The short answer
If your customers are American, get SOC 2 first. If they are European, get ISO 27001 first. If they are both, plan to get both — the overlap is large enough that the second one is much cheaper than the first.
Audience matters more than content
SOC 2 is a Trust Services audit run by a US CPA firm. The report is private (you share it under NDA). It speaks the language US procurement teams expect.
ISO 27001 is an international standard certified by an accredited body. The certificate is public and instantly recognisable in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Same goal (prove you take security seriously), different cultural artefact.
What overlaps
| Domain | SOC 2 | ISO 27001 |
|---|---|---|
| Access control | CC6 | A.5.15, A.5.16 |
| Change management | CC8 | A.8.32 |
| Incident response | CC7.4 | A.5.24 |
| Risk assessment | CC3 | 6.1.2 |
| Vendor management | CC9.2 | A.5.19 |
A well-written set of policies satisfies both. PolicyForge tags every template with both control families so you do not have to maintain two sets.
Cost and timeline (realistic 2026 numbers)
| Item | SOC 2 Type II | ISO 27001 |
|---|---|---|
| Auditor fees | €15k–€35k | €8k–€25k |
| Tooling (Drata, Vanta, etc.) | €10k–€25k/yr | €10k–€25k/yr |
| Internal time | 200–400 h | 150–350 h |
| Time to first report/cert | 9–12 months | 6–9 months |
For a 5-to-20-person SaaS, plan a full quarter of focused work either way.
Our recommendation
- Write your policies first (the 14 baseline ones). This is the rate-limiting step for both frameworks.
- Implement the controls — get MFA everywhere, centralise logs, enforce code review.
- Pick your first framework based on your top 5 prospects.
- Reuse 80% of the work for the second one when revenue justifies it.