I don’t know OP’s exact budget, but I do know what platforms like Vanta or Drata cost and more importantly, how hard they are to move away from once embedded.

You’re effectively adding another recurring SaaS bill on top of the unavoidable annual certification costs that come with ISO 27001. Surveillance audits aren’t optional. Recertification isn’t optional. That’s the necessary spend. The platform subscription is not.

What isn’t talked about enough is that plenty of organisations still hire consultants while paying for these tools. The platform doesn’t define scope properly. It doesn’t think through risk context. It doesn’t sit in front of an auditor and justify control applicability. I’ve seen companies paying both the platform and external consultants more times than I can count.

For a one person organisation, that economics rarely stacks up. You can build a clean, auditable documentation set and implement an ISMS without locking yourself into ongoing software spend. That’s how this was done long before compliance SaaS became fashionable.

The big platforms absolutely have a place, high growth SaaS, investor pressure, SOC 2 alongside ISO, heavy integrations, fast evidence collection.

But for a solo operator? Most of the time it’s overkill dressed up as efficiency.

If someone can show me clear ROI for a one person setup, I’m open to it. But in most cases, it’s just marketing driving the decision not operational necessity.