How Much Does SOC 2 Cost an MSP?

A first SOC 2 typically costs a small or midsize company $25,000 to $90,000 in year one, all in (RS Assurance). The CPA audit fee is only part of that: about $5,000 to $20,000 for Type 1 and $20,000 to $50,000 for Type 2 (The Pun Group). Readiness, a pen test, software and staff time make up the rest.

Last updated: September 25, 2026

Year two costs less, because you're updating policies instead of writing them. RS Assurance & Advisory says total costs typically drop 30 to 50 percent in the second year.

Here's the breakdown with a source for every number, plus what changes when the company being audited is an MSP. Most SOC 2 cost guides are written for software companies, so we've pointed out where an MSP's bill looks different.

What goes into the first-year bill?

Here's each cost you're likely to see. The ranges come from CPA firms, an assurance firm and a directory of SOC 2 audit firms, so treat them as a starting budget, not a quote.

• CPA audit fee, Type 1: $5,000 to $20,000 (The Pun Group). A directory of 192 audit firms puts specialist firms at $10,000 to $35,000 (SOC2Auditors.org).
• CPA audit fee, Type 2: $20,000 to $50,000 (The Pun Group). The same directory lists specialist firms at $15,500 to $50,000 and full-service CPA firms at $30,000 to $80,000 (SOC2Auditors.org).
• Readiness assessment: $3,000 to $15,000 (The Pun Group). RS Assurance & Advisory says $10,000 to $15,000 is typical (RS Assurance & Advisory).
• Remediation: $2,000 to $10,000 if your security practices are already strong, $10,000 to $30,000 for a moderate gap, and $30,000 to $75,000 or more if you're starting from limited maturity (RS Assurance & Advisory).
• Penetration test: an estimated $8,000 to $25,000 for a SOC 2-scoped test of a software product (SOC2Auditors.org). An MSP's environment isn't a single app, so get a quote on your own scope.
• Compliance software: $10,000 to $50,000 a year in subscription fees (The Pun Group).
• Your team's time: RS Assurance & Advisory cites one breakdown at 100 to 200 hours of internal effort for teams that run most of the process themselves (RS Assurance & Advisory). It never shows up on an invoice, but it's real.

You won't pay every line. A mature MSP may need little remediation, and some firms price readiness into the audit while others bill it separately (Linford & Co). Don't add up every maximum.

The biggest cost often isn't the auditor. Linford & Co, a CPA firm, says internal costs will often exceed audit fees: writing policies, mapping controls, testing them and fixing what you find.

The audit also isn't in the software price. Compliance software, the pen test and the CPA examination are separate purchases from separate providers (SOC2Auditors.org). Linford & Co says a well-used compliance tool might cut audit fees by 10 or 20 percent, and warns that a "partner" audit fee far below other bids can be too good to be true (Linford & Co).

The spread in audit fees comes mostly from the firm you pick. Linford & Co puts SOC audits at $20,000 to $150,000, with a median around $30,000, and says Big Four fees start in the low six figures. The directory lists Big Four Type 2 estimates at $65,000 to $200,000 (SOC2Auditors.org). For a first report, we'd start with a small or midsize firm that knows service providers.

What's different when the company being audited is an MSP?

An MSP's audit looks a bit different from a software company's, and two things move the price.

Your scope is the service you deliver to clients

A software company's SOC 2 covers its app. Yours covers the managed service itself: the RMM, PSA, backup, identity and remote access tools your techs use to run client systems. Those tools touch every client, so the auditor will look hard at who can reach them and how that access is controlled.

You already run MFA, EDR, backup and access reviews, because that's the job. That keeps your bill down, since most of the work is writing up and proving controls you already have. Our SOC 2 page goes into how those controls map.

Real MSP numbers are hard to find, but some exist. The SOC2Auditors.org directory logged two first-person posts from MSPs on Reddit: one reported $20,000 in total, and one reported $15,000 for a Type 2 audit (SOC2Auditors.org). They're single data points, not averages.

Some controls belong to your clients or your vendors

SOC 2 has a built-in way to split the work. Your report can list controls you expect clients to run, called complementary user entity controls (Linford & Co explains them). For an MSP, one example is a client removing a departing employee's access to its own systems.

Your vendors are handled in a similar way. Your report can "carve out" a vendor like your cloud host, which means its controls aren't in scope for your auditor's exam. That works best when the vendor has its own controls report (Linford & Co on carve-outs). Getting this split right keeps your scope, and your fee, smaller.

Type 1 vs Type 2: which should you buy first?

Start with Type 1, unless a client contract says Type 2.

Type 1 checks that your controls are designed right on one date. Type 2 checks that they worked over a period, typically 3 to 12 months. Type 2 costs more, because the auditor tests more. RS Assurance & Advisory says a Type 1 fee typically runs about 50 to 70 percent of a Type 2 fee (RS Assurance & Advisory).

A Type 1 gets your policies written and your evidence in order while the stakes are lower. Most MSPs have a Type 1 report four to six months after they start, including readiness work. A Type 2 then needs its observation window to run, and reports are typically issued about four weeks after the audit.

If a big client has already asked for Type 2 by name, going straight to Type 2 can save you one audit fee. Ask the client which report they need before you sign anything.

How can an MSP lower the first-year cost?

Each of these trims hours or audit scope. Here's what we'd do.

1. Start from Security, the one required Trust Services Criterion. Add Availability when your contracts promise uptime, and Confidentiality when you hold client confidential data. We help you decide scope during the assessment. Linford & Co says Availability and Confidentiality usually add smaller increases, while Privacy is an expensive add-on (Linford & Co).
2. Scope to your managed services line. A hardware resale or cabling arm doesn't have to come along.
3. Get every fee in writing. Ask each CPA firm to price readiness and the audit separately, so you compare like with like, and be wary of any firm that quotes without asking about your environment (Linford & Co).
4. Use a smaller CPA firm that audits service providers. The same report from a Big Four firm can cost several times more.
5. Skip the consultant if your platform gives you a person to ask.
6. Reuse work you've already done. If you hold another certification, a lot of its evidence maps to SOC 2. Your auditor still decides what they'll accept.

On Cyber Verify, SOC 2 builds on a Cyber Verify certification against the Unified Certification Standard (MSP Verify or Cloud Verify), which you earn first. If SOC 2 isn't a client requirement yet, that certification can be your whole first step, and its evidence carries forward when you add SOC 2 later.

What does SOC 2 look like with Cyber Verify?

The Unified Certification Standard (UCS) is MSPAlliance's standard for how an MSP should run. Cyber Verify is the certification you earn against it, and the platform where you do the work, for your own MSP and then for clients. An independent audit firm, pre-approved by MSPAlliance, performs the certification audit. SOC 2 is one of the frameworks you add once you're certified.

1. Get certified. You start with the Cyber Verify Assessment Tool (CVAT), which takes under an hour. Most MSPs finish certification in three to six months.
2. Scope SOC 2. We help you pick the Trust Services Criteria and the services that go in scope. Our SOC 2 page covers the choices.
3. Start from what you run. The platform maps UCS requirements to SOC 2 criteria, so you document your current controls instead of filling in a blank template.
4. Submit evidence, one requirement at a time. Our Compliance Response Center team reviews each item and approves it or sends it back with a note, before the auditor sees it. Messages are unlimited, with no per-question billing, and we aim to reply within one hour, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 Eastern.
5. The CPA firm comes in. When readiness is done, a CPA firm runs the exam under its own engagement with you. You can bring your own firm. Reports are typically issued about four weeks after the audit.
6. Year two. You update evidence instead of writing it from scratch.

Once you're certified, you can run the same process for clients and sell it as Compliance-as-a-Service. You set the price, bill your client and keep the margin.

On the bill, you pay a fixed fee for the platform and our team, with no billable hours. The CPA firm's fee sits under its own engagement between you and the firm. Our pricing is not published. Talk to us for a quote.

Mike Deskin, CEO of Dresner Group, put the cost this way: "Cyber Verify has allowed us to win millions of dollars in work over the last 10 years. I personally think it's a small amount of money to pay for what we've gotten out of it."

Compliance automation platforms are good tools, and if you already have a compliance lead and a CPA firm, one may suit you well. We compare the options side by side on our comparison pages and in our Cyber Verify vs GRC tools guide. If you'd rather have a team check every piece of evidence before the auditor sees it, on a fixed fee with no billable hours, that's what we built.

Get a scoped SOC 2 plan

Tell us which services you'd put in scope. In a 30-minute demo, a compliance specialist will walk you through the platform, show you what our fixed fee covers, and explain how the CPA firm's engagement works.

Book a demo