Garde1 vs a CMMC consultant. The same deliverables. No retainer.

Six to eighteen months of hourly invoices, and the binder starts drifting the day they leave.

A consultant sells hours. $50K–$200K of them over six to eighteen months, every later change billed again, and the binder goes stale the day they leave. Garde1 makes the same deliverables in the product, from the tenant you already run, and keeps making them.

“between SaaS products and consulting we’ve spent close to $100k and we aren’t even ready to get on a C3PAO’s calendar. We thought we were compliant then we had a C3PAO do a gap analysis.”
A 40-employee defense-only company · r/CMMC, February 2026

With A CMMC consultant Still needs a consultantWith Garde1 No consultant needed

Who does the workA firm you pay: scope the boundary, policies and SSP, grade readiness.Yours: collect evidence, fix the gaps, watch after you pass.Done for you: scope the boundary, policies and SSP, collect evidence, grade readiness, watch after you pass.Started for you: fix the gaps.

First year, all in$50K–$200K+.Published range, then billed by the hour.$23,988.Published: Starter $1,999 a month, Level 1 $1,800 a year. No readiness firm to pay, no seats resold; background checks are billed by Checkr at cost. Separate: the C3PAO, which DoD models at $31,234 for a small business (89 FR 83207), and the workspace licences you already pay for.

Firms you payTwo.The consultant, then the C3PAO.One.Garde1, then the C3PAO.

What you typeInterviews, a spreadsheet, and every change billed after.Corrections to a draft.

Step by step

StepWith A CMMC consultantWith Garde1

Onboard

CostTypically $50K–$200K all in and 6–18 months to reach Level 2.The gap assessment alone runs $3,500–$20,000, and every later change is billed at $250–$400 an hour.Starter $1,999 a month, published.The gap assessment is your first mock, and it runs in about 12 minutes.

ScopeBuilt from interviews and a spreadsheet.Built from your answers, then checked against what your tenants actually contain.The interview, without the invoice, and a verdict on whether your current environment can hold your CUI or needs GCC High.

Level 1The DoD’s own estimate for a Level 1 self-assessment and affirmation is $5,977 (89 FR 83181).$1,800 a year.The 15 requirements checked as evidence lands, and a status page you send primes.

Operate

DocumentsWritten from a template, current on the day they are signed.14 policies and the SSP written from your environment in about 30 minutes, and rewritten when it changes.A fact Garde1 cannot find is marked for you, never invented.

EvidenceScreenshots you collect and email.23 connectors send it on their own, each item filed under the objective it proves.

Measure and remediate

FixesA recommendation list for you or your MSP.Every gap arrives with its fix.Supported fixes are applied in Entra, Intune, Google Workspace, AWS, Azure, GCP or Jamf once you approve them (Professional and up). Subject to the vendor’s API availability.

The gradeThe consultant’s judgment of the work they did.320 objectives, each scored against evidence.Missing evidence is Not Met, and nobody at Garde1 can override that.

Prove

After the engagementEnds.The binder starts drifting.Never ends.Expired evidence or a changed setting reopens the item and tells you, and the next mock shows the assessor nothing new.

What contractors say.

“During the roundtable, one participant aptly described this ecosystem as a “CMMC tax.””

Comment letter to the Department of War on reforming CMMC · SBA Office of Advocacy, August 2026

“businesses paid one provider to prepare for an assessment and then received an entirely different interpretation from the C3PAO conducting the assessment.”

Comment letter to the Department of War on reforming CMMC · SBA Office of Advocacy, August 2026

“consistently seeing quotes around 100k USD for consulting only”

A contractor scoping about 20 users · r/CMMC, January 2026

“They are incentivized to drag it out as many months as possible”

On open-ended monthly retainers · r/CMMC, January 2026

“With a gap assessment, consulting services (40 hours) for documentation review, and a mock audit - we spent around 50k.”

On a consultant engagement, no fixes included · r/CMMC, January 2026

“our documentation was not up to our C3PAO’s standards despite having it reviewed by two LCCAs… I had to rewrite everything in about two weeks.”

A contractor who went on to pass 110 of 110 · r/CMMC, April 2026

Quoted verbatim from public threads; individual users, not Garde1 customers.

When a consultant is still the right call

Unusual environments, Level 3, or a team that wants a person in the room for every scoping decision. Many contractors use both: the consultant for judgment, Garde1 for the hours.

Checked October 6, 2026: Petronella: CMMC consultants in 2026 · InterSec: Level 2 cost in 2026 · Secureframe: CMMC certification cost · CISPOINT: what contractors pay in 2026 · CMMC final rule, 89 FR 83092. All alternatives side by side, or: Garde1 vs Vanta · Garde1 vs FutureFeed · Garde1 vs Delve · Garde1 vs Secureframe Defense · Garde1 vs Drata · Garde1 vs PreVeil.

Step by step

What contractors say.

When a consultant is still the right call

See your SPRS score this week.