ISO Mate is an all-in-one work platform with a built-in compliance management system: pre-built frameworks, controls, versioned policies, procedures, evidence, attestations, and a full risk register, all for one flat per-user price. Vanta and ISMS.online are excellent, dedicated compliance products. If you want a structured, audit-ready program that lives beside your everyday work, without an enterprise price tag or a long onboarding, ISO Mate is the simpler and more affordable place to start.
Why teams look for a Vanta or ISMS.online alternative
Dedicated compliance platforms are powerful, but they are priced for organizations with a mature security function and are usually quoted per framework or on custom enterprise plans. Many teams, especially those approaching their first ISO 27001 or GDPR effort, need somewhere to build the program before they need full automation. On top of that, compliance often ends up in a silo, separate from the tasks, incidents, and projects it actually depends on. ISO Mate gives you a complete compliance system that sits inside the platform where your team already works, at a price that does not scale out of reach.
A complete compliance management system, included
ISO Mate covers the core of a working compliance program for every user, no add-ons required:
- Start from templates: scaffold ISO 27001, GDPR, or General Business Policies complete with requirements, controls, draft policies, procedures, and their mappings.
- Map controls once, reuse everywhere: link controls to requirements and use the crosswalk view to spot overlapping requirements across multiple frameworks.
- Keep policies current and acknowledged: draft in a rich text editor with an AI writing assistant, publish new versions with full history, and track attestation by user group.
- Run procedures on schedule: document operational procedures and set them to recur, then track completion each time they are due.
- Build an audit-ready evidence library: upload and organize evidence, link it to controls and requirements, and set expiration dates so nothing lapses unnoticed.
- Run a first-class risk register: score risks on a 5×5 matrix, track inherent, residual, and target exposure, enforce risk appetite, record formal acceptances, and review on a schedule with a heatmap.
- Answer questions instantly: AI Compliance Search answers plain-language questions about your published policies and procedures, with citations, and a complete audit log tracks every change.
Compliance that lives with your actual work
This is where an all-in-one platform is genuinely different. In ISO Mate, controls, risks, and evidence connect to the operational work that keeps them true. Track risk mitigation as tasks, connect an incident back to the risk it realized to show cause and effect, trigger workflow automation when a policy, control, or attestation changes, and report across compliance alongside the rest of your delivery. Instead of a compliance island that someone has to reconcile with reality, your program stays close to the work that proves it.
Where Vanta and ISMS.online lead
Let’s be straight about the trade-off. Vanta’s strength is deep automation: it connects to your cloud and SaaS tools to collect evidence automatically and monitor controls continuously, which is a real advantage for teams pursuing SOC 2 and similar certifications at scale. ISMS.online offers deep, guided ISO 27001 tooling and content backed by established methodology. ISO Mate today is a more manual, hands-on system: you upload evidence and run procedures yourself rather than having them pulled in automatically. Automated evidence collection and continuous monitoring are on our roadmap, and our compliance capabilities are actively maturing. If continuous, automated assurance is a hard requirement right now, those specialized platforms are the stronger fit. If you want a capable, connected, and affordable way to build and run your program, ISO Mate is built for you.
Bridge the gap with scripts and the MCP server
You don’t have to wait for built-in integrations to automate the tedious part. ISO Mate ships an MCP server, so a technical team can collect evidence with their own scripts and manage the compliance program programmatically. It is the exact pattern we use to run ISO Mate’s own compliance, and the workflow looks like this:
- Gather evidence with a script: a local script queries your cloud configuration, for example your AWS encryption, access controls, security monitoring, and vulnerability scanning, and writes a timestamped, attributed evidence file for each control, bundled and ready to upload.
- Manage risk and controls through the MCP server: connect your AI assistant or IDE to ISO Mate’s MCP server to create and update risks, controls, and their mappings, so your register and control library stay current from where you already work.
- Upload each bundle to its control: attach the collected evidence against the matching control in ISO Mate, keeping a clear, attributed trail of what was captured and when.
To be clear, uploading evidence is still a manual step today, and automated collection and continuous monitoring remain on our roadmap. But the combination of scriptable collection and a programmable MCP server means a capable team can automate the gathering and the program management right now, without a proprietary integration catalog and without the enterprise price tag.
How ISO Mate compares to Vanta and ISMS.online
| Capability | ISO Mate | Vanta and ISMS.online |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One flat price, whole platform | Custom or enterprise quotes |
| Pre-built ISO 27001 and GDPR templates | Included | Included |
| Controls and crosswalk mapping | Included | Included |
| Versioned policies and attestation | Included | Included |
| Risk register (5×5) | Included | Included or varies |
| Evidence library with expiry | Included (manual upload) | Included |
| Automated evidence collection and monitoring | On the roadmap; scriptable today | Extensive (Vanta) |
| Programmatic access via an MCP server | Included | API-based or limited |
| Guided certification and auditor network | Not included | Available |
| Compliance connected to tasks, incidents, and projects | Included | Limited |
| Setup and onboarding | Fast, self-serve templates | Guided, longer onboarding |
Simple, transparent pricing
ISO Mate is NZD $32 per user per month, billed monthly, with every feature included. There is no separate compliance plan, no per-framework fee, and no premium tier gating the essentials. For teams that want to stand up a real compliance program without an enterprise contract, one flat price covers compliance, risk, and the rest of the platform together.
Get started in minutes
Getting going is straightforward. Scaffold a framework from a template, let the AI writing assistant help draft your policies, and start mapping controls and collecting evidence on day one. Because compliance sits alongside your tasks, incidents, risks, and the rest of the platform, your program stays connected to the work that keeps it current.
Try ISO Mate free for 14 days
See the all-in-one platform for yourself with full access to every feature. No credit card required.
Vanta is a trademark of Vanta Inc. ISMS.online is a trademark of Alliantist Ltd. ISO Mate is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by either company. Product names are used only to describe and compare capabilities. Third-party plans, products, and features are subject to change by their owners.