Open Source GRC
The promise of a GRC platform is that you describe a control once and reuse it everywhere: the same access-review control satisfies a SOC 2 criterion, an ISO 27001 clause, and an internal policy, tested and evidenced in one place. When that mapping holds, an audit becomes a report instead of a fire drill; when it does not, you get a second spreadsheet farm with worse search. The open source options here keep the control library, the evidence behind it, and the framework mappings on infrastructure you run. That matters because the evidence is often your most sensitive material: architecture diagrams, identity data, and vulnerability reports you would rather not hand to a hosted vendor.
CISO Assistant
Open source GRC platform for risk, compliance, audit, privacy, and reporting
Comp AI
Open-source compliance platform for SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR with AI agents and 580+ integrations
Probo
Self-hostable GRC platform for engineers with web, CLI, MCP, and GraphQL access
Deming
Open source ISMS tool for planning, monitoring, and reporting on ISO 27001 security measures
Openlane
Open-source compliance automation for SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, GDPR, and more
GovReady-Q
Open source GRC platform for self-service security assessments and compliance documentation
OpenRMF
Web-based tool for DoD STIG checklists, SCAP and Nessus scans, and NIST RMF reporting
Our picks
Pick by which compliance world you live in, not by feature count alone.
Broadest framework coverage: CISO Assistant CISO Assistant centralizes risk, compliance, audit, and privacy work and links those objects together, shipping 150+ frameworks with automatic control mapping so one control can serve several standards. You can add custom frameworks from Excel or YAML, and the AGPLv3 community edition runs on your own infrastructure with SQLite or PostgreSQL.
Audit readiness with integrations: Openlane Openlane replaces audit spreadsheets with structured programs for SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, and GDPR, carrying prebuilt controls and risks. It handles evidence upload and approval, configurable workflows with reminders and escalation, and pulls vulnerability data from GitHub, AWS Security Hub, and GCP. RBAC, multiple auth methods, and org-wide SSO come built in, and it self-hosts on Docker or Kubernetes.
DoD RMF and STIG: OpenRMF OpenRMF is the fit for DoD Risk Management Framework work. It imports SCAP and Nessus ACAS scans, manages STIG checklists, and generates a NIST 800-53 compliance listing across a system, then exports RMF documents including the SSP, SAR, RAR, and CCRI. It supports air-gapped and HTTPS deployment, which government programs frequently require.
GRC for engineers: Probo Probo suits engineering teams that want GRC reachable from code. Every entity is available through a web console, the prb CLI, an MCP API, and GraphQL, with policy-based RBAC, immutable audit logs, and electronic sign-off backed by evidence chains. Risk scoring and a Statement of Applicability are built in, and it self-hosts with Docker.
Where GRC tools separate real audits from filing cabinets
The dividing line between a real GRC system and a document store is the control model. You want frameworks, controls, risks, evidence, and findings as separate linked objects, so one internal control can satisfy several external requirements without cloning its owner, test status, and evidence each time. CISO Assistant leans hardest into this, shipping 150+ frameworks with automatic control mapping and an open format for adding your own from Excel or YAML. Openlane and Comp AI take a similar programs-and-controls approach aimed at SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR readiness.
GRC also splits by audience, and the split matters. If you are pursuing SOC 2 or ISO 27001 for customers, evidence automation is the draw: Comp AI advertises 580+ integrations and AI agents to collect it, while Openlane pulls vulnerability data from GitHub, AWS Security Hub, and GCP. If you work under US government authorization instead, the tools are different. OpenRMF handles DoD STIG checklists, SCAP and Nessus scans, and generates RMF documents like the SSP and SAR, and GovReady-Q builds on the NIST OSCAL standard for continuous authorization.
Whatever the framework, judge the workflow around evidence, not just storage. Serious audit work needs recurring assessments, reviewer sign-off, immutable audit trails, and separation between who submits evidence and who approves it. Probo is built for engineering teams that want that reachable from code, exposing every object through a CLI, an MCP API, and GraphQL alongside the web console. Before loading sensitive evidence, confirm the export path covers controls, mappings, and attachments, since compliance history has to outlive the tool that stored it.
Related categories
Frequently asked questions
What does cross-framework control mapping actually save?+
It stops you from maintaining the same control several times. Most security frameworks overlap heavily, so an access-review or encryption control can satisfy clauses in SOC 2, ISO 27001, and NIST at once. A tool with real mapping keeps one control, one owner, one test result, and one set of evidence, then reports it against each framework. CISO Assistant ships 150+ frameworks with automatic control mapping for exactly this, which is where the time savings in GRC come from.
How do GRC tools for SOC 2 differ from ones for government authorization?+
The frameworks and outputs differ. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 tools like Comp AI and Openlane focus on evidence collection and audit readiness for customers. Government authorization tools are built around specific standards: OpenRMF manages DoD STIG checklists and generates RMF documents such as the SSP, SAR, and RAR, while GovReady-Q builds on NIST OSCAL for continuous ATO workflows. Picking a commercial-compliance tool for an RMF program, or the reverse, means fighting the tool.
How do these tools collect evidence without manual screenshots?+
Through integrations that pull evidence from the systems you already run. Comp AI advertises 580+ integrations plus AI agents to gather it, and Openlane pulls vulnerability data from GitHub, AWS Security Hub, and GCP Security Command Center. Automated collection matters because control tests recur: a screenshot works for one audit but does not scale to quarterly evidence across dozens of controls. Check that failed collection surfaces as a visible exception, not a silent gap.
What is NIST OSCAL, and why does it matter for GRC?+
OSCAL is a NIST standard for expressing controls, assessments, and compliance documentation in a machine-readable format, so the same control content can be reused rather than retyped per system. GovReady-Q builds on OSCAL and OpenControl to automate assessments and document generation, which suits DevSecOps teams that authorize applications continuously. If you expect to exchange structured compliance data or reuse control catalogs across systems, OSCAL support is worth checking for.
Can I run GRC work from code or an automation pipeline?+
Some of these are built for that. Probo exposes every entity through a web console, the prb CLI, a Model Context Protocol API, and GraphQL, with 270+ MCP tools, so compliance tasks can run from scripts or an LLM agent. CISO Assistant is API-first, with import and export across the UI, CLI, and Kafka. If you want GRC to live alongside your engineering workflow rather than in a separate portal, that programmatic surface is the thing to compare.
What does segregation of duties need from a GRC tool?+
For audit-grade work, the same person should not both submit and approve evidence, so you need distinct roles for control owners, submitters, reviewers, risk approvers, and auditors, plus a log of permission changes. Probo provides policy-based RBAC with immutable audit logs and document sign-off backed by evidence chains. Simple workspace roles are usually too coarse for regulated environments, so test whether read access can be separated from decision rights.
Will auditors accept reports from an open source GRC platform?+
Auditors care about evidence quality and traceability far more than the license. A report holds up if it shows control scope, the testing period, the owner, the reviewer, the evidence, exceptions, and remediation status. Because these tools structure controls and evidence rather than storing loose documents, they can produce that, but confirm the export format matches what your auditor expects. Ask before your first audit, since you may need a specific report package.