What is RealCISO?

RealCISO is a compliance intelligence platform for two audiences: MSPs and MSSPs managing security across multiple clients, and enterprise teams running compliance in-house.

It gives MSPs, MSSPs, consultants, and in-house security teams a single place to run compliance assessments, manage risk, track remediation, and demonstrate security posture to boards and auditors — without the spreadsheet chaos.

Built on NIST CSF and mapped to 30+ frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and CMMC, RealCISO turns assessment data into action. Over 3,000 security providers use it to deliver vCISO services at scale.

Founded by Brian Haugli — former DoD, former VP & CSO at The Hanover Insurance Group, and co-author of the NIST CSF book published by Wiley — RealCISO was built by practitioners who ran these programs manually and knew there had to be a better way.

Pricing

Price Overview:
vCISO Platform: Pay as you Grow
GRC Platform: Contact Sales
Free Version:
Free Version available.
Free Trial Offered?:
Yes

Integrations

Offers API?:
Yes, RealCISO provides an API

Screenshots and Video

Company Facts

Company Name:
RealCISO
Date Founded:
2020
Company Location:
United States
Company Website:
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Product Details

Deployment
SaaS
On-Prem
Training Options
Documentation Hub
Online Training
Webinars
On-Site Training
Video Library
Support
Standard Support
24 Hour Support
Web-Based Support

Product Details

Target Company Sizes
Individual
1-10
11-50
51-200
201-500
501-1000
1001-5000
5001-10000
10001+
Target Organization Types
Mid Size Business
Small Business
Enterprise
Freelance
Nonprofit
Government
Startup
Supported Languages
English

RealCISO Categories and Features

GRC Software

Auditing
Disaster Recovery
Environmental Compliance
IT Risk Management
Incident Management
Internal Controls Management
Operational Risk Management
Policy Management

More RealCISO Categories

  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Software Developer
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Helpful for Managing Security Reviews During Development

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    RealCISO better visibility into security requirements during development. RealCISO helped us keep track of open issues, policy requirements and review activities without relying on spreadsheets. It has made communication between development and security teams smoother and helped us avoid last minute surprises before releases.

    Positive

    I like that RealCISO helps us catch security and compliance issues earlier instead of waiting until the end of a project. We connected it with GitHub and Azure Devops and its useful having security related tasks visible alongside our regular work. The dashboards are simple enough to understand without needing a compliance background.

    Negative

    RealCISO has a lot of options, so finding certain settings can take at first. Some page also lad more information that I need for day to day use.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Chris S.
    Position: Policy Governance Specialist
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Keeps Policy Reviews and Approvals Much More Organized

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    Our biggest challenge was keeping security policies updated and making sure everyone was working from the latest version. RealCISO helped us create a more structured process and reduced confusion around approvals. It has made reviews easier to mange, improved accountability and helped keep documentation under control without extra manual work.

    Positive

    One feature I use a lot is the policy management section. We connected RealCISO with Okta and SharePoint and it became much easier to handle policy reviews, approvals and version tracking. Instead of chasing documents across folders, everything is available and approval workflow is simple and saves time when multiple teams need to sign off.

    Negative

    The document search could be a little faster when there are a lot of records stored. I also wish there were more options for organizing folders and categories.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Ryan G.
    Position: Backend Engineer
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Good Visibility Into Security Tasks Across Projects

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    RealCISO biggest benefit for us has been visibility. Security requests and compliance activities are easier to follow and there is less confusion about who is responsible for what. It helped our team stay organized without adding extra process overhead.

    Positive

    RealCISO has helped us keep track of security reviews during development. The jira integration works well and I can fastest see open findings without switching between multiple tools and interface is straightforward and task ownership is clear.

    Negative

    Sometimes it takes a bit of digging to find older records. I’d also like a few more filtering options when reviewing historical data.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Jeffrey R.
    Position: Platform Engineer
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Useful for keeping Development and Compliance Teams Aligned

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    RealCISO we managed most compliance related work through spreadsheet and tickets. It became difficult to track ownership and progress. Having everything in one platform has made coordination much easier. We spend less time following up on status updates and more time actually getting work done.

    Positive

    As a Platform Engineer RealCISO gives us a shared place to track security requirements and compliance related work. We connected it with GitHub and Slack and it helps keep discussions, evidence and action items organized and dashboards are easy to understand and the reminders help prevent tasks from getting overlooked.

    Negative

    RealCISO first setup took some planning, especially when organizing existing processes. Some reports could also be easier to customize for different teams.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: George K.
    Position: IT Support Engineer
    Has used product for: 1-2 Years
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Masterwork of reliable compliance for surety of accurate vendor risk Assessments.

    Date: Jun 04 2026
    Summary

    Love it for clean visibility on vulnerabilities for surety of compliance management across all platforms and accuracy with vendor risk management.

    Positive

    Love it for clean visibility with vulnerabilities for surety of compliance managment across all our platforms and accuracy with vendor risk management.

    Negative

    Great for clear cut results on vulnerability for efficient compliance management.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Maximiliano G.
    Position: Risk Analyst
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Clear Data for Better Decisions

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    It solves the problem of data scattering and the lack of clear metrics. It directly benefits me because it gives me real-time, up-to-date data for making quick decisions, drastically reducing the margin of error in weekly planning.

    Positive

    The centralization capabilities it offers are excellent. It allows you to have a panoramic view of company management on a single screen. The responsibility assignment module works wonderfully, facilitating a very transparent work structure where information flows seamlessly.

    Negative

    The initial implementation process was slower than we expected, along with configuring user permissions.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Allen S.
    Position: Project Analyst
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 26 - 99
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    My RealCISO Review

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    In short, RealCISO is a goldmine for startups and small businesses that need to get up to date with their security regulations quickly, systematically, and without going crazy. It works wonderfully as a roadmap to understand where you stand and what you need to fix to close important contracts. It won't replace technical security software or an ethical hacker, but as a risk and compliance management platform, it fulfills its purpose flawlessly.

    Positive

    The best thing about this tool is how it simplifies the headache that cybersecurity often represents for companies without a million-dollar budget or an army of engineers. It guides you step-by-step through assessments based on serious standards like NIST or SOC 2 using clear questions, avoiding incomprehensible technical jargon. Furthermore, it automates the creation of security policies and generates visual reports ready to show to clients or investors, saving you weeks of manual work and expensive consulting fees.

    Negative

    The main drawback is that, being a platform focused on management and compliance, it depends entirely on the data you manually enter; it doesn't connect to your infrastructure to scan for real vulnerabilities in real time. If your company already has an advanced cybersecurity team, the interface and recommendations will likely fall short or be too basic. It also lacks flexibility to customize the questionnaires if you have very specific internal processes that don't fit their standard templates.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Shawn J.
    Position: GRC Analyst
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Useful for keeping Compliance work organized

    Date: Jun 03 2026
    Summary

    RealCISO has helped us stay on top SOC2 and internal compliance requirements without adding extra manual work. Having dashboards, risk monitoring and compliance tracking in one platform makes things much easier to mange. Its been a reliable tool for keeping our security and compliance efforts organized as our environment grows.

    Positive

    We’ve been using RealCISO to manage compliance and cloud security checks across AWS. I like that it pulls risk tracking, policies and audit evidence into one place instead of jumping between spreadsheets and different tools and AWS integration was easy to connect, and the automated compliance reports save us a good amount of time during reviews.

    Negative

    Reporting section could offer a few more customization options. Some areas of the platform tool a bit trail and error to learn especially during the first few weeks.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Gary S.
    Position: Compliance Program Specialist
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 500 - 999
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Easy way to Keep Client Compliance Work Organized

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    Our team was spending too much time following up through emails and shared folders. Since moving to RealCISO, its been easier to keep projects organized and track progress. Its not perfect, but is has saved us time and helped us stay more consistent across different client engagement.

    Positive

    I manage compliance activities for several clients and RealCISO makes it easier to keep documents, action items and review notes together. We connected it with Okta and Slack and it fits nicely into our workflow. I especially like the task because its easy to see whats overdue and what still needs attention.

    Negative

    The mobile experience could be better. I mostly use the desktop version some screens feel cramped on smaller devices.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Newton W.
    Position: Security Expert
    Has used product for: 1-2 Years
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 26 - 99
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Slays as Modern,scalabe and solid Vendor risk assessment product with 5 star Support

    Date: Jun 04 2026
    Summary

    Slays as Modern, scalable, reliable and solid Vendor Risk assessment solution with 5 Star customer support.

    Positive

    It slays as modern, scalable, reliable and solid Vendors Risk assessment product with 5 star customer support.

    Negative

    Love it as solid, secure solution and am proud to say it does a bang up job.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Mark A.
    Position: Project Coordinator
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Useful for Tracking Security Requests Across Teams

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    Our security and compliance activities involved several departments and keeping everyone aligned was becoming difficult. RealCISO helped create a more structured process by keeping requests, approvals and documentation in platform and it has improved communication, reduced follow up work, and made cross team coordination much smoother.

    Positive

    What I found most useful is the workflow management side of RealCISO. We connected it with Jira and Microsoft Teams and it became much easiest to track security related between departments. The task ownership features helps avoid confusion and the status updated give everyone visibility without needing constant meetings.

    Negative

    The notification settings could be more flexible. At times we received updated that weren’t relevant to our team, so some filtering options would be helpful.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Nina S.
    Position: System Administrator
    Has used product for: 1-2 Years
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 26 - 99
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Effective Tool for Security Governance and Risk Management.

    Date: Jun 05 2026
    Summary

    Our experience with RealCISO has been very positive. We were searching for a solution that could help us formalize our security program without significantly increasing administrative overhead. The platform provides a practical framework for managing risks, tracking remediation efforts, and maintaining visibility across security initiatives. While there was some effort required during implementation, the long-term benefits have outweighed the initial setup time. It has become a valuable part of our security management process and helps ensure important tasks are not overlooked

    Positive

    RealCISO has given our organization a much clearer view of cybersecurity risks and compliance obligations. The platform simplifies security planning and makes it easier to track progress against objectives. I particularly like the way it brings different security activities together in one place, reducing the need for multiple spreadsheets and documents. The reporting features have also been useful when communicating security status to management.

    Negative

    Some areas of the platform can feel overwhelming for users who are new to cybersecurity management. Certain workflows require a bit of training before they become intuitive, and I would like to see additional customization options in some reports.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Brianna J.
    Position: Co-founder
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Weekly
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Strong Structure for Managing Compliance Workflows

    Date: Jun 02 2026
    Summary

    Overall, my experience has been very positive. Once I got comfortable with the platform, it became a reliable part of my workflow and made managing compliance feel far more manageable and less overwhelming than before.

    Positive

    I really like how RealCISO brings structure and clarity to what is usually a very complex and scattered compliance process. It helps me stay organized and keeps risk tracking and documentation in one place instead of across multiple tools. I also appreciate how it simplifies framework mapping, making it easier to understand what needs to be done next without overthinking it.

    Negative

    I think the interface could be a bit more modern and visually intuitive in some areas. It also took me a little time at the beginning to fully understand how everything connects across modules.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Kara N.
    Position: Information Security Analyst
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Makes compliance Tracking Much Easier Across Cloud Environment

    Date: Jun 05 2026
    Summary

    RealCISO our compliance work was spread across, tickets and separate security tools. Now everything is centralized which makes audits, risk reviews and evidence collection much easier. We spend less time chasing updates and more time fixing actual issues. The integrations and automated workflows have helped our team stay organized and maintain better visibility into compliance progress throughout the year.

    Positive

    We’ve been using RealCISO for managing compliance and security reviews across AWS and Azure. I like that it pulls vulnerabilities, policies, audit evidence and risk tracking into one dashboard. The integration with AWS, Azure and Microsoft tools worked well for us and saved a lot of time compared to managing everything manually. The reporting is straightforward and the compliance mapping for SOC 2 and ISO 27001 helps us fastest see what still needs attention. The automated reminders and continuous monitoring are also useful for keeping projects on track.

    Negative

    Platform has a lot functionality so it can take some time to lean where everything is. Some alerts could be grouped better since similar findings sometimes appear more than once. I’d also like a few more options when customizing reports for different stakeholders.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Kara N.
    Position: Risk & Compliance Coordinator
    Has used product for: 1-2 Years
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Keeps Our Security Tasks From falling Behind

    Date: Jun 05 2026
    Summary

    Our team was spending too much time chasing updates and preparing documents for reviews. RealCISO gave us a more organized process and better visibility into what still needs attention. Its helped us stay more consistent and avoid last minute surprises.

    Positive

    What I like most is having policies, risk items and action plan we connected it with Google Workspace and Azure, and it helped us keep track of changes without constantly chenking multiple systems. The reminders are useful and the dashboards makes follows ups easier.

    Negative

    A few screens feel crowded when there is lot od data. It can also take some time to understand all the available options.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Joe D.
    Position: Risk Coordinator
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Good way to stay on Top Security Reviews

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    Before using RealCISO, we spent a lot of time collecting documents and tracking action items manually. Now everything is in one place, which makes reviews much smoother. It has helped us improve visibility across teams, keep compliance activities organized and spend less time on administrative work.

    Positive

    What I like most is that RealCISO gives us one place to manage compliance work, policy reviews and risk tracking. We connected it with Azure AD and jira and it fits well into our existing process. The dashboard is easy to check during the week and the evidence collection tools save a lot of time when preparing for audits. I also like being able to assign tasks anc follow progress without chasing updates through email.

    Negative

    Some areas could use better filtering when there are a lot of findings. I also wish there were more options for customizing executive level reports.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Cloud Engineer
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Good for compliance tracking and cloud security

    Date: Jun 03 2026
    Summary

    We were using spreadsheet and different tools to track risks and compliance before RealCISO helped bring everything together and gave us better visibility into security issues. It has reduced manual effort and helped us stay audit ready throughout the year.

    Positive

    RealCISO makes it easier to mange compliance and security tasks in one place and we use it with AWS and the integration work well and dashboards are simple to follow and the automated reports save a lot of manual work during audits.

    Negative

    Initial setup tool some time and a few reporting options could be more customizable. There is also a small learning curve for new users.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Jessica J.
    Position: Business Intelligence Analyst
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Easy to use.

    Date: Jun 05 2026
    Summary

    It helps our team stay on top of risk assessments, remediation tasks, and compliance activities while providing clear reports on our progress.

    Positive

    I like that RealCISO is easy to use and it makes it easier to manage compliance and security requirements without relying on spreadsheets and manual tracking.

    Negative

    The platform gives us better visibility into our security posture and helps ensure we remain aligned with industry standards and company policies hence no dislike.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Kenny M.
    Position: Risk Analyst
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Helpful for Vendor Reviews and Policy Tracking

    Date: Jun 06 2026
    Summary

    We were relying on spreadsheets and email chains to manage compliance activities, which became difficult as the company grew. RealCISO gave us a much cleaner process. It has helped us keep documentation organized, track progress more easily and spend less time following up on routine tasks. For daily compliance work, its been a solid addition to our toolkit.

    Positive

    One thing I like is how easy it is keep to track of vendor reviews, policy updates and compliance tasks from one dashboard. We connected it with Google workspace and Microsoft 365 and it helped us keep everything more organized. The reminders and task assignments are useful because nothing gets forgotten and its easy to see who owns what.

    Negative

    The platform work well overall but some reports take a little tweaking before they’re ready to share with management. It would also be nice to have more built in templates.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Christiana Y.
    Position: Third Party Risk Coordinator
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Practical Tool for Managing Third Party Security Reviews

    Updated: Jul 02 2026
    Summary

    We were looking for a better way to handle vendor security reviews and internal compliance requests. RealCISO brought structure to a process that was previously spread across emails and shred folders. It has improved accountability, made reviews easier to track and helped our team stay more organized throughout the year.

    Positive

    Our team uses RealCISO mainly for vendor assessments and policy tracking. The integration with ServiceNow helped us connect compliance tasks with existing workflows, which reduced a lot of manually tracking follow up. I also like that documents, approvals and review notes stay in one place, making it easier to track progress when multiple teams are involved.

    Negative

    The initial setup more planning than expected, especially when organizing existing records. Some dashboards could also offer more customization options.

    Read More...
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