Cost guide
Physical Penetration Testing Cost
Physical penetration testing starts at $6,800 for one NYC-metro office, fixed in writing before work begins. Two operators spend up to three days on site testing tailgating, badge cloning, doors, and reception under a signed authorization letter, with photo evidence, a full report, and a free re-check of the controls you fix.
Small
One NYC-metro office of up to about two floors. Up to 3 on-site days with 2 operators: one day of reconnaissance, then two days of business-hours entry attempts.
Medium
A guarded or harder site, with lobby security, turnstiles, building management, or encrypted badges, or two nearby sites. Up to 5 on-site days and one after-hours attempt.
Large
Three or more sites, a campus, or a covert multi-week engagement built around one objective, quoted from the scope.
What moves the number
What drives the cost of physical penetration testing
Number of sites
One office is the Small tier. Two nearby sites move to Medium, and three or more, or a campus, are quoted. Each site needs its own reconnaissance, entry attempts, and evidence.
How hard the site is
A single-tenant office with a reception desk is quicker than a building with guards, turnstiles, building management, and encrypted badges. Harder controls take more reconnaissance and more on-site time.
On-site days
Small covers up to three on-site days with two operators. More days, more floors, or more entry points to try add operator time, which is the main cost of physical work.
After-hours attempts
Business-hours entry is the baseline. After-hours or night attempts test different controls, such as alarms and guard patrols, and are included once in the Medium tier.
Objectives
Reaching the server room, a network closet, or an executive floor, or planting a network device, are common objectives. The more objectives you set, the longer the operators need on site.
Location
The published prices cover sites in the NYC metro. Sites elsewhere are quoted from the scope, because travel and scheduling change the effort.
In the price
What every physical penetration testing price includes
- ✓Tailgating, badge cloning, lock and door bypass, and reception and delivery pretexts, tested by two operators on site
- ✓Clean-desk, unattended-workstation, server-room, and network-closet checks, plus one attempt to plant a network drop device
- ✓A signed authorization letter carried by the operators, named emergency contacts, and pre-agreed rules of engagement with no forced entry or damage
- ✓A fixed price agreed in writing before work begins, with no hourly billing
- ✓Photo and video evidence of each entry, an executive summary, a full technical report, and a debrief for facilities, HR, and security (see a sample penetration testing report)
- ✓A free re-check of the controls you fix, such as a door, a badge reader, or a reception procedure, during business hours in the NYC metro
- ✓An attestation letter and findings platform access at no extra cost
- ✓Senior in-house testers, no subcontractors or crowdsourced testers
Keep it tight
How to keep the price down
- 01Get building or landlord consent early. In a multi-tenant building it is a scoping step, and having it in hand keeps the on-site days on schedule.
- 02Test one representative office first. Badge, door, and reception findings usually apply across sites, so one site tested well shows where to spend next.
- 03Keep testing to business hours unless after-hours entry is a real concern. Night attempts need extra operator time.
- 04Name the objective up front, such as the server room or a network closet. A clear target keeps the operators focused and the scope tight.
Timeline
Allow 2 to 4 weeks from signing to the on-site days for authorization letters, building consent, and scheduling. The Small tier runs up to 3 days on site. The report follows within 5 business days of the last on-site day, so kickoff to report is usually 3 to 5 weeks. The free re-check of fixed controls follows your remediation.
FAQ
Questions about physical penetration testing cost
01How much does a physical penetration test cost?
It starts at $6,800 for one NYC-metro office, fixed before work begins: two operators, up to three days on site, and a free re-check of the controls you fix. A guarded or harder site, or two nearby sites, is $10,500. Three or more sites, or a campus, are quoted from the scope. Every price is on the pricing page.
02What authorization do your operators carry?
A signed authorization letter from you, with named emergency contacts who can confirm the test is approved. The rules of engagement are agreed in writing first: which sites, which hours, which areas are off limits, and no forced entry or damage. In a multi-tenant building, getting building or landlord consent is part of scoping, and we help you plan it.
03Will you force doors or damage anything?
No. Operators use the ways a real intruder gets in without breaking anything: following staff through doors, cloning badges, talking past reception, and finding doors and latches that do not hold. Anything beyond the agreed rules of engagement is not attempted.
04Who at our company knows about the test?
You decide. Usually only the named contacts know, so staff and security react as they normally would. Those contacts can stop the test at any time, and they are the people an operator calls if challenged.
05Do you test sites outside New York?
Yes. The published prices cover NYC-metro sites. Sites elsewhere are quoted from the scope, with travel planned during scoping and shown in the written fixed price.
06How is this different from a red team?
A physical test assesses one site's physical controls and reports every way in that we find. A red team, from $12,500, pursues one objective quietly across several routes, and physical entry can be one of them. If your question is whether your office is hard to walk into, buy the physical test.
Other cost guides
Web Application Penetration Testing Cost
From $5,200API Penetration Testing Cost
From $4,000Mobile Application Penetration Testing Cost
From $6,000Red Team Assessment Cost
From $12,500Cloud Penetration Testing Cost
From $6,800External Network Penetration Testing Cost
From $4,200Internal Network Penetration Testing Cost
From $6,000Secure Code Review Cost
From $4,800AI and LLM Penetration Testing Cost
From $4,500Phishing and Social Engineering Testing Cost
From $3,600Hardware and IoT Penetration Testing Cost
From $5,200Vulnerability Scanning and Assessment Cost
From $1,500Microsoft 365 Security Assessment Cost
From $4,200Wireless Penetration Testing Cost
From $3,800Thick Client Penetration Testing Cost
From $6,000Salesforce Penetration Testing Cost
From $5,200Get the exact number for your scope
Tell us what needs testing. You get a written fixed price within one business day, and the number does not move once testing starts.
Prefer the full scoping questionnaire?Get a Fixed-Scope Quote
Tell us what you need tested. We reply within one business day.
Thanks, we've received your message.
We'll be in touch shortly.