[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":647},["ShallowReactive",2],{"section-links-solutions-en":3,"section-links-reglementation-en":36,"section-links-guides-en":65,"section-links-comparatifs-en":90,"comparison-en-cisapp-vs-open-source-grc":107},[4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32],{"label":5,"to":6,"description":7},"DORA + ISO 27001","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fdora-iso27001-compliance-software","Run DORA and ISO 27001 in one platform: CTPP register, SoA, Annex A controls and unified audit exports.",{"label":9,"to":10,"description":11},"NIS2 vendors","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fnis2-vendor-compliance","Extend your NIS2 compliance to your vendor chain: assessment campaigns, supply chain mapping and regulator-ready exports.",{"label":13,"to":14,"description":15},"Supply chain","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fsupply-chain-cybersecurity","Map your supply chain, assess your vendors' cybersecurity and track remediation through to risk closure.",{"label":17,"to":18,"description":19},"Third-party GRC","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fthird-party-grc-platform","CISAPP brings governance, risk and compliance (GRC) together for your third-party ecosystem: regulatory frameworks, audits and risk register.",{"label":21,"to":22,"description":23},"TPRM SaaS","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Ftprm-saas","CISAPP is a TPRM SaaS platform unifying assessment campaigns, scoring, dependency mapping and regulatory compliance.",{"label":25,"to":26,"description":27},"Vendor risk","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fvendor-risk-management","Map, assess and steer your vendor risk with campaigns, a security score and a centralised risk register.",{"label":29,"to":30,"description":31},"Questionnaires","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fvendor-security-questionnaire","Run preconfigured vendor security questionnaire campaigns (ISO 27001, NIS2, DORA, GDPR) and track responses in real time.",{"label":33,"to":34,"description":35},"SecOps score","\u002Fen\u002Fsolutions\u002Fvendor-security-score","Track a vendor security score computed automatically from external technical scans (DNS, TLS, exposure, headers, breach), with history and alerts.",[37,41,45,49,53,57,61],{"label":38,"to":39,"description":40},"AI Act","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Fai-act","Prepare your EU AI Act compliance: AI system register, FRIA and article-level mapping, connected to your risk management.",{"label":42,"to":43,"description":44},"DORA","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Fdora","Manage your critical third-party ICT provider (CTPP) register, TLPT testing, and ICT incidents in an audit-ready DORA framework.",{"label":46,"to":47,"description":48},"GDPR","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Fgdpr","Maintain your records of processing activities and DPIAs, and manage data breaches with a severity wizard and a 72-hour notification tracker.",{"label":50,"to":51,"description":52},"ISO 27001","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Fiso-27001","Manage your Statement of Applicability (SoA), Annex A controls and ISO 27001 audit evidence in a single platform.",{"label":54,"to":55,"description":56},"NIS2","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Fnis2","Manage your NIS2 obligations (Article 21 measures, significant incidents, supply chain) and prepare regulator-ready exports from one platform.",{"label":58,"to":59,"description":60},"Part-IS","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Fpart-is","EASA Part-IS compliance (Regulations (EU) 2023\u002F203 and 2022\u002F1645): aviation ISMS, PSOE levels, Present & Suitable self-assessment, evidence and audit questionnaire.",{"label":62,"to":63,"description":64},"TISAX","\u002Fen\u002Fregulations\u002Ftisax","Understand TISAX assessment levels (AL1 to AL3), the VDA ISA catalogue, label validity, and what an automotive supplier must prove to its customers.",[66,70,74,78,82,86],{"label":67,"to":68,"description":69},"Fourth-party risk","\u002Fen\u002Fresources\u002Ffourth-party-risk","Your vendors depend on subcontractors you've never assessed. How to identify and manage this often-invisible fourth-party risk.",{"label":71,"to":72,"description":73},"Questionnaire fatigue","\u002Fen\u002Fresources\u002Fsecurity-questionnaire-fatigue","Why security questionnaires overwhelm procurement, security teams, and vendors alike, and how to break the re-entry cycle without losing rigor.",{"label":75,"to":76,"description":77},"Supply chain attack","\u002Fen\u002Fresources\u002Fsupply-chain-cyberattack","How a cyberattack at a vendor spreads into your organization, why it's hard to anticipate, and how to structure your defense against it.",{"label":79,"to":80,"description":81},"Concentration & SPOF","\u002Fen\u002Fresources\u002Fvendor-concentration-risk-spof","How to identify single points of failure (SPOF) hidden in your vendor chain and map risk concentration before an incident reveals it for you.",{"label":83,"to":84,"description":85},"Due diligence","\u002Fen\u002Fresources\u002Fvendor-cyber-due-diligence","How to structure cyber due diligence before signing a vendor contract, what to ask, and how to avoid inheriting a third party's risk unknowingly.",{"label":87,"to":88,"description":89},"Incident playbook","\u002Fen\u002Fresources\u002Fvendor-security-incident-playbook","What to do in the first hours after a vendor discloses a security incident: a 5-step playbook to assess impact, contain, and document.",[91,95,99,103],{"label":92,"to":93,"description":94},"CISAPP vs open source","\u002Fen\u002Fcomparisons\u002Fcisapp-vs-open-source-grc","An open-source GRC tool removes the licence, not the cost: hosting, hardening, upgrades, frameworks. A 3-year cost comparison with every assumption shown.",{"label":96,"to":97,"description":98},"CISAPP vs spreadsheet","\u002Fen\u002Fcomparisons\u002Fcisapp-vs-spreadsheet-third-party-risk","How far a spreadsheet takes you in vendor risk management, and the point at which it costs more than a platform: a comparison on verifiable criteria.",{"label":100,"to":101,"description":102},"European alternatives","\u002Fen\u002Fcomparisons\u002Feuropean-alternatives-us-tprm-platforms","What choosing a European vendor changes for third-party risk management: applicable law, data transfers, sovereignty and GDPR compliance.",{"label":104,"to":105,"description":106},"TPRM selection criteria","\u002Fen\u002Fcomparisons\u002Ftprm-platform-selection-criteria","An evaluation grid for third-party risk platforms: regulatory coverage, assessment cycle, evidence, hosting, integrations and total cost of ownership.",{"id":108,"title":109,"author":110,"body":111,"description":94,"entities":587,"extension":590,"faq":591,"keywords":609,"meta":615,"navigation":616,"ogImage":617,"path":93,"persona":618,"publishedAt":617,"regulation":617,"relatedFeatures":619,"relatedPages":620,"seo":623,"shortTitle":92,"slug":624,"sources":625,"stem":644,"tldr":645,"updatedAt":635,"__hash__":646},"comparisons_en\u002Fen\u002Fcomparisons\u002Fcisapp-vs-open-source-grc.md","CISAPP vs open-source GRC tools: the real cost | CISAPP","CISAPP",{"type":112,"value":113,"toc":576},"minimark",[114,119,127,146,150,156,166,172,178,187,193,199,203,339,342,346,349,466,474,478,481,513,517,541,549,553,561],[115,116,118],"h2",{"id":117},"is-an-open-source-grc-tool-really-free","Is an open-source GRC tool really free?",[120,121,122,126],"p",{},[123,124,125],"strong",{},"No: the licence is free, the tool is not."," An open-source GRC (governance, risk and compliance) tool is software whose code is published under a free licence and which you install and run yourself. The cost moves from the vendor's invoice to your team's time: installation, hardening, upgrades, opening the tool to vendors. That cost is real, recurring, and rarely estimated when the choice is made.",[128,129,130],"key-takeaways",{},[131,132,133,137,140,143],"ul",{},[134,135,136],"li",{},"The licence is the smallest item: the real cost is operating time, every year.",[134,138,139],{},"A GRC tool describes your weaknesses and critical vendors: on a self-hosted instance, securing it is your job.",[134,141,142],{},"Letting your vendors answer in the tool means exposing it to the Internet.",[134,144,145],{},"Open source remains the right choice for a team with DevOps capacity and customisation needs.",[115,147,149],{"id":148},"what-does-an-open-source-grc-tool-really-cost","What does an open-source GRC tool really cost?",[120,151,152,155],{},[123,153,154],{},"Setup."," Server, reverse proxy and TLS certificates, single sign-on (SSO), outgoing email, backups, monitoring. Serious projects ship a ready-to-run installation; getting it production-ready is what takes time.",[120,157,158,161,162,165],{},[123,159,160],{},"Securing the tool itself."," A GRC tool concentrates the list of your risks, compliance gaps and critical vendors. A SaaS is a target too; the difference is who carries the burden of defending it. On a self-hosted instance, patching the application, its dependencies and the operating system, monitoring access and hardening the configuration all fall on your team. For entities in scope of ",[163,164,54],"a",{"href":55},", Article 21 includes vulnerability handling among the risk-management measures: this instance is part of it.",[120,167,168,171],{},[123,169,170],{},"Opening the tool to vendors."," For a vendor to answer a questionnaire in the tool, the instance must be reachable from the Internet by outsiders. You then manage external accounts, strong authentication, abuse protection, and reminder emails that land in the inbox rather than in spam (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, sender reputation). An internal tool becomes an exposed service, with the attack surface that comes with it.",[120,173,174,177],{},[123,175,176],{},"Version upgrades."," Major versions bring database migrations and sometimes breaking changes. An upgrade needs preparing: a backup, reading the release notes, checking afterwards.",[120,179,180,183,184,186],{},[123,181,182],{},"Regulatory content."," Frameworks change: ISO 27001 in 2022, NIS2 and ",[163,185,42],{"href":43}," with their implementing acts, cross-framework mappings. Depending on the project, the library is maintained by the company behind the commercial edition or by volunteer contributors; either way, importing it and checking what it changes in your assessments is up to you.",[120,188,189,192],{},[123,190,191],{},"Support and skills."," Without a paid edition, support goes through forums and public issue trackers, with no committed response time. And the person who installed the tool is often the only one who knows it: if they leave, the knowledge leaves too.",[120,194,195,198],{},[123,196,197],{},"The edition you actually use."," Several well-known projects, such as CISO Assistant, eramba or SimpleRisk, distribute a community edition and sell a commercial one. Support with committed response times and managed hosting generally belong to the paid edition. The right comparison point is the edition you will need, not the free one.",[115,200,202],{"id":201},"what-exactly-are-we-comparing","What exactly are we comparing?",[204,205,207],"comparison-table",{"caption":206},"Self-hosted open-source GRC tool and CISAPP on the criteria that decide in practice",[208,209,210,225],"table",{},[211,212,213],"thead",{},[214,215,216,220,223],"tr",{},[217,218,219],"th",{},"Criterion",[217,221,222],{},"Self-hosted open source",[217,224,110],{},[226,227,228,240,251,262,273,284,295,306,317,328],"tbody",{},[214,229,230,234,237],{},[231,232,233],"td",{},"Licence",[231,235,236],{},"Free (community edition)",[231,238,239],{},"Subscription",[214,241,242,245,248],{},[231,243,244],{},"Hosting, backups, monitoring",[231,246,247],{},"Your responsibility",[231,249,250],{},"Included, hosted in the European Union",[214,252,253,256,259],{},[231,254,255],{},"Security patches",[231,257,258],{},"Your responsibility, to monitor continuously",[231,260,261],{},"Applied by the vendor",[214,263,264,267,270],{},[231,265,266],{},"Version upgrades",[231,268,269],{},"To prepare and check",[231,271,272],{},"Applied by the vendor, nothing to do on your side",[214,274,275,278,281],{},[231,276,277],{},"Regulatory frameworks",[231,279,280],{},"Maintained by the project or its contributors, to import and check",[231,282,283],{},"Maintained and applied by the vendor",[214,285,286,289,292],{},[231,287,288],{},"Vendor access",[231,290,291],{},"Depends on the project; requires exposing the instance to the Internet",[231,293,294],{},"Built-in vendor portal, run by the vendor",[214,296,297,300,303],{},[231,298,299],{},"Support",[231,301,302],{},"Community; committed delay in the paid edition",[231,304,305],{},"Vendor support; contractual SLA on the Enterprise plan",[214,307,308,311,314],{},[231,309,310],{},"Code customisation",[231,312,313],{},"Full",[231,315,316],{},"Configuration, no code changes",[214,318,319,322,325],{},[231,320,321],{},"Source code audit",[231,323,324],{},"Possible",[231,326,327],{},"No",[214,329,330,333,336],{},[231,331,332],{},"Reversibility and continuity",[231,334,335],{},"Code and database stay with you, usable even if the project stops",[231,337,338],{},"Reversibility clause and export to include in the contract, as with any SaaS",[120,340,341],{},"The last three rows favour open source, and they matter. The question is whether they are worth the cost of the rows above for your organisation.",[115,343,345],{"id":344},"how-much-does-an-open-source-grc-tool-cost-over-3-years","How much does an open-source GRC tool cost over 3 years?",[120,347,348],{},"Scenario: an SMB or mid-size company without a dedicated DevOps team, where running the tool falls to someone in the security or IT team. Business configuration (importing vendors, choosing frameworks) and usage time are the same in both cases and are not counted. The day cost used is €600, close to the average day rate of a freelance cloud DevOps engineer in France (€586 direct according to Free-Work, November 2026). CISAPP Pro covers up to 50 vendors and 8 teams; beyond that, the Enterprise plan is quote-based.",[204,350,352],{"caption":351},"3-year cost, assumptions to replace with your own",[208,353,354,369],{},[211,355,356],{},[214,357,358,361,364,366],{},[217,359,360],{},"Item",[217,362,363],{},"Assumption",[217,365,222],{},[217,367,368],{},"CISAPP Pro",[226,370,371,385,398,411,423,435,448],{},[214,372,373,376,379,382],{},[231,374,375],{},"Production setup",[231,377,378],{},"5 days: TLS, SSO, email, backups, monitoring",[231,380,381],{},"€3,000",[231,383,384],{},"Included",[214,386,387,390,393,396],{},[231,388,389],{},"Hosting",[231,391,392],{},"Server and off-site backup: €50\u002Fmonth",[231,394,395],{},"€1,800",[231,397,384],{},[214,399,400,403,406,409],{},[231,401,402],{},"Day-to-day operations",[231,404,405],{},"1 day per month: patches, vulnerability watch, restore test",[231,407,408],{},"€21,600",[231,410,384],{},[214,412,413,415,418,421],{},[231,414,266],{},[231,416,417],{},"2 days per year",[231,419,420],{},"€3,600",[231,422,384],{},[214,424,425,428,431,433],{},[231,426,427],{},"Frameworks",[231,429,430],{},"1 day per year: importing and checking updates",[231,432,395],{},[231,434,384],{},[214,436,437,439,442,445],{},[231,438,239],{},[231,440,441],{},"€4,900 per year",[231,443,444],{},"—",[231,446,447],{},"€14,700",[214,449,450,455,457,462],{},[231,451,452],{},[123,453,454],{},"3-year total",[231,456],{},[231,458,459],{},[123,460,461],{},"€31,800",[231,463,464],{},[123,465,447],{},[120,467,468,469,473],{},"With these assumptions, self-hosting stays more expensive even if all operating time is halved. The break-even point is around 5.5 days of work per year, excluding production setup: below that, open source is cheaper; above it, the subscription wins. A team that already runs containers in production will spend much less time on each item, and the gap narrows accordingly. Compare with your own figures and the right plan on the ",[163,470,472],{"href":471},"\u002Fen\u002Fpricing","pricing"," page.",[115,475,477],{"id":476},"when-is-open-source-still-the-right-choice","When is open source still the right choice?",[120,479,480],{},"An open-source GRC tool is fully justified in several situations:",[131,482,483,489,495,501,507],{},[134,484,485,488],{},[123,486,487],{},"You have a DevOps or security team"," that already runs other services in production, with monitoring, backups and patch management in place. The marginal cost of one more service is low.",[134,490,491,494],{},[123,492,493],{},"You need to modify the software",", not just configure it: your own data model, deep integration with an internal tool.",[134,496,497,500],{},[123,498,499],{},"You operate in an environment isolated"," from the Internet, where no SaaS is an option.",[134,502,503,506],{},[123,504,505],{},"You want to audit the code"," that holds your risk data.",[134,508,509,512],{},[123,510,511],{},"The budget is zero but time is available",", and the goal is to learn or to get a programme started.",[115,514,516],{"id":515},"which-questions-should-you-ask-before-choosing","Which questions should you ask before choosing?",[518,519,520,523,526,529,532,535,538],"ol",{},[134,521,522],{},"Who applies security patches, how fast, and who watches the alerts?",[134,524,525],{},"Who maintains the frameworks when NIS2, DORA or ISO 27001 change, and who checks their effect on your assessments?",[134,527,528],{},"Which edition do you actually need, and what does it cost?",[134,530,531],{},"How do your vendors access the tool, and who secures that access?",[134,533,534],{},"How long does it take to restore the tool after an outage, and have you tested it?",[134,536,537],{},"Who takes over administration if the person who installed it leaves the company?",[134,539,540],{},"What happens to the tool if its vendor or project stops: data export, format, notice period?",[120,542,543,544,548],{},"These are the questions of an ordinary ",[163,545,547],{"href":546},"\u002Fen\u002Fglossary\u002Fvendor-due-diligence","vendor due diligence",": a tool installed in-house deserves the same scrutiny as an external vendor, and the reverse is true.",[115,550,552],{"id":551},"where-cisapp-stands","Where CISAPP stands",[120,554,555,556,560],{},"CISAPP itself relies on open-source components. What you pay for is not a licence but running them: hosting in the European Union, patches, upgrades, maintained frameworks, a vendor portal exposed and secured by the vendor, and third-party risk management (",[163,557,559],{"href":558},"\u002Fen\u002Fglossary\u002Ftprm","TPRM",") built in rather than left to build.",[120,562,563,564,567,568,571,572,575],{},"Read next: ",[163,565,566],{"href":105},"TPRM platform selection criteria",", ",[163,569,570],{"href":101},"European alternatives to US TPRM platforms"," and the ",[163,573,574],{"href":18},"third-party GRC platform",".",{"title":577,"searchDepth":578,"depth":578,"links":579},"",2,[580,581,582,583,584,585,586],{"id":117,"depth":578,"text":118},{"id":148,"depth":578,"text":149},{"id":201,"depth":578,"text":202},{"id":344,"depth":578,"text":345},{"id":476,"depth":578,"text":477},{"id":515,"depth":578,"text":516},{"id":551,"depth":578,"text":552},[559,588,589],"Vendor due diligence","Security posture score","md",[592,594,597,600,603,606],{"q":118,"a":593},"The licence is. Running it is not: you need a server, backups, monitoring, security patching and version upgrades. That internal time is the main cost item, and it comes back every year.",{"q":595,"a":596},"Is a self-hosted GRC tool more secure than SaaS?","Not by default. A SaaS is a target too, and its vendor needs assessing. Self-hosting gives you control of the infrastructure, and with it the burden of defending it: a GRC tool describes your weaknesses and critical vendors, and a poorly patched instance becomes a high-value target.",{"q":598,"a":599},"Do the frameworks shipped with an open-source tool keep up with NIS2, DORA and ISO 27001:2022?","It depends on who maintains them. Some projects entrust their framework library to the company behind the commercial edition, others to volunteer contributors. Check the last update date of each framework and who is responsible for it before relying on it in an audit.",{"q":601,"a":602},"Can vendors answer questionnaires in a self-hosted GRC tool?","Yes, if the tool supports it, but the instance must then be reachable from the Internet by people outside the company. That means external accounts, strong authentication, abuse protection and properly authenticated reminder emails so they do not end up in spam.",{"q":604,"a":605},"What happens if a SaaS GRC vendor goes out of business?","It is a risk to address in the contract: a reversibility clause, data export in a usable format, a notice period. The question applies to open source too: an abandoned project remains usable but no longer receives security patches.",{"q":607,"a":608},"Does CISAPP use open source?","Yes, like most modern software: the database, search engines and attack-surface discovery tools are open-source components. The difference is that CISAPP runs, updates and secures them for its customers, who pay for a service, not a licence.",[610,611,612,613,614],"open source GRC tool","open source GRC alternative","self-hosted GRC","GRC total cost of ownership","free GRC software",{},true,null,"entreprise",[],[621,622],"plateforme-grc-tiers","tprm-saas",{"title":109,"description":94},"cisapp-vs-open-source-grc",[626,631,636,640],{"label":627,"url":628,"publisher":629,"date":630},"Directive (EU) 2022\u002F2555 (NIS 2) — Article 21, cybersecurity risk-management measures","https:\u002F\u002Feur-lex.europa.eu\u002Feli\u002Fdir\u002F2022\u002F2555\u002Foj","EUR-Lex","2022-12-14",{"label":632,"url":633,"publisher":634,"date":635},"Average day rate of a freelance DevOps (Cloud) engineer in France","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.free-work.com\u002Ffr\u002Ftech-it\u002Fingenieur-devops-cloud\u002Frate-tjm-freelance","Free-Work","2026-11-13",{"label":637,"url":638,"publisher":639},"CISO Assistant — Community vs Pro","https:\u002F\u002Fintuitem.com\u002Fcompare","intuitem",{"label":641,"url":642,"publisher":643},"SimpleRisk — Open Source Core","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.simplerisk.com\u002Fproducts\u002Fcore","SimpleRisk","en\u002Fcomparisons\u002Fcisapp-vs-open-source-grc","An open-source GRC tool removes the licence, not the cost. Hosting, hardening, version upgrades and opening the tool to vendors all fall on your team. Without a dedicated DevOps team, that internal time quickly exceeds a subscription; with a well-equipped team and strong customisation needs, open source remains a sound choice.","WVMHS1VNv2ZU2P0ssCkzD2cY-kHrwDQGQcvaq8aWdYo",1794586998313]