How we source penetration testing cost figures
Cost ranges on this site are based on public reference material across the relevant landscape. The publishers below are representative of the kind of source that informs our positioning, not an exhaustive extraction map per figure. A specific figure on a specific page is not necessarily anchored to a single named publisher.
Sources
- Pen testing firm public day-rate guidance. NCC Group, Bishop Fox, Trustwave SpiderLabs, Coalfire, Secureworks, Optiv, BDO Cybersecurity, MDSec, Pentest People, NetSPI, Cobalt, and other firms with publicly disclosed engagement-pricing or day-rate guidance.
- Accreditation body public guidance. CREST published assessor lists and engagement scoping guidance, NCSC CHECK scheme, OSCP / OSEP / CRTL practitioner credential frameworks (where pricing context is published).
- Practitioner contractor day-rate panels. IT Jobs Watch UK pen-testing contractor panels, Stack Overflow Developer Survey security-roles sections, Cyber Security Jobsite UK published rates.
- Practitioner survey data. Public pen-test cost surveys from r/cybersecurity, SANS practitioner panels, and CSO Online / ISMG industry coverage.
What we deliberately do not publish
- Specific firm rate cards. Major pen testing firms redact specific fees in writing. We publish the band, not the named-firm specific quote.
- Specific customer engagement values. Where a specific organisation's pen-test contract value is known to us through public reporting, it is described in band terms only.
- Side-by-side firm capability grids. We publish positioning notes per firm but not capability grids. Pen testing firm specialisations shift year-on-year; static grids go stale.
Update cadence
Site values update only when the underlying reality changes. Triggers:
- Material movement (10%+) in published UK pen-testing day rates over a 12-month sample
- CREST or NCSC CHECK scheme guidance change
- Major shift in published firm engagement-pricing structure
Cosmetic date bumps are not made.
Editorial position
This site is operated by Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio. Digital Signet does not run a penetration testing practice, does not act as a CREST or CHECK assessor, does not sell pen testing services, and does not accept paid placements from any pen testing firm. See /about for the operator and the wider network.
Editorial direction is set by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. Drafts are produced via Digital Signet's autonomous AI development methodology and reviewed against the editorial framework before publication.
Contact
For methodology questions, corrections, or scenarios that don't fit cleanly: [email protected].