How much does a penetration test cost in 2026?
Short answer: a human-led consultancy pentest runs $5,000–$15,000 per app, an automated AI pentest is about $4,000, and continuous scanning services are $1,500–$6,000/year. Aegis delivers an audit-ready pentest for $1,499 one-off or $149/month. Below: what actually drives the number, and what you genuinely need.
What a penetration test costs, by type
Prices below are publicly listed as of August 2026 and vary by scope and plan.
| Type | What you get | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| Aegis | Automated + authenticated: business-logic, IDOR/BFLA & AI/LLM testing, signed attestation letter | $1,499 one-off · $149–499/mo |
| Automated AI pentest platform | Standard automated pentest | ~$4,000 |
| Continuous scanning service | Ongoing automated vulnerability scanning | ~$1,500–6,000 / yr |
| PTaaS (hybrid) | Human + automated, managed engagement | from ~$5,000 |
| Consultancy | Human-led application pentest | $5,000–15,000 |
The spread is almost entirely human hours — not depth. Aegis runs the authenticated, business-logic, IDOR/BFLA and AI/LLM tests that cheaper tools skip and pricier engagements bill by the hour. See the full capability comparison on the pricing page.
Five things that move the number
Human hours
Scoping calls, manual testing and hand-written reporting are the bulk of a consultancy bill. Automation removes them — the single biggest lever on price.
Scope & depth
An unauthenticated surface scan is cheap and shallow. Authenticated, multi-role, business-logic testing is where real risk lives — and where price climbs.
Retesting
Many providers charge again to verify your fixes. Aegis re-tests for free after you remediate, so a clean report doesn't cost extra.
Report quality
An auditor-ready report — scope, methodology, dated findings, remediation, control mapping — takes a consultant days. Aegis generates it automatically.
Frequency
An annual one-off leaves eleven months of drift. Continuous re-scans catch regressions as you ship — cheaper per test when it's built in.
Qualified human tester
Some mandates (PCI DSS 11.4, certain government work) require a qualified, independent tester. That's a premium, and the one case a purely automated tool can't satisfy on its own.
What $1,499 actually includes
Cheaper tools get there by testing less; pricier engagements get there by billing humans for the deep work. Aegis automates that depth and puts it in the base price — so a low number doesn't mean a shallow test.
Authenticated, not surface-level
Aegis logs in and tests behind auth: business-logic flaws, multi-tenant object-level access (IDOR/BOLA) and function-level authorization (BFLA) via dual identity. Cheaper scanners skip this; consultancies bill it by the hour.
The full injection suite, named
SQLi (boolean, error and time-based), XSS, SSTI, OS command, path traversal, SSRF (reflected and blind via OAST) and blind XXE. Competitors hide behind “OWASP Top 10”; we name the exact classes we run.
AI/LLM application testing
For apps with a chat or AI feature: OAST-confirmed indirect prompt-injection and tool-abuse (SSRF-via-LLM), direct injection and system-prompt leakage. We're not aware of another self-serve platform that confirms this out-of-band.
Client-side & attack surface
Exposed .js.map source maps and secrets baked into JS bundles, exposed .git/.env/backup files, plus subdomain enumeration and takeover detection (EASM-lite) seeded from your verified apex.
Signed attestation, every report
A signed Letter of Attestation — scope, methodology, dates and a plain “no critical or high findings” when true — plus Verified Controls that prove what’s safe, not just what’s broken. An enterprise line item elsewhere; standard here.
Ships into your workflow
Findings to Slack, MS Teams, Jira, GitHub Issues or a signed webhook; a pass/fail CI/CD security gate; live SOC 2 / ISO 27001 posture with a Vanta/Drata-compatible feed; and a free retest after you remediate.
You probably don't need the $15,000 engagement
For a SaaS going live or preparing SOC 2 / ISO 27001, what auditors want is evidence of a defensible, repeatable testing process — not the most expensive invoice. An audit-ready automated pentest that runs authenticated and covers business logic satisfies that for a fraction of the cost. Every paid Aegis report ships with a signed Letter of Attestation — scope, methodology, dates and a plain “no critical or high findings” when that’s true — which is the document auditors and prospective customers actually ask to see. The exception is a specific mandate for a qualified, independent human tester; we'll tell you plainly when that's you.
Get an audit-ready pentest for $1,499.
Verify a domain, accept the rules, and Aegis does the rest. Free to start; no sales call.