A fixed-price gap analysis, remediation through to your audit, and upkeep after it. All in a workspace you keep.
All compliance →Led by a published security researcher with five CVEs. One standard report, letters for your buyers, and retests of your fixes.
All security →To the people you sell to, raise from or answer to.
All industries →Original research, free tools, and plain-language guides on security and compliance, from a published security researcher.
Read the blog →Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC do excellent work for enterprises with enterprise budgets. For a startup that needs to pass SOC 2 and stand up a real security program, the Big 4 model is usually slow, expensive, and staffed by associates who rotate off your account. Here is the honest comparison.
We would rather tell you the truth than win a bad-fit client. Here is when the alternative is genuinely the better choice.
If that is you, hire the Big 4. We will say so on a call. Most startups are not that, which is why we exist.
Free PDFs, no card
SOC 2 readiness, ISO 27001 gaps, incident response and vendor security, as PDFs you can print or forward. Free, no card.
From Jacob Masse, principal of traztech: the files by email, then a few short notes over the next month. No spam, unsubscribe in one click.
| traztech | Big 4 firm | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | SOC 2 readiness from $3,000 for the Phase 1 gap analysis, scoped to a startup | Six-figure engagements are common, often billed in large blocks |
| How it starts | A fixed-price gap analysis, then remediation scoped from what it finds | Multi-month scoping, then a multi-month engagement |
| Who does the work | Our principal, a published security researcher, embedded in your team | A partner sells it, associates and consultants deliver it |
| Who answers the auditor | We sit in the audit and answer the control questions | You coordinate across a rotating team and a project lead |
| Depth | Hands-on remediation, not just findings and a slide deck | Strong frameworks and reports, lighter on hands-on fixes |
| Offensive testing | Run with our offensive-security partner, managed end to end | Often a separate practice or subcontracted |
Every number below comes from an engagement record and links to the full case study.
The objection to a small firm is that it cannot handle real scope. The dual-framework engagement ran SOC 2 Type II across Security, Availability and Confidentiality alongside ISO 27001:2022 including the Climate Action Amendment, with physical and environmental controls in scope at three separate data centre sites. That is Big 4 scope delivered without Big 4 overhead.
Read the dual-framework engagementCheaper consulting means nothing if the audit bill grows to absorb it. On one engagement the audit firm revised its own quote down once the readiness position was documented and a prep firm was confirmed, because there was less uncertainty left to price.
How the quote came downA first SOC 2 Type II, built from nothing in house, passed with zero exceptions. The case study walks through how the controls were chosen, evidenced and tested.
Read the Type II case studyMore at all case studies.
You work directly with our principal. The person who scopes the work is the person who does it and answers the auditor. Nobody rotates off your account mid-engagement.
SOC 2 readiness starts from $3,000 for the Phase 1 gap analysis, with remediation and audit support scoped from what the gap finds. Ongoing vCISO coverage starts from $2,500 per month. Both are built for companies that need to move, not for enterprise procurement cycles.
Five published CVEs including CVE-2024-45163 (CVSS 9.1), the kill-switch for the Mirai botnet covered by CyberInsider. That is the depth behind the program, and it shows up as hands-on remediation rather than a slide deck.
The deliverable is a passed audit and a working security program, not a findings deck you have to staff a team to act on.
No, and that is an important distinction. traztech prepares you for and runs you through SOC 2, including readiness, remediation, and sitting in the audit. The independent SOC 2 attestation itself is signed by a licensed CPA audit firm. We get you ready to pass and stay with you through it. We do not issue the report ourselves.
Because there is no partner markup, no rotating bench of associates, and no enterprise overhead. You work with one senior operator on a fixed-price scope, starting from $3,000 for a SOC 2 gap analysis, instead of a large team billed in blocks. The work is hands-on rather than report-heavy.
Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly when the brand matters more than the outcome. For most startups, what customers actually want is a clean SOC 2 report and clear answers on the security questionnaire. The auditor of record on a SOC 2 is the CPA firm, not the consultant, so the consultant brand rarely shows up where it counts.
Our principal, a published security researcher who has built and run a SOC 2 Type II programme and has five disclosed vulnerabilities. You are not handed to a junior associate. Offensive testing is run with our specialist offensive-security partner.
There is less overhead to move through: no internal handoff, and the person who scopes the work does it. The timeline itself is driven by the gaps found, the observation period and the auditor's schedule. SOC 2 Type I commonly takes a few months from start to report, and Type II adds a 3, 6 or 12 month observation window.
Then you should hire internally or move to a larger firm, and we will help you transition cleanly. We are built to get a startup from zero to a real program. When you need a full internal security org, that is a good problem and a natural graduation.
traztech Workspace covers the same self-assessment ground for nothing: every control in plain English, an evidence register, policy templates, a risk register, and vendor questionnaires. It does not do continuous monitoring or auto-collection, and we say so plainly. If all you need right now is to understand the scope, you do not need a subscription for that.
No credit card, no trial clock, no locked features. We make money when someone wants help closing the gaps, not from the Workspace.
| traztech Workspace | Other GRC platforms | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence cost | $0. Free forever, no card, no paid tier | $7,500 to $50,000 a year, on an annual contract |
| Control library, evidence register, policy templates, risk register, vendor questionnaires, readiness scoring | Included | Included |
| What it costs inside an engagement with us | $0. You need a workspace either way | Unchanged. The subscription sits on top of the fee |
| What it does to your audit quote | A documented readiness position the audit firm can scope and price against | Nothing. The audit firm prices your readiness, not your tooling |
Platform pricing is a publicly reported range, since none of them publish a number. The fuller comparison, including when a paid platform is the better buy, is on the Workspace page.
Get a startup-priced security and compliance program run by a published researcher, not sold by a partner and delivered by associates.
Ready to move? Start with SOC 2 readiness or see our pricing.
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