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Quick answer: TrustCloud’s free tier is genuine. Startups under 20 employees get full SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 readiness, automated evidence collection, and a trust portal at zero cost. The catch: readiness is not a certificate. The auditor is a separate $8,000-$28,000.
Our rating: 4 / 5
TrustCloud (formerly Kintent) is the one major compliance platform where a startup can reach SOC 2 audit-readiness without spending a dollar on software. Every other name in the category, including Vanta at $10K-$15K/year and Sprinto at $7K-$10K/year, gates SOC 2 features behind a sales call. TrustCloud does not, for companies with 20 or fewer employees. That is the headline, and it is real.
What follows is what the free tier actually covers, where it stops, how the platform earns its money, and whether the “free now, paid and opaque later” trajectory is a reason to think twice.
What Does the Free Tier Actually Include?
The TrustCloud Starter tier is permanently free for companies at or under 20 employees. It includes: SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 audit readiness, automated evidence collection via integrations, employee policy attestation workflows, a real-time auto-generated trust portal (TrustShare), an automated risk register, AI-assisted answers for 2 security questionnaires per month, automated NDA generation, document watermarking, a Chrome extension, 6-month data retention, and SSO via Google or Microsoft.
TrustCloud says you can automate up to 80% of your tools and processes on the free tier. That figure is consistent with what the feature set covers for a standard SaaS stack. The remaining 20% is manual evidence for controls that do not plug into an API, such as physical security attestations, pen test documentation, and periodic access review sign-offs. Those still require human action regardless of which platform you use.
What the free tier does not include: unlimited questionnaire automation (capped at 2 per month), advanced risk assessment modules, third-party risk management at scale, and enterprise access controls. Those live in paid modules, priced by usage volume.
The Catch You Need to Know
Free readiness is not a free SOC 2 certificate. A SOC 2 report is issued exclusively by a licensed independent CPA firm, as required by the AICPA. No compliance software platform can issue one. TrustCloud’s Starter tier brings you to the door of an audit; it does not pay for the auditor who walks through it.
TrustCloud refers companies to its partner-auditor network, firms trained on the platform whose evidence-pull process is integrated via API. Those auditors charge $8,000-$28,000 for a SOC 2, and TrustCloud passes along referral discounts. The audit cost is separate from your platform cost, which is $0 on the free tier.
Your all-in first-year SOC 2 cost on TrustCloud free: $8,000-$28,000 in auditor fees plus internal team time, plus $0 for the platform. Compare that to Vanta ($10K-$15K platform) plus auditor ($15K-$50K), and the free tier advantage is real money for an early-stage company. See our full SOC 2 audit cost guide for a breakdown of what drives those auditor fees.
TrustCloud at a Glance
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | TrustCloud Corporation (formerly Kintent) |
| Products | TrustOps, TrustShare, TrustRegister, TrustLens, TrustHQ |
| Frameworks | SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, NIST, CMMC, PCI DSS, HITRUST, DORA + custom |
| Aggregate Rating | ~4.6 / 5 (~49 reviews) |
| Free Tier | Yes, permanent for companies with 20 or fewer employees |
| Paid Tier Range | $10K-$30K/year (usage-based, module pricing) |
| Audit Cost (Partner Network) | $8,000-$28,000 (separate from platform) |
| Positioning | AI-native GRC; “trust as a profit center” |
Free vs Paid: What Changes When You Grow Past 20 Employees
This is the transition every free-tier user should understand before committing their evidence workflows to TrustCloud.
| Feature | Free Starter (under 20 employees) | Paid Modules |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type 1 + Type 2 readiness | Included | Included |
| Evidence integrations | Included | Included (expanded) |
| TrustShare trust portal | Included | Included |
| Risk register | Automated, included | Expanded with third-party risk |
| AI questionnaire answering | 2/month | Unlimited (Customer Assurance module) |
| First-party risk assessments | Basic | Full module |
| Third-party risk management | Not included | Risk Assessment module |
| Compliance Assurance scope | Core frameworks | Broader + custom at scale |
| Support SLA | 2-day first response, email | Priority support |
| Data retention | 6 months | Extended |
| Pricing | $0 | $10K-$30K/year, usage-based |
TrustCloud free vs. competitor entry pricing:
| Platform | Startup Entry Cost (SOC 2 readiness only) |
|---|---|
| TrustCloud (under 20 employees) | $0 |
| Sprinto | ~$7K-$10K/year |
| Drata | ~$7.5K-$15K/year |
| Vanta | ~$10K-$15K/year |
Paid TrustCloud modules are priced by value metrics, not per-user seats, which means pricing scales with the number of assessments, questionnaires automated, and scope of the compliance program. You will need a sales call to get a number once you outgrow the free tier. That opacity is a real limitation for planning.
TrustShare: The Part That Earns Its Keep in Sales
TrustShare is TrustCloud’s auto-generated trust portal, included in the free tier. It is a live webpage showing your current compliance posture, certifications, and approved security documentation. Prospects and customers access it when they request a security review, instead of your team responding to the same 30 questions for the fifth time.
For pre-SOC-2 startups, TrustShare does one specific thing: it shows that you have a compliance program underway, even before the audit is complete. That can unblock procurement conversations with prospects who need something on file. It is not a substitute for the SOC 2 report, and experienced enterprise security teams will know the difference. But for early-stage companies where the alternative is a blank response to a security questionnaire, TrustShare has real commercial value.
The AI questionnaire-answering feature (2 per month on the free tier) builds on TrustShare’s evidence base. It pulls from your existing documentation to draft answers to incoming questionnaires, reducing the manual work of responding to prospect security reviews.
Can You Really Get Audit-Ready Free, and What Does the Audit Cost?
Yes, genuinely. The free tier covers the full readiness workflow: connecting your cloud infrastructure, identity providers, and HR tools via API; running automated tests against the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria; collecting timestamped evidence; documenting policies with employee attestation; and maintaining a real-time risk register. A company with 15 employees and a standard SaaS stack can reach audit-readiness without spending anything on software.
The auditor is still a separate expense, always. This is not a TrustCloud limitation, it is an AICPA requirement: SOC 2 reports must be issued by an independent licensed CPA firm. TrustCloud cannot issue one and does not claim to.
TrustCloud’s partner-auditor model works like this: TrustCloud trains a network of CPA firms on its platform. Those firms can pull evidence directly via API rather than requesting manual document exports, which reduces fieldwork time and cost. Partner auditors charge $8,000-$28,000 for SOC 2, with referral discounts applied through TrustCloud’s coordination.
One independence consideration worth naming directly: your readiness platform and your auditor should not be the same organization, and they are not here. TrustCloud is not your auditor. But when your readiness tool refers you to its own curated network for the audit, you get a narrower comparison set than if you had shopped the open market. Browsing an independent directory like our vetted auditor list before committing to TrustCloud’s partner network gives you a price benchmark and a wider field of options. Our SOC 2 audit cost guide covers what drives fee variation across firms.
Pros and Cons
What Works
- Permanent free tier for under-20-employee startups covers the full SOC 2 readiness workflow, no trial expiration.
- Cross-framework control mapping means evidence collected for SOC 2 carries into ISO 27001, HIPAA, and other frameworks without re-doing the work.
- TrustShare portal has genuine commercial utility during enterprise sales cycles, available at no cost.
- Partner-auditor network with API-based evidence pull reduces audit friction and cost vs. ad-hoc auditor selection.
- AI questionnaire answering (even at the 2/month free limit) covers the volume most early-stage companies face.
- ~4.6/5 aggregate rating across ~49 reviews, with consistent praise for hands-on support and onboarding help for SOC 2 newcomers.
What Doesn’t
- Paid tier pricing is usage-based and opaque. No public price list means you need a sales call to plan budgets.
- 2/month questionnaire automation limit on the free tier will bind companies with active enterprise sales cycles.
- 6-month data retention on the free tier is short; a SOC 2 Type 2 observation period runs 6-12 months, which may create documentation gaps.
- Integrations are still maturing relative to Vanta (400+) or Drata (300+). Some reviewers note gaps in their specific stack.
- Small review pool (~49 reviews) means the 4.6 rating carries less statistical weight than Vanta (2,424 reviews) or Sprinto (1,300+).
- If you grow past 20 employees mid-audit-cycle, the pricing transition is not gradual.
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use TrustCloud
TrustCloud fits well if:
- Your company has 20 or fewer employees and is beginning SOC 2 for the first time.
- Budget is the primary constraint and the $10K-$15K platform fee at competitors is genuinely prohibitive.
- You want a trust portal as a sales asset before your SOC 2 report is issued.
- You are pursuing multiple frameworks and want to avoid redundant evidence work.
- Your stack maps well to TrustCloud’s integration library (check their docs before assuming coverage).
TrustCloud is a harder fit if:
- Your company is already past 20 employees. Paid tier pricing is not published; budget planning requires a sales call.
- You need to answer more than 2 security questionnaires per month from a live enterprise pipeline.
- Your audit requires a long observation window and 6-month data retention creates gaps.
- You want to shop 10+ auditors independently before selecting one. The partner-auditor network is useful but narrows the field.
- Your compliance program is at scale and requires deep integration breadth. Vanta’s 400+ integrations and larger auditor familiarity are harder to replicate here.
For a broader comparison of all the SOC 2 compliance platforms in the category, including how they price, what they automate, and where they fall short, see our SOC 2 software guide.
TrustCloud FAQ
Is TrustCloud really free?
Yes, with no time limit for companies at or under 20 employees. The Starter tier includes full SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 readiness, automated evidence collection, employee policy workflows, a real-time trust portal, an automated risk register, and AI-assisted questionnaire answering (2 per month). No credit card required.
Who qualifies for the free tier?
Companies with 20 or fewer employees. The threshold is employee count, not revenue or funding stage. Once a company grows past 20 employees, paid modules apply, priced by usage volume.
Does the free tier include the SOC 2 audit?
No. The free tier covers readiness, not the report. A SOC 2 report requires an independent licensed CPA firm as mandated by the AICPA. TrustCloud refers companies to its partner-auditor network where audit fees run $8,000-$28,000. That cost is always separate from the platform, free or paid.
What is TrustShare?
TrustShare is TrustCloud’s auto-generated trust portal, included in all tiers. It shows your real-time compliance posture, certifications, and approved security documentation to prospects and customers on demand. It reduces repetitive security-review responses and can accelerate enterprise sales conversations before your SOC 2 report is issued.
What frameworks does TrustCloud support?
SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, NIST, CMMC, PCI DSS, HITRUST, and DORA. Controls cross-map across frameworks, so evidence collected for SOC 2 can satisfy requirements in ISO 27001 or HIPAA without re-collection. Custom frameworks are supported at no additional cost on the Starter tier.
TrustCloud vs Vanta: which for a startup?
For companies under 20 employees, TrustCloud wins on cost: $0 versus Vanta’s $10K-$15K/year platform fee. The readiness feature sets are broadly comparable for a standard stack. For companies already past 20 employees, Vanta’s deeper integration library and wider auditor familiarity in the CPA community often justify the cost difference. The decision is mostly a headcount question.
Comparing SOC 2 software? See our side-by-side breakdown of all 12 compliance platforms — pricing, best-for, and what each one gets wrong. Independent editorial, no pay-to-rank.