Looking for an Apptega alternative? Done-for-you compliance for the MSP that wants outcomes, not dashboards.
Apptega is a multi-tenant GRC platform with strong framework crosswalk technology, sold heavily through MSPs and MSSPs. Even with Apptega running, your team still authors the SSP, the POA&M, and the policies. ComplianceArmor delivers those artifacts done-for-you per client engagement, written by four CMMC Registered Practitioners, on a one-time flat fee with no per-tenant subscription.
Eleven dimensions buyers ask about. Side by side.
No competitor in the market combines all four pillars: hard fixed prices, two-column scope honesty, total-budget transparency, and document-ownership guarantee. Here is how the two services line up across every dimension a defense, healthcare, or MSP buyer evaluates when comparing options.
| Dimension | ComplianceArmor | Apptega |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hard fixed price per engagementPublished per SKU. From $6,997 (CMMC L1) to $24,997 (CMMC L2 Tier 1). One-time flat fee per client. | Per-tenant annual subscriptionEmployee-count-based. Entry around $9,950 per year per tenant, climbing on framework count and connectors. |
| Annual renewal escalator | NoneOne-time flat fee. No auto-renewal. No multi-year lock-in. | Annual contract typicalAnnual subscription with employee-count uplift on renewal as headcount grows. |
| Two-column scope honesty | Yes, every pageWhat is IN and what is NOT IN, on the same pricing card. | Not standardHigher tiers, vendor risk, and additional connectors gated behind add-ons not surfaced in entry quote. |
| Total-budget transparency (C3PAO/CPA fee disclosed) | Yes$30K-$50K C3PAO assessment range disclosed on the same pricing card. | Not surfacedConsultant and assessor fees handled through partner channel, not platform quote. |
| Document ownership | Yours foreverEditable PDF, HTML, CSV, ZIP. No subscription gate. No DRM. | Platform-boundDocumentation hosted in tenant. Export available during term, post-cancel access varies. |
| Done-for-you (humans write the SSP, POA&M, policies) | YesRPO-credentialed team writes the documents for you per engagement. | Partner channel onlyApptega lists CMMC consultants but does not employ them. Two contracts, two margins. |
| CMMC Registered Practitioners in-house | Four RPsCraig Petronella, Blake Rea, Justin Summers, Jonathan Wood. | ZeroRPs available through consulting partner network, not on Apptega payroll. |
| Multi-tenant dashboard for MSPs | Not the productEngagement model. Pair with the GRC dashboard of your choice; we deliver the artifacts that fill it. | Core strengthMulti-tenant workspace with Harmony crosswalk. Strong fit for MSPs running 5+ frameworks per client. |
| White-label and reseller channel | Reseller-friendlyEngagements can be sold under partner contract. Discuss on partner discovery call. | MSSP-friendly partner programEstablished partner channel. Dashboard is the resold artifact, not the documents. |
| 24/7 SOC, SIEM, EDR included (Tier 2) | Included at Tier 2Required for several CMMC L2 control families. Bundled at Tier 2. | Separate vendorApptega is governance tooling. Buyer still needs an MSSP for operational security. |
| Audit-Ready Promise | YesFix free in 30 days. 50% refund if certification fails because of our work. | No service-level recoursePlatform-only terms. Remediation cost and schedule risk sit with the buyer. |
| Framework breadth | Eight productizedCMMC, NIST 800-171, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, NIST CSF, FTC Safeguards, CCPA. | 30+ frameworksStrongest framework crosswalk in the GRC category. Best for orgs running 5+ frameworks at once. |
Pricing data sourced from third-party benchmarks (Capterra, GetApp, G2, Vendr) observed 2026-04-26. Verify your own quote with each vendor before high-stakes decisions. ComplianceArmor is a service of Petronella Technology Group, Inc. Apptega is the trademark of Apptega, Inc., not affiliated with Petronella Technology Group.
Six structural differences for the MSP and SMB buyer.
These are not feature gaps. They are different operating models. If your team or your client needs documents written, total cost disclosed, and an outcome owned by a human, the differences below matter.
Per-engagement flat fee, not per-tenant subscription.
ComplianceArmor publishes flat fees per SKU: $6,997 for CMMC Level 1, $24,997 for CMMC Level 2 Tier 1, $7,997 for HIPAA, $9,997 for PCI DSS v4, $14,997 for SOC 2 Type I. One-time engagement fee per client. No annual platform tax. No per-employee penalty.
Apptega entry pricing starts around $9,950 per year per tenant, scaling on employee count, framework count, and connector tiers. For an MSP serving ten 30-person CMMC clients, three years of platform spend lands well into six figures, before consultant time.
What is in and what is not, on the same card.
Every ComplianceArmor pricing card uses a two-column layout: included artifacts on the left, third-party fees and out-of-scope items on the right. The C3PAO assessment, the CPA SOC 2 examination, and the PCI ROC are all listed where the buyer can see them.
The pattern protects you and your clients from the budget surprise of platform-only quotes that omit assessor fees, vendor risk add-ons, or higher-tier connector unlocks. You go in with the full picture.
The C3PAO fee is on the same pricing card.
For CMMC Level 2, the C3PAO assessment by an independent assessor typically runs $30,000 to $50,000. ComplianceArmor surfaces that range on the same card as the documentation tier so the total program cost is visible from minute one.
Defense buyers and their MSPs who budgeted only for a platform line item and discovered a separate $30K-$50K assessor invoice late in the process know how the alternative feels.
Yours forever. No subscription. No DRM.
Every ComplianceArmor artifact ships in editable native formats: PDF, HTML, CSV, and ZIP, plus source files for the policies. Cancel any annual support arrangement and the documents stay yours, unaltered. The end client owns the deliverables on day one.
Apptega hosts documentation inside a tenant. Export is available during the active term, but post-cancellation access depends on the SaaS terms, and the tenant is the access boundary. Different model, different risk profile.
Four CMMC RPs write the documents. Not your team. Not your client.
ComplianceArmor is a done-for-you engagement. Petronella Technology Group writes the SSP, POA&M, 14 policies, 14 procedures, gap analysis, evidence checklist, and CUI boundary documentation. Your team or your client supplies scope inputs and reviews drafts.
Apptega is governance tooling. The Harmony crosswalk is real and well-engineered, but the underlying authoring is still done by your team or by a consulting partner billed separately. Two contracts, two margins, no integrated accountability.
If we miss something, we fix it free.
Every ComplianceArmor engagement carries the Audit-Ready Promise: if any artifact has a gap, we fix it at no charge within 30 days. If a certification fails because of our work, we refund 50% of our fee.
SaaS subscription terms do not include service-level recourse for assessment outcomes. The promise is a service feature, not a software feature, and no platform competitor offers it.
Sometimes the answer is Apptega. We will tell you when.
Apptega has the strongest framework crosswalk technology in the GRC category, a real MSSP-friendly partner program, and a multi-tenant workspace built specifically for resellers. For the right buyer, it is the right answer, and we have referred prospects there ourselves. Sales integrity compounds. Here is the profile where Apptega typically beats ComplianceArmor.
- You are an established MSP or MSSP with an internal compliance team that already authors SSPs, POA&Ms, and policies for your clients today and wants a tool to manage the program.
- You manage 5 or more active frameworks per client and the Harmony crosswalk genuinely saves your team hours every week.
- You want a multi-tenant dashboard with scoring views, calendaring, task assignment, and executive reporting branded for your firm.
- Your clients are 200+ employee mid-enterprise organizations with full GRC teams that will operate the platform.
- You are running a long-tail program-management practice, not racing toward a single audit deadline tied to a contract award.
- You already have the consulting partner network in place and only need the dashboard, not the document authoring.
If that profile fits you, Apptega is genuinely a defensible choice. We will tell you the same in a discovery call, save you the demo time, and point you at the right Apptega partner. The fastest way to lose a smart buyer is to pretend ComplianceArmor is the answer when it is not.
If the profile does not fit you — if you are a regional MSP serving SMB defense and healthcare clients who need finished documents per engagement, a 25-person aerospace machine shop racing toward a DoD prime-contract deadline, or a 60-person service provider whose IT lead is also the helpdesk — read on. That is exactly who ComplianceArmor was built for.
Switch outright. Or use both.
Apptega is a multi-tenant dashboard. ComplianceArmor is a finished documentation package per engagement. Some MSPs replace Apptega with ComplianceArmor outright. Many keep Apptega as the program-management dashboard the client logs into, and use ComplianceArmor to author the artifacts that fill it. Both patterns are supported.
Export your evidence and crosswalks
Pull existing controls, framework crosswalks, policies, and evidence from Apptega while your tenant is active. PDF, CSV, and ZIP exports come with you.
Scope the engagement per client
One 60-minute discovery call per client. We map the environment, CUI or PHI scope, locations, and target framework. Pricing is fixed once scope is set.
We author the package
The RP-credentialed team writes the SSP, POA&M, 14 policies, 14 procedures, and supporting artifacts. You and your client review drafts and sign off.
Replace or use both
Drop Apptega at next renewal, or keep it as the client-facing dashboard with ComplianceArmor artifacts loaded as evidence. Two patterns, one outcome.
Whatever progress your team built inside Apptega — completed crosswalks, drafted policies, evidence collected — comes with you. We treat your prior work as inputs, not write-offs.
Three flat fees most MSPs and SMB buyers compare against Apptega.
Pricing is published per SKU. Third-party assessor and auditor fees are listed beside the platform fee so total program cost is visible from the start. One-time per client engagement. No per-tenant subscription. No multi-year lock-in. No auto-renewal.
Apptega is a platform looking for a compliance team. We are a compliance team you do not have to hire.Craig Petronella, Founder & CEO, Petronella Technology Group
Four CMMC Registered Practitioners on staff. Two decades of CMMC, HIPAA, and SOC 2 engagements. Every piece of language in the package was written, reviewed, and assessor-tested before a single customer used it.
If we missed something, we fix it free.
Every ComplianceArmor engagement carries the Petronella Technology Group Audit-Ready Promise. If any artifact has a gap, we fix it at no charge within 30 days. If a certification fails because of our work, we refund 50% of our fee. The package is yours forever, in editable native formats, with no subscription and no DRM. No SaaS competitor in the GRC category offers a comparable service-level recourse.
Buyer questions on the Apptega comparison.
Is Apptega a bad product?
No. Apptega has the strongest cross-framework crosswalk technology in the GRC category and a real MSSP-friendly partner program. For an established MSP or a 200-person mid-enterprise running five or more frameworks with a dedicated GRC team, it is a defensible choice. ComplianceArmor and Apptega are different operating models for different buyer profiles. Apptega gives you a multi-tenant dashboard. ComplianceArmor delivers the finished documents per client engagement.
Can MSPs white-label ComplianceArmor for client deliverables?
Yes. ComplianceArmor is reseller-friendly. MSPs and MSSPs can engage Petronella Technology Group on behalf of a client, deliver the finished SSP, POA&M, 14 policies, and 14 procedures under your client engagement, and never need to seat the client in a separate per-tenant SaaS like Apptega, Vanta, or Drata. Talk to us on the discovery call about how we structure white-label and co-branded engagements for partner channels.
We are an Apptega MSP partner. Why would we use ComplianceArmor instead?
Apptega gives you a multi-tenant workspace and a Harmony crosswalk. The underlying authoring of the SSP narratives, POA&M entries, and policy customizations is still your team's job. ComplianceArmor delivers those artifacts done-for-you, written by four CMMC Registered Practitioners. Many MSPs run both: Apptega becomes the multi-tenant program-management dashboard the client logs into, and ComplianceArmor produces the audit-ready documents that fill it. Two complementary tools, one outcome.
What about my existing Apptega Harmony framework crosswalks?
Crosswalks you have built in Apptega come with you. We accept exports as PDF, CSV, or ZIP and use them as inputs to the documentation engagement. The ComplianceArmor SSP, POA&M, and policy package is mapped to NIST 800-171 and CMMC L2 control numbering by default and supports the same crosswalks Apptega uses. Nothing your team built inside Apptega is treated as a write-off. See our CMMC compliance guide for the full assessor-readiness breakdown.
Does ComplianceArmor support multi-tenant MSP delivery?
ComplianceArmor is engagement-priced per client, not seat-priced per tenant. An MSP serving fifty SMB clients does fifty engagements over time, each at flat fee. There is no platform subscription that scales with tenant count and no per-employee penalty inside a tenant. For MSPs that want a multi-tenant dashboard for ongoing program governance, pair ComplianceArmor with the GRC platform of your choice. The deliverable per client is the same.
How does pricing actually compare for an MSP serving SMB clients?
Apptega entry pricing starts around $9,950 per year per tenant, climbing fast on employee count, framework count, and connector tier. For an MSP serving ten 30-person CMMC clients, three years of platform spend lands well into six figures, before any consultant time. ComplianceArmor is $6,997 (CMMC L1) or $24,997 (CMMC L2 docs) one-time per client engagement, with the C3PAO fee disclosed on the same card. The MSP can absorb, mark up, or pass through. No annual platform tax.
What if my client also wants the Apptega dashboard for ongoing reporting?
That is the use-both pattern. Run Apptega for the multi-tenant client-facing dashboard, scoring views, and executive reporting. Run ComplianceArmor for the actual artifact authoring per client engagement. The ComplianceArmor SSP, POA&M, and policies drop into the Apptega workspace as evidence. The client sees one dashboard. The MSP avoids paying for self-service authoring it never wanted to do anyway. Different roles, complementary tools.
How long does the engagement take?
The migration itself is two weeks of calendar time: one 60-minute scoping call, evidence and crosswalk export from Apptega, and the kickoff. End-to-end engagement timelines: CMMC Level 1 in 21 days, HIPAA in 30 days, PCI DSS in 45 days, SOC 2 Type I ready in 45 days, CMMC Level 2 in 60 to 75 days. Apptega does not need to be cancelled until your annual renewal, so you are not paying for both at once.
Stop authoring inside a multi-tenant dashboard. Start delivering finished documents.
Schedule a 30-minute partner call. We will walk through your client portfolio, scope a sample engagement live, and show the deliverables an assessor would see, including the C3PAO fee on the same pricing card.