UTMStack

Articles, updated 11 min read

GRC Tools in 2026: The Best GRC Software Compared

By UTMStack Team

Most companies start governance, risk and compliance (GRC) work in spreadsheets: a risk register in one file, a control list in another, policies in a shared folder and audit evidence in email. That works for one framework and one audit. It breaks when a second framework arrives, when auditors ask for evidence covering a whole year, or when the person who kept the spreadsheets leaves.

GRC tools replace those files with one system for policies, risks, controls, evidence and audits. The market has also changed a lot since lists from 2021 named RSA Archer, ACL and BWise. This guide covers the GRC platforms worth a look in 2026, checked against each vendor’s own website in October 2026.

We build UTMStack, a security information and event management (SIEM) platform rather than a GRC tool, so weigh our view accordingly. We explain below where a SIEM fits next to one.

The short answer: large, regulated enterprises usually choose an integrated risk management platform such as Archer, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management (IRM) or MetricStream. Audit-led teams look at Optro (formerly AuditBoard) or Diligent One. Midsize teams that want flexibility often pick LogicGate, Hyperproof or OneTrust. Growing technology companies chasing a first SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certificate usually start with compliance automation tools such as Vanta, Drata or Secureframe. If budget is the constraint, CISO Assistant is open source and eramba has a free Community edition.

What a GRC tool does

  • Governance: writes, approves and publishes policies, collects employee sign-offs and tracks exceptions.
  • Risk: keeps a risk register, scores likelihood and impact, assigns owners and tracks treatment plans.
  • Compliance: maps controls to frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS or CMMC, collects evidence and shows gaps.
  • Audit: plans audits, sends evidence requests and tracks findings until they are fixed.
  • Third parties: sends security questionnaires to vendors and tracks their risk.

A GRC tool records and organizes. It does not watch your systems for attacks. The evidence it holds comes from integrations with cloud, identity and HR systems, from uploaded reports and from people.

Five kinds of GRC tool

Grouped by the buyer each one is built for

Enterprise risk platformsMany frameworks, many teams
  • Archer
  • ServiceNow IRM
  • MetricStream
Audit-ledInternal audit, SOX, board reporting
  • Optro (formerly AuditBoard)
  • Diligent One
Flexible platformsMidsize and large teams that configure their own workflows
  • LogicGate Risk Cloud
  • Hyperproof
  • OneTrust
Compliance automationA first SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certificate, fast
  • Vanta
  • Drata
  • Secureframe
Free to runSelf-hosted, you supply the effort
  • CISO Assistant (open source)
  • eramba Community
Several vendors cover more than one group; this is where each is strongest.

At a glance

ToolTypeKnown forDeploymentPricing
ArcherEnterprise risk platformConfigurable risk and compliance programs, regulatory changeCloud or on premisesQuote
ServiceNow IRMEnterprise risk platformRisk and compliance on the ServiceNow platformCloudCustom quote
MetricStreamEnterprise risk platformLarge, multi-function GRC programsCloudQuote
Optro (formerly AuditBoard)Audit-ledInternal audit and SOX roots, now audit, risk, infosec and complianceCloudQuote; extra stakeholder licenses free
Diligent OneAudit-ledBoard management plus GRC, ACL AnalyticsCloudQuote
LogicGate Risk CloudFlexible platformNo-code workflowsCloudApplications plus paid Power User licenses
HyperproofFlexible platform160+ frameworks, shared control setsCloudQuote
OneTrustFlexible platformTech risk plus privacyCloudQuote, based on admin users and asset inventory
VantaCompliance automationAutomated evidence for SOC 2 and ISO 27001CloudQuote
DrataCompliance automationContinuous control monitoringCloudQuote
SecureframeCompliance automationAutomation plus compliance experts, CMMC tierCloudQuote
CISO AssistantOpen source220+ frameworks, AGPL-3.0Self-hosted or vendor cloudFree; paid Pro editions with published prices
eramba CommunityFree editionRisk, compliance, privacy and incidentsSelf-hostedFree; paid Enterprise with published prices

Of the vendors on this list, only the two at the bottom publish prices on their websites. The others sell by quote, and pricing usually depends on modules, frameworks, the number of administrators and, for some, the size of your asset inventory.

Enterprise risk platforms

Archer

Archer is one of the longest-running GRC platforms, long sold as RSA Archer. The investment firm Cinven agreed to buy it from RSA in April 2023, and it now operates as an independent company. Archer covers compliance and regulatory change, enterprise and operational risk, IT and cyber risk, audit and third-party risk, and runs as a cloud service or on your own servers.

Best for: large financial institutions and other heavily regulated organizations with staff to configure it.

ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management

ServiceNow IRM covers policy and compliance, risk, audit and third-party risk on the same platform many companies already use for IT service management. That shared platform is its main appeal: risks, control failures and remediation tasks can flow into the workflows IT teams already work in. ServiceNow sells it through custom quotes.

Best for: organizations that already run on ServiceNow.

MetricStream

MetricStream’s Connected GRC is a cloud platform with modules for enterprise and operational risk, policy and regulatory compliance, internal audit and SOX, IT and cyber risk, third-party risk and operational resilience. MetricStream says it is built for large enterprises running complex GRC programs, and its workflows are configured with little or no code.

Best for: large banks, insurers, energy and healthcare companies with several risk functions to connect.

Audit-led platforms

Optro (formerly AuditBoard)

AuditBoard renamed itself Optro in March 2026. It started as a tool for internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) testing and now covers audit, risk, information security and compliance in one view. The investment firm Hg acquired it in 2024. Optro does not publish prices, but says extra stakeholder licenses are free.

Best for: internal audit teams and public companies with SOX programs that want risk and compliance in the same system.

Diligent One

Diligent bought Galvanize, the company formed from ACL and Rsam, in 2021. Its Diligent One platform combines board management with risk, compliance, internal audit and ACL Analytics for testing data.

Best for: organizations that want board reporting and GRC from one vendor.

Flexible platforms

LogicGate Risk Cloud

Risk Cloud lets teams build their own GRC workflows without code, from ready-made applications for cyber risk, compliance, third-party risk and more. Its pricing model is unusual: you pay for the applications you use and for Power User licenses for the people who build and run the program, while standard and external users are included.

Best for: teams that want to shape the process to their organization rather than adopt a fixed one.

Hyperproof

Hyperproof focuses on the compliance team’s daily work: mapping controls once across many frameworks (it advertises 160+), collecting evidence through 200+ integrations, and running audits. A separate Hyperproof Gov edition is aimed at government and other high-security organizations.

Best for: midsize and enterprise compliance teams managing several overlapping frameworks.

OneTrust

OneTrust also sells privacy and third-party management software. Its Tech Risk and Compliance package adds compliance automation and IT risk management, with templates for 50+ standards and regulations. OneTrust says the package is priced on the number of admin users and the size of your asset inventory.

Best for: organizations that want privacy and security compliance in one vendor.

Compliance automation tools

These tools connect to your cloud accounts, identity provider, code repositories and HR system, test controls automatically and collect evidence for auditors. They are fastest for a first certificate, and most now add risk, vendor and policy features.

Vanta

Vanta sells four plans (Essentials, Plus, Professional and Enterprise), starting with one framework and adding questionnaires, risk management and custom tests at higher tiers. Its framework list includes SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, HITRUST and ISO 42001. Every plan is priced after a demo.

Best for: software companies preparing for a first SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit.

Drata

Drata collects evidence automatically and monitors controls continuously across hundreds of integrations. Its framework list includes SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, DORA, FedRAMP and CMMC, and it also sells trust center, questionnaire and third-party risk products.

Best for: growing companies that want continuous monitoring and more than one framework.

Secureframe

Secureframe combines automated tests and evidence collection with access to compliance experts. Its plans are Fundamentals, Complete and Defense, the last aimed at CMMC for defense contractors.

Best for: companies that want hands-on help with their first audits, including defense suppliers.

Free and open source options

CISO Assistant

CISO Assistant, built by the French company intuitem, is a full GRC tool with an open source license. The Community edition is licensed under the AGPL-3.0 (an enterprise directory in the same repository is under a commercial license). It includes 220+ frameworks, risk registers, audits, evidence management and third-party risk, supports custom frameworks, and installs with Docker on your own server. intuitem also sells Pro editions, hosted or on premises, and lists their prices on its pricing page.

Best for: teams with some technical skill and little budget, and consultants running assessments for clients.

eramba Community

eramba’s Community edition is free to download and run on your own servers, with no user or time limits. It covers risk management, compliance, data privacy and incidents. Automation, awareness training, account reviews and support are in the paid Enterprise edition, which eramba sells at a flat yearly price with unlimited users and lists on its software page. eramba uses its own license and does not publish the application code on GitHub, so it is free to use but not open source in the usual sense. Read the terms before hosting it for others.

Best for: small teams that want a free, self-hosted register for risks and controls.

Older names you may see

  • RSA Archer is now simply Archer, independent of RSA since 2023.
  • ACL and Rsam became Galvanize (HighBond), which Diligent bought in 2021.
  • BWise was bought by SAI Global in 2019 and is now SAI360 GRC.
  • AuditBoard is now Optro.
  • SAP GRC products such as SAP Process Control, SAP Risk Management and SAP Access Control are still sold, mainly to SAP customers. SAP Risk and Assurance Management is SAP’s cloud option.

Where a SIEM fits next to a GRC tool

A GRC tool tracks whether a control should work and who owns it. It often cannot see whether the control actually worked last Tuesday. Questions such as “did every administrator sign in with multi-factor authentication this quarter?” or “was audit logging on for every server all year?” are answered by logs, and logs live in a SIEM.

UTMStack is not a GRC platform. It does not manage policies, risk registers, vendor questionnaires or audit projects. What it does is produce compliance evidence from logs, which a GRC tool and an auditor can use.

Where the evidence comes from

A SIEM proves controls worked; a GRC tool organizes the program around them

  1. Your systemsServers, endpoints, firewalls, Microsoft 365, cloud accounts
  2. SIEMCollects the logs and checks controls such as multi-factor sign-ins, encryption and audit logging, with the events as proof
  3. GRC toolMaps the evidence to frameworks, risks, policies and audit requests
  4. AuditorReviews evidence that covers the whole audit period
UTMStack sits in the second step. It does not replace the third.

How UTMStack fits

UTMStack reads your logs, so it can work out whether many technical controls are met: whether sign-ins use multi-factor authentication, whether disks and connections are encrypted, whether audit logging is on and who holds privileged access. It scores frameworks from one control library based on NIST SP 800-53 and keeps the events that decided each result. You can schedule evaluations, follow scores over time, record a reviewer’s verdict on a control and download PDF reports to attach as evidence in your GRC tool or hand to an auditor.

  • Free Community edition: CMMC 2.0 and GDPR.
  • Enterprise edition: nine frameworks in total: Banking Audit, CMMC 2.0, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, NIST SP 800-171 Rev 3, NIST CSF 2.0, PCI DSS 4.0 and SOC 2.

UTMStack is priced per device, never by log volume. See how compliance works, our guide to compliance automation software and continuous compliance monitoring, or try the live demo.

How to choose a GRC tool

  1. Start with the driver. A first SOC 2 report for customers points to compliance automation. An enterprise risk program across many teams points to an enterprise platform. SOX points to an audit-led tool.
  2. Count the frameworks for the next three years. Shared control mapping saves the most work when frameworks overlap.
  3. Check where evidence comes from. List your cloud, identity, HR and security systems and confirm each tool collects from them. For log-based controls, plan to feed it from your SIEM.
  4. Ask how pricing grows. By framework, by administrator, by asset count or by module.
  5. Run a pilot with one real framework. Load your actual controls and see how much is automated and how much is still manual.

Frequently asked questions

What is a GRC tool? Software that manages governance, risk and compliance in one place: policies, a risk register, controls mapped to frameworks, evidence, audits and third-party risk.

What is the best GRC software in 2026? For large regulated enterprises, Archer, ServiceNow IRM or MetricStream. For audit-led programs, Optro or Diligent. For a first SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certificate, Vanta, Drata or Secureframe. For a free option, CISO Assistant or eramba Community.

Is there an open source GRC tool? Yes. CISO Assistant’s Community edition is open source under the AGPL-3.0. eramba Community is free to use but uses its own license.

What is the difference between GRC and compliance automation? Compliance automation tools focus on collecting evidence and passing audits for specific frameworks. GRC platforms also cover enterprise risk, policies, internal audit and third parties. The lines are blurring as both groups add features.

Is a SIEM a GRC tool? No. A SIEM collects and analyzes security logs to detect attacks and proves that technical controls worked. A GRC tool manages the program around those controls. Many organizations use both. See SIEM and compliance.

Does UTMStack replace a GRC platform? No. UTMStack produces compliance evidence and reports from logs. It does not manage policies, risk registers or audit projects, so pair it with a GRC tool if you need those.

Sources

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