Let’s suppose that a compliance system is $12,000 per annum. Is it expensive?
The answer is contingent on what it is replacing.
If automation eliminates hundreds of hours of repetitive evidence collection in a tangled technology landscape, $12,000 could be a good investment. If a startup with seven employees could have the same information in two hours per month, the amount is quite different.
That’s a useful way to approach the search for a Vanta alternative. Do not begin with asking which platform has the most features. Consider what these features can bring your company savings in time and effort.
The Break-Even Point of Automation
Automation of compliance isn’t intrinsically beneficial or harmful. Scale changes its value. Imagine a growing technology company that has multiple cloud environments and various applications. The burden of manually collecting evidence over time could become extremely difficult. Integrations that automate monitoring systems and gather evidence can easily justify their costs.
Take a look at a startup that has 10 employees working on their first SOC 2. The infrastructure could be compact, and the evidence collection may be manageable without significant automation.
That difference matters when evaluating Vanta pricing. The capabilities of an advanced platform are impressive, however they are only useful when an organization needs them.
Compare Architecture and Not Just Brands
Searching for Vanta and Drata can quickly turn into an exercise of feature-by-feature. Both are established compliance platforms built around automation and integrations. As such, they can be compared in terms of supported frameworks and integrations, services, contracts, and individual quotations are useful for businesses who are looking for a similar approach.
You’ll have to decide on the other thing first. Do you want a software that can be integrated into your compliance system? Certain businesses want constant monitoring as well as automated evidence collection. Other businesses would prefer to produce evidence on their own, particularly when the workload is low.
Vanta Competitors Do not All Use the Same Model
Several well-known Vanta competitors are in competition that has a similar focus on automation. There are also platforms that are less heavy focused on organization with an extensive network of connectivity.
CertAssist falls into the latter category. CertAssist was developed by compliance consultants, internal auditors as well as other experts, organizes the controls frameworks in a central place. It allows for the editing of policies and guidelines for the auditing process, and allows auditors to review evidence via read-only access.
It doesn’t install agents or connect to infrastructure systems. Customers upload their own proof.
It is important to consider the access to the system.
Removal of integrations does not come without its drawbacks. One must take the time to collect evidence.
It also eliminates integration setup and ensures that the compliance software does not require connections to the organization’s operational environment.
Both architectures are equally good. Which tradeoff is right for your company?
CertAssist is targeted at companies that comprise between five and 200 people and gives pricing information instead of having an actual sales call. The launch price is $225 a month, which compares to the regular cost of $375 per month.
Let Complexity Be In Control
The requirements for a start-up that a 10 person company has today may not be the same for 500 or 100 employees.
While compliance is straightforward but a lighter platform might be a good idea. The economics of automation can rise as the number of employees, systems and frameworks expand. Let complexity take its place when it comes to purchasing compliance technology.
Don’t spend money on fifty integrations just because they look impressive in a chart of comparison. Pay for them only when the manual task they replace is the more expensive option.