SOC 2 Readiness Checklist (2026)
A practical pre-audit checklist to spot gaps before you talk to an auditor.
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New for 2026
Get the portable PDF version
Take this checklist offline. Share it with your team, map owners to tasks, and track your progress as you prepare for your SOC 2 audit.
- Interactive task list for teams
- Evidence collection templates
- Common auditor questions
- Cost & timeline benchmarks
Download the PDF Checklist
Get the portable, offline version of our 2026 SOC 2 readiness expert guide.
What a SOC 2 readiness checklist is (and isn’t)
Use this checklist to map people, processes, and evidence to auditor expectations. It’s a planning tool—not an attestation or audit opinion.
Checklist: what auditors expect to see
People & ownership
- Named owners for access reviews, incident response, and vendor management
- Clear escalation paths for security incidents and exceptions
- Documented roles for approving changes and handling sensitive data
Process & policy
- Change management process with approvals and testing evidence
- Onboarding/offboarding steps tied to access provisioning and removal
- Documented incident response plan with communication steps and timelines
Evidence & systems
- MFA enforced on critical systems; logging and alerting configured
- Vendor management records with risk reviews and data flow clarity
- Access review logs, change records, and incident tickets retained
Common gaps in early-stage companies
- Undefined owners for access reviews and incident response
- Ad-hoc change management without approvals or testing proof
- Incomplete offboarding and stale access for former staff or vendors
- Logging in place but alerts unreviewed or without thresholds
- Vendor risk not documented; data flows unclear
- Incident playbooks not exercised; no post-incident reviews
- Evidence stored in scattered tools with no single source of truth
Use the readiness assessment to see your band and map gaps to timeline and cost before scheduling auditors.
Get Your Readiness Score →Free • No credit card • Business email required
Trust & privacy
- No login required; business email required.
- Answers used only to calculate your score
- Estimates are planning guidance, not audit advice