If you are thinking about conducting a penetration test, one of the first questions that come to mind is usually straightforward:

How much is it going to cost?


The answer is unfortunately much more complicated as there is no one price for penetration testing services.
An external infrastructure assessment of a small enterprise differs greatly from a comprehensive examination of a complex SaaS platform with multiple users roles, APIs, and integrations. The number of tests conducted as well as the time of qualified specialists and the amount of proofs needed may vary significantly. The cost charged on the British market reflects that. Some companies are promoting their small-scale penetration testing services starting from just £2,500, whereas the price of larger undertakings may come to £10,000, £20,000 or even more.


Hence, it becomes more practical to ask what the organization should actually pay for Penetration testing is defined by the UK National Cyber Security Centre as a useful online technology targeted at checking if the IT security system is operating correctly. However, the agency does not consider it a universal solution for issues of IT protection. Practically, a penetration test refers to the authorized measure taken in order to find and confirm the presence of weaknesses in the security system, by operating within a certain frame. Good penetration tests do not only describe vulnerabilities. The initial stage is establishing which vulnerabilities are exploitable, what an attacker can do, and what is to be done first.


Penetration testing may take several domain areas into account. It includes such fields as:

  • Web applications
  • APIs
  • External infrastructure
  • Internal networks
  • Authorization and authentication
  • Cloud-based systems
  • Mobile applications
  • Security configuration id trust relations
  • Business logic

Professional solutions suggest using a combination of automated and manual methods. Similarly to CREST recommendations, penetration tests use a combination of techniques. This is essential when it comes to cost comparison, as low cost automated measures should not be compared with manual tasks while considering them the same. There is no official standardized cost list for penetration testing in the UK at the moment, but looking at the present prices can be useful for companies willing to plan their budget. A standard evaluation starts with £2,500Usually, an elaborate web application, API or infrastructure review will typically cost around £4,000 to £8,000 or more.

More extensive applications, complex internal systems, many platforms, or multiple security validation operations can exceed £10,000 or more. One of the UK organizations publicly lists their web application penetration testing price as ranging from about £3,750 to £6,250, while another states various consulting fees positioned at around £600 and above £3,000 per testing day. These estimations must be taken as general market data and not a price quote. Two companies can operate and offer “web application pen-testing” but may demand varying amounts of work.

What affects the penetration testing price?

1. Scope of work

Scope is usually among the biggest factors in price determination. Testing one small application is totally different from reviewing the following:

  • Several applications
  • Many internet-facing assets
  • Multiple APIs
  • Several management portals
  • Internal infrastructure
  • Cloud services
  • Third-party involvement

Higher attack surface results in more effort needed. Accordingly, a responsible service provider must know the audience’s conditions to arrive at some cost.

2. Application complexity

identical sites with the same number of pages may require different security checks. Think of a basic web page in the context of a site featuring the following:

  • Customer area
  • admin area
  • payment section
  • document upload
  • APIs
  • sensitive data
  • various access rights
  • external integrations

The second site would require a lot more logic check. A tester might have to determine if it is possible to view the information of others, if it’s possible to bypass permissions, if business processes can be exploited and if one weakness can be combined with another. That leads to additional reasoning that takes some time to execute.

3. Number of user roles.

User roles in terms of application testing may greatly expand the scope of testing. Let’s imagine a system with the following users:

Customer → Employee → Manager → Administrator

Each user may have a different set of permissions. Testing should not just confirm that all login pages work safely. It might also need to find out whether a customer can do something that can only be done by an employee, if employees can reach managerial functions, or if permissions on a certain level let users see information of others.

The more elaborate the trust boundaries, the more testing is required.

4. API coverage

Modern applications often depend on APIs. Sometimes, there is a small interface that is a layer in front of a big attack surface created by APIs. Testing may need to analyze authentication, access to objects, data, etc.

If the application has considerable APIs, they must be properly reflected in the scope of testing.

5. Internal vs external testing

An external pen test is done with the systems reachable from outside the organization. An internal test is going to ask different questions. For instance, it is worth asking “What if an attacker finds out how to first access organization from inside?” Because of that, internal network testing can be a much more complex endeavor than testing a limited number of publicly available systems.

6. Black Box, Grey Box, or White Box Testing

The information received prior to testing impacts the way the particular engagement happens. Black-box testing doesn’t offer much prior information and is more like an external attacker that has little information before starting the attack. Grey-box testing gives partial information or credentials. White-box testing offers testers a lot of architectural, documentation, source, or privileged access information. None of these benefits is necessarily a better option compared to others. Which option is right depends on the security issue the company is solving?

7. Reporting Requirements

Testing is only one part of the engagement.
The test’s report should allow IT specialists to know:

  • What was found?
  • Where it was found?
  • Why it is important?
  • What evidence backs the finding?
  • How serious the risk is?
  • How to eliminate the vulnerability?

Executives may prefer to see only the main message of the risks instead of numerous technical details. Generating solid and believable evidence takes time and should be included in the price of the testing process. CREST recommendations believe that preparation, testing, and follow-up should be seen as a single process rather than merely using the program on the targeted objects.

8. Retesting

Finding a vulnerability is only the first step. Fixing the vulnerability is the next step. At NexSec Labs, the process of reporting and retesting plays an integral role in hacking and security testing as security verification should lead to evidence of remediation and not just accomplishment of the original findings. In comparing quotes, organizations should always ask whether retesting is included, restricted, or charged separately.

What might be the reason for one penetration testing quotation being cheaper than another one?

If one provider sends a quote of £1,000 while the other sends £6,000, it may be easy to say that the second company is pricey. However, make sure to compare the actual service offering:

Be sure to ask:

  • What is the number of testing days included?
  • Is the testing mostly automated or manually verified?
  • What exactly is included in assets?
  • Are authenticated areas being tested?
  • How many user roles are taken into account?
  • Are APIs in testing?
  • Has the business logic been analyzed?
  • Are vulnerabilities being manually verified?
  • What kind of proof will the report contain?
  • Is remediation guidance provided?
  • Is retesting included?
  • What is the professional background of the tester?

Vulnerability scanners can check huge numbers of targets fast. When Penetration testing carried out by people deals with the other question:

Can these vulnerabilities be exploited to cause serious damage or not?

That is one of the reasons why very similar quotations can differ considerably.

Does every business have to pay for a costly penetration test?

No. Costs must correspond to the organization, the system, the level of exposure, and possible consequences of failure. It is unreasonable for a small organization that operates one simple system to invest in the same service as a huge financial institution that carries out transactions that require lots of applications and infrastructure environments. Nonetheless, going for the cheapest evaluation purely for the sake of saying that a penetration test has been conducted can create a false sense of security. NCSC warns specifically not to regard penetration testing as a “magic bullet”. It is supposed to be an element of a wider approach towards security rather than being a substitute for well-secured architecture, vulnerability management, monitoring, patching, and other controls.

Thus, the aim should be:

  • The least possible scope that answers the most relevant security queries.

How to get a penetration testing quotation?

A good quote starts with good information. Before approaching the provider, you should clarify:

What should be tested?

For example:

One customer-oriented web application, one administrator portal, and twelve API endpoints.

What is the reason for the testing?

For example:

We are approaching a large release and need independent assurance before launching the solution to production.

Who uses the solution?

For example:

Customers, company staff, and administrators.

Where is the solution hosted?

For example:

AWS, Azure, or local infrastructure.

Is there any limitation on the testing?

For example:

There must be no disruption of production work and destructive testing is banned. The scope does not have to be perfect prior to the first conversation. Actually, it is up to the provider to determine the appropriate scope. However, providing such information allows you to avoid both lack of scope and situation when you pay for unnecessary testing.

A Budget for Penetration Testing: What Is Required?

In early preparation for the year 2026, organizations in the UK will be looking at prices ranging from at least a few thousand pounds for small professional penetration testing studies to even higher volumes of money for larger and more intricate examinations. However, scope is always what dictates the pricing of the work. A good proposal should show very clearly:

what to be tested → how deep will it go → what will be produced as evidence → what actions to be taken in case of being able to identify these weaknesses.

When it is unclear, it means that you would not get much from the price offered.

Penetration Testing through NexSec Labs

When it comes to NexSec Labs, penetration testing is carried out based on the fact that there is an order with the scoping of the task being created. It is any time modus operandi through which proper routes of attack in terms of applications and networks will be used. They follow a controlled series of steps which is in its turn:

  • Authorization
  • Scoping
  • Discovery
  • Assessment
  • Validation
  • Reporting
  • Retesting

Unlike the more conventional approach of starting from some uniform packages of LLP services, the process is completed with comprehensive understanding of details of the very system. What is also important is that the parameters of final scope, deliverables and investment should be confirmed before getting into the process.

It is very important to specify what level of penetration testing is required.

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