GOVERNANCE · RISK · COMPLIANCE
GRC software: governance, risk and compliance tools for 5 to 200 person companies
Governance, risk, and compliance stop being three spreadsheets and become one system: policies people actually approve, a risk register with owners, and controls mapped once across every framework you get asked about.
From $79/mo · Prices published · No sales call · Monthly billing
Audit readiness
0 %
Built for teams of 5 to 200
What GRC software actually is
GRC software puts governance, risk, and compliance in one system: it holds the policies that set your rules, a risk register that records what could go wrong and who owns it, and the controls and evidence that prove you follow the frameworks your customers ask about. Complies is GRC software built for companies of 5 to 200 people, where compliance is someone's second job rather than a department. Governance means policies with versions, review dates, and staff acknowledgments, drafted by AI and approved by a human. Risk means a register that ties each risk to an owner, a treatment decision, and the control that reduces it. Compliance means obligations with due dates and evidence pulled from AWS, GitHub, and Okta on a schedule, cross-mapped across SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS, so a control you map once counts everywhere it applies and SOC 2 work pre-fills roughly 60 percent of ISO 27001. The category splits three ways. Enterprise GRC suites like MetricStream, ServiceNow GRC, AuditBoard, and LogicGate are built for large regulated organizations with a dedicated GRC team, sold through procurement on quote-only annual contracts. Compliance automation platforms like Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, and Sprinto focus on audit readiness for funded startups, still quote-led and annual-first. Complies sits deliberately at the small end: prices published at $79 to $499 a month, monthly billing, self-serve signup, and a readiness score the same day you connect your stack. If you employ a GRC team and run complex governance, an enterprise suite is the honest recommendation.
Complies assists with compliance workflows. It is not legal advice, and it does not certify you or guarantee audit outcomes. Your auditor decides; Complies gets you ready.
Last updated July 2026
The three letters, and what each one costs you when it is missing
Governance
The rules of the house, written down and approved. Policies get AI-drafted starting points, a human owner who edits and approves them, version history, scheduled reviews, and acknowledgments from the staff they apply to. When an auditor asks who approved your access policy and when, the answer is a record, not a memory.
policy management softwareRisk
A living register instead of a workshop deck. Each risk gets an owner, an impact and likelihood rating, a treatment decision you can defend, and a link to the control that reduces it. Risk assessment is a named requirement in SOC 2 CC3.2, ISO 27001 Clause 6.1.2, and HIPAA 164.308(a)(1), so the register does double duty as evidence.
compliance risk registerCompliance
Obligations with due dates, controls mapped across every framework in scope, and evidence that collects itself on a schedule from AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, and Okta. A live readiness score tells you where you actually stand, and gap flags name what is missing in plain language before an auditor does.
control mapping softwareThree kinds of GRC software, and who each one is for
GRC software is not one market. It splits into three groups that serve genuinely different companies, and picking the wrong group wastes either money or months. Here is the honest map, including where Complies is the wrong answer.
| Dimension | Enterprise GRC suite | Compliance automation | Complies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Large, regulated organizations with a dedicated GRC team | Funded startups and scale-ups chasing a first audit | Companies of 5 to 200 where compliance is a part-time job |
| Example vendors | MetricStream, ServiceNow GRC, AuditBoard, LogicGate, Riskonnect | Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, Sprinto | Complies |
| How you buy | Procurement cycle, demo, then an implementation project | Demo and quote, then guided onboarding | Self-serve signup, no sales call, start the same day |
| Pricing | Quote-only, annual contracts, often modular | Quote-led and annual-first | Published on the pricing page, $79 to $499 per month |
| Billing | Annual, negotiated at renewal | Annual-first is the standard motion | Monthly available, yearly if you want the discount |
| Frameworks | Broad coverage, scoped and priced per module | Scoped per deal during the sales cycle | SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS cross-mapped from Growth |
| Risk management | Deep quantitative modeling and enterprise risk workflows | Varies by platform and tier | A practical register tied to controls, owners, and evidence |
| Time to first signal | Weeks to months, frequently with an implementation partner | Days to weeks with their onboarding team | A readiness score the same day you connect your stack |
Read that table honestly. If you have a dedicated GRC team, an enterprise suite earns its price and Complies will feel thin. If you are chasing a first audit with a headcount you can name from memory, the enterprise suite is a year of implementation you do not have. Compare the middle column in detail on Vanta alternatives, Drata alternatives and Hyperproof alternatives.
What you get on every plan from Growth
One control library, every framework
Map a control once and it counts everywhere it applies. Access control is SOC 2 CC6.1, ISO 27001 A.5.15, GDPR Art. 32, HIPAA 164.312(a), and PCI DSS Req. 7 wearing different labels. Finishing SOC 2 pre-fills roughly 60 percent of ISO 27001.
Evidence that collects itself
Access reviews, change logs, and monitoring settings stream in from AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, and Okta on a schedule, with named owners. Evidence collection typically eats around 120 engineer-hours per audit cycle, and most of that is gathering, not deciding.
A readiness score you can act on
One number for where you stand, plus a ranked gap list naming what is missing and who owns it. It never reads 100, because no tool can promise an audit outcome, and a score that flatters you is worse than no score.
Policies humans approve
AI drafts a starting point against the control it serves. Your team edits and approves it, and Complies tracks versions, review dates, and acknowledgments. Nobody ships a policy the business has not read.
Prices you can read before you commit
Starter is $79 a month, Growth $199, Scale $499, all published. Monthly billing means the product re-earns its seat every cycle instead of surviving on a renewal clause.
Vendor risk in the same system
Your vendor list carries review dates, data access notes, and owners, and the annual reviews get chased before they go stale. SOC 2 CC9.2 and ISO 27001 A.5.19 to A.5.22 ask for exactly this.
From signup to a readiness score
Connect the stack you already run
Point Complies at AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, and Okta. It reads configuration, not your customer data, and the first readiness score lands the same day.
Pick the frameworks in scope
Choose SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or several. Every tier from Growth includes all five cross-mapped, so a new customer requirement never triggers a re-quote.
Give every obligation an owner
Controls, policies, and risks become rows with a named human and a due date. The compliance calendar chases them, so the work stops living in one person's head.
Close gaps and export the audit pack
Work the ranked gap list. When readiness says you are there, export the organized evidence pack and bring in your auditor.
Who this is for, and who it is not
A GOOD FIT WHEN
- You are 5 to 200 people and a customer or investor just asked for SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
- Compliance is a part-time job for a founder, an engineer, or an ops lead.
- You want to see the price before a sales call, and start this afternoon.
- You expect a second framework later and refuse to pay twice for the same controls.
- You want governance, risk, and compliance in one place instead of three spreadsheets.
LOOK ELSEWHERE WHEN
- You employ a dedicated GRC team and run complex, multi-entity program governance.
- You need deep quantitative enterprise risk modeling or heavy audit-management workflow.
- You are a public company with SOX obligations and an internal audit function.
- You operate in heavy regulation past 200 people, where an enterprise GRC suite earns its price.
Common questions about GRC software
GRC software is one system for governance, risk, and compliance: the policies that set your rules, a risk register that records what could go wrong and who owns it, and the controls and evidence that prove you meet frameworks like SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Doing all three in one place is the point, because the same control usually serves all three.
GRC stands for governance, risk, and compliance. Governance is how decisions get made and written down, usually as approved policies with owners and review dates. Risk is identifying and treating what could go wrong. Compliance is following the external rules and frameworks that apply to you, and being able to prove it with evidence.
Compliance software targets a specific requirement, usually getting audit-ready for one framework. GRC software is broader: it adds governance (policy lifecycle, approvals, acknowledgments) and risk (a register tied to owners and treatments) to the compliance layer, so the three feed each other. In practice the line blurs, and most small teams need all three regardless of the label on the box.
Enterprise GRC suites are quote-only on annual contracts, and compliance automation platforms are usually quote-led and annual-first, so a public number is rare. Complies publishes the whole range: Starter $79 a month, Growth $199, Scale $499, billed monthly or yearly. Budget the auditor separately, since a SOC 2 Type 1 typically runs $5,000 to $20,000 in CPA firm fees.
Not until someone asks. The trigger is almost always external: an enterprise customer sends a security questionnaire, an investor asks about SOC 2, or you take health or card data. Before that, a spreadsheet is honestly fine. After it, the spreadsheet quietly rots, because nobody owns the rows and nobody notices when evidence goes stale.
The working set is: policy management with versions and acknowledgments, a risk register tied to controls, multi-framework control mapping, automated evidence collection with owners and due dates, vendor risk reviews, a compliance calendar, and reporting an auditor can read. Anything past that is depth an enterprise program needs and a 20 person company will not open.
No, and that is deliberate. Complies is built for 5 to 200 person companies where one or two people own compliance alongside other work. If you have a dedicated GRC team, multi-entity governance, or quantitative enterprise risk modeling, an enterprise suite like MetricStream, ServiceNow GRC, AuditBoard, or LogicGate is the honest recommendation, and you will use most of what you pay for.
Frameworks and guides
SOC 2 compliance software
ISO 27001ISO 27001 compliance software
CROSS-FRAMEWORKCompliance Risk Assessment: Definition, Matrix, and Workflow
CROSS-FRAMEWORKSOC 2 vs ISO 27001: Which One Do You Need? (Or Both)
Governance, risk, and compliance in one system
Prices published, $79 to $499 a month. Monthly billing. Start today, no sales call.