Autonomous GRC vs automated evidence collection
Why teams evaluate Vanta alternatives
Vanta defined automated evidence collection. By connecting cloud, identity, and HR systems, it turned SOC 2 from a spreadsheet exercise into a monitored dashboard — and that remains a genuine strength for teams whose main goal is scraping evidence from a known stack with minimal effort.
Teams look for alternatives when they want more than a dashboard:
- Work that runs itself — instead of a human typing every policy, narrative, and questionnaire answer, agents draft the work and the team approves it. The program advances between audits, not just at audit time.
- Predictable, transparent pricing — Vanta's per-seat model gets expensive as compliance responsibilities spread across engineering, HR, IT, and leadership. episki publishes a flat platform price with unlimited users.
- Built-in AI governance — as organizations adopt AI internally, they need to govern it. episki ships a dedicated AI Governance module and maps ISO 42001, NIST AI RMF, and the EU AI Act out of the box.
Where episki is different
Legacy GRC automates evidence. episki automates the program. Agents draft policies, answer security questionnaires, map controls across frameworks, and keep evidence evergreen — but the AI authors deterministic recipes that then run without AI in the loop. That means the output is reproducible and defensible in front of an auditor, not a black-box generation. A human always approves the work that matters.
Underneath the agents sits a connected workspace: programs, assessments, controls, tasks, risks, and evidence link together, and a fast, keyboard-first editor makes the daily work of writing and reviewing feel like a modern tool rather than a compliance form.
When Vanta might still be the better fit
Vanta is a strong choice when your priority is automated evidence collection across the widest possible integration library, with a mature continuous-monitoring engine, and your program is primarily SOC 2-focused. If integration depth across a long tail of niche tools is your single most important requirement, Vanta's breadth is compelling.
episki vs Vanta: feature comparison
| Feature | episki | Vanta |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Autonomous GRC — agents run the program; humans approve the work that matters | Automated evidence collection with continuous monitoring dashboards |
| Pricing model | Platform $750/mo (or $7,500/yr) + optional modules; unlimited users, frameworks, and vendors | Per-seat pricing that scales with headcount |
| AI capabilities | Agents draft policies, answer questionnaires, map controls, and recommend tasks — AI authors deterministic recipes auditors can accept | AI-assisted risk and compliance workflows |
| Controls & evidence | Continuous controls with evergreen evidence; structured ownership and cross-framework reuse | Automated evidence collection from 200+ integrations |
| AI governance | Dedicated AI Governance module — agent and use-case registry, AI risk treatments, ISO 42001, NIST AI RMF, EU AI Act | Limited dedicated AI governance tooling |
| Framework coverage | 34+ pre-built frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST CSF, CMMC, FedRAMP, ISO 42001) plus custom — all unlimited | SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and 20+ frameworks |
| Integrations | Native cloud, identity, ticketing, and chat integrations plus full MCP server support so agents can use any tool you bring | 200+ native integrations |
| Trust & vendors | Trust module with agent-answered questionnaires, NDA-gated docs, and a branded trust center; TPRM module with unlimited vendors | Trust reports and vendor risk add-ons |
| Editor experience | Notion-like, keyboard-first editor for policies, narratives, and responses | Standard form-based interface |
Why teams switch from Vanta to episki
- Agents draft policies, narratives, and questionnaire answers from your evidence
- AI authors deterministic recipes; the recipes then run without AI in the loop, so auditors can trust the output
- Continuous controls and evergreen evidence instead of an annual evidence scramble
- No per-seat tax as compliance spreads across engineering, HR, IT, and leadership
- Add capabilities when you need them instead of buying an enterprise bundle
- Annual prepay gives two months free; Operator Partner discounts for vCISO and MSP firms
- Agent and AI use-case registry with allowlists and safety floors
- AI risk treatments wired to controls and evidence
- ISO 42001, NIST AI RMF, and the EU AI Act mapped from day one