Imagine a compliance platform that costs you $12,000 per year. Does that sound expensive?
The answer is dependent on what it is replacing.
If automating the collection of evidence across a complex technology environment eliminates hundreds hours of tedious work then $12,000 may be an appropriate amount to spend. It would be a different calculation for a start-up of seven people could collect the same amount of evidence in just the time of a few minutes every month.
That’s a useful way to approach the search for a Vanta alternative. Asking which platform has the best features is not the first step. Ask what those features will save your company in actual time and work.
Automation is an economic break-even Factor
It’s not inherently either good or bad. Its value varies with the size. Imagine a growing technology company that has hundreds of employees many cloud environments, a variety of applications, and regular access changes. Continuously gathering evidence manually could become a serious operational burden. Integrations that can automatically monitor systems and gather evidence can easily justify their expense.
Now think about a 10-person company getting ready for its first SOC 2. The infrastructure could be compact, and evidence collection might be manageable with the need for extensive automation.
The distinction is crucial when evaluating Vanta pricing. A modern platform may provide significant capabilities, however those capabilities are only beneficial when an organization actually requires the capabilities.
Compare Architecture And Not Just Brands
Looking for Vanta or Drata quickly turns into a feature-by practice. Both platforms are based around automation and interconnected, so organizations looking for this method can benefit from comparing the frameworks supported with their integrations, service as well as individual quotations and contracts.
But there’s still another decision you need to make. Does your company want an integrated compliance platform or not? Some companies want continuous monitoring and automated evidence collection. Others would rather provide evidence by themselves, especially when the workload remains modest.
Vanta Competitors Do not all follow the same model
A number of famous Vanta competitors compete in the same automation-oriented category. There are also lighter platforms which focus on organization and an extensive network of connectivity.
CertAssist is a part of this group. CertAssist was created by internal auditors and compliance specialists. It organizes framework controls into a central workspace and gives editable guidance on policies and evidence. Auditors are able to review the evidence submitted through a read-only interface.
It is not able to connect to operational systems, nor does it create infrastructure agents. Customers can upload their own evidence if they choose.
Factor System Access to the Decision
The removal of integrations does not come without its disadvantages: someone must manually collect evidence.
This means that there is no need to integrate and the implementation of compliance doesn’t require an integration with the operational environment.
The designs of either are not superior to the other. It is crucial to determine what choices make sense to your business.
CertAssist is geared towards teams that comprise between five and 200 individuals. It also publishes its prices, rather than requiring for a sales meeting to get the beginning price. The stated launch price for CertAssist is $225 a month in comparison to the usual $375.
Let Complexity Take Its Place
What is required of a startup that has 10 employees aren’t necessarily exactly the same as an organization with 100 or 500 workers.
A light platform may make sense, while compliance is straightforward. As the number of systems, employees frameworks, evidence and requirements grow, the economics will ultimately favor more automation. That’s a healthier way to purchase compliance technology: let complexity earn its rightful place.
Do not purchase fifty different integrations just because they seem impressive in the comparison chart. You should pay for them only if the manual work they replace becomes the most expensive option.