What drives penetration test pricing
Penetration testing is not a commodity. The cost is determined by how much skilled human time your product requires. Five variables determine the scope:
Product surface area
A single mobile app is a smaller engagement than a full platform with a web app, mobile clients, admin dashboard, merchant portal, and internal APIs. More surfaces mean more testing days.
Integration complexity
Each third-party integration (Paystack, Flutterwave, NIBSS, BVN providers, telco billers) adds testing scope. The boundaries between your system and external services are where configuration mistakes create exploitable gaps.
User roles and permission levels
A platform with one user type is simpler to test than one with customers, merchants, agents, support staff, and admins. Each role requires testing against every other role's access boundaries.
Compliance requirements
If the report needs to satisfy CBN examiners, PCI DSS auditors, or investor due diligence, that shapes the reporting format and testing methodology. We structure deliverables to match your regulatory context.
2024–2026 pricing benchmarks in Nigeria
While every engagement is scoped individually, these current market averages for Nigerian vendors provide a baseline for budgeting:
Basic Web App
$4,000 – $9,000
Single application with limited roles. Typical for seed-stage startups and early fintech products.
Network Pentest
$4,000 – $10,000
Review of host security, firewall rules, and internal segmentation for SMB infrastructure.
Enterprise Scope
$10,000 – $80,000+
Multi-asset reviews (Web, Mobile, API, Network) for licensed financial institutions and mid-market firms.
Scanner reports vs. manual testing — the real cost difference
You'll find firms in Nigeria offering "penetration testing" for very low prices. What they deliver is an automated scanner output — a tool like Nessus, Burp Scanner, or OWASP ZAP runs against your application for a few hours, generates hundreds of findings (most of them false positives or irrelevant), and the firm reformats the output into a branded PDF.
That report will check a compliance box. It will not find the business logic flaws that actually cause financial loss in fintech applications — race conditions in payment flows, privilege escalation through stale tokens, KYC bypass through API parameter manipulation.
What a scanner will never find
A Nigerian lending platform purchased a budget "pentest" that returned a clean report. Three months later, an attacker discovered that firing 20 parallel loan acceptance requests bypassed the balance check lock, disbursing ₦40M to a single bank account while the platform recorded only one loan. That single logic flaw cost more than a decade of proper penetration testing would have.
What a Simpa Labs engagement includes
Every engagement — regardless of scope — includes:
- Scoping call: We map your product surface, tech stack, user roles, and integrations. You get a clear proposal with defined scope and timeline before any work begins.
- Manual testing (5–10 business days): An engineer tests your application manually — the same flows an attacker would follow. No scanner-first methodology.
- Detailed report: Every finding includes severity, proof of exploitability, business impact, and an engineering-ready fix. Formatted for your audience (engineers, board, auditors).
- Report walkthrough: A live session with your engineering team to review findings, answer questions, and prioritize remediation.
- Retesting: After your team ships fixes, we validate that each vulnerability is properly remediated and update the report. This is included, not an upsell.
Tell us what you're building. We'll send you a scoped proposal with a clear price — no surprises.
Get a Scoped ProposalHow to budget for security testing
If you're an early-stage fintech startup, think of penetration testing as a cost of doing business — like legal counsel or accounting. A single critical vulnerability in production costs more in direct financial loss, regulatory penalties, and user attrition than years of testing.
For budgeting purposes, consider these factors: if you're handling real money or sensitive identity data (BVNs, NINs), you need manual penetration testing, not just a scanner. If you're raising a round, investors will ask for a third-party security review — having one already demonstrates engineering maturity. If you hold a CBN license, you're required by regulation to conduct annual penetration testing and biannual vulnerability assessments.
Related services and resources
Explore our penetration testing, API security testing, authentication security reviews, and vulnerability assessment services. For a self-assessment starting point, use our fintech security checklist. If you're a startup, see our startup-specific engagement model.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a pentest for under ₦500,000?
At that range, you're likely getting a scanner output with a logo, not a manual test. True manual penetration testing by experienced engineers costs more because it requires skilled human time. However, Simpa Labs offers scoped engagements that focus on your highest-risk surfaces, so you get real coverage within a realistic budget.
Do you charge per vulnerability found?
No. We charge based on the scope and complexity of the engagement, not per finding. A per-finding model creates perverse incentives for testers to split vulnerabilities into multiple 'findings' or to avoid testing complex areas that might not yield easy results.
What's included in the price?
Scoping, testing, reporting, a report walkthrough with your engineering team, and retesting after you ship fixes. We don't charge extra for retesting — it's part of the engagement.
How much more does compliance-formatted reporting cost?
Nothing extra. If you need reports formatted for CBN examiners, investor due diligence, or PCI DSS auditors, we structure the deliverable accordingly at no additional cost. Tell us during scoping who needs to read the report.
Do you offer retainer or ongoing testing?
Yes. For fast-shipping teams, we offer quarterly deep dives and on-demand reviews for major feature releases. Retainer pricing is typically more cost-effective than ad-hoc engagements because we maintain context on your product between tests.