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In Q3 2026, audit firms quoted companies with up to 50 employees a median $9,000 for a SOC 2 Type 2 audit, in ballpark quotes through SOC2Auditors.org before scoping. The median rises to $29,000 for companies of 500+ employees.
Estimate your own scope How we built these numbers
Pricing snapshot August 21, 2026. Budget inputs checked May 13, 2026 to November 2, 2026.
Specialist CPA firms’ Type 2 estimates run $15,000 to $45,000 and their Type 1 estimates $10,000 to $24,000. Full-service CPA firms’ Type 2 estimates run $25,000 to $62,500, and the Big Four’s $65,000 to $200,000. They cover the audit alone.
We list specialist CPA firms, full-service CPA firms, and Big Four offices. A small startup comparing on price often lands below these bands; that case is in the startup budget guide.
Our estimates by firm type · not quotes
| Firm type | SOC 2 Type 1 | SOC 2 Type 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist CPA firm | $10,000–$24,000 | $15,000–$45,000 |
| Full-service CPA firm | $15,000–$36,500 | $25,000–$62,500 |
| Big Four | $40,000–$145,000 | $65,000–$200,000 |
Each band runs from the median listed minimum to the median listed maximum for that firm type (sources and calculation). Country pages compute the same bands over the firms in one country, so their spans differ from these (how each fee range we publish is built). For AUD bands and local issuers, see the Australian SOC 2 auditors directory.
For an enterprise engagement spanning multiple entities or frameworks, compare enterprise SOC 2 audit firms before requesting quotes on the same written scope.
Each figure is what one commenter in a public forum thread said they paid, posted from 2024 to 2026. They are individual reports, not an average.
Every reviewed mention, with method and date, is in the table further down.
Use the SOC 2 audit cost calculator to change company size, report type, and scope. The estimate uses a lower-cost specialist assumption and scales it for size and scope. Treat the result as a budget to test against quotes; the assumptions sit beside it.
First-year SOC 2 cash runs about $10,000 to $30,500 for a prepared team of 1 to 10 people, $31,000 to $107,000 for an 11 to 50 person SaaS company, and $55,500 to $182,000 for a 201 to 500 person company starting with low readiness (our estimates).
| Budget line | Prepared small team 1–10 employees | Growing SaaS company 11–50 employees | Complex organization 201–500 employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPA audit fee (Type 2) | $7,000–$10,000 | $9,500–$13,000 | $26,500–$38,000 |
| Readiness help | $0 if controls are ready | $4,000–$10,000 | $10,000–$20,000 |
| Compliance platform (annual) | $0–$9,500 (optional) | $7,500–$14,000 | $9,000–$54,000 |
| Penetration test | $3,000–$11,000 | $5,000–$20,000 | $5,000–$20,000 |
| Control remediation | $0 if controls are ready | $5,000–$50,000 | $5,000–$50,000 |
| First-year cash total | $10,000–$30,500 | $31,000–$107,000 | $55,500–$182,000 |
| Year-two cash | $10,000–$30,500 | $22,000–$47,000 | $40,500–$112,000 |
| Staff time (separate, not in totals) | $25,000–$90,000 | $25,000–$90,000 | $25,000–$90,000 |
Readiness help uses the SOC 2 readiness-program prices that firms in our directory publish: 8 published prices from 6 firms, $4,000 to $20,000, median $10,000, checked October 5, 2026. Packages that may include the audit itself run $18,000 to $25,000; check whether the CPA firm's fee is inside before comparing one with this table. A gap assessment on its own runs $2,500 to $6,000 (4 published prices from 3 firms). These are entry prices for defined packages; larger scopes quote higher. Keep readiness and the audit with different firms: an auditor that built your controls would be examining its own work. Compare SOC 2 readiness firms, or start with a readiness assessment.
Penetration testing is a separate purchase from the CPA audit, and the platform line is the annual price of a compliance tool, which a prepared small team can skip. Year two is a new examination at the same audit-fee estimate, with no renewal discount assumed. Staff time is hours your own people spend, valued as an opportunity cost, so it never enters the cash totals. Change the inputs in the audit cost calculator; plan the year-two and renewal budget separately.
These figures cover different company sizes and scopes. They are useful for checking a proposal, not for adding up a startup budget.
| Budget row | Current planning range | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance platform | $3,600–$98,260 | Full span of sourced annual USD prices across comparable firm listings; it mixes confirmed figures and labeled estimates, omits unknowns, and is not a typical price. The table above uses the middle of this span. |
| Scope-change exposure | $10,000–$30,000 | Buyer-reported change-order range; prevent it by freezing the system boundary and criteria. Not in the totals above. |
Add one report path, not Type 1 plus Type 2, and only the add-ons you actually need. Audit bands regenerate from the directory; the other rows are dated planning inputs on the cost sources page. The software line has its own pricing comparison, and testing has a pentest cost guide.
These are ballpark SOC 2 Type 2 fees that audit firms sent buyers who requested quotes on soc2auditors.org in July–September 2026. They are ballparks, not final fees. A size band appears only when ballparks come from several firms, so no single firm's pricing can be read from it.
Type 2 ballparks by company size · Q3 2026
Small companies' median ballparks ($9,000 in both bands) sit within our lower-cost specialist Type 2 planning budget of $7,000 to $10,000 (confirmed by Zero Day CPA, October 2026) and below the specialist band of $15,000 to $45,000 (our estimates). That band summarizes listed ranges across firms rather than offers sent to small teams.
SOC 2 is an attestation, not a certification. There is no extra certificate fee. Buyers using that phrase usually mean the CPA examination: $10,000 to $24,000 for Type 1 or $15,000 to $45,000 for Type 2 at a specialist firm, before readiness, software, testing, remediation, or labor.
Ask the requester which report they mean. Type 1 tests control design at a specified date. Type 2 also tests operating effectiveness over a specified period. Mix those in one comparison and the prices stop meaning the same thing.
Across the 184 firms in our directory that list both, the median listed Type 2 minimum is 1.56 times the Type 1 minimum. Most of those listings are our planning estimates, so treat that as a planning ratio rather than a measured market premium. The 9 firms that confirmed or published both prices range from 1.00 to 1.67 times.
Adding Trust Services Criteria raises the fee too. These are our calculator's planning factors on the audit fee:
Specialist Type 2 estimates are $15,000 to $45,000, full-service CPA firms $25,000 to $62,500, and Big Four firms $65,000 to $200,000. Type 2 usually costs more than Type 1 in a like-for-like proposal because it tests operating effectiveness over an agreed period. Specialist Type 1 currently runs $10,000 to $24,000; Big Four Type 1 runs $40,000 to $145,000.
How the observation period changes the bill is covered in Type 2 observation-period costs.
SOC 2 is expensive because a CPA firm bills experienced auditors' hours to test every control in the criteria you choose, and a Type 2 repeats that testing across a period of months. The specialist audit fee alone runs $15,000 to $45,000; first-year cash reaches $55,500 to $182,000 (our estimates) for a larger company once readiness, remediation, a platform, and a penetration test are added.
The audit is only one line. Teams without working controls pay for readiness help and for the tools and fixes it finds, and most also buy a compliance platform ($7,500 to $14,000 a year across the middle of our software directory) and a penetration test ($5,000 to $20,000). Each Trust Services Criterion added multiplies the audit work, and a larger company has more systems, vendors, and people for the auditor to sample.
Our guides price the lines around the audit: readiness assessment costs, continuous monitoring costs, penetration test pricing, and HIPAA audit costs when health data is in scope. To buy that work rather than build it, compare security service firms.
SOC 2 is an attestation, so there is no exam to pass: a CPA firm reports on whether your controls are designed, and for Type 2 operated, as you describe them. How hard it is depends on how many controls you must design, run, and keep evidence for across the period.
A team that already runs access reviews, change management, logging, and vendor checks mostly has to document and prove them. A first-time team with no written controls usually needs readiness help first; a readiness assessment shows how far you are from audit-ready.
SOC 2 is an attestation, not a certification: the process ends when a CPA firm issues your SOC 2 report. End to end, plan about 3 to 6 months for a SOC 2 Type 1 and 6 to 12 months or more for a first Type 2. The Type 2 timeline includes an observation period of 3, 6, or 12 months.
Audit fieldwork takes about 2 to 3 months once scope, controls, and evidence are ready. Readiness work before that depends on how many controls you still have to build; the report follows fieldwork. Agree the observation period with your auditor and the customer asking for the report before you start. Our SOC 2 audit timeline by phase breaks the phases down, and the SOC 2 timeline calculator turns them into dates for your scope.
Give every CPA firm the same five inputs, then compare written inclusions and change triggers. Without a normalized brief, a lower quote may simply exclude work another firm included.
In Q3 2026 ballparks before scoping, firms quoted companies with up to 50 employees a median $9,000 for a SOC 2 Type 2 audit. $7,000 to $10,000 is a reasonable budget-shopping scenario for a Type 2 audit (confirmed by Zero Day CPA, October 2026) when you have 1–10 people, one simple SaaS system, Security-only scope, and controls ready for testing. You are comparing lower-cost specialists and do not need a particular large-firm name on the report.
The starting range is Zero Day CPA's listed range, checked against anonymized quote patterns. It is a planning scenario. Some small-scope offers cost less; extra systems, criteria, or a required auditor brand can cost more. The calculator methodology explains this reference and the adjustments.
Ask for the audit fee, Type 2 observation dates, and exclusions in writing. A short first report may not meet a customer's requirement for a longer period. Our note on Type 2 observation-period costs covers that choice and the year-two audit; the startup budget guide covers the wider first-year plan.
We match firms to your scope and bring their ballpark quotes back. Free and anonymized.
Most third-party audit price points we list, each checked in November 2026, overlap the organization-group ranges above: first-person buyer reports from public forums, and the ranges audit and security firms publish about their market. We leave out duplicates, ambiguous amounts, and low-credibility sources. See our monthly-refreshed cost statistics for how these figures move each month.
Compliance-automation platforms publish estimates too. The audit figures we list from the Drata, Sprinto, Secureframe, and Vanta guides run $5,000 to $60,000, and Drata and Secureframe also publish higher Type 2 figures. Those come from software vendors rather than audit or security firms, so we keep them out of the table above. Every reviewed record, including the platform figures, is listed with method and retrieval date on the sources page. They are not inputs to the firm-type bands.
Lock these three decisions before you send an RFP so the quotes describe the same job.
A Security-only scope is usually narrower than one with additional criteria. Add Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, or Privacy when the report's intended users need them, and have each firm price the same selection.
Our data shows large price differences by organization group. Ask whether a named customer, regulator, lender, or board actually requires a particular firm before paying for brand and scale you do not need.
Have every firm state whether readiness, system-description support, extra samples, re-testing, travel, add-on criteria, report revisions, and scope changes are included. A low fee with open-ended exclusions is not the low-cost quote.
Questions to settle before you issue an RFP.
Tell us your audit type, criteria, system count, and target date. We send the same scope to matching firms so the quotes describe the same job.