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StartupDocs and Vanta do different jobs.

Vanta is very good at what it is for: getting a company through security certifications like SOC 2 and ISO 27001 by monitoring your systems, collecting audit evidence automatically, and keeping the certification alive afterwards. When an enterprise deal is blocked on a SOC 2 report, that is the category of tool you need, and we are not in it.

StartupDocs solves a different, usually earlier problem: the legal documents themselves. The privacy policy, terms, DPA, and contracts a company runs on, drafted from professionally drafted templates, edited with tracked changes, and checked against rulepacks like GDPR and UK DPA 2018. If people land here searching for Vanta, the honest first question is which of the two jobs you actually have this quarter.

The two jobs

What each one is built for.

WHAT VANTA IS BUILT FOR

Vanta

Security certifications: SOC 2, ISO 27001 and similar frameworks, run as a managed programme.
Continuous monitoring of your infrastructure and tools, with audit evidence collected automatically.
Proving your security posture to enterprise buyers: reports, questionnaires, trust pages.

WHAT STARTUPDOCS IS BUILT FOR

StartupDocs

The documents themselves: privacy policy, terms, cookie policy, DPA, NDAs, and the contracts of hiring and selling.
Drafting from parameterised templates, editing with tracked changes, and exporting documents that hold up.
Checking documents against legal rulepacks (GDPR, UK DPA 2018, PECR, CCPA) and re-checking when details change.
Optionally watching a code repository: we index it and re-check what changes against the standards you pick.

The honest split

Which one should you pick?

Nobody runs both pages of this table at once. Find the line that sounds like your week.

Choose Vanta if

A customer or prospect requires a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report and the deal waits on it.
You need audit evidence collected from your cloud accounts and identity providers, and controls attested for an auditor.
Security questionnaires arrive weekly and answering them has become a job.

Choose StartupDocs if

The documents are the gap: no privacy policy, an inherited contract set, a DPA request you cannot answer.
You are 1 to 20 people in the UK or EU with no in-house counsel and no time to become one.
You want the everyday paperwork drafted, checked, and kept current, with a money-back guarantee on the outcome.

Where they meet

The overlap, without the spin.

The overlap is written policies. A SOC 2 audit asks for information security policies, and StartupDocs helps you draft and maintain those documents; audit platforms also generate policy documents as part of their programme. Our optional add-on also watches a code repository and re-checks it against the standards you choose as it changes. The line to hold onto: we never claim audit readiness. We do not collect evidence from your cloud accounts, attest that a control is operating, or issue anything an auditor can accept, so if certification is the goal, a platform like Vanta plus an auditor is the correct lane.

In practice the sequencing is common and comfortable: StartupDocs from day one for the legal paperwork every company needs, and a certification platform later, when enterprise deals start asking for a report. The documents you drafted with us remain yours and remain useful in that process.

The one claim we keep for ourselves: five documents in your first week, checked and exported, or every penny back. It is written into our terms, not just this page.

FAQ

Fair questions.

Is StartupDocs a Vanta alternative?

Only if the job you actually have is documents. If you need a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report, StartupDocs is not an alternative: we do not run audits, attest controls, or collect the evidence an auditor accepts, and anyone who tells you documents alone get you certified is selling you something. We do offer an add-on that watches a code repository and flags where it drifts from the standards you picked, which is useful preparation and is still not an audit. If what you need is the legal paperwork a startup runs on, drafted and kept compliant, then yes, that is exactly what we are for, at a price built for a company your size.

Can StartupDocs make me SOC 2 compliant?

No, and we say this on every page it could come up: we help you draft and maintain the written policies an auditor will ask for, which is a real and necessary part of the work. Certification itself requires implemented controls, collected evidence, and an independent auditor. Nobody becomes audit-ready by reading documents.

Should an early startup buy both?

Usually not at the same moment. Most companies need a privacy policy, terms, and a DPA long before anyone demands SOC 2. Start with the documents (that is the £19-a-month problem), and take on a certification programme when a real deal requires it. If you are already mid-certification, we still cover the everyday legal documents that programme does not touch: contracts, NDAs, employment paperwork.

Keep comparing

The other candidates.

StartupDocs vs Genie AI

StartupDocs vs Genie AI, honestly.

StartupDocs vs SeedLegals

StartupDocs and SeedLegals cover different stages.

StartupDocs vs ChatGPT

StartupDocs vs ChatGPT, honestly.

Vanta is a trademark of its owner. StartupDocs is an independent product and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Vanta. Descriptions of Vanta reflect its public positioning at the time of writing; check its site for current features and pricing.