A day after agreeing to buy Pillar Security, Vanta announced a change in how it sells. On November 10 it launched the Vanta Trusted Network, the next version of the partner program it started in 2023. The aim is to turn resellers, managed service providers, audit firms and global system integrators into partners that run ongoing governance, risk and compliance practices on Vanta, rather than one-off implementations.
What partners get
The program brings partners together through Vanta Academy certifications, tailored playbooks, hands-on enablement and a partner community. It covers every stage of the customer relationship, from designing and implementing a compliance programme to running it as a managed service. Higher tiers get co-selling support, dedicated partner managers and joint business planning.
The participants named are a broad mix: solution providers, service providers, audit partners, technology alliances and GSIs. Auditors are the interesting group. A firm that audits SOC 2 or ISO 27001 controls and also helps clients prepare with the same platform has an obvious incentive to standardise on it.
Why the channel matters now
Vanta built its business selling automated compliance directly to startups that needed SOC 2 to close enterprise deals. Moving up-market means mid-size and large companies, which often buy security and compliance through advisers and MSPs. A structured partner network is how a direct-sales company reaches those buyers.
It also sets up the next product cycle. Vanta’s planned purchase of Pillar, which tests and guards AI agents at runtime, extends the platform from proving controls on paper to watching AI systems in production, as we covered in our Pillar report. Partners trained on the core platform become the people who sell and run that new layer.
Vanta says it was named a Leader in The Forrester Wave for GRC platforms in the second quarter of 2026. The partner relaunch is less flashy than an acquisition. It’s how the acquisition gets distributed.