ISO 27001 vs SOC 2

Choosing which of the two to work towards – or whether to achieve both – can be a significant decision for an organisation.

In this article, we’ll look at the similarities and differences between ISO 27001 vs SOC 2, and how you can choose the right standard for your business, goals and market.

The short answer: in the SOC 2 vs ISO 27001 decision, SOC 2 suits companies selling into the United States, where customers expect a CPA-issued attestation report, while ISO 27001 is the internationally recognised certification. They protect data in similar ways, so the deciding factors are your customers, your market and the resources you can commit.

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ISO 27001 vs SOC 2 at a glance

• ISO 27001 is an international standard with 10 clauses and 93 controls, awarded as a certification after an external audit.
• SOC 2 is based on the Trust Services Criteria and delivered as a report by an independent CPA, not a certification.
• Only SOC 2’s security criteria are mandatory; ISO 27001 requires building and maintaining a full ISMS.
• Both protect customer data and reduce breach risk — the right choice depends on your customers, resources and market.

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ISO 27001 summary

ISO 27001 is an international standard featuring 10 clauses and 93 controls under four categories: organisational controls, people controls, physical controls and technological controls — the guidance behind those controls sits in ISO 27002 (see ISO 27001 vs ISO 27002). However, not every clause or control is applicable to every organisation.

The current version of ISO 27001, which was released in 2022, provides these standardised requirements for an information security management system (ISMS) to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of key information. Building and maintaining a resilient ISMS is crucial to achieving ISO 27001 certification.

To successfully achieve ISO 27001 certification, your organisation’s ISMS must be audited by a certified external auditor.

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SOC 2 in brief

• SOC 2 covers security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy, based on the Trust Services Criteria.
• A SOC 2 Type 2 report examines your controls over a six to 12 month period, evidencing how you protect customer data.
• Results come as a report from an independent CPA — there is no pass/fail certificate as with ISO 27001.

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SOC 2 summary

SOC 2 is a set of controls relevant to your organisation’s security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy, based on Trust Services Criteria (TSC). Unlike ISO 27001, SOC 2 results are delivered in a report completed by an independent Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

There are two types of SOC 2 report: SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 2 Type 2. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the Type 2 report, which looks at your organisation’s controls over a six to 12 month period and describes what your organisation is doing to protect customer data.

Differences: ISO 27001 vs SOC 2

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Choosing the right standard

• Customers first: US prospects often require SOC 2, while a global customer base more routinely requests ISO 27001.
• Resources, timeline and budget matter — an ISMS takes significant time and budget; SOC 2’s optional TSCs keep scope lighter.
• Map your effort early with free compliance tools before committing to either path.

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Key considerations

Your customers

Keep the needs of your customers in mind when choosing between ISO 27001 and SOC 2!

If your organisation is routinely engaging with prospects or customers in the United States, you may find that they require their vendors or partners to be SOC 2 compliant. However, if you have a range of customers across the globe, ISO 27001 certification may be more routinely requested. This may also vary depending on the industries you work with.

Your resources, timeline and budget

The resource your organisation has available is a key factor to consider when choosing between ISO 27001 and SOC 2. ISO 27001 requires that you build and maintain an information security management system, which can take a significant amount of time and budget to successfully implement.

By contrast, only the security criteria of SOC 2 TSC are mandatory – the other TSCs are entirely optional, and the audit process is much less in-depth when compared to an ISO 27001 external audit.

Achieving ISO 27001 and SOC 2 with Hicomply

Hicomply is an all-in-one platform designed to help your organisation achieve information security compliance quickly and easily.

The platform features:

• A powerful, customisable dashboard
• A built-in ISMS scoping tool
• Automated task management, policy management, risk management and more.

Getting certified is the fastest and easiest it’s ever been – meaning your organisation can get ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certified in months, not years.

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What Hicomply recommends

In our experience, most teams don’t have to choose one and abandon the other — ISO 27001 and SOC 2 share a large amount of overlapping controls, so evidence collected once can be reused across both. We recommend scoping your ISMS first, then mapping SOC 2’s Trust Services Criteria onto the controls you already run rather than starting from scratch. Take a platform tour to see how continuous, audit-ready compliance keeps either standard from becoming a last-minute scramble.

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Continue your learning

Learn more about the cost of ISO 27001 certification.

Discover the six steps to ISO 27001 success.

Compare the frameworks in depth: ISO 27001 vs SOC 2 — which do you need?

Building early-stage? Read when startups should get ISO 27001.