SOC 2, HIPAA, CMMC, or PCI: Which One Do You Actually Need?

If you've never dealt with compliance before, the alphabet soup is genuinely confusing — and most explanations assume you already know why any of it matters. Here's the plain-English version: what each framework actually is, and how to tell which one (if any) applies to you.

SOC 2 — you probably need this if you sell software to other businesses

SOC 2 isn't a government requirement. It's an independent report that proves you handle customer data responsibly — and increasingly, it's something enterprise customers simply require before they'll sign a contract with you. If you're a SaaS company, and a deal has ever stalled because a prospect's security team wants proof of your controls, that's SOC 2 territory. There's no single universal checklist; instead, an auditor evaluates your actual policies and practices against a set of trust principles (security being the one almost everyone needs).

HIPAA — you need this if you touch protected health information

HIPAA applies if you're a healthcare provider, or a business that handles health data on behalf of one (a "business associate" — think medical billing, health-tech platforms, or software that stores patient records). Unlike SOC 2, HIPAA is a legal requirement, not optional or customer-driven. It covers how you protect patient data, who can access it, and what happens if there's a breach. Penalties for non-compliance are real and can be significant.

CMMC — you need this if you're in the defense supply chain

CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) applies to companies that do business with the Department of Defense, directly or as a subcontractor, and handle certain categories of DoD information. If your business touches a defense contract anywhere in the chain, CMMC compliance is likely becoming a contractual requirement, not optional. Self-attestation is no longer sufficient for most levels — assessment and evidence are required.

PCI DSS — you need this if you process card payments

PCI DSS applies to any business that accepts, processes, or stores credit card data. The specific requirements scale with your transaction volume, but the core idea is the same for everyone: protect cardholder data, and don't be the reason it ends up somewhere it shouldn't. Most small businesses that use a payment processor (Stripe, Square, etc.) take on a smaller compliance burden than one handling raw card data directly — but "smaller" isn't "none."

A simple way to think about it

Ask yourself: Do I sell B2B software to companies with security requirements? → SOC 2. Do I handle patient health data? → HIPAA. Am I in the defense supply chain? → CMMC. Do I process card payments? → PCI DSS.

Many businesses land in more than one category — a healthcare SaaS company, for instance, may need both HIPAA and SOC 2. The frameworks aren't mutually exclusive, and the underlying security work (access control, encryption, monitoring, incident response) overlaps more than people expect. Getting the fundamentals right once tends to pay off across all of them.