How Much Does a Penetration Test Cost? 2026 Pricing Guide

The short answer

A web application or API penetration test for a B2B SaaS product typically costs between $2,500 and $15,000 for a qualified manual test. Below $2,000, you're almost certainly buying an automated scan. Above $15,000 without a clear scope justification, you're paying for firm overhead rather than testing depth.

The factors that matter: scope (number of endpoints and application surfaces), methodology (manual vs. scanner-assisted), tester experience, and what's included in the deliverable (report format, retest, remediation support).

Price tiers and what they actually include

$500–$1,500: Automated scan reports

Vendors in this range are running automated scanners — Nessus, OpenVAS, Burp Suite in automated mode — and packaging the output as a report. These tools find known CVEs, misconfigured headers, and outdated software versions. They don't find business logic vulnerabilities, BOLA/IDOR flaws, or anything that requires understanding how your application works.

These reports will not satisfy SOC 2 auditors who understand the difference, and they won't hold up in enterprise vendor reviews where a security team is evaluating the evidence.

$2,000–$5,000: Entry-level manual testing

This is where real penetration testing begins. Vendors at this price point do manual testing on a limited scope — typically a subset of your application or a short engagement window. The quality varies significantly.

What to verify before signing: Does the vendor provide a sample finding showing an actual HTTP request that demonstrates exploitation? Does the price include one retest round with written confirmation? Who specifically will perform the test?

$5,000–$15,000: Full-scope manual testing

This range covers comprehensive manual testing for a typical B2B SaaS product — covering the full web application surface, all API endpoints across multiple user roles, authentication and session management, business logic, and common infrastructure exposure. The deliverable should include CVSS-scored findings with working proof of concept and a retest confirmation letter.

For most B2B SaaS companies at Series A or later, this is the appropriate range for an annual full-scope engagement. Smaller scoped tests or quarterly sprints will cost proportionally less.

$15,000–$50,000+: Large-scope or enterprise testing

Large scopes justify higher prices: applications with hundreds of API endpoints, multi-service architectures, extensive integrations, or mobile clients in addition to the web application. Large consulting firms also charge in this range for smaller scopes because of their overhead structure — project management, compliance documentation, reporting infrastructure.

A meaningful engagement at this price from a boutique firm covers a significantly larger scope than the same price from a large consulting firm. Ask exactly what you're getting for the fee.

What drives cost in legitimate manual testing

Scope size

The primary cost driver is how much there is to test. A 20-endpoint REST API is a fundamentally different scope than a 200-endpoint GraphQL API with complex role hierarchies. Vendors who scope by "days" rather than "surfaces tested" make it hard to compare proposals — ask what endpoint coverage the day count assumes.

Testing depth

There's a difference between confirming that a known vulnerability class isn't present and actively trying to find novel business logic flaws. Testing authorization logic across every combination of user roles on every endpoint takes significantly more time than confirming the standard OWASP checklist. Both are useful at different stages, but they cost differently.

Tester experience

A tester with OSWE or OSCP certification, domain expertise in SaaS APIs, and a track record of published CVE discoveries commands a higher rate than a junior analyst running through a checklist. Certifications aren't everything, but they're a signal. Ask directly about the tester assigned to your engagement.

Report format

A report structured for SOC 2 evidence packages or enterprise vendor reviews (executive summary, scope documentation, remediation status table, CVSS scores, retest confirmation letter) takes more effort to produce than a technical findings document. If you need the procurement-ready format, confirm it's included rather than assuming.

Hidden costs to ask about

Cost vs. frequency trade-off

A $10,000 annual pentest is harder to justify when your engineering team ships weekly and the findings from the last test are stale within a quarter. B2B SaaS companies increasingly move toward lower-cost, more frequent testing — smaller scoped sprints aligned to release cycles — rather than a single comprehensive annual engagement.

The relevant question is: what's the gap between when vulnerabilities get introduced (at every release) and when they get found (at the annual pentest)? That gap is your real security exposure window.

What Provecore charges

We publish our pricing rather than asking for a sales call to quote. Our engagements start at $2,500 for a scoped Launch Secure test and scale to $4,500 for the Audit & Procurement Pack that includes the procurement-ready documentation for SOC 2 and enterprise vendor reviews. Every engagement includes retest confirmation at no additional cost.

We also offer a free 1-week trial: one scoped surface, two test accounts, a professional report with working PoC for every finding. Zero commitment to continue. The sample report is available before you sign anything.