 300+ integrations
Sprinto	Growing adoption, particularly in international markets
Thoropass	Integrated audit and platform offering
AuditBoard	Enterprise-focused GRC platform

Platform Impact on Compliance

Metric	With GRC Platform	Without GRC Platform
Internal labor hours for Type II	200-400 hours/year	500-1,000+ hours/year
Time to initial compliance	2-4 months	4-8+ months
Audit fieldwork duration	1-3 weeks	3-6 weeks
Evidence collection effort	70-80% automated	90-100% manual
Annual compliance maintenance	5-10 hours/week	15-25+ hours/week

Multi-Framework Statistics

Many organizations pursue SOC 2 alongside additional compliance frameworks. We recommend sequencing frameworks rather than pursuing everything simultaneously — SOC 2 first, then layering on additional frameworks where the control overlap is highest.

Framework Combinations

Combination	Approximate Prevalence
SOC 2 only	45-55%
SOC 2 + ISO 27001	20-25%
SOC 2 + HIPAA	10-15%
SOC 2 + PCI DSS	5-8%
SOC 2 + ISO 27001 + HIPAA	5-8%
SOC 2 + three or more frameworks	5-10%

Multi-Framework Efficiency

Adding Framework to SOC 2	Incremental Cost	Control Overlap
ISO 27001	+30-50% over SOC 2 alone	60-70%
HIPAA	+20-35% over SOC 2 alone	70-80%
PCI DSS	+40-60% over SOC 2 alone	50-60%
GDPR	+15-25% over SOC 2 alone	50-60%

The control overlap percentages are why we encourage clients to think about multi-framework strategy from day one, even if they are only pursuing SOC 2 initially. Designing controls with ISO 27001 or HIPAA alignment in mind from the start saves significant rework later.

Business Impact Statistics

SOC 2 compliance delivers measurable business impact beyond security improvement. This is the section we point to most often when helping clients build their internal business case.

Sales Impact

Metric	Value
Average reduction in security review timeline with SOC 2 report	50-75% (from 4-8 weeks to 1-2 weeks)
Percentage of enterprise deals where SOC 2 is a prerequisite	60-80% in B2B SaaS
Revenue at risk from lacking SOC 2 (per blocked deal)	Varies; single enterprise deals often exceed annual SOC 2 cost
Deal acceleration from faster security reviews	4-6 weeks earlier revenue recognition per deal

SOC 2 Cost as Percentage of Revenue

Company Stage	Typical Annual Revenue	SOC 2 as % of Revenue
Seed / early-stage	$500K-$3M	2-14%
Growth	$3M-$20M	0.6-4%
Mid-market	$20M-$100M	0.1-1%
Enterprise	$100M+	Less than 0.35%

SOC 2 cost as a percentage of revenue decreases rapidly with company growth, making the ROI increasingly favorable for growth-stage and larger organizations. In our experience, this is the single most effective data point for getting CFO buy-in: by mid-market stage, SOC 2 costs less than one percent of revenue while protecting access to the majority of enterprise pipeline.

Operational Impact

Metric	Value
Reduction in security questionnaire response time	40-60%
Improvement in security posture (self-reported)	70-85% of organizations report measurable improvement
Reduction in security incidents post-SOC 2 implementation	Varies; organizations report improved detection and response capabilities

Auditor Market Statistics

The SOC 2 audit market includes firms ranging from boutique specialists to Big 4 accounting firms. We help our clients navigate this landscape to find the right fit for their size, industry, and timeline.

Auditor Landscape

Auditor Tier	Number of Firms	Typical Fee Range	Market Share
Big 4 (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG)	4	$80,000-$300,000+	10-15% of SOC 2 audits
Mid-tier / national firms	15-25	$40,000-$100,000	25-35%
Specialized SOC 2 firms	30-50	$20,000-$60,000	35-45%
Boutique / regional firms	100+	$15,000-$40,000	15-20%

Auditor Selection Factors

Factor	Percentage of Organizations Citing as Important
Industry experience	75-85%
Price	70-80%
Audit timeline / availability	65-75%
GRC platform familiarity	55-65%
Firm reputation	50-60%
Communication quality	50-60%

Key Takeaways

• We see first-year SOC 2 costs range from $35,000 for startups to $400,000+ for enterprises, with three-year TCO ranging from $90,000 to over $1 million — plan around the three-year view, not just year one
• Time to first Type I report ranges from six to twenty-two weeks; Type II from nine to eighteen months — start auditor selection early to avoid the most common delay
• Seventy to eighty-five percent of enterprise B2B SaaS RFPs now require SOC 2, making it a revenue enabler, not just a cost center
• Fifty to seventy percent of first-year Type II audits have at least one exception — we recommend focusing preparation on access reviews and employee training, the two most common finding areas
• GRC platforms reduce internal labor by fifty to seventy percent; if you are managing compliance manually, that is the single highest-impact investment to make
• We recommend starting with Security-only scope (fifty-five to sixty-five percent of audits follow this path) and adding criteria only when customer contracts require them
• SOC 2 reduces security review timelines by fifty to seventy-five percent, directly accelerating enterprise deal cycles — frame your business case around deals at risk, not abstract compliance value
• Specialized SOC 2 audit firms handle thirty-five to forty-five percent of the market and offer the best balance of expertise and pricing for most organizations we advise

Frequently Asked Questions

How often are these statistics updated?

What we tell clients is to treat the cost ratios and timeline ranges as relatively stable — those shift gradually. This page is reviewed and updated quarterly as new data becomes available from GRC platform vendor reports, CPA firm surveys, and our own client engagements. Adoption percentages and market size estimates move more frequently as the SOC 2 market continues expanding. We recommend checking back quarterly if you are using these figures for budgeting or strategic planning.

Where do these statistics come from?

Based on what we see, the most reliable SOC 2 data comes from cross-referencing multiple sources rather than relying on any single report. We aggregate from GRC platform vendor reports (Vanta, Drata, Secureframe), industry analyst publications, CPA firm survey data, AICPA market reports, and our own proprietary research across SOC 2 engagements. Where specific sources are available, they are noted. Many figures represent ranges derived from cross-referencing rather than single definitive data points.

How does our company compare to these benchmarks?

In our experience, the company size segmentation is the most useful starting comparison point. If your SOC 2 costs, timeline, or exception count fall within the ranges listed for your company size, your program is operating within normal parameters. If your costs are significantly above the ranges, we recommend evaluating whether your scope is broader than typical, your auditor fees are above market, or your internal labor investment is higher than necessary. GRC platform automation is the single most effective lever for bringing costs and timelines into benchmark ranges — that is the first place we look when helping clients optimize.

Are SOC 2 adoption rates still growing?

Based on what we see across our client base, yes — and the growth is accelerating. SOC 2 audit volume continues to grow at twenty to thirty percent annually as enterprise procurement teams increasingly standardize on SOC 2 as a vendor security requirement. Three factors are driving the growth: more enterprises requiring SOC 2 from their vendors, earlier-stage companies pursuing SOC 2 (pre-Series A in some cases), and expansion into industries beyond traditional B2B SaaS — healthcare, fintech, data analytics, and AI are all seeing significant uptake.

What is the most important statistic for building a SOC 2 business case?

What we recommend to every client building an internal business case is to lead with the revenue impact: sixty to eighty percent of enterprise B2B SaaS RFPs require SOC 2, meaning a single blocked enterprise deal often exceeds the entire annual SOC 2 cost. Frame the business case around specific deals at risk rather than abstract compliance benefits — that is what gets executive buy-in. The cost-as-percentage-of-revenue data (less than one percent for mid-market and enterprise companies) reinforces that SOC 2 is a modest investment relative to the revenue it protects and enables.