Testing and defence led by a published security researcher with five CVEs, including a CVSS 9.1 Mirai botnet kill-switch.
All security →SOC 2, ISO, and the Canadian privacy stack, run end to end with an independent auditor.
All frameworks →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.
| traztech | Big 4 firm | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Roughly from $3K per month, scoped to a startup | Six-figure engagements are common, often billed in large blocks |
| Time to value | SOC 2 readiness on a 75-day track | 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 by $11,000 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 SOC 2 Type II across 76 controls on a team of 15, passed with zero exceptions, with the platform holding 99.9% uptime through the observation window.
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.
Our SOC 2 in 75 Days track and roughly from $3K per month pricing 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 pay for one embedded operator at roughly from $3K per month 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 with a SOC 2 Type II across 76 controls and six disclosed vulnerabilities. You are not handed to a junior associate. Offensive testing is run with our specialist offensive-security partner.
Yes. Big 4 engagements typically involve a scoping phase and a multi-month delivery. Our SOC 2 readiness runs on a 75-day track because there is no internal handoff and the operator is embedded from day one.
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 | $11,000 off a five-figure quote on one engagement, for a documented readiness position | Nothing. The audit firm prices your readiness, not your tooling |
Pricing in the right column is what compliance automation platforms are publicly reported to charge; none of them publish a number, so treat it as a range rather than a quote. The $11,000 came off the audit firm's own number once the readiness position was documented (the engagement). Where a paid platform is the better buy, and the fuller comparison, 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 in 75 days or see our pricing.
Book a strategy callWeighing your options?
Comparing approaches is the right move. Jacob sends a few short, candid notes on choosing the right security and compliance path for your stage, no fluff. Reply anytime; it reaches him directly.
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Track record
We are deliberately not a large firm, and we would rather show you the work than a wall of logos. Here is what is behind the advice.
Five published CVEs. CVE-2024-45163 (CVSS 9.1) is a flaw in the Mirai botnet itself, which gave defenders a way to shut down attacker infrastructure. CVE-2026-42626 takes HP ENVY 5000 printers offline from any unauthenticated device on the same network.
The printer is the one that matters on a compliance page: an asset nobody counts as a computer, on a flat network, downed by a device that never had to log in. Auditors ask how controls fail. We have found out first-hand.
At Humera, a venture-backed US security company, Jacob built the compliance programme in-house from nothing: no report, no policies, no documented controls. It ended in a Type II attestation across 76 controls with zero exceptions, on a team of 15.
The platform held 99.9% uptime throughout, which is the part most readiness projects get wrong: controls are easy to design and hard to retrofit onto a system people already depend on.
For a Waterloo data centre operator we ran SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 together rather than one after the other, across a production campus, an AI compute platform and a self-hosted collaboration stack. Scoped so further Ontario and Quebec sites enter as they reach production. Findings delivered and remediated.
For an Ontario medtech company putting an AI clinical assistant in front of practitioners, we ran the gap analysis and built the evidence programme behind their SOC 2.