Matt Miller Cost, External Penetration Test Cost, External Penetration Test

How Much Does an External Penetration Test Cost in 2025?

An external penetration test evaluates the perimeter security of your organization by simulating an attacker on the internet. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems, attempt to breach internal networks, or uncover publicly exposed information that could harm your reputation. (For more details, see our complete external penetration test guide.) Because it closely mirrors real-world threats, external penetration testing is one of the most critical security assessments a business can perform. It’s also a compliance requirement for frameworks like PCI DSS and FedRAMP, and is implied or strongly recommended by standards such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, and the FTC Safeguards Rule. With this growing emphasis on security validation, many organizations are asking the same question: How much does an external penetration test cost, and what drives that cost?

External Penetration Test Cost at a High Level

As with most professional services, the cost of a penetration test is primarily driven by the time a qualified (and ideally certified) engineer spends evaluating your environment. For most firms, engineer salaries are the single largest operating expense—and more experienced testers come at a premium. That cost is naturally passed on to clients.

Scope also plays a significant role in pricing. Simply put, the more IP addresses on your internet perimeter, the more time it takes to test them thoroughly.

On average, organizations with a small internet footprint—say, ten or fewer external hosts—can expect pricing to start around $5,000. Larger environments with fifty or more internet-facing assets may see costs in the $15,000–$20,000 range or higher. Ultimately, penetration testing pricing comes down to one thing: the time required for a skilled engineer to do the job right.

Factors That Can Change Pricing

While the cost ranges above offer a general starting point, the external penetration test cost estimate you receive from a qualified penetration testing firm can vary significantly depending on several key factors. We won’t cover every possible variable in this blog, but here are some important considerations to keep in mind when scoping your test and evaluating a proposal.

Number of IP Addresses – The biggest cost factor for an external penetration test is the number of IP addresses on your Internet perimeter. This is the greatest factor in determining how much time is spent in testing. One way to reduce this cost is to only perform a penetration test on the Internet hosts that have ports open and services listening on the Internet. Simply put, if an Internet host does not have any services listening, an attacker will not be able to attack it, and it does not need to be tested. Some organizations choose to test their entire range of allocated IP addresses in order to have a qualified third-party verify that no services are open, but if costs are a concern, this verification can be done by internal IT staff if they are qualified.
Black Box, White Box, or Gray Box Testing – Also known as zero knowledge testing, black box testing has the penetration tester start without knowing the IP Addresses or hostnames of the organization. As part of the test, the engineer will attempt to enumerate your organization’s hosts and then proceed to target them. This type of test has the advantage of being more realistic and providing a better understanding of what public information is available about your company. The disadvantage of this type of testing is cost, because the engineer has to spend a significant amount of time performing enumeration before they can begin the assessment.
Retests – Some organizations require a retest of the findings discovered during the penetration test. This is typically driven by a compliance requirement, but sometimes derives from the need to show the penetration test to a prospective/current client. Some penetration testing firms will bundle a retest as part of the up-front cost, but others will charge separately for it. On average, a retest will cost up to half of the cost of the original assessment, depending on the number of findings to be retested. This can be significantly reduced if you only want to retest the critical/high vulnerabilities.
After-hours testing – Although not every penetration testing firm will charge a different rate for after-hours testing, many do. Although after-hours testing might reduce the impact of a penetration test, many times they are not necessary. This blog outlines some things that can go wrong on an external penetration test and how to avoid them.
Skill of the engineers – This one is much harder to quantify. We have clients come to us and ask why they are receiving quotes anywhere from $900 to $5,500 for a small external penetration test, and wonder why the ranges vary so much between firms. Although we have found that sometimes the issue comes down to scoping, a lot of the time, it varies depending on the level of the engineer who will be performing your assessment, and therefore, the quality of the deliverable you will receive. On the lower range, these penetration tests will likely be little more than a vulnerability scan (click here to read about the difference between a vulnerability scan and a penetration test), and not be a true assessment of the risks to your organization. On the higher end, these usually involve engineers who are very talented and are recognized leaders in the field of information security.

For more information, check out our other blog that covers everything you need to know about external penetration tests, or reach out to us to set up a call to discuss today.