Caisson vs AuditKit
AuditKit rents you tamper-evident audit logs and SOC 2 prep as a subscription. Caisson sells you the audit infrastructure as source you own. Here is the honest line.
Which should you use?
The closest wedge-to-wedge comparison on this list. AuditKit ships hash-chained, tamper-evident audit logs plus a SOC 2 prep layer (evidence vault, 51 pre-built controls, policy templates, access reviews) as a subscription: AGPLv3 core, with its differentiated features in a commercially-licensed /ee directory, and a managed cloud at $99–$999+/mo. Caisson ships the compliance substrate as source you own outright: a WORM audit chain anchored write-once outside your database, per-tenant field encryption with crypto-shred, deterministic evidence generation that refuses to guess, and NIST OSCAL export, one-time, licensed per organization. Rent the audit-log service, or own the audit infrastructure.
What AuditKit is
Audit-log SDK + SOC 2 prep platform (subscription). Facts below were read from auditkit.dev on 2026-07-10.
- A TypeScript audit-log SDK (SHA-256 hash-chained events, Ed25519-signed uploads, an embeddable React viewer) plus a SOC 2 prep layer: evidence vault, 51 pre-built controls, 15 policy templates, access-review campaigns, vendor tracking, and a risk register (verified 2026-07-10).
- Tier-gated: access-review campaigns sit in Pro ($299/mo) and up, Merkle-tree batch proofs and the auditor-collaboration portal in Business ($499/mo) and up; SSO/SCIM and the GraphQL API live in the /ee directory, which requires a commercial license even for self-hosters (auditkit.dev + repo README, 2026-07-10).
- Client SDKs in TypeScript, Python, Go, and Java; exports PDF, CSV, JSON, OCSF, and CEF for SIEM ingestion.
- Positions directly against GRC platforms ("80% cheaper vs Vanta/Drata") with a self-hostable AGPLv3 core via Docker Compose.
An honest comparison
Where AuditKit has a capability, it is marked. Caisson is the compliance and tenant-isolation substrate; AuditKit wins the rows it wins.
| Detail | Caisson | AuditKit |
|---|---|---|
| Tamper-evident hash-chained audit log | ||
| External write-once root of trust (WORM anchor outside the DB) | — | |
| Tail-truncation detection (anchor as length oracle) | chain-break detection | |
| Per-tenant field encryption (envelope, per-tenant key) | — | |
| GDPR/CCPA erasure automation + crypto-shred | — | |
| Machine-readable compliance export | OSCAL v1.2.2 (NIST), CI-validated | PDF / CSV / JSON / OCSF / CEF |
| Access reviews, vendor tracking, policy templates | — | Pro tier ($299/mo) and up |
| Auditor delivery | signed, downloadable evidence pack | hosted portal (Business tier) |
| License model | One-time perpetual, per-org, full source | Subscription; /ee needs a commercial license |
What AuditKit is genuinely better at
A comparison that only flatters one side isn't worth reading. Here is what this kit does well.
Access-review campaigns, vendor tracking, a general risk register, pre-written policy templates, and an auditor-collaboration portal are real workflow features Caisson does not ship. A team that wants the audit-prep busywork managed inside one tool gets genuine coverage here.
Native TypeScript, Python, Go, and Java SDKs reach stacks Caisson's TS/Bun substrate does not, and Merkle-tree batch proofs (Business tier) are an efficient verification primitive Caisson has not implemented.
At $99/mo entry, the initial commitment is small, a real advantage for a team that wants tamper-evident logging this week without a purchase decision.
Where Caisson draws the line
The compliance and tenant-isolation substrate a launch kit leaves to you.
AuditKit's chain verification reads the same database the chain lives in. Caisson's WORM anchor is written once, externally (S3 Object-Lock, GCS, R2) on every append, so wholesale DB rewrites and tail truncation are detectable against a root of trust no DB admin can alter. Chain-break detection alone can't make that guarantee.
AuditKit's evidence vault is upload-then-hash: a human still collects the artifact (their own copy: evidence collection "consumes 60-70% of total compliance effort"). Caisson's collectors derive evidence from live system state, canonicalize it to identical bytes for identical inputs, hard-refuse to ship an incomplete pack, and export NIST OSCAL v1.2.2 validated in CI.
No feature tier sits above you: the Compliance bundle ships its entire source (chain, anchors, field encryption, crypto-shred, evidence generation, crosswalks) for one per-organization license. Everyone your company authorizes works with the code; nothing is gated behind a higher subscription or a second /ee license.
Which should you pick?
You want a hosted audit-log service plus a managed SOC 2 prep workflow (access reviews, vendor tracking, policy templates, an auditor portal) at a low monthly entry, and renting it is fine.
You want the audit chain, encryption, and evidence generation as code you own (externally anchored, deterministic, OSCAL-exporting) for one per-organization purchase, with no feature tier above you.
Less natural to pair than a GRC platform: the two overlap on the audit-log wedge itself. If you run AuditKit's SOC 2 prep workflow, Caisson's substrate can still own the in-app controls (RLS, field encryption, erasure); but most teams will pick one owner for the evidence chain.
One-time, own the source.
Caisson is a one-time perpetual license — the price never recurs, and it includes 12 months of updates from your purchase date, renewable per entitlement afterward at 40% of list per year. The Base substrate is Apache-2.0; the compliance modules are commercial.
Compliance bundle
$1,649, one-time. Fail-closed RLS, WORM, the audit chain, evidence packs, and the framework and signing carves — the whole substrate this comparison is about.
À la carte
Take a single module from $49 — audit-worm, field-crypto, or compliance-core on their own, onto your existing Postgres app.
Everything bundle
$2,259 covers every bundle and every à-la-carte module, plus the open base, in one purchase.
Common questions.
Is Caisson an AuditKit alternative?
Both say self-hostable. What does that include?
How do the two price?
Ship the compliant backend.
Explore the Compliance bundle, browse every module in the marketplace, or read another comparison.