Penetration Testing Cost
What does a penetration test really cost?
Traditional human-led pentests are typically priced in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and take weeks - most of it manual scoping, labor, and reporting. TurboPentest is a flat $99 per target, delivered autonomously in hours, with retests included.
See a sample report →What drives penetration testing cost?
There is no single sticker price for a penetration test - a quote depends on what is being tested and who is doing the work. As a rule of thumb, traditional consulting-led pentests are often priced from the low thousands of dollars for a narrow, single-application test up to the tens of thousands for a broad engagement spanning networks, APIs, cloud, and mobile. They also typically take several weeks from kickoff to final report.
The reason is that most of the invoice is human time, not testing tools. Before any packets are sent, there are sales calls, scoping meetings, and legal paperwork. During the test, senior operators work by hand. Afterward, findings are written up into a formal report by a person. That manual overhead - scoping, labor, and reporting - is what makes penetration testing pricing sit where it does.
Thousands+
typical traditional pentest pricing, from low thousands to tens of thousands by scope
General market knowledge
Weeks
how long a human-led engagement often takes from scoping to final report
General market knowledge
$99
flat per target with TurboPentest, results in hours, retests included
TurboPentest pricing
The factors that move the price
When you compare penetration testing quotes, these are the variables that explain why two numbers can be so far apart.
Scope & depth
A single web app is one price; adding APIs, internal networks, cloud, and mobile multiplies the days of work. The wider and deeper the scope, the more a manual engagement typically costs.
Target count
Traditional firms often price per application, per IP range, or per environment. Ten targets can cost roughly ten times one, because each is scoped, tested, and written up separately.
Retest fees
Many providers charge extra to re-verify that your fixes worked - a second, smaller engagement billed weeks after the first. That retest line item is easy to miss when comparing quotes.
Tester seniority
Rates track experience. A senior OSCP/OSCE-caliber operator commands far more per day than a junior, and reputable firms staff the harder work with senior people - which is reflected in the price.
Manual scoping & reporting
Before any testing starts, there are sales calls, scoping meetings, and legal paperwork. Afterward, findings are hand-written into a report. That non-testing labor is a large share of the invoice.
Compliance & attestation
A signed letter for SOC 2, PCI, or a customer security review often means a formal, standards-aligned engagement - more process, more documentation, and a higher price than a quick check.
TurboPentest pricing: $99 per target, flat
TurboPentest is a self-serve, agentic pentesting platform. You buy a pentest, prove you own the target, and the agents run start to finish - no sales call, no scoping meeting, no human in the loop - with a full report in hours. Because the manual overhead is gone, the price is a flat $99 per target: no subscription, no credit packs, no annual contract, and no minimum.
- ✓Retests included. Re-verification is at the same per-target price - no separate retest fee - and every finding ships with retest commands to confirm a fix landed.
- ✓Results in hours, not weeks - the full run is autonomous across network, web app, API, subdomain, SSL/TLS, and external attack surface.
- ✓Free to try. Sign in with email and explore a live demo pentest - no card required.
- ✓Risk reversal. Zero actionable findings means your next pentest is free.
- ✓Backed by IntegSec humans - CISSP / OSCP / OSCE operators with 20+ years and roots in IBM X-Force Red and Trustwave SpiderLabs stand behind the platform.
To be clear about what $99 buys: that self-serve price is for autonomous, agentic penetration testing. Large, bespoke, fully manual human engagements - scoped consulting for complex environments - are a different product, available through IntegSec at custom pricing. If you need a hands-on team for a specialized scope, that is a separate conversation, not the $99 self-serve run.
Keep reading
Compare the numbers for yourself, see what a run covers, and check who else is in the market.
Penetration testing cost FAQ
How much does a penetration test cost?+
It depends heavily on scope, but traditional human-led penetration tests are typically priced from the low thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, and often take several weeks. Most of that cost is manual labor: scoping calls, hands-on testing by senior operators, and hand-written reporting. TurboPentest takes a different approach - a flat $99 per target, delivered autonomously in hours.
Why are penetration tests so expensive?+
The price of a traditional pentest is mostly people time. A senior tester spends days scoping the engagement, manually probing the target, and then writing up findings in a formal report. Add sales meetings, project management, and often a separate retest fee, and the labor adds up quickly. TurboPentest removes the manual overhead by running the testing agentically, which is why it can be dramatically cheaper.
Is there a cheap penetration test?+
Yes - TurboPentest is $99 per target, flat, with results in hours and no sales call. It runs 14 scanning tools plus the Paladin AI orchestrator across network, web app, API, subdomain, SSL/TLS, and external attack surface in a single run, and validates each finding before it reaches your report. It is genuinely low-cost without being a raw, unvalidated scan.
Does the price include a retest?+
With TurboPentest, retesting is included at the same per-target price - there is no separate retest upcharge. Every finding ships with retest commands so you can re-run the exact checks and confirm your fixes landed. Many traditional firms bill a retest as a separate engagement weeks later, so check whether a quote includes it.
What does TurboPentest cost?+
$99 per target, flat. No subscription, no credit packs, no annual contract, and no minimum. You can sign in with email and explore a live demo pentest free before you buy. If a paid pentest finds zero actionable findings, your next one is free.
A full pentest for $99. Retests included.
Skip the sales call and the five-figure quote. Prove you own the target and get a full report in hours. See pricing
Written and reviewed by
Michel Chamberland - Founder & CEO, IntegSec
CISSP, OSCP, OSCE, CEH, GIAC, CCSK · 20+ years in offensive security
Michel has spent 20+ years on offensive security teams including IBM X-Force Red and Trustwave SpiderLabs, leading penetration tests, red team engagements, and breach response for Fortune 500 customers. He is the founder of IntegSec and the architect of TurboPentest.