Teams often hear both "ISO 27001" and "SOC 2" from customers and partners and wonder which one they should pursue. While both relate to information security, they have different histories, structures and expectations.

Understanding the differences helps you choose the path that best fits your market, geography and stage of growth.

Summary and key takeaways

• 1ISO 27001 is an international standard focused on a management system.
• 2SOC 2 is an attestation report against trust service criteria.
• 3Some organizations eventually pursue both, but rarely at the same time.
• 4The decision depends on customer expectations and resource constraints.
• 5A shared control environment can support either framework.

How ISO 27001 works

ISO 27001 defines requirements for an information security management system (ISMS). It asks you to: - Understand business context and interested parties. - Define a security policy and objectives. - Identify risks and select controls. - Monitor, review and improve over time.

Certification involves an external audit against these requirements. You receive a certificate that is widely recognized, especially in Europe and global supply chains.

How SOC 2 works

SOC 2, designed by the AICPA, results in a report where an independent auditor describes your system and evaluates whether controls are suitably designed (Type 1) and operating effectively over time (Type 2).

The report is confidential and shared under NDA. It is particularly popular in North America and among SaaS companies.

Overlaps and differences

Both frameworks care about: - Access control and identity management. - Change management and secure development. - Incident response and business continuity. - Vendor and third‑party risk.

Key differences: - ISO 27001 emphasizes the management system, risk process and continuous improvement cycle. - SOC 2 emphasizes the description of your system and controls at a point in time or over a period.

Choosing what to do first

Consider: - Where most of your customers are based. - What your largest deals explicitly require. - Whether you need a public certificate (ISO) or private report (SOC 2). - The maturity of your internal processes.

Many organizations start with one framework and then map controls to the other over time to avoid duplicate work.

Building a shared control foundation

Regardless of choice, you can: - Maintain a unified risk register and control library. - Keep evidence and documentation in one structured system. - Use assessment engines to track coverage and gaps. - Generate different views or reports for different frameworks.

With this approach, pursuing additional certifications later becomes an incremental step rather than a reinvention.