One published price in seven: what our 2026 compliance pricing census found
Short answer
Across seven vendors and seventeen published plans, one plan has a published price: Secureframe Fundamentals, starting at $7,500/year. Four more vendors publish plans without prices, two publish nothing, and plan limits turn out to be the most useful thing a buyer can read before a sales call.
By The Cost Desk, Compliance Pricing · Published 2026-09-01 · Updated 2026-09-29 · 3 min read
CENSUS
On 2026-09-29 we read the pricing pages of seven compliance automation vendors: Scytale, Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, Sprinto, Scrut and Thoropass. We recorded every plan name, inclusion, limit and price, and built the pricing census from them. This note sets out what we found.
Finding 1: one vendor publishes a number
Secureframe publishes its Fundamentals plan as "Starting at $7,500/year". That plan covers one compliance framework and lists 300+ native integrations, infrastructure monitoring, evidence collection, personnel, risk and policy management, a Trust Center and access to the Secureframe Audit Partner Network. Secureframe's other two plans, Complete and Defense, are quote-based.
No other vendor publishes a figure for any plan. That is one price across seventeen published plans. It is also a starting price, so the amount for a given scope can be higher.
Finding 2: four more vendors publish plans without prices
Vanta publishes four tiers (Essentials, Plus, Professional, Enterprise) and asks buyers to request a demo to get personalized pricing. Drata publishes three plans (Compliance Automation Foundation, GRC Advanced, GRC Enterprise) behind a Get Personalized Pricing button. Sprinto publishes Foundation and Growth. Scytale publishes five plans in two groups: startup bundles (Build Starter, Build DFY, Build Stronger) and security-team plans (Scale, Enterprise), each ending in Get a demo.
These pages still tell a buyer a lot. They name what is included, what is an add-on and, in several cases, where a tier ends.
Finding 3: two vendors publish nothing
Scrut's pricing URL returned "Page Not Found" when we read it. Its site offers a Compliance Cost Calculator, but no plans. Thoropass's /pricing URL shows no prices and no plan list. For these two, the first price a buyer sees is a quote.
Finding 4: limits are the most useful published detail
A limit tells you when you will be moved to the next tier, which is often worth more than a feature list. The census has several:
- Drata Compliance Automation Foundation: up to 50 FTEs and one pre-mapped framework from SOC 2, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, HIPAA or GDPR.
- Vanta: one framework on Essentials, 25 questionnaires per year on Plus, 144 on Professional.
- Sprinto Foundation: 20 AI security questionnaires per year and 24x5 support.
- Secureframe Fundamentals and Scytale Build Starter: one framework each.
Four entry plans are stated as one framework. If you need two frameworks, the published entry plan is not your plan.
Finding 5: services and audits are sold in three ways
Some vendors bundle services into a plan. Scytale's Build DFY includes LaunchReady Consulting and a web app black-box pen test, and Build Stronger includes StayReady Consulting and a gray-box pen test. Thoropass offers automation and the audit from one company, with pen testing on its platform.
Some broker the audit. Secureframe Fundamentals lists access to its Audit Partner Network; Sprinto Foundation lists network auditor access and bring your own auditor; Scytale describes a Built-In Audit with partner auditors.
Some route services through partners. Vanta's Essentials lists access to expert partners, and Vanta describes vCISOs, MSPs and MSSPs as service partners. Drata cites 1300+ partners, including vCISOs and auditors.
No vendor publishes an audit fee.
How the ranking came out
We score each vendor on six criteria, weighted toward what is published. The result:
On the price transparency ranking, Scytale ranks 3 of 7; on the what the price buys ranking it ranks 1 of 7. It scores highest on expert services in a plan, and lower than at least one rival on 5 of the six criteria, mainly because it publishes no price and few limits. The method page shows every score and reason.
What it means for a budget
For six of seven vendors, the quote is the pricing page. Write down your frameworks, headcount, audit, pen test, expert and questionnaire needs, check which published tier fits in the calculator, and send every vendor the same scope. Then compare itemized quotes, not headline figures.