Drata vs Okta

Drata

Continuous security compliance automation

Drata is a compliance automation platform. It helps companies achieve and maintain security and privacy certifications such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR and PCI DSS by continuously monitoring controls and collecting evidence automatically, rather than through manual spreadsheets and screenshots. The need comes from sales. For B2B software companies, a SOC 2 report or ISO certification is often required before larger customers will sign, and preparing for an audit manually takes months of gathering evidence from cloud accounts, HR systems, code repositories and devices. Drata connects to those systems through integrations - cloud providers, identity providers, HR platforms, version control, ticketing and device management - and tests controls continuously, flagging issues such as a server without encryption, an employee who has not completed security training or a laptop without disk encryption. The platform guides companies through the process: mapping controls to frameworks, providing policy templates, tracking employee onboarding and offboarding tasks, monitoring vendors, and managing risk registers. When an audit begins, auditors can access evidence directly in the platform, which shortens the audit itself. A trust centre lets companies share their security posture and documents with prospects, and tools help answer security questionnaires, increasingly with AI assistance. Drata supports a growing list of frameworks, and companies can reuse evidence across them, so adding ISO 27001 after SOC 2 involves far less incremental work. It is aimed at startups through large enterprises, with pricing based on frameworks and company size. The important caveat is that software makes compliance efficient but does not make a company secure by itself; controls still need to be implemented and followed, and an independent auditor still performs the audit. Alternatives include Vanta, the closest competitor and category leader; Secureframe and Sprinto for similar automation; Thoropass, which bundles software and audits; Hyperproof and AuditBoard for enterprise governance and risk; and compliance consultants for fully managed approaches. Choose Drata when you need SOC 2, ISO 27001 or similar certifications and want continuous, automated evidence collection.

Okta

Identity and access management for organisations

Okta is an identity and access management company. Its platform helps organisations control who can access which applications and data, providing single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, user lifecycle management and identity security for employees, partners and customers. Identity has become the centre of enterprise security. As companies moved from on-premises software to hundreds of cloud applications, managing separate passwords and accounts for every tool became unmanageable and risky. Okta lets employees sign in once and access all their work applications, while IT teams manage access centrally: when someone joins, they automatically get accounts in the right apps; when they change roles, permissions update; and when they leave, access is revoked everywhere at once. The workforce identity platform includes single sign-on with thousands of pre-built application integrations, adaptive multi-factor authentication that considers device and location risk, Okta Verify for push and passwordless authentication, universal directory, lifecycle management, and identity governance for access reviews and certifications. Privileged access and identity threat protection features address attacks that target identities directly. For customer identity, Okta owns Auth0, a developer-friendly platform that lets companies add sign-up, login and authorisation to their own applications. Okta has also focused on securing AI agents, which need identities and permissions of their own. Okta is sold by subscription per user per month, with pricing that scales by product and features. As a security provider, it has faced scrutiny after security incidents affecting its support systems, which prompted significant investment in its own security practices. Implementation for large organisations requires planning. Alternatives include Microsoft Entra ID, dominant in Microsoft-centric organisations; Ping Identity for enterprise identity; JumpCloud for small and mid-sized businesses; Google Cloud Identity; OneLogin; Auth0 alternatives such as Clerk, Stytch and WorkOS for developers; and Keycloak for open-source identity. Choose Okta when you need a vendor-neutral, enterprise-grade platform for workforce or customer identity.