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Comparison

Why Your Vendor Risk Spreadsheet
Won't Satisfy Your Auditor

Spreadsheets track vendor names. They don't investigate vendor risk. When your auditor asks for evidence of due diligence, a spreadsheet with green cells isn't what they're looking for.

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The spreadsheet problem

Spreadsheet-based vendor risk management has three fatal flaws: static data (information is only current as of the day someone manually updated it), no evidence chain (there's no audit trail connecting your risk rating to actual findings), and manual scale (every vendor requires the same hours of research, regardless of how many you've already assessed). Your spreadsheet might say a vendor is "Low Risk" — but can you show your auditor why?

What SOC 2 CC9.2 actually requires

SOC 2 CC9.2 doesn't just ask whether you have a vendor list. It requires documented evidence that you assessed vendor risk, evaluated their controls, and made an informed decision. That means source-cited findings, a consistent methodology, and audit-ready documentation — not a spreadsheet column that says "Reviewed" with no supporting evidence. ThirdProof generates this documentation automatically for every assessment.

The real cost of spreadsheet TPRM

At $50-100/hour for analyst time, a thorough manual assessment takes 4-6 hours per vendor — that's $200-600 per assessment. For 50 vendors per year, spreadsheet TPRM costs $10,000-30,000 in labor alone. ThirdProof's Starter plan is $399/month for unlimited vendor investigations, with deeper coverage across 27 intelligence sources.

What breaks during an audit

When an auditor examines spreadsheet-based vendor risk, they ask: What sources did you check? How did you verify this rating? When was this last updated? Can you reproduce this assessment? With spreadsheets, every answer requires manual explanation. With ThirdProof, every finding links to its source, the methodology is documented, and the report is timestamped and reproducible.

Spreadsheets
ThirdProof
Time per vendor assessment
4-6 hours (manual research + data entry)
Under 2 minutes (fully automated)
Data sources checked
2-3 (Google search + vendor website)
27 intelligence sources in parallel
Sanctions screening
Manual OFAC lookup (if remembered)
Automated OFAC, EU, UN + entity verification
Cyber risk scoring
Not typically included
Automated security posture analysis
Certification verification
Trust the vendor's claim
3-tier: independently verified / vendor attested / not found
Risk scoring method
Subjective (analyst opinion)
Deterministic rules engine (same data = same score)
Audit readiness
Auditor questions every data point
SHA-256 sealed PDF with source citations
Scalability
Linear — each vendor = same hours
Unlimited investigations on every plan
Cost per assessment
$200-600 (analyst labor)
Flat $399/mo, unlimited (Starter plan)

Common questions

Can I replace my TPRM spreadsheet with ThirdProof?+
Yes. ThirdProof replaces the manual research and data entry portion of spreadsheet-based TPRM. Instead of spending hours researching each vendor and copying data into cells, ThirdProof autonomously queries 27 intelligence sources and produces a structured risk report. You still make the approve/reject decision — ThirdProof gives you the evidence to make it confidently.
What does ThirdProof check that spreadsheets miss?+
Most spreadsheet assessments check 2-3 things: the vendor's website and a Google search. ThirdProof checks sanctions databases (OFAC, EU, UN), business registries, adverse media (multiple news APIs), domain security (TLS, DNS, security headers), threat intelligence (VirusTotal, AbuseIPDB), certification claims (trust page scanner + FedRAMP registry), subprocessor supply chain risk, SEC EDGAR filings, and FDIC records.
How much does spreadsheet-based vendor risk management really cost?+
The hidden cost is analyst time. At $50-100/hour, a thorough manual assessment takes 4-6 hours per vendor — $200-600 per assessment. For 50 vendors per year, that's $10,000-30,000 in labor alone. ThirdProof's Starter plan is $399/month for unlimited vendor investigations.
Is ThirdProof better than a GRC platform for vendor risk?+
They serve different needs. GRC platforms manage the workflow: tracking which vendors need review, routing approvals, storing documentation. ThirdProof provides the assessment: the actual risk data, findings, and evidence. Many teams use ThirdProof to generate the assessment, then upload the PDF report to their GRC platform as evidence.
What if I need to keep my spreadsheet for reporting?+
Many teams keep a summary spreadsheet for management reporting while using ThirdProof for the actual assessment. The ThirdProof PDF report becomes the evidence behind each row in your spreadsheet — your auditor sees the report, not just the cell.

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