Drata Review (2026): ISO 42001, EU AI Act Coverage, and Honest Verdict
Drata competes directly with Vanta and Secureframe in the compliance automation market. Its differentiator is depth of cross-framework mapping, which matters when ISO 42001 is added on top of an existing ISO 27001 programme.
Company snapshot
| Founded | 2020 (publicly launched 2021) |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California, US |
| Employees | ~700 (2025) |
| Funding | $328M total raised; last valuation $2B (2024). Crossed $100M ARR in Feb 2025. |
| EU presence | London office; EU data residency on Enterprise tier |
- ✓Strong cross-framework control mapping
- ✓Continuous monitoring with low noise
- ✓Risk register and trust centre included on standard tiers
- ✓Responsive product team on framework requests
- ✗EU AI Act framework still labelled beta
- ✗Implementation requires more configuration than Vanta
- ✗Pricing not publicly disclosed
- ✗Limited support for non-cloud AI systems
ISO 42001 in depth
Launched: 2024, with material updates in 2025. Cross-mapping to ISO 27001 is the core differentiator.
Scope: ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Annex A controls with automated cross-mapping to ISO 27001 evidence. AI risk register, model inventory, and AIMS policy templates included.
What's automated: Continuous control monitoring extends to AI controls where the evidence source is a cloud or SaaS integration. Annex A.6 (AI system lifecycle) and A.8 (information for interested parties) are largely manual.
Known gaps:
- Limited support for on-premise or hybrid AI deployments
- No native model evaluation or red-teaming
- Trust centre AI module exposes inventory but not impact assessments
EU AI Act in depth
Status: Beta · Released: Q1 2026 (beta)
| Obligation | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Provider obligations (high-risk systems) | ◐ Partial |
| Deployer obligations | ◐ Partial |
| GPAI (Article 51+) | — |
Conformity assessment: Self-assessment workflow only. No notified-body conformity assessment.
Drata's EU AI Act module is improving rapidly but, as of mid-2026, is still labelled beta in customer-facing documentation. Provider coverage is more complete than deployer.
Framework coverage
| Framework | Coverage |
|---|---|
| ISO 42001 | ◐ Partial |
| EU AI Act | ◐ Partial |
| SOC 2 | ✓ Full |
| ISO 27001 | ✓ Full |
| GDPR | ✓ Full |
| HIPAA | ✓ Full |
| NIST CSF | ✓ Full |
| PCI DSS | ✓ Full |
Features
Drata's continuous control monitoring is a strong fit for ISO 42001's emphasis on ongoing management of AI risks. The platform deduplicates evidence across frameworks, which reduces effort when ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 are pursued together. AI risk classification and model inventory features were added in late 2025.
Integrations
Catalogue size: 200+.
Notable integrations:
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Included |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | ~€7,500/yr | Single framework, up to 100 employees |
| Professional | ~€18,000/yr | Multi-framework, risk register, trust centre |
| Enterprise | Custom | SSO, custom roles, EU residency, dedicated support |
Pricing model: Per framework, per-employee tiers, multi-year discounts. Not publicly listed.
What it really costs: Vendr reports an average Drata contract value of $23,100/yr across 127 deals (avg 23% negotiated discount). Third-party pricing pages report Foundation tier at $7,500–$15,000/yr for one framework, ≤50 employees. Multi-framework Professional plans typically run $18,000–$25,000/yr.
Implementation and audit partners
Drata implementations typically run 10 to 14 weeks for a single framework. The platform requires more upfront configuration than Vanta but rewards that effort with cleaner ongoing operations.
Auditor coverage: EU, UK, US.
Named partners: Schellman, Insight Assurance, BARR Advisory, Prescient Assurance.
Auditor partner network covers most major EU certification bodies; ISO 42001 partner list is shorter than Vanta's.
Support quality
Standard support is chat-based during business hours. Professional tier includes a customer success manager. The auditor partner network covers most major EU certification bodies.
What's new in 2024–2026
- Cross-framework mapping engineSingle evidence item satisfies controls across SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001.
- Crossed $100M ARR7,500+ customers, ~33% of the Cloud 100.
- AI risk register and model inventoryNative AI risk module added.
- EU AI Act framework (beta)Provider and deployer controls; GPAI not yet covered.
- Agentic AI compliance workflowsVRM AI Agent for vendor risk reviews.
Known weaknesses
Themes drawn from G2, Vendr, third-party reviews, and vendor documentation as of May 2026.
- EU AI Act module still beta as of mid-2026
- More upfront configuration than Vanta
- Pricing opaque; renewals frequently increase
- Trust centre AI features less mature than ISO 27001 trust centre
Who it is best for
- Teams running ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 in parallel
- Mid-market organisations with internal compliance owners
- Companies that want a configurable trust centre
Who should look elsewhere
- Very small teams without a dedicated compliance owner
- Buyers requiring a fully GA EU AI Act framework today
Alternatives
If Drata does not fit your requirements, consider: Vanta, Secureframe, Sprinto.
Frequently asked questions
Final verdict
Drata is the strongest option for teams operating two or more frameworks at once and is particularly effective at deduplicating evidence between ISO 27001 and ISO 42001. The EU AI Act module is less mature than Vanta's but is improving rapidly.
Sources
Numeric claims in this review (pricing, integration counts, funding, employee numbers, framework launch dates) are drawn from the sources below, last verified May 2026.