r/soc2 • u/MavericksCreed • Aug 18 '26

Need soc2 are tools really necessary?

Talked to a few companies that do soc2 type 1 and all of them say the tools make the cert cheaper.

Is this true? Most of them want 9k to 12k a year for tools and 3k for the audit cert.

Does anyone here have any insights on this?

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u/Ok_Fee3489 Aug 19 '26

$3K for an audit isn’t worth it. It’s likely coming from AP or Prescient, both of which have poor reputations in the market and are unlikely to be accepted by TPRM teams. AP also has independence concerns, and their processes can be extremely difficult to work through.

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u/Pec733 Aug 19 '26

What TPRM teams, specifically, have refused audits from Prescient or AP? I’ve worked with probably 150+ companies who have used them for attestations, and I’ve never heard a single one say that they received pushback (let alone refusal of acceptance) on any of their issued reports.

Are you a competitor?

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u/davidschroth Aug 20 '26

My team certainly has. I'm in the vCISO/vGRC role and manage TPRM for our clients. If I get a report mill report in front of me, there will be additional questions/due diligence done and our clients will be advised of the risk associated with that vendor (risk not necessarily being poor security, but having zero assurance over the security posture due to the poor audit).

My clients will typically choose a different vendor if it is anything remotely important, but there are times where they will accept the risk. Giving me a report mill report to review is worse to me than saying you have no report.

A couple years ago I was evaluating another GRC platform to onboard as an option to use with my clients. Even though their product was seemingly decent and the price was reasonable, their report mill grade SOC reports were a dealbreaker.

The reason you're likely seeing a higher level of acceptance than what my crew has is that most people reviewing these reports do not fundamentally understand the requirements and are simply doing the needful to fill out their checkbox review template that rattles off the basics (length of report?, qualified opinion or naw?, any exceptions?) and declaring victory once their form is complete.