What is the best data privacy and GDPR compliance software?

Key Takeaways

• No data privacy software is the best one for every company. Two questions decide it: who carries the privacy work, and whether GDPR is the only framework or ISO 27001, NIS2, and the EU AI Act are coming too.
• Four vendor models split the market: enterprise privacy platforms for large multi-jurisdiction programs, privacy management with an external DPO included, multi-tenant software for legal teams and corporate groups, and point tools for data mapping, consent, or data subject requests.
• Article 37 GDPR sets the EU-wide triggers for appointing a DPO, and several member states go further. Germany requires one from 20 people regularly processing personal data by automated means. Whether the software brings that mandate with it is therefore a selection criterion, not a convenience.
• Data privacy software covers eight concrete GDPR obligations, from the record of processing activities under Art. 30 to international transfers under Chapter V.
• Kertos combines the platform with certified experts and an external DPO mandate, hosts in the EU, and covers ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, NIS2, the EU AI Act, SOC 2, TISAX, and C5 alongside the GDPR.

The question of the best GDPR compliance software has no single answer. It has two prior questions, and answering those usually settles the choice.

First: who carries the privacy work? An in-house DPO or a legal team needs a documentation tool that structures the work and stays quick to operate. caralegal and otris privacy are built for that. Where nobody holds the role, or it runs alongside another job, the documentation has no owner; a model that pairs the software with an external DPO mandate carries further, which is what Kertos, DataGuard, heyData, Proliance, and Keyed offer.

Second: is GDPR the only framework? If it is, a privacy-only product will do, down to point tools such as Transcend, DataGrail, or Ketch for data mapping, consent, and data subject requests. If ISO 27001, NIS2, or the EU AI Act are on the horizon, what matters instead is whether one data set carries several frameworks. OneTrust, TrustArc, and Securiti address large multi-jurisdiction programs, with the breadth of functionality that implies.

Which privacy management software vendors are there?

The overview below maps a starting position to the vendor model that fits it. The companies named are examples of each model, not a recommendation for your case. Each placement follows the vendor's own public positioning, checked in October 2026.

Your starting position	Vendor model that fits	Examples
Global privacy program across several jurisdictions, with an in-house privacy team	Enterprise privacy platform with broad functionality	OneTrust, TrustArc, Securiti
No DPO of your own, a small team, and customers or auditors asking for evidence	Privacy management with an external DPO included	Kertos, DataGuard, heyData, Proliance, Keyed
Several legal entities under one roof, an in-house legal team, central control with local execution	Multi-tenant privacy software for group structures	otris privacy, caralegal, Keyed
Privacy is organizationally settled and single processes need automating	Point tool for data mapping, consent, or data subject requests	Transcend, DataGrail, Ketch

One category sits outside this overview: consent management platforms for cookie banners and consent capture. They cover one slice of the GDPR and do not replace a privacy management system.

How do you choose GDPR software?

Five criteria decide it, in order of weight.

1. Who carries the work? Software does not produce compliance, it structures it. Settle how much work stays with your team after rollout, and how much sits with the vendor, before you compare a single feature.

2. Does it actually cover the GDPR obligations? The mapping below shows which obligation needs which function. Take it into every demo.

GDPR obligation	Legal basis	Function in the software
Record of processing activities (RoPA)	Art. 30 GDPR	Structured entry per processing activity, version history, updates when new tools appear
Technical and organizational measures (TOMs)	Art. 32 GDPR	Measure catalog with evidence, reused in data processing agreement annexes
Data subject rights, such as access and erasure	Art. 12 to 23 GDPR	Request intake, deadline tracking (one month, extendable by two), data retrieval from connected systems
Personal data breach notification	Art. 33 and 34 GDPR	Incident intake, risk assessment, 72-hour clock, notification drafts
Data protection impact assessment (DPIA)	Art. 35 GDPR	Threshold analysis, guided assessment, tracking of mitigations
Processor management	Art. 28 GDPR	Vendor register, data processing agreement management, sub-processor review
International transfers	Chapter V GDPR	Transfer impact assessment, standard contractual clauses, evidence of safeguards
Accountability	Art. 5(2) and Art. 24 GDPR	Complete audit trail across every change and decision

Kertos covers these obligations in its automated privacy management system. The documentation is produced in the RoPA, DPIA, and TOM module, and requests run through automated DSAR handling. More than 500,000 data subject requests have been resolved this way.

“We needed to process GDPR requests quickly and keep our compliance status continuously audit-ready. With Kertos, the system runs in the background while our team focuses on core business priorities.” Matthias K., COO, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.), G2

3. Does the documentation know your real IT estate? A RoPA is only as current as your knowledge of which systems process personal data. A team adopts a new analytics tool, nobody records it, and the gap surfaces in an audit. Automated discovery of connected systems therefore weighs more than another template. Kertos uses over 300 integrations for this.

4. Does the groundwork stay usable for ISO 27001, NIS2, and the EU AI Act? Your GDPR documentation already captures systems, data flows, vendors, risks, and technical measures. The same entries carry over:

• The record of processing activities and the system inventory become the asset and information inventory for ISO 27001.
• The technical and organizational measures under Art. 32 GDPR overlap substantially with the Annex A controls of ISO 27001 and with the risk management measures required under NIS2.
• The vendor register with its data processing agreements is the basis for the NIS2 supply chain requirements.
• The DPIA methodology under Art. 35 GDPR is the template for risk assessment of AI systems under the EU AI Act.
• ISO 27701 extends an existing ISO 27001 ISMS into a certifiable privacy information management system, drawing on the same processing records and evidence.

Keep that groundwork in separate tools and every additional certification becomes a new project. With Kertos the underlying data set stays the same and is mapped onto additional frameworks. AskUI reached ISO 27001 in 8 to 10 weeks on that basis, without external consultants.

5. What does it cost in total, including the DPO? The license fee is rarely the whole bill. Count the data protection officer, whether that is an internal share of someone's time, an external appointment, or a mandate included in the package, and count the effort that stays with your team after rollout.

Which data privacy software fits a mid-sized company?

Company size shifts three things, and each one bears directly on the choice.

In several member states the DPO question is settled by law, not by preference. Article 37 GDPR requires a DPO where a public authority processes the data, where core activities involve regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale, or where core activities involve large-scale processing of special categories of data. Member states may go further, and Germany does: under § 38(1) BDSG a company must appoint a DPO once it has, as a rule, at least 20 people constantly engaged in the automated processing of personal data. Check your own member state rather than assuming the German threshold applies. Either way, the real choice is how, not whether: an internal part-time DPO, an external appointment, or software that brings the mandate with it. Without a named person the documentation has no owner, which is where most systems fail in year two. The comparison of external DPO provider models works through which model fits.

Groups of companies need more than one register. Several entities under one roof keep separate records of processing activities while sharing systems and vendors. Article 37(2) GDPR lets a group of undertakings appoint a single DPO, provided that DPO is easily reachable from each establishment. Multi-tenant systems have a genuine edge in that constellation, because templates and measures can be inherited from the parent to the subsidiaries.

Privacy rarely arrives alone. Mid-sized companies in scope of NIS2, or supplying automotive and OEM customers, answer supplier questionnaires and TISAX requirements in parallel. The same systems, vendors, and processes are captured for both. Split privacy and information security across separate tools and that work happens twice.

Situation	Model that fits
An internal part-time DPO is in place	A documentation tool that structures the work
No DPO has been appointed	Software plus an external DPO mandate
Several entities in one group	Multi-tenant platform, with a group DPO where that fits
Privacy alongside NIS2 or ISO 27001	One evidence base for both

The breakdown of external DPO costs sets out what the support side costs.

What can GDPR software not take over?

The data protection officer role attaches to a person with demonstrated expertise and cannot be delegated to software. Assessments, case-by-case balancing, and communication with the supervisory authority remain a professional responsibility. Software can prepare that work, evidence it, and make it traceable; a person still has to decide. Kertos handles this through an external DPO mandate that works inside the same system where the documentation is produced, which removes the handover effort between tool and consultant.

“Their expertise and ready-to-use frameworks save us countless hours, letting us focus on running the business while staying fully compliant.” Vivien S., Operations Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.), G2

What should you check on EU hosting and processor terms?

Your data privacy software vendor is itself your processor under Art. 28 GDPR. It processes details of your systems, your vendors, and, when handling requests, personal data belonging to your customers and employees. Four questions belong in every evaluation:

• Is there a data processing agreement meeting Art. 28(3) GDPR, and does it cover the AI features in use?
• Which sub-processors are involved, and in which countries do they process?
• Where does the data physically sit, and who has administrative access to it?
• Is your content used to train models?

The last question matters most for AI-assisted features. A vendor that passes your content to a model outside the EU creates an international transfer under Chapter V GDPR, which you then have to record in your own register and assess with a transfer impact assessment. Your privacy software becomes an object of review in its own right.

When is Kertos the right choice and when is it not?

Kertos is a European compliance platform with certified experts in house.

• Model: the platform with the KAIA AI agent, plus certified experts.
• External DPO: held as a mandate, inside the same system where the documentation is produced.
• Frameworks: GDPR, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, NIS2, the EU AI Act, SOC 2, TISAX, and C5 from one evidence base.
• Base and hosting: Munich, developed in Germany and run on European infrastructure, co-financed with EU funds.
• Who it is built for: tech companies, scale-ups, and mid-sized companies.

The record behind that: a 100 percent audit pass rate, roughly 80 percent less manual compliance effort, and more than 500,000 data subject requests resolved. Kertos holds 4.8 out of 5 stars on G2 from 65 reviews, 4.8 on OMR Reviews, and is listed there as a Leader in GRC Tools. WirtschaftsWoche named Kertos a startup leader from 2023 to 2025.

Kertos is not the right choice in three cases:

• Corporate groups with many legally separate entities that need multi-tenant governance with inheritance across every unit.
• Companies with a fully staffed in-house privacy team that want a documentation tool only, with no support alongside it.
• Companies whose need stops at a consent banner.

“We needed a data protection system that scales with fast growth and meets ISO 27001 requirements, without burning internal resources. We also wanted it to replace a mix of manual processes, spreadsheets and outdated tools.” Jennis B., Implementation Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.), G2

The fastest way to see what this looks like for your system landscape is a conversation: book a demo, or see how Kertos automates GDPR compliance.

Frequently asked questions

Do small companies need a record of processing activities?

As a rule, yes. The exemption in Art. 30(5) GDPR applies to companies with fewer than 250 employees, but it falls away as soon as the processing is more than occasional, as soon as it poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of data subjects, or as soon as it involves special categories of personal data under Art. 9. A company with an HR function and customer data meets at least one of those conditions in practice every time.

Can GDPR software replace the data protection officer?

No. Article 37 GDPR, and national law such as § 38(1) BDSG in Germany, requires a person to be appointed rather than a system to be deployed. Software can produce the documentation, track the deadlines, and hold the evidence; the case-by-case assessment and the contact with the supervisory authority stay with the appointed person. Some vendors combine the two and supply the mandate together with the software.

What does data privacy software cost?

License prices vary widely by company size, functional scope, and number of legal entities; several vendors publish no price at all. The total including support tells you more than the entry price. The ranges for an external data protection officer are broken down in the external DPO cost overview.