Penetration Testing Cost in Europe 2026: What Providers Actually Charge
Prices verified: 2 August 2026 — reviewed quarterly
Quick Answer
A web application penetration test in Europe in 2026 typically costs €1,700–€12,750, with most single-application startups landing in the €3,400–€5,100 range for a 4–6 day manual engagement. Price is driven mainly by application size, number of user roles, API/SSO surface, and whether you're buying a vulnerability assessment or a full manual pentest — not primarily by the provider's country. Below are eight providers' published prices, compared side by side, including our own.
The Short Answer: Price Ranges by Scope
Before comparing individual providers, the fastest way to sanity-check any quote is to place your target in one of these four buckets.
| Target type | Typical price range (2026) |
|---|---|
| Brochure / marketing site (no auth, no user data) | €800 – €2,000 |
| Small SaaS application (1–2 roles, single tenant) | €1,700 – €4,500 |
| Standard SaaS + API (multi-role, REST/GraphQL) | €4,000 – €12,750 |
| Multi-tenant enterprise SaaS (SSO, cloud infra, integrations) | €8,000 – €18,000+ |
Published Prices: Eight European and US Providers
Collected from each provider's public pricing pages. We're one row in this table, not the conclusion — click through and compare for yourself.
| Provider | Jurisdiction | Published price | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Precursor Security | UK | from £3,750 (small SaaS, 5 days) to £15,000+ | CREST-accredited, OWASP ASVS |
| Faultline Security | EU (Portugal) | from €3,000 | Fixed price, no subcontracting, AI red teaming |
| Budget Security | EU | from €849/day; web app €1,700–€12,750 | Public price calculator, OSCP |
| Pentestas | — | from $5,000 | Manual-first methodology |
| SecureLeap | EU-focused | seed/pre-revenue $4,000–$8,000; Series A SaaS $8,000–$15,000 | Bundles with SOC 2 / ISO 27001 |
| Red Sentry | US | from $4,200 | ~7 day average delivery, OSCP/OSEP |
| Redfox Security | — (market estimate) | gray-box medium SaaS $8,000–$18,000 | Analyst estimate, not a published price |
| Optimum Web | EU (Moldova, IT Park) | €539 / from €1,800 / from €4,500 / €8,000–€12,000 | Full price list published, OWASP WSTG v4.2, signed Attestation Letter |
Third-party prices reflect each provider's publicly listed pricing as of 2 August 2026 and are subject to change — verify directly with the provider before making a purchasing decision. Redfox Security's figure is a market estimate rather than a published price.
What Actually Drives the Price
Number of pages, screens, and distinct workflows to cover manually.
Each additional role (admin, standard user, guest, partner) multiplies authorization test paths.
REST and GraphQL endpoints, SAML/OIDC SSO flows each add dedicated test time.
Vulnerability assessment (automated + spot-check validation) vs full manual penetration test vs red team — very different effort.
Driven by tester seniority, jurisdiction, and accreditation overhead (e.g. CREST membership costs).
Whether a remediation retest is included in the fixed price or billed separately.
Vulnerability Assessment vs Penetration Test
A necessary honesty check: our own €539 tier is a Vulnerability Assessment, not a full penetration test — and that distinction matters when you're comparing quotes.
| Dimension | Vulnerability Assessment | Penetration Test |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Automated scanning + manual validation of high-severity findings | Manual exploitation attempted on every finding, business logic tested |
| Typical price (single web app) | €500 – €1,000 | €1,800 – €12,000+ |
| Typical duration | 3–5 business days | 1.5–5 weeks depending on scope |
| Satisfies | ISO 27001 A.8.8 (regular vulnerability testing) | ISO 27001 A.8.29, PCI DSS 11.4, most enterprise vendor reviews |
| Report depth | Findings list with CVSS scores | Findings + exploitation narrative + business impact + remediation retest |
Need to know which one your situation calls for? Start with the €539 Vulnerability Assessment if you need a fast, evidenced baseline — or book a call if your scope needs a full manual pentest.
Red Flags When Comparing Quotes
Why Prices Differ by Geography
Jurisdiction affects price mainly through three channels, and none of them implies one region does better work than another: the local cost of a senior security engineer's time, whether the firm carries formal accreditation overhead (CREST membership has real recurring cost), and the professional indemnity insurance loading firms in some markets carry. A UK CREST-accredited firm and a Moldova-based firm can run the identical OWASP WSTG v4.2 methodology and produce an equivalent depth of report at very different price points — the difference is largely operating cost structure, not rigor.
What to Ask Before You Sign
Where Optimum Fits — Including Where We Don't
All 22 of our security services are published with fixed prices — the number on the page is what you pay, not a starting point for a sales call. That transparency is the one differentiator we'd stand behind against any provider in the table above.
The honest limits: Optimum is not a CREST-member firm — Moldova currently has no local CREST accreditation path. Our ISO/IEC 27001 certification is in progress, targeted for Q4 2026. If your contract or regulator specifically names CREST membership as a requirement, a CREST-accredited firm is the right choice for that engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a web application pentest cost in 2026?+
Why is there such a wide range?+
Is a €539 test a real penetration test?+
Do I need CREST accreditation?+
Is retesting usually included?+
How long does a typical engagement take?+
Will the report be accepted for SOC 2 / ISO 27001?+
What's the difference between a pentest and a vulnerability scan?+
See Our Full Published Price List
No sales call required to see the number — every tier is published on the page.