Pen Test Cost in the UK: Penetration Testing Prices for 2026

Penetration testing cost in the UK runs from about £550 for a small, fixed-scope external network test to £25,000 or more for a full assessment across several scopes. In the published prices from UK providers we reviewed in September 2026, consultant day rates sat at roughly £1,000 to £1,500, and a single web application test was priced from £1,650 to £10,000+. What decides your penetration test cost is simple: how many tester-days your scope needs.

This guide sets out those published ranges by test type, shows how to check what a quote actually buys, explains what pushes the price up or down, and covers where PCI DSS, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus add cost. Sovereign Secure does not publish a pen test price list. We scope each test and give you a fixed quote, which you can start on our penetration testing quote page.

Pen test cost by test type: UK price list (2026)

UK pen test pricing comes in two shapes: fixed-price packages for a tightly defined scope, and scoped engagements priced by the day. The table shows both, using published prices from UK providers we reviewed in September 2026. It is a small sample, not a market survey, and providers do not always say whether prices include VAT.

Two things stand out. The same test type can vary more than five-fold in price, because a package and a scoped engagement are not buying the same number of days. And API and cloud tests rarely carry a public price, because their size depends on endpoints, roles and cloud services that differ too much from one client to the next.

What is the day rate for a penetration tester in the UK?

UK penetration testing day rates in our September 2026 sample were about £1,000 to £1,500 per tester-day, and one provider published a flat £1,200. Almost every quote, fixed-price or not, is a day rate multiplied by an estimate of days for testing and reporting.

That makes any quote easy to sanity-check: divide the price by a typical day rate to see how much consultant time you are buying.

If two quotes for the same scope differ widely, ask each provider how many days they have allowed and what happens in those days. That one question explains most of the gap.

What drives the cost of a penetration test?

Scope drives pen testing cost. The more hosts, applications, user roles and environments a tester has to cover properly, the more days the job takes. These drivers account for most of the difference between quotes.

Why are some pen tests so cheap?

A very low price usually means you are buying an automated vulnerability scan with a report template, not a penetration test. One UK provider’s pricing guide states that anything at £300 or less is not a penetration test, and at typical day rates £300 buys a couple of hours of consultant time.

A scanner finds known weaknesses by signature. A penetration tester confirms which findings are genuinely exploitable, chains lower-risk issues into real attack paths, tests the business logic and access control that no scanner understands, and removes false positives. The NCSC’s penetration testing guidance treats a pen test as a way to check that your vulnerability management works, not as a replacement for it.

Signs that a cheap quote is really a scan:

• no scoping questions about user roles, workflows or network layout;
• the same delivery time whatever the size of your estate;
• a sample report that is a list of scanner findings with no attack narrative or proof of exploitation;
• no stated methodology, such as the OWASP Web Security Testing Guide for web applications.

Pen test vs vulnerability scan: how do the costs compare?

A vulnerability scan costs a fraction of a penetration test because it is mostly automated and designed to run far more often. The two do different jobs, and most organisations need both.

For regular scanning, see our vulnerability scanning services. Providers that sell scanning and testing together often call the package VAPT services (vulnerability assessment and penetration testing). PCI DSS quarterly external scans must be run by a PCI SSC Approved Scanning Vendor, and Sovereign Secure delivers these through an ASV partner.

How do PCI DSS, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus affect cost?

Compliance changes the cost mainly by fixing the scope and frequency for you. PCI DSS is the most prescriptive, ISO 27001 leaves it to your risk assessment, and Cyber Essentials Plus does not require a penetration test at all.

For card-data environments, scope a PCI DSS penetration test around the cardholder data environment (CDE) and its segmentation controls from the start, so the report gives your assessor the evidence Requirement 11.4 asks for. Requirement 11.4.1 also expects a documented testing methodology. The standard and the PCI SSC’s penetration testing guidance are free from the PCI SSC document library.

For ISO 27001, tie the scope to the risks and controls in your Statement of Applicability; our guide to ISO 27001 penetration testing explains how test results feed your ISMS evidence.

Testing on a smaller budget

A lower price should come from a tighter scope, not a cheaper tester: start with what attackers can reach, test live assets only, and keep manual, authenticated testing and a report your developers can act on. Our guide to affordable penetration testing for small businesses sets out what to test first and how to right-size the scope.

How to get an accurate penetration testing quote

An accurate penetration testing price needs a clear scope. Have this ready before you ask for prices:

Our penetration testing quote form asks for exactly this and turns it into a fixed-price proposal. For an overview of every test type we run, see our penetration testing services, or our network penetration testing page for infrastructure scopes.

Why Sovereign Secure

Sovereign Secure Ltd is a PCI SSC-approved QSA, QPA and CPSA company, an IASME-licensed Cyber Essentials certification body and ISO 27001 certified, based in Accrington, Lancashire, and established in 2012.

• Compliance-aware testing. As a QSA company and a member of the PCI SSC Global Executive Assessor Roundtable (GEAR) 2026 to 2028, we know what evidence an assessor expects from Requirement 11.4 testing.
• One provider, many test types. Web applications, APIs, networks and infrastructure, cloud, mobile apps, hardware and IoT (including POS and PIN devices), wireless, AI and LLM applications, source code review, firewall review, social engineering and red team.
• Trusted by regulated businesses. Clients include Accor, Fiserv, Ticketmaster and Cashplus.
• UK-based, internationally present. Headquarters in Accrington, with offices in Los Angeles, Singapore, Dubai and Dhaka.

Get a fixed penetration testing quote

Tell us what you need tested and why, and we will scope it and send a fixed quote. Start with the quote form, call +44 161 523 5276 or email [email protected].