I talk to a lot of compliance teams at Hicomply, and there's a particular conversation I recognize immediately. Someone's in a sales cycle, a procurement questionnaire has just landed, and they're staring at two acronyms — SOC 2 and PCI DSS — trying to work out whether they're the same thing, completely different things, or somehow both at once.

It's an easy thing to mix up. On the surface, both look like security frameworks. Both involve audits, evidence, and a fair amount of documentation. Both have a habit of appearing on your to-do list at the least convenient moment.

But they're designed for very different purposes, and understanding those differences upfront will save you a lot of confusion — and a lot of wasted effort — down the line.

Here's a clear breakdown of what each framework covers, who needs each one, and what to do when the answer to that last question turns out to be "both."

What Is SOC 2?

SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is a framework developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants — the AICPA. It's designed for service organizations: the kind of businesses that handle sensitive customer data on behalf of other companies.

At its core, SOC 2 asks one question: can you demonstrate that your security controls are designed and operating effectively? The audit is conducted by licensed certified public accountants, and the resulting report is shared with enterprise clients and B2B partners who want evidence that your organization can be trusted with their data.

SOC 2 is built around five Trust Services Criteria:

Security — the only mandatory criterion; covers how you protect systems from unauthorized access and security threats
Availability — whether your systems are available as agreed
Processing integrity — whether data processing is complete, accurate, and delivered in a timely manner
Confidentiality — how you protect sensitive information shared under confidentiality agreements
Privacy — how you handle personal data throughout its lifecycle

The framework comes in two forms. A Type I report assesses whether your controls are properly designed at a specific point in time. A Type II report — the one your enterprise customers will almost certainly ask for — evaluates whether those controls actually operated effectively over a period, typically six to twelve months.

SOC 2 isn't a legal requirement. It's voluntary. But in practice, enterprise clients and B2B partners almost universally demand SOC 2 reports before signing contracts, particularly in the US market. If you're selling software to organizations that care about data protection — and most of them do — a SOC 2 report is quickly becoming table stakes.

What Is PCI DSS?

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a global security standard maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) — a body established by the major credit card companies: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB.

Where SOC 2 is broad, PCI DSS is very specific. It exists to protect cardholder data: primary account numbers, expiry dates, sensitive authentication data, CVVs, and all the financial data that flows through credit card transactions.

If your organization stores, processes, or transmits credit card information in any form — if you accept credit card payments, process credit card transactions, or transmit cardholder data across your systems — PCI DSS compliance is not optional. It's a contractual obligation tied to your relationship with your payment processor and the card networks. Non-compliance can mean fines, higher transaction fees, loss of processing rights, and exposure in the event of a data breach.

PCI DSS is organized around twelve core requirements covering network security, access control, vulnerability management, encryption, continuous monitoring, and more. Your compliance level depends on transaction volume: Level 1 merchants (processing over six million card transactions annually) face the most demanding requirements, including an annual on-site audit by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). Smaller organizations can often self-certify using a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ).

PCI DSS 4.0, the most recent version, introduced a stronger emphasis on risk assessment, customized implementation of controls, and ongoing monitoring — moving away from point-in-time snapshots toward more continuous compliance.

SOC 2 vs PCI DSS: The Key Differences

What each framework protects

SOC 2 covers sensitive customer data broadly — whatever falls within your system boundaries and matters to the customers relying on your services. It applies to any organization that handles sensitive consumer data, and the scope is defined by the services you include in your audit.

PCI DSS is narrowly focused on cardholder data and payment data. If a system doesn't store, process, or transmit credit card data, it sits outside the PCI DSS scope. Everything inside that boundary — your cardholder data environment (CDE) — must comply.

Who sets the requirements

SOC 2 is governed by the AICPA. PCI DSS is maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council. Separate bodies, separate standards, separate assessment processes.

Mandatory vs. voluntary

SOC 2 is voluntary. Organizations pursue it because their customers expect it, their prospects ask for it in security questionnaires, or they want to build the kind of security posture that supports growth.

PCI DSS is mandatory. Any organization that accepts credit card payments, processes transactions, or transmits credit card information is required to comply. There's no opt-out — only a decision about how much of the processing you handle yourself versus outsourcing to a compliant third party.

Who conducts the assessment

SOC 2 audits are performed by licensed certified public accountants — either from a dedicated audit firm or an independent assessor. PCI DSS assessments are conducted by Qualified Security Assessors for higher-level merchants, or completed via self-assessment questionnaire for lower-volume organizations.

Both require annual evaluations of your organization's controls, conducted by appropriately certified third parties.

Scope

SOC 2 scope is defined by you — based on the services, systems, and data included in your audit. PCI DSS scope is defined by your cardholder data environment and everything connected to it, including third party vendors who handle or have access to payment card data.

The output

A SOC 2 audit produces a report shared with clients and prospects under a non-disclosure agreement. PCI DSS produces either a Report on Compliance (ROC) or a completed SAQ submitted to your acquiring bank or payment processor.

Quick Comparison

	SOC 2	PCI DSS
Governed by	AICPA	PCI Security Standards Council
Mandatory?	No — market-driven	Yes — contractual requirement
What it protects	Sensitive customer data broadly	Cardholder and payment data
Who needs it	Service organizations, SaaS, tech	Anyone processing card payments
Assessment	Licensed CPA / audit firm	QSA or self-assessment
Output	Audit report (shared under NDA)	ROC or SAQ
Frequency	Annual	Annual

Who Needs SOC 2?

In practice, SOC 2 is most relevant for:

SaaS companies selling to enterprise or mid-market B2B customers
Cloud service providers that process or store sensitive customer data
Managed service providers with access to client systems and data
Technology businesses that regularly receive security questionnaires asking for evidence of their internal controls

The most common trigger I see is a deal. A sales team is deep in a procurement process, the customer's security team requests a SOC 2 report, and suddenly a compliance project that's been on the backburner for months becomes urgent. The teams who get ahead of it — who have their SOC 2 Type II in place before the ask — are the ones who don't lose time in the sales cycle.

SOC 2 is also increasingly expected for organizations looking to enter the US market. It's become the standard trust signal for B2B software vendors, and it's often the first compliance milestone fintechs pursue when targeting American enterprise clients — partly because it builds the internal controls and security practices that more stringent frameworks like PCI DSS later build on.

Who Needs PCI DSS?

PCI DSS applies to any organization that:

Accepts credit card payments or debit card transactions
Stores cardholder data — primary account numbers, expiry dates, sensitive authentication data — in any system
Transmits cardholder data across networks
Processes credit card transactions in any form, including refunds and chargebacks

This covers a wide range: retailers, e-commerce businesses, hospitality, healthcare providers taking card payments, SaaS platforms with built-in billing, and fintech companies of all sizes. Financial institutions handling payment data have long been familiar with PCI DSS — but the standard applies well beyond traditional banking.

One thing worth understanding: outsourcing your payment processing to a provider like Stripe or Adyen reduces your PCI DSS scope significantly, but it doesn't eliminate it. You're still responsible for the security measures governing how card data flows into their systems. Your specific compliance obligations depend on your integration method and how much card data your systems ever touch.

PCI DSS assessments also require a risk assessment process and gap analysis as part of scoping — understanding exactly where card data lives in your environment before you can define what needs to be protected.

Where SOC 2 and PCI DSS Overlap

More than most people expect, honestly.

Both frameworks place significant emphasis on:

Access control and user access — who can reach sensitive systems, under what conditions, with what level of authentication
Physical access controls — securing the environments where data is stored or processed
Network security — firewalls, segmentation, protection against unauthorized access
Vulnerability management — regular vulnerability scans, patch management, a structured vulnerability management program
Continuous monitoring and ongoing monitoring — logging, alerting, and reviewing security events
Incident response — how you detect, respond to, and recover from security incidents
Third party vendor oversight — ensuring that suppliers and partners who touch your data have appropriate security controls in place
Risk assessment — regularly identifying and addressing security risks
Disaster recovery — what happens when things go wrong

In fact, SOC 2 and PCI DSS share roughly 60% of their underlying requirements. That overlap is significant. Controls you build for PCI DSS — particularly around network security, access control, vulnerability management, and continuous monitoring — directly support your SOC 2 compliance posture, and vice versa.

The difference is in emphasis and prescriptiveness. PCI DSS is highly specific: it tells you exactly what technical and operational requirements must be in place to protect payment data. SOC 2 is more principles-based: it defines what you need to achieve, and leaves more room for your organization to determine how.

If you already have a solid PCI DSS program, your security posture is already stronger than most organizations starting SOC 2 from scratch. You won't get SOC 2 for free — the scope is broader and the evidence requirements are different — but you're not starting from zero either.

When Do You Need Both?

If your organization accepts credit card payments and handles sensitive customer data for enterprise clients, you likely need both. That's the reality for a lot of the teams I work with.

Common scenarios include:

Fintech companies processing card transactions while selling into enterprise financial institutions
SaaS platforms with built-in billing that handle payment card data and sell to security-conscious B2B customers
E-commerce businesses serving other businesses who will ask for a SOC 2 before signing a contract
Healthcare technology companies processing card payments from patients while selling software into large hospital networks

Running both programs at the same time sounds daunting, but the overlap between them makes it more manageable than it appears. Evidence you collect for PCI DSS — access control records, vulnerability scan results, network security documentation, monitoring logs — feeds directly into your SOC 2 evidence library. You're not duplicating work; you're building on it.

Achieving both SOC 2 and PCI DSS compliance also sends a clear signal to clients and partners: this organization takes information security seriously. For organizations targeting enterprise clients or regulated industries, that signal matters.

The challenge — and this is where I see teams struggle most — is managing both programs as separate workstreams. Two spreadsheets, two owners, two sets of audit prep, no shared documentation. That's where the workload actually doubles. When you align your controls, evidence, and processes across both frameworks from the start, it becomes a much more manageable picture.

FAQ: SOC 2 vs PCI DSS

Is PCI DSS the same as SOC 2?
No. PCI DSS and SOC 2 are separate security frameworks with different governing bodies, different scopes, and different purposes. PCI DSS is specifically designed for organizations that process, store, or transmit credit card information. SOC 2 applies to any organization that handles sensitive customer data on behalf of others, and covers a much broader range of security controls.

Can SOC 2 replace PCI DSS?
No. If your organization stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data, PCI DSS compliance is a contractual requirement regardless of your SOC 2 status. Neither framework replaces the other.

Do SOC 2 and PCI DSS requirements overlap?
Significantly. SOC 2 and PCI DSS share roughly 60% of their requirements, particularly around access control, network security, vulnerability management, and ongoing monitoring. Evidence and controls built for one framework often support compliance with the other.

Which should I prioritize?
It depends on your situation. If your enterprise clients are asking for a SOC 2 report and it's blocking deals, that's your first priority. If you're actively processing credit card payments without a PCI DSS program in place, that's urgent regardless. If both apply, a gap analysis across both frameworks simultaneously will help you identify the shared controls you can build once and apply across both.

What's the difference between a Qualified Security Assessor and a certified public accountant in this context?
A Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) is certified by the PCI Security Standards Council to conduct PCI DSS assessments. SOC 2 audits are conducted by licensed certified public accountants — typically specialists in IT security auditing, sometimes also described as a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). They're different credentials for different frameworks.

How often are both frameworks assessed?
Both SOC 2 and PCI DSS require annual evaluations. SOC 2 Type II covers a rolling observation period, typically six to twelve months. PCI DSS compliance is assessed annually, with the level of assessment depending on your merchant tier.

Does outsourcing payment processing mean I don't need PCI DSS?
Not entirely. Outsourcing reduces your PCI DSS scope, sometimes significantly, but it doesn't eliminate your obligations. You're still responsible for how card data enters and exits your systems, and for ensuring your third party vendors are themselves PCI compliant.

Managing Both Without It Becoming a Second Job

The compliance teams I see handling SOC 2 and PCI DSS most effectively aren't the ones with the biggest teams. They're the ones with the best systems.

They've mapped their controls across both frameworks so there's no duplication. They're collecting evidence continuously rather than scrambling before each audit. Their policies are kept current, their vulnerability management program runs on a schedule, and their internal controls are documented in a way that means auditors — whether from a QSA firm or a CPA practice — can find what they need quickly.

That's what a well-run compliance program looks like. Not frantic. Not reactive. Just steady, ongoing work that keeps everything in order.

If you're currently managing either framework through spreadsheets, shared drives, or a folder of PDFs, it's worth thinking about whether that scales. Both SOC 2 and PCI DSS are annual commitments. They're not a project you finish — they're a program you maintain.

How Hicomply Supports SOC 2 and PCI DSS

Hicomply is built for exactly this: managing compliance frameworks — including SOC 2 and PCI DSS — in one place, without the chaos of disconnected spreadsheets and manual tracking.

With Hicomply, you can:

Map your security controls across both frameworks and see where they overlap
Collect and store evidence continuously throughout the year, not just at audit time
Track your compliance posture across SOC 2 and PCI DSS side by side
Manage third party vendor assessments and oversight in the same platform
Run your risk assessment process and keep documentation current with far less manual effort
Walk into your next audit — with your QSA or your CPA firm — with everything already in order

If you're working through SOC 2, PCI DSS, or both, and you'd like to see how Hicomply can make that more manageable, book a demo and we can walk through it together.

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