What is included in a SOC 2 audit fee?
The audit fee covers the CPA firm's work: planning the engagement, testing your controls against the Trust Services Criteria, and issuing the signed attestation report under SSAE No. 18. Readiness, tooling, and remediation are usually separate costs.
The full answer
A SOC 2 audit fee pays for a licensed CPA firm to perform an attestation engagement. SOC 2 was created by the AICPA, and reports are issued under SSAE No. 18, so the core fee covers planning the engagement, agreeing scope, testing your controls against the selected Trust Services Criteria, reviewing evidence, and writing and signing the final report with the auditor's opinion.
The fee scales with scope. The number of Trust Services Criteria you include beyond Security, your headcount, the number of systems and locations, and whether you choose Type 1 or Type 2 all affect the hours involved. A Type 1 covers a single point in time, while a Type 2 tests controls across an observation window of three to twelve months, which means more sampling and a higher fee.
Several things are usually not in the audit fee. Readiness assessments, policy writing, a GRC platform subscription, penetration testing, and fixing control gaps are typically separate line items. Under AICPA independence rules, the attestation firm cannot design or operate the controls it audits, so remediation and pentest work are often handled by different providers and billed apart from the audit.
For budgeting, treat the audit as one component of total compliance spend. Typical US SOC 2 audit fees run $5,000 to $60,000-plus depending on scope (Vanta, Drata, and Secureframe guides, 2024–2026); through the SOC 2 Type 2 audits through the AuditNex network start at $2,500 as a network offer (promotional rate). Always confirm what a quote does and doesn't include.
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Related questions
Can I negotiate a SOC 2 audit price?
Yes. SOC 2 audit fees are quotes, not fixed prices, so scope, timing, and multi-year commitments are all negotiable. The biggest lever is narrowing scope; bundling readiness or future audits and comparing firms also moves the number.
Do SOC 2 auditors charge for a readiness assessment?
Usually yes — a readiness assessment is a separate, billed engagement, priced below the audit itself. Some firms bundle or credit it toward the audit; others quote it standalone. Independence rules limit how much remediation the same auditor can do.
Do SOC 2 audits have hidden fees?
Sometimes. The audit fee itself is usually fixed, but total SOC 2 cost can include readiness assessments, GRC tooling, penetration testing, remediation, extra Trust Services Criteria, and bridge letters — get an itemized quote to avoid surprises.
Do auditors discount multi-year SOC 2 contracts?
Often yes. Because SOC 2 is an annual attestation, many firms offer a discount or locked rate for a two- or three-year commitment in exchange for recurring revenue. There is no standard discount; terms are negotiated firm by firm.
Does company size change the price of a SOC 2 audit?
Yes, but scope drives price more than headcount. Bigger companies usually have more systems, locations, and controls to test, which raises fees. A small startup with tight scope can pay far less than a large firm with sprawling infrastructure.
Does using a GRC platform lower my SOC 2 audit fee?
Sometimes, modestly. A GRC platform like Vanta, Drata, or Secureframe mainly cuts your prep time and internal effort, not the auditor's base fee. Fees drop most when your auditor has a confirmed integration and pulls evidence directly.
Sources: AICPA SSAE No. 18 attestation standards; AuditNex network rate card, 2026; Vanta, Drata, and Secureframe SOC 2 pricing guides, 2024–2026. Answer written and maintained by the AuditNex research team; last reviewed July 26, 2026. AuditNex is a marketplace — accredited firms price and scope engagements independently.