The comparison
| Decision factor | Drata | Archiet |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous control monitoring | Excellent. ~95 integrations, real-time control health, employee policy attestation. | Not its job. Drata still owns the running-system observability layer. |
| Greenfield code & architecture generation | None — Drata starts with your existing infrastructure. | Designed for this. PRD → architectural genome → multi-stack code with ADRs and compliance docs. |
| Compliance-aware code generation | Out of scope. | Auth, RBAC, tenant scoping, audit logging, secrets handling, encryption-at-rest configuration are all baked into the generated code from the architecture stage. |
| Risk + threat docs | Drata maintains the risk register. | Archiet generates the threat model and DPIA from your entity model at codegen time. They land in docs/security/ next to the code. |
| Cost | Drata pricing is custom; typical SOC 2 packages run $10–30k/year + implementation. | Transparent: Builder $149, Pro $599, Team $1,499. One-shot generation, no per-control fees. |
| Best fit | Existing apps preparing for or maintaining compliance. | New apps where compliance is a known launch requirement, not a retrofit. |
When Drata wins
You have a product in production, you're heading into a SOC 2 Type II window, and you need a single tool to track 100+ controls across AWS, Okta, GitHub, Jira, and your HRIS. You need policy management, vendor risk, and employee attestation. Drata is purpose-built for that whole loop. Don't try to replace it with Archiet.
When Archiet wins
You're early. The codebase doesn't exist yet, or it does but you're rebuilding parts of it. You know SOC 2 / ISO / HIPAA is a buyer requirement. Hiring a compliance lead and bolting Drata on top of an app that wasn't designed for compliance is the slow path. Generating the codebase with the controls — RBAC, tenant guards, audit middleware, encryption, JWT rotation — is the fast path. Drata then continues from there.
When you'd use both
This is the realistic answer for any regulated B2B launch:
- Architecture stage — Archiet generates the app + the docs/ folder (ADRs, DPIA, threat model, traceability). Compliance controls are designed into the code from day one, not retrofitted.
- Production stage — Drata connects to the running app and your business stack. It collects evidence, watches controls drift, manages policies, and walks you through the audit.
- Audit day — the auditor reads Archiet's architecture docs (the why the system is designed this way) and Drata's evidence reports (the what's actually running now). Both layers matter.
The two tools were not built to compete. They cover adjacent stages of the same compliance journey.
What Archiet doesn't do (be honest)
Archiet doesn't:
- Continuously monitor your AWS account for misconfigurations
- Collect screenshots and logs for evidence
- Manage employee security training and attestation
- Track vendor risk
- Walk you through an audit
Drata does all of those, well. If you don't have an app yet, get Archiet first. If you have an app and need audit-day prep, get Drata.
Try Archiet free
Try free, no credit card — generate one architecture blueprint with the full compliance docs, see exactly what the docs/ folder contains, decide if it fits your launch.