# Sted vs Vanta

Choosing a platform for a first SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate: Vanta suits teams that want scale, Sted teams that want published prices.

Source: https://sted.digital/docs/compare/sted-vs-vanta · Last reviewed 18 October 2026 · Strand Sted compared

Vanta suits a cloud company that wants a platform with a large customer base for SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Sted suits a small team that wants every price published and a recommendation on which standards apply, including quality and medical-device standards. The deciding factor is usually budget certainty against the scale of the vendor's customer base.

## Who each is for

Vanta is built for companies from a first SOC 2 report through to enterprise, and says it has more than 16,000 customers (source 7). Its entry plan covers one compliance framework, and a sales conversation sets the price (source 2). It suits a software or services team that expects to grow into several frameworks and wants a vendor with a large customer base behind it.

Sted is for a team of roughly 5 to 100 people that wants to know what a first certificate or report will cost before talking to anyone, and wants to be told which standards apply. Sted's catalogue holds 85 standards, regulations and schemes, so the same account can carry GDPR beside ISO 27001, or ISO 13485 beside both. Sted drafts the policies and procedures for you to review, so the work starts from a draft rather than a blank template.

## Where Vanta is stronger

- Customer base. Vanta says it is trusted by more than 16,000 customers, from startups to enterprises (source 7).
- Review base. Vanta has more than 2,000 reviews on G2, averaging about 4.6 stars (source 8).
- Time in market with AI standards. Vanta has supported ISO 42001 since March 2024 (source 10), and announced EU AI Act support in October 2024 (source 11).
- A policy generator on the entry plan. Vanta's Essentials plan includes an agentic policy generator alongside one framework, and Plus and Professional build on Essentials (source 2).
- Hosting footprint. Vanta runs US, EU and Australian regions (source 5), and its EU data centre has run in Frankfurt since March 2023 (source 6).

## 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. A SOC 2 or ISO 27001 programme can take on GDPR, ISO 9001 or ISO 13485 in the same account.
- 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 for the EU, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States, 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. Sted drafts one framework of policies and procedures 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 removed standard can be selected again later.
- 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; you accept or decline each change, and the draft cannot be approved until every one is decided.
- Records, training and readiness in one place. Records follow templates with structured fields, training is completed against a specific approved version, and administrators see audit readiness for each adopted standard. Records are part of the Full Management System plan.
- Published prices. Sted publishes the monthly and annual price of every plan, excluding VAT.
- 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

Each row is a dimension both products publish a position on. The Sted column carries Sted's own position; every Vanta cell is dated and numbered to the Vanta page it comes from. Where Vanta's pages do not list something, the cell says so and names the page checked, which is not the same as saying Vanta cannot do it. Prices reach the table only from a vendor's own page.

| Dimension | Sted | Vanta |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | £99, £299 or £499 a month, or £950, £2,870 or £4,790 a year, ex VAT (checked 18 October 2026, source 1) | Not listed on Vanta, Pricing (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| Pricing unit | One flat monthly or annual price per plan, for 1, 5 or 15 users. | Four plans; Essentials covers one compliance framework (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| Audit included | The certification audit is booked and paid for separately, with a certification body of your choice. | Access to Vanta's auditor network, or bring your own auditor (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| How scope and applicability are decided | Sted's rules recommend the standards that apply from your answers, and explain why for each one. | You choose the framework that comes with your plan (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| Standards covered | 85 standards, regulations and schemes across eight assurance areas. | More than 30 named, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 42001 and the EU AI Act (checked 18 October 2026, source 3) |
| ISO 13485 and EU MDR | Both are in the catalogue, and Sted classifies a device per market with the regulation, class and rule. | Not listed on Vanta, All security and compliance frameworks Vanta supports (checked 18 October 2026, source 3) |
| Cyber Essentials | In the catalogue, with 8 policies and 11 record templates mapped to the five technical controls. | Yes (checked 18 October 2026, sources 3, 4) |
| Policy drafting | Sted drafts your policies and procedures from its knowledge base, adapted to your organisation, for you to review. | Yes (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| Risk register | Risks and opportunities is one of the management-system registers administrators keep, with risk levels computed from likelihood and impact. | Risk management with customisation and reporting, listed on the Professional plan (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| Training records | Training is recorded against each approved version of a document, and a new version asks people to train again. | Security awareness training and personnel policy acceptance tracking appear in the plan comparison (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |
| Hosting region | AWS London (eu-west-2). | US, EU or Australia; an EU tenant is set up on request (checked 18 October 2026, source 5) |
| Human expert included | Sted is software with support behind it; no consultant or success manager comes with a plan. | Access to expert partners for additional compliance services, listed on Essentials (checked 18 October 2026, source 2) |

## Pricing as published

Sted publishes the price of every plan, monthly or annual, excluding VAT; the amounts are in the table above and on its pricing page (source 1).

Vanta publishes four plans, Essentials, Plus, Professional and Enterprise, and prices each one on request (source 2). Vendr's marketplace publishes buyer-reported purchase data for Vanta; that is third-party data, not a price Vanta sets (source 9). If you are comparing a quote with Sted's prices, ask whether the audit fee is in the quote. Sted's prices do not include the certification audit, which you book with a certification body of your choice.

## Using them together or switching

Running Vanta and Sted side by side means keeping the same policies, risks and evidence in two places, so you will usually want one. A team might use both for a while when a quality or medical-device standard joins an existing SOC 2 programme, then settle on one system before the next audit.

If you move from Vanta, export your approved policies, risk decisions and evidence files first. Sted drafts its policies and procedures from its knowledge base, adapted to your organisation, so you review each draft against the policy you already have rather than re-typing it. In Sted, evidence is kept as records that follow templates with structured fields, so plan to record the evidence your auditor will sample next; records are part of the Full Management System plan. Tell your auditor or certification body before the next audit, so a change of tool does not change what they can sample.

For the standards, start with the [ISO 27001 hub](/docs/standards/iso-27001) or the [SOC 2 hub](/docs/standards/soc-2); for the work, read the [Statement of Applicability guide](/docs/guides/statement-of-applicability) and [how Sted decides what applies to you](/docs/product/classification-and-applicability). Other platforms are on the [compliance automation platforms page](/docs/compare/compliance-automation-platforms), and the head-to-heads include [Sted vs Drata](/docs/compare/sted-vs-drata), [Sted vs ISMS.online](/docs/compare/sted-vs-isms-online) and, for medical devices, [Sted vs Qualio](/docs/compare/sted-vs-qualio).

## Frequently asked questions

Q: Is Sted a Vanta alternative for a UK small business?
A: Yes, if you want to know the price before a sales call and want a recommendation on which standards apply to you. Sted publishes every plan's price and recommends standards from your business profile, products and jurisdictions. Vanta suits a team that wants a platform with more than 16,000 customers behind it (source 7).

Q: How much does Vanta cost for a small business in the UK?
A: Vanta doesn't publish a price: each of its four plans offers personalised pricing on request (source 2). Vendr publishes buyer-reported purchase data for Vanta, which is third-party data rather than a list price (source 9). Sted's prices are on its pricing page, monthly or annual, excluding VAT.

Q: Can Vanta keep my data in the UK?
A: Vanta names three regions: the US, the EU and Australia, and an EU tenant is set up on request (source 5). Its EU data centre is in Frankfurt on AWS (source 6). Sted stores your data in AWS London (eu-west-2); 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.

Q: Which covers ISO 13485 and EU MDR for a medtech startup, Sted or Vanta?
A: Sted does: both are in its catalogue, and it classifies a medical device per market, showing the regulation, class and rule. Neither standard is listed on Vanta's frameworks page (source 3). The class Sted shows is information for you and your notified body or regulator to check, not a verdict.

Q: Does adding standards to Sted cost more?
A: No. Sted's plans meter seats and features, never standards: on a paid plan you can change your profile, add products, add as many standards and regulations as you like and regenerate, at no extra cost. The catalogue holds 85 standards, regulations and schemes across eight assurance areas.

Q: Who keeps the policies up to date?
A: Sted maintains the standards, regulations and best practice in its knowledge base. When its recommendations for a document you have worked on change, Sted prepares an updated draft beside your version at no extra cost, and you accept or decline each change before the draft can be approved.

Q: Can I move from Vanta to Sted before my next audit?
A: Yes. Keep your own copies of approved policies, risk decisions and evidence, and let Sted draft its documents for you to review against them. Tell your auditor or certification body about the change before the audit, so the evidence trail they sample is not a surprise.

## Sources

1. StedOS pricing: https://sted.digital/pricing (checked 18 October 2026)
2. Vanta, Pricing: https://www.vanta.com/pricing (checked 18 October 2026)
3. Vanta, All security and compliance frameworks Vanta supports: https://www.vanta.com/products/additional-frameworks (checked 18 October 2026)
4. Vanta, Cyber Essentials compliance software: https://www.vanta.com/products/cyber-essentials (checked 18 October 2026)
5. Vanta, EU and AUS regions: sign-in, integrations and data residency: https://help.vanta.com/en/articles/14667543-vanta-eu-and-aus-regions-sign-in-integrations-and-data-residency (checked 18 October 2026)
6. Vanta, Announcing Vanta's EU data centre (30 March 2023): https://www.vanta.com/resources/accelerating-international-momentum-announcing-vantas-eu-data-centre (checked 18 October 2026)
7. Vanta, home page: https://www.vanta.com/ (checked 18 October 2026)
8. G2, Vanta reviews: https://www.g2.com/products/vanta/reviews (checked 17 October 2026)
9. Vendr marketplace, Vanta (buyer-reported purchase data): https://www.vendr.com/marketplace/vanta (checked 18 October 2026)
10. Business Wire, Vanta introduces ISO 42001 (27 March 2024): https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240327143845/en/Vanta-Introduces-ISO-42001-to-Ensure-Responsible-AI-Usage-and-Development (checked 17 October 2026)
11. Vanta, New frameworks and updates for European companies (24 October 2024): https://www.vanta.com/resources/european-momentum-new-frameworks (checked 18 October 2026)