How Long Does SOC 2 Really Take? A Realistic Timeline

Every vendor selling compliance tooling will tell you SOC 2 takes "as little as 3 months." Every startup that's actually done it will tell you it took longer than expected.

Both are telling the truth. The gap between them is what causes budget overruns, missed deal timelines, and procurement conversations that drag on for quarters.

This guide gives you the unvarnished version: what SOC 2 actually takes, week by week, for both Type I and Type II. What causes delays — and which delays are avoidable with preparation. And how to legitimately accelerate your timeline without cutting corners that will surface as audit findings.

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The Honest Summary Before the Detail

SOC 2 Type I: 6–10 weeks from kickoff to signed report, assuming you're reasonably prepared. 10–16 weeks if you're starting from scratch with significant control gaps.

SOC 2 Type II: The observation period alone is 3–12 months. Add 6–10 weeks for the audit itself. Minimum realistic timeline from decision to signed report: 6 months. More realistic for companies building controls from scratch: 9–18 months.

The Type II timeline is the one that surprises most founders. The observation period isn't something you can accelerate by hiring more consultants or moving faster — it's calendar time that has to pass with your controls operating. You can't retroactively create six months of control operation.

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What Happens in Each Phase

SOC 2 has five phases regardless of type. The difference is that Type II adds an observation period between readiness and audit.

Phase 1: Gap Assessment (2–4 weeks)

Before you can prepare for an audit, you need to know where you stand. A gap assessment evaluates your current controls against the AICPA Trust Services Criteria and identifies what's in place, what's missing, and what needs remediation.

A proper gap assessment covers:

• Identity and access management (IAM review, MFA enforcement, access provisioning/deprovisioning)
• Encryption in transit and at rest
• Logging and monitoring (who has access, what they do, alerting on anomalies)
• Endpoint security and MDM
• Vulnerability management (scan frequency, remediation SLAs)
• Incident response (documented process, tested annually)
• Vendor management (security review for third parties with data access)
• Change management (code review, deployment approvals, infrastructure changes)
• HR controls (background checks, security training, offboarding)
• Policy documentation

Most startups discover they're 40–60% compliant before formal work begins. The gap assessment tells you where the remaining distance is and, critically, how long remediation will realistically take.

What delays this phase: Incomplete access to infrastructure documentation. If your cloud environments aren't well-tagged and your IAM setup isn't documented, the assessment takes longer. Prepare by doing a quick self-audit of your AWS/GCP IAM roles, your user directory, and your existing security tooling before the assessment begins.

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Phase 2: Remediation (2–8 weeks for Type I; ongoing for Type II)

Remediation is where timelines diverge most dramatically between companies. A startup that already runs on well-configured AWS with CloudTrail, MFA everywhere, endpoint MDM, and documented incident response may need 2–3 weeks to close minor gaps. A company starting from scratch may need 6–8 weeks for Type I readiness, or significantly longer if infrastructure needs to be rebuilt.

Common remediation items and realistic time estimates:

Control Area	Typical Remediation	Time Estimate
Enable MFA on all admin accounts	Immediate, mostly enforcement	1–3 days
Configure CloudTrail / cloud logging	Technical implementation	1–5 days
Write information security policy	Policy documentation	3–5 days
Implement endpoint MDM	Technical + rollout	1–2 weeks
Deploy vulnerability scanning	Technical implementation	3–7 days
Build incident response procedure	Documentation + tabletop	1–2 weeks
Implement SIEM / centralized logging	Technical implementation	2–4 weeks
Formal access review process	Process design + execution	1–2 weeks
Vendor security review program	Process design	1–2 weeks
Security awareness training	Platform setup + rollout	1–2 weeks

The expensive surprises are usually in the infrastructure category: SIEM implementation, encrypted data migration, access control architecture changes. These can't be rushed, and underestimating them is the primary cause of Type I timelines blowing past three months.

What delays this phase: Prioritization conflicts. Engineering teams assigned to remediation get pulled back to product work. Remediations that were estimated at one week take three because nobody owns the implementation end-to-end. The solution is to designate a single internal owner with real authority over remediation timelines.

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Phase 3: Policy and Documentation (2–4 weeks, can run parallel to remediation)

SOC 2 requires written policies for every control area. This isn't box-checking — auditors review your policies and test whether your actual practices match what the policies say. A policy that says "access is reviewed quarterly" requires evidence of quarterly access reviews.

Required policies include:

• Information Security Policy
• Access Control Policy
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Incident Response Plan
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan
• Change Management Policy
• Vendor Management Policy
• Encryption Policy
• Risk Assessment Policy

The good news: policy templates are widely available, and compliance automation platforms (Vanta, Drata, Secureframe) include libraries of customizable templates. The work is customization — making the template reflect your actual environment and practices — not writing from scratch.

What delays this phase: Policies that don't match actual practices. If your policy says developers must request access through a ticketing system and your actual practice is Slack DMs to the AWS admin, you have a finding waiting to happen. Write policies that describe what you actually do, then implement the controls that make what you do auditable.

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Phase 4: Observation Period (Type II only — 3–12 months)

This is the phase that determines the Type II timeline. During the observation period, your controls must operate continuously and generate evidence. The auditor will test samples from this period to confirm your controls ran as designed.

What "operating" means in practice:

• Access reviews must be conducted on schedule (if your policy says quarterly, run them quarterly with documentation)
• Vulnerability scans must run on schedule with findings tracked and remediated
• Security training must be completed by employees per your policy
• Change management approvals must be recorded for infrastructure changes
• Incident response log must capture any security events (even minor ones)
• Vendor security reviews must be conducted before onboarding new vendors with data access

The minimum observation period is 3 months. Most auditors and enterprise buyers consider 6 months the credible standard. 12 months is the gold standard for enterprise deals in regulated industries.

What you cannot do: Retroactively create evidence. If your quarterly access review didn't happen in Q3, there is no way to fix that for the current audit period. This is why continuous evidence collection — ideally automated through a compliance platform — is essential from day one of the observation period.

Starting the observation period: The optimal time to start is the week your Type I controls are confirmed as designed. Your auditor confirms the design in the Type I report; you start the clock on Type II immediately. Every week you wait to start is a week added to your Type II timeline.

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Phase 5: Audit Fieldwork and Report (4–8 weeks)

Once the observation period ends (Type II) or readiness is confirmed (Type I), the audit begins. The auditor requests evidence, conducts interviews, and tests controls.

Typical audit sequence:

Week	Activity
Week 1	Kickoff meeting; auditor provides evidence request list
Weeks 2–3	Evidence submission; auditor reviews documentation and tests controls
Week 3–4	Auditor interviews (typically 2–4 hours across security, engineering, operations)
Week 4–5	Auditor issues draft report with any findings
Week 5–6	Management response to findings (required even for clean reports)
Week 6–8	Final report issued and signed

What delays this phase: Evidence gaps. If the auditor requests a sample of 10 access reviews and you have 8, you have a gap. If they request 6 months of vulnerability scan reports and you have 5 months, you have a gap. Evidence collection discipline during the observation period is what makes the audit phase smooth.

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Full Timeline Summary

SOC 2 Type I Timeline

Phase	Duration	Notes
Gap Assessment	2–4 weeks	Shorter if well-prepared
Remediation	2–8 weeks	Largest variable based on starting posture
Policy Documentation	2–4 weeks (parallel)	Run alongside remediation
Auditor Selection	1–2 weeks (parallel)	Start early; good auditors book out
Audit Fieldwork	4–6 weeks
Report Issuance	1–2 weeks
Total (prepared)	6–8 weeks	If gap assessment shows 70%+ compliance
Total (from scratch)	10–16 weeks	Significant remediation required

SOC 2 Type II Timeline

Phase	Duration	Notes
Gap Assessment	2–4 weeks
Remediation	4–12 weeks	More thorough than Type I
Observation Period	3–12 months	Cannot be shortened
Audit Fieldwork	4–8 weeks
Report Issuance	1–2 weeks
Total (3-month obs.)	6–8 months	Minimum; credibility questions
Total (6-month obs.)	9–12 months	Standard
Total (12-month obs.)	15–18 months	Enterprise gold standard

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The 6 Most Common Causes of SOC 2 Delays

1. Starting the observation period late

The single biggest timeline error. Companies complete their readiness work and then wait — to find the right auditor, to finish one more product sprint, to get buy-in from the board on compliance tooling. Every week of waiting is a week added to the Type II timeline. Start the observation period the same week you confirm your controls are ready.

2. Underestimating remediation scope

Gap assessments surface findings. Some findings are quick (enable MFA on a forgotten admin account). Others are architectural (migrate data to encrypted storage, rebuild IAM roles to enforce least privilege). Companies that budget two weeks for remediation and discover they need eight are the norm, not the exception. Give your gap assessment findings a full week of prioritization and realistic time estimation before committing to a Type II timeline.

3. Evidence collection gaps during observation

If your compliance platform isn't configured to collect evidence continuously from day one of the observation period, you will have gaps. Manual evidence collection is error-prone and frequently incomplete. Auditors testing a six-month observation period will sample from throughout the period — a gap in month three doesn't get fixed by strong evidence in months four through six.

4. Policies that don't match practices

Writing a policy in week one and then not running the business to match the policy is extremely common. Access reviews scheduled quarterly in your policy but not actually executed quarterly is a finding. Incident response procedures documented but never tested is a finding. Write policies that describe what you actually do, then do it consistently.

5. Auditor selection and scheduling delays

Good auditors are booked out 4–8 weeks. If you wait until you're "almost ready" to select an auditor, you add 4–8 weeks to your timeline without doing anything wrong. Start auditor selection during the remediation phase. Confirm availability before you commit to a deadline with a prospect.

6. Personnel changes during observation

When the engineer who built your security controls leaves the company during your observation period, their institutional knowledge of the environment leaves too. This creates evidence collection gaps and audit interview problems. Document everything. Your runbooks, access review process, and incident response procedures should be executable by anyone on the team, not just the person who wrote them.

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How to Legitimately Accelerate

There are real ways to reduce the timeline without creating audit risk. There are also common "shortcuts" that create findings.

Legitimate acceleration:

• Start the observation period immediately after gap assessment confirms controls are designed correctly — don't wait for the formal Type I report if you're going straight to Type II
• Use compliance automation (Vanta, Drata) to collect evidence continuously from day one — eliminates the most common source of evidence gaps
• Hire a managed compliance service to run remediation and audit prep in parallel rather than sequentially — a service provider who has done this 50 times moves faster than an internal team doing it for the first time
• Choose a 3-month observation period if timeline pressure is acute and your buyers will accept it — acknowledge to prospects that you're targeting 6-month renewal
• Select your auditor in week one — availability determines timeline as much as readiness does

Shortcuts that create problems:

• Backdating evidence (audit finding, potential fraud)
• Implementing controls for the audit period and removing them after (observation period tests for continuity)
• Narrowing scope so aggressively that buyers question what's excluded
• Selecting the cheapest auditor regardless of reputation (some enterprise buyers specify preferred auditor tiers)

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Type I as the Acceleration Strategy

If you have an enterprise deal at risk and cannot deliver a Type II report in time, Type I is a legitimate bridge — not a shortcut.

The correct sequence:

1. Get Type I in 6–8 weeks (confirms controls are designed correctly)
2. Use the Type I report to close or advance the deal
3. Start the Type II observation period the same week you begin Type I audit fieldwork
4. Communicate transparently with the buyer: "Our Type I is complete. Type II observation period started [date]. We expect our Type II report by [date]."
5. Deliver on the Type II commitment

This works when you're honest. It fails when you imply Type I is equivalent to Type II, or when the Type II timeline slips without communication.

Some enterprise buyers — particularly in healthcare, financial services, and government — will not accept Type I at any stage. Confirm with your specific prospects before investing in Type I as a bridge.

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Planning Your SOC 2 Timeline Today

If there's an enterprise deal in your pipeline that requires SOC 2, the first call to make is to that prospect's security team — not to an auditor or compliance vendor.

Ask specifically: "Does your team require Type II, or would a Type I report with a committed Type II timeline allow us to proceed?" The answer determines your strategy.

If they require Type II: count backwards from when you need the report. If you need it in nine months, your observation period must start within the next few weeks. Every week you defer is a week of observation history you're not accumulating.

If they'll accept Type I: start auditor selection this week. With a well-prepared environment, you can have a Type I report within 6–8 weeks.

For teams that want to understand their current control posture before committing to a timeline, the SOC 2 Readiness Checklist covers all 61 AICPA Common Criteria controls and gives you a realistic read on where gaps exist and how long remediation will take.

If you want someone to run the process end-to-end, book a free SOC 2 assessment — we'll evaluate your current controls, identify your specific gaps, and give you a realistic timeline and cost estimate based on your actual environment. Most companies are closer than they expect. The ones that aren't usually have one or two specific gaps that, once identified, are faster to close than the general advice suggests.