ISO 27001 Certification Cost: What Each Line Costs for a 50-Person SaaS Company

Sprinto puts a first ISO 27001 year for a company of 50 to 100 people at $25,000 to $55,000. Vanta puts total expenses at $6,000 to more than $40,000, and Scrut puts certification at $15,000 to $60,000. The totals overlap because each source builds a different company: a 25-person SaaS company with a platform sits near the bottom, and a multi-site company with a consultant reaches $100,000 or more.

A 50-person SaaS company falls in Sprinto’s 50 to 100 profile and in the 46 to 65 employee band of the audit-time table that certification bodies use. The sections below price each line a company of that size meets. Where the sources disagree, the range stays visible, and the widest gap is the audit itself: Sprinto’s audit partners quote $1,000 to $3,000 for both stages and Vanta quotes $14,000 to $16,000. The audit is run by an accredited certification body, and the ISO 27001 framework page explains the standard behind it.

What a first year costs

Each total below carries the scope its publisher states.

Source	Scope	First-year total
Sprinto	Small, cloud-native, 10 to 25 people	$14,000 to $28,000
Sprinto	Growing, 50 to 100 people	$25,000 to $55,000
Sprinto	Larger or multi-site, 200 or more people	$40,000 to $100,000 or more
Vanta	All sizes	$6,000 to more than $40,000
Scrut	All sizes	$15,000 to $60,000
Secureframe	Preparation, then audit, then upkeep	Up to $40,000, then $15,000 or more, then about $10,000 a year
High Table	All sizes, priced in pounds	£5,000 to £50,000

Sprinto says its three profiles differ in what the money buys: a platform, a penetration test and a low audit fee at the small end, and a bigger penetration test, an outsourced internal audit and more people to train at 50 to 100 people. SOC 2 totals are in the SOC 2 audit cost guide, and the ISO 27001 vs SOC 2 comparison sets the two side by side.

Line by line

Four sources quote most lines. The table shows the lowest and highest figure any of them states.

Line	Lowest quote	Highest quote	Sources
ISO 27001 and 27002 standards	$350	$420	Vanta, Secureframe, Sprinto
Gap analysis	$2,000	$12,000	Scrut, Vanta, Secureframe, Sprinto
Consultant	$15,000	$60,000	Scrut, Vanta, Secureframe, Sprinto
Penetration test	$3,000	$30,000	Scrut, Vanta, Secureframe, Sprinto
Internal audit	$0	$15,000	Vanta, Sprinto
Certification audit, Stage 1 and Stage 2	$1,000	$16,000	Sprinto, Scrut, Vanta, Secureframe
Surveillance audit, each year	$650	$10,000	Sprinto, Scrut, Vanta
Recertification audit, every three years	$5,000	$16,000	Scrut, Vanta

The certification audit and the surveillance audit show the widest ratios: 16 to 1 and 15 to 1. The standards cost the least and agree the most. ISO sells ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 as separate documents, and Sprinto prices the pair at about $420 against $350 for Vanta and Secureframe.

Training scales with headcount. Sprinto puts platform-based security awareness training at $12 to $50 per person a year, which is $600 to $2,500 for 50 people. Vanta puts all training at up to $15,000, and Scrut puts it at $1,000 to $5,000.

Why the audit quotes differ

The certification body prices the audit, and bodies price it in two ways. Some quote a flat fee for both stages, as in Sprinto’s audit-partner network, where one partner quoted about $1,100 for a 20-person company and $1,300 for a 90-person one. Others price by the audit day. High Table says the number of audit days follows headcount under ISO/IEC 27006-1:2024: 8.5 days for 26 to 45 employees, 10 days for 46 to 65 and 11 for 66 to 85. High Table’s certification cost page prices 26 to 45 employees at £11,250 and 46 to 65 at £12,500, in pounds, while its consultancy page puts the audit at £6,000 to £11,000 for 26 to 50 employees. Sprinto says day-rate pricing can make the same audit several times more expensive.

The accreditation matters more than the brand. Sprinto says a cheaper quote is fine if the body is accredited by a member of the International Accreditation Forum, such as UKAS in the UK or ANAB in the US. Before signing, ask whether the quote includes registration fees, travel, fees for extra sites and the auditor’s time to review fixes after a major non-conformity.

The certificate lasts three years. Scrut says a surveillance audit runs each year and the recertification audit follows in year three, and Vanta says the recertification costs what the original audit did.

What a platform costs next to a consultant

An ISO 27001 consultant charges $15,000 to $60,000 across the four sources that quote one. Secureframe cites Pivot Point Security at $1,400 to $1,800 a day, and Sprinto says a consultant leaves the team 300 to 500 hours of evidence work. A do-it-yourself build costs $30,000 to $46,000 by Sprinto’s count, mostly in staff time. A compliance platform replaces part of that with a subscription.

Platform	Listed price	What it covers	Where listed
Sprinto	$7,500 a year, plus $2,000 for the first framework (ISO 27001 qualifies), $9,500 together	Core platform for up to 100 employees	AWS Marketplace
Secureframe	Starting at $7,500 a year	Fundamentals plan	Secureframe direct
Drata	$15,000 a year	Foundation Package for 1 to 50 employees	AWS Marketplace
Vanta	$14,000 a year	Essentials, 1 to 20 employees	AWS Marketplace
Scrut	$15,000 a year	Up to 20 employees	AWS Marketplace
Thoropass	$8,700 a year including a first framework	No employee band listed	AWS Marketplace

Sprinto and Drata list a price that covers a company of 50 people. Vanta and Scrut list only a 1 to 20 employee band, and Secureframe lists a starting price without a band. Every listing says the final price depends on size, scope and frameworks, and the compliance software pricing study tracks them across the rated platforms. None of the six lists an ISO 27001 audit fee, though Thoropass Certification LLC, Thoropass’s accredited ISO 27001 certification subsidiary, runs the audit inside its platform. The ISMS software ranking scores how each platform handles the audit path.

Staff time is the line no invoice shows. Sprinto counts 8 to 15 hours of active work on an automated platform, against 2 or 3 people for months on a do-it-yourself build. Vanta counts about 400 internal hours for ongoing monitoring, or $6,000 to $8,000 if the team buys it.

Pen test, gap analysis and internal audit

The penetration test and the gap analysis are optional in a strict reading of the standard and expected in practice. Sprinto says ISO 27001 does not strictly require a penetration test, but Annex A 8.8 and 8.29 make it hard to skip, and auditors expect to see findings. The penetration test cost guide prices tests by type.

A gap analysis compares what a company already does with what the standard requires. Vanta puts a gap analysis at $5,000 to $8,000 and notes that a compliance platform often includes it. The internal audit is a requirement under Clause 9.2 of the standard. Larger companies often run it with their own staff, and smaller ones outsource it, typically for $5,000 to $15,000 by Sprinto’s count.

After the first year

The recurring lines are the surveillance audit, the tools and the testing. Secureframe puts maintenance and surveillance at about $10,000 a year. Sprinto’s audit partners quote $650 to $1,000 a year for surveillance, and Vanta quotes $6,000 to $7,500. The compliance management software ranking compares the platforms that carry these costs from year two.