SOC 2 Penetration Testing Cost: What to Budget and What Affects Pricing

A SOC 2 penetration test typically costs between $8,000 and $25,000 for a standard SaaS scope web application, API layer, and cloud infrastructure. What puts you at the low or high end of that range depends on four variables: scope size, testing depth, report format, and whether retesting is included.

1. SOC 2 Pentest Price Ranges by Scope
2. What Drives Cost Up or Down
3. Penetration Testing Cost Per Hour: What It Means
4. What a Compliant SOC 2 Pentest Must Include
5. Get a Scoped Quote

SOC 2 Pentest Price Ranges by Scope

For most SaaS companies going through SOC 2 for the first time one product, a REST API, and AWS infrastructure budget $12,000–$20,000 for a properly scoped engagement that will hold up with your auditor.

What Drives Cost Up or Down

Scope size is the biggest factor. Every additional application, API endpoint group, or cloud account in scope adds testing time and testing time drives cost. Keeping your scope tightly aligned to your SOC 2 system boundary (not your entire infrastructure) is the most effective way to control cost without cutting quality.

Testing depth matters more than scope width. A shallow automated scan across a large attack surface costs less than a deep human-led test across a smaller one but only the latter satisfies auditors. Make sure you understand whether you're buying hours of skilled manual testing or a scanner report with narrative.

Retest inclusion affects total cost significantly. Some vendors quote a base pentest price and charge separately for retesting critical findings. For SOC 2 specifically, retest evidence is not optional it's what auditors look for to confirm remediation actually worked. Make sure retest is in the quote.

Report format adds cost if you need compliance-mapped output. A generic pentest report won't satisfy a SOC 2 auditor as easily as one with findings mapped to Trust Services Criteria, a clear remediation status section, and an executive summary with an overall risk rating. Ask whether the report is structured for auditor review or for internal security teams.

Urgency vendors typically charge a premium for compressed timelines. If you need results in two weeks for an imminent audit, expect to pay 20–40% more than a standard-timeline engagement.

Penetration Testing Cost Per Hour: What It Means

When vendors quote hourly rates, typical market rates for credentialed pentesters (OSCP, OSWE, CREST) run $175–$350/hour. A properly scoped SOC 2 pentest for a mid-sized SaaS stack runs 40–80 hours of active testing time, which maps to the $8,000–$25,000 range above.

Be cautious of quotes significantly below this range. The economics of qualified human testing don't support $3,000–$5,000 all-in for a real SaaS pentest at that price point, you're buying automated scanning with a cover report, not the manual expert testing SOC 2 auditors expect to see.

What a Compliant SOC 2 Pentest Must Include

Cost only matters if the output is accepted by your auditor. A SOC 2-compliant pentest report needs: a documented methodology, findings with severity ratings and business impact context, evidence of exploitability (screenshots, PoCs), remediation guidance, and documented retest results. Without those elements, you've paid for a report your auditor will ask supplemental questions about.

For full detail on what auditors expect, see our SOC 2 penetration testing requirements guide.

If you're managing ongoing SOC 2 compliance particularly Type II the SLASH platform gives you continuous testing cycles rather than a recurring one-off spend each year, with audit-ready reporting included.

Get a Scoped Quote

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