Sted vs ISMS.online

Both suit a UK organisation going for ISO 27001. Choose ISMS.online if you want a guided method and success managers on a bespoke plan². Choose Sted if you want the price on the page, a recommendation on which standards apply with reasons, and drafted documents to review.

Who each is for

ISMS.online is a UK platform that says more than 1,000 organisations use it and that it supports over 100 frameworks³. You choose your frameworks, follow its Assured Results Method from setup to certification, and get onboarding and support from ISO-qualified success managers². It suits a team that wants a structured path with people alongside, and expects to add further ISO management systems over time.

Sted is for a small UK team that wants the decisions made visible before the work starts: which of the 85 standards, regulations and schemes in its catalogue apply, and why. It drafts your policies and procedures for you to review, and its plans run from 1 to 15 users at a published price.

For a first ISO 27001 certificate, the deciding factors are price visibility, who decides scope, and whether you want a person or a product to lead.

Where ISMS.online is stronger

• Time in market and customer base. ISMS.online says more than 1,000 organisations use it and that it brings over two decades of experience in compliance³.
• Its own certification record. ISMS.online holds ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and Cyber Essentials certification, and maintains them on its own platform³.
• A published method to certification. Its Assured Results Method takes you step by step from setup to certification², and ISMS.online says every customer following it has passed first time³.
• Pre-written content from the first day. ISMS.online Headstart content gives you pre-configured policies and controls, described as an “81% Headstart from day one”².
• Hosting footprint. ISMS.online names a UK-based primary hosting supplier and data centres in the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia⁴.
• Review base. ISMS.online has about 260 reviews on G2, averaging 4.5 stars⁵.

Where Sted is stronger

• Breadth across eight assurance areas. Sted’s catalogue holds 85 standards, regulations and schemes: information security, privacy, AI governance, medical devices, payments and financial services, NHS digital health, quality and environmental, and sustainability reporting. For Cyber Essentials, 8 policies and 11 record templates are mapped to the five technical controls.
• Recommendations with reasons. Sted recommends the standards that apply to you or would help, including ones you had not asked about, and explains why for each one. For a medical device it gives the regulation, class and rule per market, as information for you and your notified body or regulator to check. Sted’s rules decide both from your recorded answers; the AI model does not.
• Policies that fit together. From Sted’s knowledge base of 64 policies and procedures and 168 record templates, Sted drafts one framework for every standard you choose, adapted to your organisation, for you to review. Each recommended requirement names the standards it helps you meet, with their clauses.
• Changes at no extra cost. Plans meter seats and features, never standards: on a paid plan you change your profile, add products, add as many standards and regulations as you like and regenerate, at no extra cost.
• A knowledge base Sted maintains. Sted maintains the standards, regulations and best practice in its knowledge base. When its recommendations for a document you have worked on change, it prepares an updated draft beside your version at no extra cost, and you accept or decline each change.
• Records, training and readiness in one place. Records follow templates with structured fields, and a record type can repeat, with a task raised when it falls due once an owner picks the first date. Training is completed against each approved version, and administrators see audit readiness per adopted standard. Records are part of the Full Management System plan.
• Published prices. Sted publishes the monthly and annual price of every plan, so you know the cost before a sales call.
• London for your data. Your data is stored in AWS London, your documents and answers from Sted’s knowledge base are produced by models running in London, and the onboarding conversation by models running within AWS’s European regions.

Side by side

The table holds only what each product publishes a position on. Every ISMS.online cell is dated and numbered to the page it comes from, and “Not listed” means the page does not name it, not that the product lacks it.

Pricing as published

Sted publishes the monthly and annual price of every plan on its pricing page, excluding VAT¹.

ISMS.online describes its pricing as bespoke and publishes no amounts; the price depends on the frameworks and seats you choose². Some software directories show a starting price for ISMS.online without saying what it buys⁶. That is a directory figure, not a price ISMS.online publishes, so ask for a written quote that names the frameworks, seats and term.

Using them together or switching

Running both would mean keeping the same policies, risks and controls in two systems, so you will usually want one. If you are mid-certification with ISMS.online, finishing the cycle before you move keeps your auditor’s sampling simple.

A team moving from ISMS.online brings three things: its approved policies, its risk register and its Statement of Applicability. Sted drafts your documents from its knowledge base, and you review each draft against the policy you already have approved. Administrators keep the management-system registers, including risks and opportunities, so your existing risk decisions go there. Sted keeps a Statement of Applicability for each adopted standard with a control catalogue, which you check against your current one.

Tell your certification body before your next surveillance audit, so a change of tool is expected on the day. For the standard, start with the ISO 27001 hub; for the work, read the Statement of Applicability guide and the risk assessment guide, and see how Sted handles standards. The wider field is in the compliance automation platforms comparison, with Sted vs Drata for a multi-framework platform and Sted vs a consultant or DIY templates if you are weighing people over software.

Frequently asked questions