Lightweight should mean none of the weight you do not need: no sales calls, no onboarding programme, no per-user pricing. Not fewer of the records auditors need.
Searches for lightweight ISO 27001 software usually mean one thing: “I need to manage ISO 27001 properly without buying a £15,000 GRC platform or hiring anyone.” Lightweight should not mean fewer of the records auditors need. It should mean none of the weight you do not: no sales calls, no onboarding programme, no per-user pricing, no integration project, no modules you will never open.
| Typical GRC platform (Vanta, Drata, ISMS.online) | ISOvault | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | £6,000 to £60,000+ | £1,500 ex VAT |
| Buying process | Sales-led demo, annual contract, onboarding programme | Self-serve, 14-day free trial, monthly, cancel anytime |
| Approach | Continuous cloud-control monitoring across many frameworks | Structured records, evidence and deadlines for ISO 27001 |
| Integrations | Dozens of connectors to scan your stack | Deliberately none; upload documents, export Word, use SSO |
| Best for | Scale-ups needing SOC 2 + ISO + more, with budget | 10-100 person businesses that need ISO 27001 done well |
| Output | Dashboards; exports vary by platform | Word documents generated from your data, for your auditor |
No cloud-account scanning, no HR system sync, no multi-framework dashboards. Those features are valuable at a certain scale, and they are why GRC platforms cost what they cost. Leaving them out is what makes same-day self-serve setup and a £125/month price possible, and it keeps your compliance data path clean: your ISMS lives in one UK-hosted workspace, not spread across a dozen connectors.
Honest answer: if you need SOC 2 and ISO 27001 simultaneously, have investors asking for continuous control monitoring, or run a security team of more than two, evaluate Vanta or Drata; they are excellent at that job. If what you need is ISO 27001 records organised, evidenced and audit-ready, that is the job ISOvault was built for, at roughly a tenth of the cost.
Yes. Auditors assess whether your ISMS meets the standard, not which software you bought. What they need is exactly what lightweight tooling should provide: consistent records, linked evidence and documents under control.
£125 per month plus VAT, everything included, unlimited users, monthly billing, cancel anytime, and the price you join at is your price for life.
Import your existing ISMS into ISOvault, run the AI gap analysis and generate your Statement of Applicability. 14 days free, no card required, walk away with the Word documents.