Caisson vs Secureframe
Secureframe manages a multi-framework compliance program. Caisson is the controls in your codebase it verifies. These compose: here is the honest line.
Which should you use?
Different halves of the same problem. Secureframe is a multi-framework GRC platform: automated evidence collection, continuous monitoring, personnel and vendor and asset management, AI remediation, and a defense-focused CMMC track, a subscription that manages the compliance program. Caisson is the code that implements the technical controls Secureframe verifies: fail-closed Postgres RLS with isolation tests, a WORM + hash-chained audit trail, per-tenant field encryption, and OSCAL evidence packs, one-time, in your codebase. Secureframe runs the program; Caisson is the controls it inspects.
What Secureframe is
Compliance automation platform (GRC SaaS). Facts below were read from secureframe.com on 2026-07-07.
- A GRC platform advertising 6,000+ customers on its live site (verified 2026-07-07), with automated evidence collection and continuous monitoring.
- Broad framework coverage (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, NIST) plus a purpose-built CMMC / defense (Secureframe Defense) track for the Defense Industrial Base.
- Personnel management, vendor management, vendor access, and asset inventory, with AI-assisted remediation and risk (Comply AI).
- Connects to your stack to test and monitor it; it does not ship the application controls it checks for.
An honest comparison
Where Secureframe has a capability, it is marked. Caisson is the compliance and tenant-isolation substrate; Secureframe wins the rows it wins.
| Detail | Caisson | Secureframe |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous stack/cloud monitoring + automated evidence collection | from your own app code | |
| Runs the audit workflow (evidence-for-auditor, questionnaires) | — | |
| Personnel / vendor / asset management | — | |
| Third-party / vendor risk management (TPRM) | — | |
| Fail-closed Postgres RLS + automated cross-tenant isolation tests | — | |
| WORM evidence store + append-only hash-chained audit trail | — | |
| SOC 2 / HIPAA / EU AI Act evidence packs + OSCAL export | — | |
| Per-tenant field encryption (envelope, per-tenant key) | — | |
| License model | One-time perpetual, own the source | Annual subscription |
What Secureframe is genuinely better at
A comparison that only flatters one side isn't worth reading. Here is what this kit does well.
Secureframe's range (from SOC 2 and ISO 27001 to a dedicated CMMC track for defense contractors) plus continuous monitoring and expert support is a genuine, wide-coverage program Caisson does not attempt to run.
Personnel, vendor, and asset management with AI-assisted remediation covers the organizational side of compliance: the parts outside the application entirely. That breadth is real and is not what a code library delivers.
Where Caisson draws the line
The compliance and tenant-isolation substrate a launch kit leaves to you.
Its automated tests inspect the systems you built. Caisson is those controls (fail-closed RLS with isolation tests, a hash-chained audit trail, WORM storage, and an evidence-pack generator) as source you own, CI-tested, emitting OSCAL evidence the platform can ingest.
Secureframe delivers framework coverage as a subscription service; Caisson delivers SOC 2 / HIPAA / EU AI Act mappings as code with OSCAL export, one-time and owned. It does not manage your personnel, vendors, or auditor: it is the earlier, implemented layer.
Which should you pick?
You need a managed multi-framework program with continuous monitoring, personnel/vendor/asset management, or a CMMC / defense track, compliance run as a service across your org.
You want the implemented technical controls (RLS with isolation tests, a WORM audit trail, and OSCAL evidence) as code you own and test in CI, one-time.
Implement the controls with Caisson and run the org-wide program with Secureframe; Caisson emits the evidence Secureframe would otherwise collect from your application.
One-time, own the source.
Caisson is a one-time perpetual license — the price never recurs, and it includes 12 months of updates from your purchase date, renewable per entitlement afterward at 40% of list per year. The Base substrate is Apache-2.0; the compliance modules are commercial.
Compliance bundle
$1,649, one-time. Fail-closed RLS, WORM, the audit chain, evidence packs, and the framework and signing carves — the whole substrate this comparison is about.
À la carte
Take a single module from $49 — audit-worm, field-crypto, or compliance-core on their own, onto your existing Postgres app.
Everything bundle
$2,259 covers every bundle and every à-la-carte module, plus the open base, in one purchase.
Common questions.
Is Caisson a Secureframe alternative?
Does Caisson cover CMMC or defense like Secureframe?
How do the two price?
Ship the compliant backend.
Explore the Compliance bundle, browse every module in the marketplace, or read another comparison.