How Much Does a Penetration Test Cost in 2026?

Your enterprise customer asked for a pentest report. One vendor quotes $2,000 and another quotes $25,000 for what looks like the same scope.

This page shows what sits behind those numbers, so you can put two quotes side by side and compare like with like.

Applies 2026

• Web app pentest, manual firm: $5,000 to $30,000 (Blaze InfoSec, BrightDefense).
• Most engagements, all types: $10,000 to $30,000, average about $18,300 (Synack).
• Series A to B SaaS, web app plus API: $15,000 to $35,000 (Autonoma).
• Day-rate math: $1,000 to $1,500 per day over 3 to 15 days, so $3,000 to $22,500 (Intruder example via BrightDefense).
• Barrion credits: €0.50 per credit on top-up. A level is a ceiling, not a price (facts page).

Every market figure here is vendor-published and was checked 2026-09-26. Treat it as the market's view of itself and re-check before you budget.

What does a penetration test cost by type in 2026?

Web application tests are the most common purchase, and they have the widest range. The table pulls together the 2026 guides we could verify. Each figure is the source's own claim on the check date (2026-09-26).

The spread inside each row isn't noise. It comes from how complex the target is and which tier of firm you hire.

What drives the price of a pentest?

Scope, first and foremost. Every guide above names the same levers, in roughly this order:

1. How many applications, APIs and environments are in scope.
2. How many user roles and tenants need testing. Each role multiplies the authorization surface.
3. Authentication complexity, such as SSO, MFA and rotating tokens.
4. Depth. An OWASP Top 10 pass is a different job from full business-logic testing.
5. Tester seniority and the firm's brand.
6. Compliance reporting, which some firms price as a premium.
7. Whether retest and remediation support are included.

A manual application pentest that covers the OWASP Top 10, business logic, auth bypass and IDOR takes 60 to 120 pentester-hours (SecureLayer7). Multiply that by a day rate and the mid-market range explains itself.

Why does one vendor quote $2,000 and another $25,000?

They're quoting different products. A $2,000 quote is usually an automated scan with a report template, while a $25,000 quote is usually 15 senior days across every role.

Common mistake. Comparing quotes on price alone. Anything priced around $2,000 is almost always a vulnerability scan with a cover page (BD Emerson). If that report goes into an enterprise security review, the customer's reviewer reads the methodology page and rejects it, and now the cost is a stalled deal.

If you're not sure which one you've been offered, penetration test vs vulnerability scan walks through how to tell.

What should a pentest quote actually include?

Get these in writing before you compare numbers.

How do day rates and credits compare?

Day-rate pricing sells time. Credit pricing sells a capped amount of testing work and charges for what the run actually used.

How Barrion prices a pentest

Every Barrion pentest runs at a level. The level sets the most credits the run can spend, and we charge for what it used.

A failed run costs nothing. A finished run is charged for actual use, with a 100 credit minimum. The retest after your fix holds no credits.

Every level maps to all 97 OWASP WSTG v4.2 cases, and findings are checked against the live app before they reach the report. The sample report shows the format, and the facts page lists the figures above with their sources.

We test web applications and APIs. We don't price or perform internal network, Active Directory, TLPT, mobile, physical or social-engineering tests, so the network rows in the first table still need a specialist firm.

What does continuous pentesting cost?

It depends on what you run and how often you want it tested, so the answer is a set of drivers rather than one number:

• Number of apps and APIs. Each target is its own run.
• Cadence. Daily, weekly, monthly or when the app changes. A daily Light run plus a monthly Deep run is priced very differently from a quarterly Deep run.
• Depth per run, which is the level each schedule runs at.
• Authenticated roles and tenants to cover on every run.
• Human review hours, which grow with depth.

Per-run prices are public, as in the table above. A whole program isn't priced that way, because it's scoped to your apps, cadence and depth. Talk to us and we'll price it for your setup, or read how continuous pentesting works first. Published prices from continuous and PTaaS vendors are compared in continuous pentesting cost.

What does a pentest cost for a SaaS company facing an enterprise deal?

For a Series A to B SaaS company, published budgets for a web app plus API test sit at $15,000 to $35,000 (Autonoma). The bigger cost is often time. When procurement asks for a pentest, a manual firm may need weeks to start and more weeks to report.

A credit-based AI pentest at Standard or Deep level gives you a reviewed report within one working day of the run, so the security review keeps moving while you plan any periodic manual engagement.

Regulated EU buyers need one more thing. Keep the retest and the coverage map, because NIS2 and DORA reviewers ask how findings were closed as well as what was found.