OneTrust vs Osano: Who Comes Out On Top?

OneTrust Vs Osano

OneTrust and Osano are two data privacy platforms. Both attempt to appeal to all sectors of the market with varying degrees of success. OneTrust is the clear winner between the two systems in terms of market share because it is the most widely used data privacy platform in the world. However, Osano competes well on price and even has a free service – an appealing offer for startups.

Does size count? Can a smaller contender win against the market leader by offering innovative services and lower prices? We investigate the competition between OneTrust and Osano.

What are OneTrust and Osano?

OneTrust and Osano are both cloud platforms that promote the safe usage of personally identifiable information (PII), which is also often referred to as “sensitive data.” These tools simplify data privacy compliance, which means staying within the rules of standards such as GDPR and CCPA. 

OneTrust was founded in 2016 after CEO Kabir Barday noticed a spike in businesses requesting assistance in complying with the EU’s GDPR. The product enhanced its tools after the California Consumer Privacy Act became law in 2018 and requests for privacy and security software started to rise.

OneTrust’s suite of services includes data mapping assessments, risk evaluation, consent management, cookie compliance, and more. It’s also acquired several companies to help get to where it is today, including DataGuidance, Integris, Docuvision, Tugboat Logic, and Planetly.

Osano was founded in October of 2018 by Arlo Gilbert and Scott Hertel after the two noticed a similar challenge, where U.S. businesses were struggling to streamline their data privacy needs. 

On the surface, it seems like OneTrust and Osano have comparable offerings as they both deal with issues in data compliance. However, the two solutions offer radically different price points, features, onboarding help, and more. Let’s take a look at them.

OneTrust Pros and Cons

The entire OneTrust platform is hosted in the cloud but the company has divided its offerings into four sections, each of which it refers to as “a cloud.” The four clouds of the OneTrust system are marketed to large organizations with more than 500 employees. These units are:

1. Privacy and Data Governance

OneTrust’s Privacy and Data Governance cloud deals with consent management, including cookie consent, and data protection for PII. These functions compete directly with the Osano platform. However, the price structure doesn’t compare well. 

OneTrust markets its cloud to large corporations with big budgets and it offers a cut-price version of its Privacy and Data Governance cloud under the name OneTrust Pro. That label offers the same services but at lower prices and the brand is marketed to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. 

OneTrust didn’t quite reach down to the prices of rivals like Osano with its OneTrust Pro brand, so it provides the platform with another skin with the name CookiePro. In truth, all of the functions behind the interface of that marque are the same as those offered by the OneTrust Privacy and Data Governance cloud 

2. ESG and Sustainability

The ESG and Sustainability cloud provides a framework for businesses that want to achieve ESG goals – ESG stands for “environments, social, and governance.” Osano has no equivalent to this service and so it won’t be considered as part of our comparison. 

3. GRC and Security Assurance

GRC stands for “governance, risk, and compliance” and the GRC and Security Assurance cloud includes some aspects of the PII management task. So, any company implementing compliance with, for example, GDPR, would need some of the services from this cloud added to a subscription to the Privacy and Data Governance cloud. OneTrust isn’t rigid about its plans and customers can pick units from any cloud. They don’t have to sign up for all of the units in a cloud. 

The Technology Risk and Compliance and Third-Party Risk units of this cloud have counterparts in the Osano list of services.

4. Ethics and Compliance

The fourth cloud of the OneTrust platform is Ethics and Compliance. This supports the creation of a set of corporate values and also promotes a channel for whistleblowers to draw the attention of management to current practices that will damage the reputation of the business. Osano has no equivalent to this cloud.

Pros of OneTrust:

• Caters to large, diversified corporations with complex requirements
• Solution that goes beyond compliance into integrity and trust
• Several integrations with other platforms

Cons of OneTrust:

• Long-term contracts priced at thousands of dollars a month
• Poor and unresponsive customer support
• Complex platform that is difficult to set up and integrate

Overall Thoughts on OneTrust

OneTrust is an ironclad enterprise solution, but with the pricing and contracts that you would expect.

However, that’s where the downside is, too. Because of its complexity, many users report that OneTrust is clunky and difficult to integrate with their systems. Customer support is unresponsive for the most part and many are left to figure it out themselves.

Unsurprisingly, this has led to some irate reviews online.

OneTrust is a great choice if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on compliance and can rely on in-house implementation and privacy experts to assist. We estimate that average contract values can be upwards of $50,000, depending on how many features you include in your plan. However, the firm makes it difficult to cancel and charges extra for onboarding assistance.

Osano Pros and Cons

Osano doesn’t offer as many bells and whistles as OneTrust, but it’s still a pretty robust platform for all things data privacy compliance. 

The features that stand out for us are:

1. No Fines, No Penalties Pledge

Osano guarantees compliance with data privacy laws to the extent that it agrees to pay any fine while a company has its legal workflows installed. This is a neat pledge but only applies to Osano’s enterprise plans and fines up to $200,000. Nonetheless, it’s one that stands out.

2. Vendor Risk Management

Osano’s vendor risk management feature is similar to what OneTrust offers, and helps companies vet third-party vendors, specifically those that they share customer data with. This can help guard against potential bad actors or companies with lax privacy controls.

3. Data Subject Access Request Management

DSARs are an important part of compliance with GDPR and CCPA, and Osano has this part spot on. 

4. Free Cookie Consent Plan

Osano offers a Free plan for startups and that is the type of service that you could never expect from OneTrust. This offer makes it clear that Osano is interested in picking up market share by partnering with cash-strapped beginners and making a loss on the service. The company must judge that getting in on the ground floor with new websites will pay off in the long run as those customers grow.

Pros of Osano:

• Offers value-added services to analyze third party vendors
• Includes features necessary for compliance
• Customizable cookie consent banners

Cons of Osano:

• Pricey for what it offers
• Limits on website traffic
• Cut and paste legal templates

Overall Thoughts on Osano

It’s clear that Osano offers a reliable solution for data privacy compliance, backed by solid engineering and an accessible customer support team. 

However, there are a few things that Osano doesn’t quite get right.

The first is that its free plan caps out at 5,000 monthly site traffic. 

Secondly, some critical features to comply with GDPR & CCPA are only available on the Custom plan which starts at $549/month. DSARs, for example, can only be integrated if you opt for the most expensive plan which may be prohibitive for some users.

Osano doesn’t offer a privacy policy generator in the same mould as other options. Its privacy policy consists of templates that you can cut and paste on your website. Overall, we find that its Plus Plan lacks the features that you would expect from that sort of spend.

The Plus Plan doesn’t offer unlimited site traffic either, capping out at 30,000 monthly visitors.

OneTrust vs Osano: Who Wins in 2023?

This isn’t an easy decision to make, since both solutions have individual strengths and weaknesses but let’s try to break it down into a few factors:

UX & Onboarding

Anecdotal evidence from online reviews online indicates that integrating OneTrust is a complex affair, often requiring assistance from experts or internal teams. It can take a long time and systems may need to be temporarily offline as a result.

Osano, however, can be set up with only a few lines of Javascript. And most folks are happy with how quickly it’s set up and live.

Features

It’s fair to say that OneTrust has a lineup of features that far surpasses any competitors, including Osano. Beyond just data privacy compliance, OneTrust can help organizations achieve compliance with ESG goals, lock down cybersecurity threats, and more.

Product Roadmap

Compliance and regulatory requirements are always changing, so it’s vital to opt for a solution that tracks these changes and keeps its clients protected. We’re going to go with OneTrust on this factor, given the resources it spends in building new features and updating existing ones.

Pricing

If data privacy compliance is all that you’re in the market for, we believe that Osano has the better offer. Osano’s GDPR compliance solutions can cost north of $500/month, while that’s not cheap it’s still a better deal than OneTrust. Comparable packages from OneTrust will likely set you back thousands of dollars. 

OneTrust knows that it doesn’t compete well on price and it doesn’t even try to bridge that gap – that would just cannibalize its own customer base. The company has decided to keep its high prices for its high-end clients and secretly offer the same services at lower prices through the OneTrust Pro and CookiePro brands.

OneTrust vs Osano: Another Option to Consider

If you’re still on the fence about the right compliance partner to pick, we recommend Enzuzo. We're not trying to toot our own horn here, but there are some valid reasons why Enzuzo should be in your software consideration:

1. Advanced features for the modern enterprise

With a world-class consent management tool that offers consent analytics, compliance with Google Consent Mode, cookie auto-blocking and categorization, Enzuzo ranks favourably with both OneTrust and Osano. 

Enzuzo's enterprise plan also offers advanced data privacy management features like data governance, data mapping, privacy impact assessments, and more for companies looking to level up.  

2. Fast Onboarding and Friendly UX

Enzuzo is engineered to be fast, lightweight, and simple to set up. It doesn’t impact core web vitals or SEO scores. What’s more, it can be set up with a couple of lines of Javascript — no complex onboarding needed.

Its reviews consistently point to that, too 👇

3. Affordable Pricing

Both OneTrust and Osano are expensive products. For example, Osano offers DSAR forms (that are critical for GDPR & CCPA compliance) in its Custom Plan that starts at $549/month. For OneTrust, expect to pay thousands of dollars a month for compliance.

Enzuzo’s Growth Plan which starts at $29/month includes DSARs and a host of other features that will put you on the path to GDPR & CCPA compliance. 

What’s more, Enzuzo doesn’t lock you into long-term contracts. Cancel whenever you feel like it without any penalties. The platform also easily integrates into other apps such as Shopify, WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and more.

👉 Start your data privacy journey with a free Enzuzo account (no credit card required)

4. Auto-Updating Privacy Policies and Legal Pages

OneTrust and Osano offer privacy templates that you can edit and modify to your liking. The problem with that is you need to be a bit of an expert to know what you’re doing and not accidentally omit critical information.

Enzuzo’s website legal pages, such as a privacy policy page, are automatically generated. The page creator works off information that you enter into the system through a questionnaire while setting up your account. The end result is a customized statement that provides the necessary legal cover for your line of business. That notice is kept internationally compliant through adaptation to the legal requirements of each site visitor’s location.

What’s more, all privacy policies and other legal pages update automatically whenever there are changes in regulatory requirements. There’s no need to generate the document again, Enzuzo deals with these issues automatically and you don’t need to spend time on them.

Want to read more? Check out our detailed reviews on:

OneTrust Alternatives ↗

Osano Alternatives ↗

Learn more about how Enzuzo can assist with your compliance needs. Book a complimentary strategy session with a product specialist👇