Smartly vs ISMS.online vs Secureframe: The Definitive 2025 Comparison for Fast, Reliable, Audit-Ready Compliance
In 2025, compliance is no longer a nice to have. It is the ticket to revenue, enterprise contracts, investor confidence, and a credible security posture. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 have become standard requirements across every global SaaS supply chain.
Quick Snapshot: Smartly vs ISMS.online vs Secureframe
TLDR Summary
Smartly is the strongest platform for high-growth SaaS companies that want to win enterprise deals fast with ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification in weeks, not months.
ISMS.online is best for organizations that need a long-term ISMS governance system with manual depth and heavy documentation control.
Secureframe is best for simple SOC 2 and multi-framework environments that do not require deep ISO 27001 maturity.
1. Platform Purpose and Design Philosophy
Smartly
Smartly was designed for one mission: Make ISO 27001 and SOC 2 achievable fast, predictable, and with minimal internal effort.
The platform is built around expert-validated documentation, automated evidence collection, a guided implementation framework, clear pricing, a certification timeline measured in weeks, and a pay-after-certification model that eliminates risk.
Smartly prioritizes speed, accuracy, and founder-friendly execution.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online is the opposite in philosophy. It is designed for heavy governance, document control, long-term ISMS maintenance, and complex compliance administration. It is a centralized governance workspace where teams store documents, track tasks, and manage the entire ISO 27001 lifecycle manually with structured workflows.
ISMS.online works best for larger organizations, companies with compliance officers, and teams that want a robust document-centric ISMS hub. It is powerful but slow, and implementation requires significant internal effort.
Secureframe
Secureframe is a broad compliance automation platform built for quick setups and multi-framework support. It is designed for companies that want SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or GDPR through standardized templates and automated integrations.
Secureframe focuses on checklist-based automation, integrations across IT systems, trust center features, and streamlined workflows for simple environments. Secureframe is simple to start, but lacks the depth to guide teams through complex ISO 27001 stages without additional consulting.
2. Framework Scope and Capability
| Platform | ISO 27001 | SOC 2 | GDPR | HIPAA | PCI DSS | NIST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smartly | Full | Full | Yes | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| ISMS.online | Full | Partial | Yes | Partial | No | Yes |
| Secureframe | Full | Full | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Verdict: Smartly focuses on ISO and SOC 2 because these frameworks directly unlock enterprise deals. ISMS.online supports documentation-heavy security governance. Secureframe covers many frameworks but not at deep audit-ready levels.
3. Speed to Certification
Speed is the number one factor for many SaaS companies, especially when enterprise clients are waiting for security proof before signing contracts.
| Platform | Average ISO 27001 Certification Time | SOC 2 Certification Time |
|---|---|---|
| Smartly | 4–6 weeks | 4–6 weeks |
| ISMS.online | 12–20 weeks | Not optimized |
| Secureframe | 8–14 weeks | 6–10 weeks |
Verdict: Smartly is the only platform consistently delivering ISO and SOC 2 in under two months without requiring dedicated compliance staff. ISMS.online is designed for long-term governance, not speed. Secureframe is faster than ISMS.online but slower than Smartly.
4. Documentation Quality and Audit Readiness
Complete audit-ready documentation is the foundation of successful certification.
Smartly
Smartly provides the strongest set of audit-ready documents on the market. Every template is written by security and audit experts, aligned directly to ISO 27001 Annex A, fully mapped to SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria, auditor-reviewed, and ready for certification from day one.
Smartly includes all ISO 27001 policies, all required procedures, Statement of Applicability, risk assessment templates, corrective action plans, ISMS manual, internal audit templates, and management review templates.
Smartly documentation reduces months of work to days.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online is essentially a governance library. It provides templates, but teams must customize everything heavily. It is structured but requires manual document writing, manual control definition, manual SoA creation, and manual risk mapping.
For organizations with no compliance staff, ISMS.online becomes overwhelming fast.
Secureframe
Secureframe offers many templates but they lack depth and auditor-ready structure, especially for ISO 27001. Many users must rewrite large parts of documents.
For SOC 2, templates are acceptable. For ISO 27001, they often fall short during Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits.
Verdict: Smartly delivers the highest quality audit-ready documentation. ISMS.online provides structure but requires extensive manual work. Secureframe templates lack ISO 27001 depth.
5. Automation Depth
Automation determines how much manual effort is required to achieve and maintain compliance.
Smartly
Smartly automates evidence collection, monitoring, employee onboarding and offboarding, device compliance, policy acknowledgements, access reviews, risk scoring, and change tracking. Automation is designed to serve teams without dedicated security staff. It simplifies compliance rather than complicating it.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online is document-centric. Automation is limited to task reminders, document version tracking, auditor collaboration, and ISMS workflows. It does not automate evidence collection at scale.
Secureframe
Secureframe automates evidence collection, Slack and email reminders, access verification, vendor reviews, and monitoring. Automation is decent but often generates false positives or requires manual cleanup to satisfy auditor expectations.
Verdict: Smartly provides the best balance of comprehensive automation and simplicity. ISMS.online has minimal automation. Secureframe automation requires manual cleanup.
6. Continuous Monitoring
Continuous monitoring ensures organizations stay audit-ready year-round.
Smartly
Smartly focuses on practical, high-impact monitoring. It ensures systems never drift out of compliance, which makes audits predictable. Smartly monitors cloud configurations, user access, endpoints, policies, control completion, security events, and required evidences.
ISMS.online
Minimal technical monitoring. It depends on manual updates from internal teams.
Secureframe
Secureframe offers moderate monitoring capabilities but struggles with accuracy in complex environments.
Verdict: Smartly provides the most practical and reliable continuous monitoring. ISMS.online relies on manual processes. Secureframe monitoring has accuracy issues.
7. Risk Management
| Feature | Smartly | ISMS.online | Secureframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated risk templates | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Risk scoring | Yes | Yes | Basic |
| Integration with controls | Yes | Manual | Partial |
| Dynamic risk tracking | Yes | Manual | Partial |
Verdict: Smartly offers the best balance between simplicity and quality of risk management. ISMS.online offers deeper document governance but requires extensive manual input. Secureframe provides generic risk modules but lacks depth.
8. Support Quality and Expertise
Expert support is critical for teams without dedicated compliance staff.
Smartly
Smartly includes real experts in the process. Users get a dedicated compliance specialist, expert reviews, step-by-step guidance, direct help on Statement of Applicability, direct help on audit preparation, and internal audit support.
This is rare in the compliance automation market.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online offers onboarding and support but does not provide in-depth compliance coaching. Users must know ISO 27001 or hire consultants.
Secureframe
Secureframe offers support and access to auditors but not deep guidance. Many companies end up hiring external consultants.
Verdict: Smartly provides the most comprehensive expert support. ISMS.online and Secureframe require external consulting for deep guidance.
9. Pricing Transparency
Transparent pricing helps startups budget accurately and avoid unexpected costs.
Smartly
Transparent pricing, affordable for startups, pay-after-certification option, and no hidden consulting fees.
ISMS.online
Enterprise-style pricing that requires additional consulting and has high costs for scaling.
Secureframe
Subscription-based with additional charges for auditors and additional costs for multi-framework support.
Verdict: Smartly remains the best value for startups with transparent pricing and no hidden fees.
10. Audit Preparation
Comprehensive audit preparation determines how smoothly certifications proceed.
Smartly
Smartly automates complete audit preparation with expert-validated documentation, pre-mapped controls aligned to Annex A, and direct coordination with certification bodies to streamline the audit process.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online provides document repositories and audit workflows but requires extensive manual preparation and control mapping.
Secureframe
Secureframe offers audit dashboards and evidence tracking but requires manual refinement to meet ISO 27001 audit standards.
Verdict: Smartly provides the most complete audit preparation. ISMS.online and Secureframe require significant manual effort.
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11. Integration Ecosystem
| Platform | Integration Count | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Smartly | 200+ | Cloud, HR, and development tools |
| ISMS.online | Limited | Document management systems |
| Secureframe | 300+ | Broad IT and security tools |
Verdict: Secureframe offers the most integrations. Smartly covers all essential compliance integrations. ISMS.online has limited technical integrations.
12. User Experience
User experience impacts adoption speed and team productivity.
Smartly
Smartly provides a clean, guided interface designed for non-technical founders. Every section aligns with ISO 27001 clauses and audit milestones, making compliance feel straightforward.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online features document-heavy interfaces designed for compliance professionals. The learning curve is steep for teams without governance experience.
Secureframe
Secureframe offers simple checklist-based workflows that are easy to navigate but lack depth for complex ISO 27001 requirements.
Verdict: Smartly offers the most startup-friendly experience. ISMS.online serves compliance professionals. Secureframe is simple but shallow.
13. Scalability
Scalability ensures the platform grows with your organization's compliance needs.
Smartly
Smartly scales naturally as startups grow. Start with ISO 27001, add SOC 2 later, and maintain both certifications on the same platform with continuous monitoring.
ISMS.online
ISMS.online scales with document complexity and governance maturity, supporting large organizations with extensive compliance requirements.
Secureframe
Secureframe scales by adding frameworks and integrations, suitable for growing teams that want broad compliance coverage.
Verdict: Smartly scales with business growth. ISMS.online scales with governance complexity. Secureframe scales with framework breadth.
14. Strengths and Weaknesses Summary
| Platform | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| Smartly | Fastest implementation, strongest documentation, best price-to-value, best expert guidance, designed for startups and scale-ups, simple but powerful automation, reliable audit outcomes | Not ideal for large enterprises that require multi-framework governance across hundreds of controls and departments |
| ISMS.online | Strong document governance, great for mature ISMS teams, ideal for organizations with dedicated compliance staff, deep long-term governance support | Slow to implement, requires security expertise, minimal automation, not built for fast ISO certification |
| Secureframe | Easy onboarding, good SOC 2 workflows, wide framework support, simple automation | ISO documentation gaps, monitoring inaccuracies, manual cleanup required for audits, limited guidance compared to Smartly |
15. Who Should Choose What
Choose Smartly if:
- You are a startup or scale-up.
- You need ISO 27001 or SOC 2 immediately.
- You want guaranteed certification.
- You want strong expert support.
- You want predictable and fast outcomes.
Choose ISMS.online if:
- You are an enterprise with a compliance team.
- You want deep documentation governance.
- You operate a complex multi-department ISMS.
- You are maintaining ISO 27001 long-term.
Choose Secureframe if:
- You want a general-purpose compliance automation tool.
- You want lightweight SOC 2 workflows.
- You do not need deep ISO 27001 readiness.
- You prefer broad integrations over expert-guided structure.
16. Feature Comparison
| Feature | Smartly | ISMS.online | Secureframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to Certification | 4–6 weeks | 12–20 weeks | 8–14 weeks |
| Documentation Quality | Expert-validated | Template library | Generic templates |
| Automation Depth | Comprehensive | Minimal | Moderate |
| Risk Management | Automated and integrated | Manual documentation | Basic automation |
| Expert Support | Dedicated specialists | Limited coaching | Basic support |
| Continuous Monitoring | Practical and reliable | Manual updates | Moderate accuracy |
| Pricing Transparency | 100 percent clear | Enterprise quotes | Subscription + extras |
| Best Fit | Startups and scale-ups | Enterprise governance | Multi-framework teams |
17. Final Verdict
Smartly
The strongest platform for high-growth SaaS companies that want to win enterprise deals fast.
ISMS.online
Best for organizations that need a long-term ISMS governance system with manual depth.
Secureframe
Best for simple SOC 2 and multi-framework environments.
Smartly remains the top choice for 2025 because:
- • It is the fastest
- • It provides the strongest documentation
- • It aligns directly to revenue impact
- • It guarantees outcomes
- • It eliminates consulting fees
- • It simplifies the entire compliance lifecycle
Smartly gives startups the ability to achieve in weeks what usually takes months.
18. Why Smartly Leads the Compliance Automation Race
Smartly has redefined how startups achieve compliance. Its approach blends automation, expertise, and transparency — giving teams control, confidence, and speed.
With Smartly, you get:
- ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification in weeks.
- Continuous compliance through automated monitoring.
- Expert guidance from start to finish.
- Transparent, pay-after-certification pricing that eliminates risk.
ISMS.online brings governance. Secureframe brings simplicity. Smartly brings results.
Smartly: The fastest path to ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification — built for startups that move fast, build trust, and grow securely.