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Auditor tier ranges
Aggregate planning bands per (firm tier × audit type), recomputed from our directory data on every build. Each band runs from the median of the firms’ listed minimum estimates to the median of their listed maximum estimates. These are not observed transaction prices or live quotes, and individual proposals can fall outside the band in either direction.
Specialist auditors — SOC 2 Type 1
$10K–$33.0K
Computed from the boutique specialist firms in our maintained dataset: the median of their directory-listed Type 1 minimum estimates through the median of their listed maximum estimates. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes. Recomputed on every build.
Specialist auditors — SOC 2 Type 2
$15K–$50K
Median of the directory-listed Type 2 minimum estimates through the median of the listed maximum estimates across the boutique specialist firms in our maintained dataset. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes; proposals can fall outside the band in either direction. Recomputed on every build.
Regional firms — SOC 2 Type 1
$15K–$40K
Median of the directory-listed Type 1 minimum estimates through the median of the listed maximum estimates across the regional CPA firms with a SOC 2 practice in our maintained dataset. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes. Regional means partner-staffed offices outside the big national networks. Recomputed on every build.
Regional firms — SOC 2 Type 2
$20K–$55K
Median of the directory-listed Type 2 minimum estimates through the median of the listed maximum estimates across the regional CPA firms in our maintained dataset. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes. Recomputed on every build.
Mid-tier and national firms — SOC 2 Type 1
$20K–$60K
Mid-tier and national CPA firms (RSM, Grant Thornton, BDO, Baker Tilly and peers) pooled into one population, then the median of their directory-listed Type 1 minimum estimates through the median of their listed maximum estimates. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes. Pooled over the firms themselves, not averaged from two separate tier medians. Matches the directory's 'Mid-tier and national' tier section. Recomputed on every build.
Mid-tier and national firms — SOC 2 Type 2
$30K–$80K
Mid-tier and national CPA firms pooled into one population, then the median of their directory-listed Type 2 minimum estimates through the median of their listed maximum estimates. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes; proposals vary with scope. Recomputed on every build.
Big Four firms — SOC 2 Type 1
$40K–$140K
Big Four = Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, EY. Our entries cover the four firms across multiple regions and service lines, and the band is the median of their directory-listed Type 1 minimum estimates through the median of their listed maximum estimates. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes; proposals vary sharply by office and engagement scope. Recomputed on every build.
Big Four firms — SOC 2 Type 2
$60K–$200K
Median of the directory-listed Type 2 minimum estimates through the median of the listed maximum estimates across the Big Four offerings in our maintained dataset. These are planning values, not observed transaction prices or live quotes; proposals vary by office, scope, entity count, and region. Recomputed on every build.
Add-on costs
Costs that sit alongside the audit fee. Pen test, GRC platform, internal labor, scope creep, report amendments. Each entry identifies whether it comes from a vendor page, the sourced software registry, or a buyer-reported aggregate from this site.
External penetration test (SOC 2 evidence)
$8K–$30K
Reflects a single SOC 2-aligned external pen test (web app or external network). Cobalt's Starter and Pro tiers, plus comparable scopes from Bishop Fox and HackerOne services, cluster in this band. Highly variable for internal network, mobile, or red-team scopes.
GRC / compliance automation platform (annual)
$3.6K–$80K
Envelope across sourced annual USD observations in the software registry. It mixes vendor-confirmed figures and clearly labeled third-party estimates; quote-only vendors without an observed price are omitted. This is a planning span, not a typical price or a live quote.
Internal engineering and founder hours during audit prep
$25K–$90K
Reflects 300–600 hours of engineering, security, and founder time during a first SOC 2 Type 2 — buyer-reported. Range computed at $80–$150/hr loaded labor cost. Smaller teams with stronger baselines land at the low end; greenfield mid-market orgs at the high end.
Control remediation (tooling, vendors, hardware)
$5K–$50K
Covers tooling and vendor spend triggered by readiness gaps: MDM, IdP, logging or SIEM, vulnerability management, background-check service, security training. Highly dependent on starting maturity. Greenfield orgs land above this band.
Scope creep and change orders during audit
$10K–$30K
Triggered by mid-engagement additions: extra trust services criteria, additional in-scope systems, late-binding subservice organizations, or remediation that became audit work.
Report amendments and reissue fees
$2K–$5K
Charged when a buyer requests an updated report after issuance — for example, to add a subservice organization, fix a factual error, or refresh the system description for a customer that requires it.
Market mentions (reviewed third-party price points)
Single third-party price points — first-person buyer reports in public threads and figures published in auditor or compliance-platform guides. Each survived a manual review pass (duplicates, ambiguous amounts, and low-credibility sources rejected). Corroboration for the tier ranges above; never an input to them.
Buyer report — MSP, total SOC 2 spend
$20K
A buyer-reported total for SOC 2; the thread does not split audit fee from prep. Kept as an observed market datapoint (price-mentions review, 2026-06).
Buyer report — SaaS audit fee
$12K
A SaaS founder reporting what their SOC 2 cost; audit type not stated. Kept as an observed market datapoint (price-mentions review, 2026-06).
Buyer report — Type 2 audit fee
$15K
A buyer naming what they paid for a SOC 2 Type 2. Sits inside our specialist Type 2 band — the strongest single corroboration in the 2026-06 review batch.
Buyer report — Type 1 audit with Drata in place
$5.5K
A budget Type 1 quote for a company already running Drata — a useful observed low anchor below the bottom of our specialist band.
Buyer report — readiness consultant
$10K
A consultant quote for SOC 2 readiness work (not the audit itself). Matches the readiness band cited in our FAQ.
Auditor-published — readiness assessment
$13.5K
A licensed CPA firm publishing a typical readiness figure. The Pun Group is peer-review verified in our directory.
Auditor-published — typical audit figure
$27.5K
A CPA firm publishing a typical SOC 2 figure without splitting Type 1/Type 2. Falls mid-band for specialist/regional Type 2 in our directory data.
Auditor-published — upper-bound figure
$85K
One of the largest SOC 2 issuers stating how high engagements can run. Read as a ceiling: it corroborates the top of our mid-tier/Big Four bands, not a typical price.
Security-firm-published — Type 2 figure
$50K
An established security firm’s published Type 2 figure. Inside our mid-tier band.
Platform estimate — Type 1 (Drata)
$11.3K
Midpoint of the Type 1 estimate in Drata’s dedicated cost guide. A conflicting higher figure on their type-1-vs-type-2 marketing page was rejected in review.
Platform estimate — Type 1 (Sprinto)
$7.5K
The low end of published platform estimates for a Type 1 audit.
Platform estimate — Type 1 (Secureframe)
$12.5K
Secureframe’s Type 1 estimate. Their much higher Type 2 figure on the same page reads as total cost of compliance (tooling included) and was rejected in review.
Platform estimate — readiness (Sprinto)
$12.5K
A platform’s readiness-assessment estimate; consistent with the CPA-published readiness figure above.
Platform estimate — Type 2 (Vanta)
$45K
Vanta’s Type 2 estimate. Inside our mid-tier band; above the specialist p90.
Corrections and updates
Wrong range, stale source URL, a vendor that has since published clearer pricing? Email hello@soc2auditors.org. We respond within two business days and ship factual corrections within five, with a dated note on the affected entry.
The full methodology, including source-class tiers and verification cadence, lives at /methodology/.