Search "AI security assessment cost" and most of what comes back is a contact form. The pricing lives behind a discovery call, a scoping deck, and a procurement cycle — by which point you've spent two weeks just to learn whether the engagement fits your budget. That opacity isn't an accident. It lets a firm price each buyer by how much they look like they can pay.
We took the opposite position. DSE publishes fixed fees on our services page and our small-business page, and this guide pulls those same numbers together with the published market ranges around them. You can budget an AI security assessment in one sitting, decide whether it's worth a conversation, and arrive at the scoping form already knowing the shape of the number.
The short answer
For a mid-market team with one or two LLM applications in production, plan for one of three commitments:
- A point-in-time AI security assessment of a single system — DSE prices this from $18,000, about two weeks, mapped to the OWASP LLM Top 10 and MITRE ATLAS.
- A full AI red-team engagement across the application plus its retrieval and agent layers — $35,000–$55,000, about four weeks, with a 30-day retest after you ship fixes.
- Retained AI security leadership (a vCISO for your AI program) — from $6,000/mo, fixed-fee, owning the AI risk register and the red-team harness as your models change.
Those are the numbers. Below is what's behind them, and how they line up against pen testing and compliance work you may already be budgeting for.
| Engagement | What it is | Price | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Security X-Ray / Snapshot Sprint | Point-in-time threat model + adversarial test of one LLM application. Prompt injection, tool/agent abuse, data-leakage paths. OWASP LLM Top 10 + MITRE ATLAS. ~2 weeks. | $12k–$18k | DSE fixed fee |
| AI Red Team Sprint | Full red team across the app, RAG/retrieval, and agent layers. Reproducible payloads, captured transcripts, severity-ranked findings, 30-day retest. ~4 weeks. | $35k–$55k | DSE fixed fee |
| AI Security Co-Pilot (retainer) | Continuous re-testing and advisory leadership as your prompts, models, and tools change. Keeps the red-team harness and AI inventory current. | from $8.5k/mo | DSE fixed fee |
| vCISO for AI Programs | Retained senior security leadership for your AI program: AI risk register, NIST AI RMF / ISO 42001 / EU AI Act interpretation, board- and insurer-ready reporting. | from $6k/mo | DSE fixed fee |
| Security Posture Assessment | Entry point for smaller teams: a point-in-time review of your environment as configured, with a prioritized, plain-English findings list and remediation roadmap. | from $1.5k | DSE fixed fee |
| Penetration test (SMB) — market | Traditional network/web-app pen test for a small or mid-size business. Provided here as a market reference point, not a DSE product. | $8k–$10k | Market — IBSSCORP, 2026 (most SMB engagements $8k–$10k) |
| SOC 2 / compliance audit (SMB) — market | Small-business compliance audit program (e.g., SOC 2), including readiness and implementation. Provided as a market reference point; DSE delivers readiness, not certification. | $15k–$40k | Market — IBSSCORP, 2026 (small-business SOC 2 / ISO) |
DSE figures are our published fixed fees (see services and small-business security). Market figures are attributed published ranges for context only — they are not DSE prices and the work is not equivalent: a SOC 2 audit certifies controls over time, while a DSE AI security assessment is point-in-time adversarial testing of an AI system. Market sources: IBSSCORP, "Cybersecurity Audit Cost in 2026"; cross-checked against Soc2Auditors.org (181-firm 2026 study).
Get a fixed-fee quote before you commit.
Tell us what you're running — one form, three steps. We respond within 48 hours with a fixed-fee, fixed-scope proposal. No discovery-call gauntlet, no price that depends on how you look.
Scope your assessment →What moves the price
The fee bands above are real, but where you land inside them — or above them — comes down to a handful of factors. None of them are secret, and we fix all of them in writing before the engagement starts.
1. Scope: how many systems, and how deep
One LLM application tested at the prompt and tool layer is the X-Ray. Add its retrieval (RAG) layer, its agent/tool-calling surface, and the model supply chain, and you're into red-team territory. The single biggest lever on price is how many distinct attack surfaces are in scope — not the size of your company.
2. The agent and tool surface
An LLM that only answers questions is cheaper to test than one that can call tools, write to systems, or drive a multi-step agent. Each capability you give the model is a new abuse path — and testing abuse paths is where the hours go. If your application is "agentic," expect the upper half of the range.
3. Production vs. staging, and blast radius
Destructive tests against a live system require agreed rate caps, rollback plans, and blast-radius limits. Setting those up safely takes time. A representative staging mirror is usually faster and cheaper to test against than a production system with guardrails we have to negotiate.
4. Compliance and federal overlays
If you need findings mapped to NIST AI RMF, the EU AI Act, or a SOC 2 / ISO 27001 control set, that mapping is included in the Red Team Sprint and available as an add-on elsewhere. Controlled-data and federal (CMMC-aware) handling adds scope around how artifacts and transcripts are stored and shared.
5. Remediation and retest
A roadmap is part of every tier. A 30-day retest after you ship fixes is included in the Red Team Sprint, can be added to the X-Ray, and is continuous under the Co-Pilot retainer. If you want us to verify your fixes, that's a defined line item rather than an open-ended bill.
What's included at each tier
Every DSE engagement is fixed-scope and ends in a named deliverable and a runbook. Here's what you actually receive:
AI Security X-Ray ($12k–$18k)
- Threat model of one LLM application, mapped to the OWASP LLM Top 10 and MITRE ATLAS.
- Hands-on adversarial testing of prompt injection, tool/agent abuse, and data-leakage pathways — with reproducible payloads.
- Severity-ranked findings, each verified before it ships, with a prioritized remediation roadmap.
- First findings in 48 hours; a principal on the work, every time.
AI Red Team Sprint ($35k–$55k)
- Everything in the X-Ray, extended across the RAG/retrieval layer, the agent and tool surface, and the model supply chain.
- Captured transcripts and reproducible exploits for every finding — evidence, not a checklist.
- A framework-mapping annex so your security and compliance teams can connect each finding to NIST AI RMF, MITRE ATLAS, and the OWASP LLM Top 10.
- A 30-day retest after you ship fixes.
AI Security Co-Pilot (from $8.5k/mo) & vCISO for AI (from $6k/mo)
- Continuous re-testing as your prompts, models, and tools change — the harness stays current instead of going stale the day the report lands.
- Ownership of the AI risk register and board- and insurer-ready risk reporting.
- NIST AI RMF / ISO 42001 / EU AI Act interpretation for your program. This is readiness and advisory leadership — not a certification, and not a 24/7 SOC.
How it compares to pen tests and compliance audits
If you've bought security before, you're probably anchored on two numbers: a penetration test and a compliance audit. They're useful reference points, but they buy different things.
A traditional penetration test for a small or mid-size business typically runs $8,000–$10,000 for most engagements, per IBSSCORP's 2026 cost study, with broader market ranges of roughly $5k–$25k depending on scope. That tests your network and applications — not the unique failure modes of an LLM, where the "input" is natural language and the attacker's payload is a sentence.
A SOC 2 or compliance audit for a small business runs roughly $15,000–$40,000 including readiness and implementation, per the same 2026 study, and a first SOC 2 Type 2 with a specialist firm commonly lands at $15k–$70k per the 181-firm Soc2Auditors.org study. An audit certifies that controls operated over a period. An AI security assessment is the opposite posture: an adversary actively trying to break one system, right now, with the receipts to prove it.
The honest framing: a DSE AI security assessment sits in the same budget neighborhood as the work you already plan for, and tests a surface those engagements don't reach. It's not a replacement for a pen test or an audit — it's the AI-specific layer on top.
Why we publish the number
Price transparency is a deliberate choice, and it's the easiest way to tell a senior-only boutique from a sales-led shop. When a firm won't quote until it has qualified your budget, the price is a function of you, not the work. Our fees are fixed and public because the scope is fixed: you're buying a defined deliverable, and the person who scopes it is the person who does it.
It also means there's no penalty for using this page to budget and then deciding the timing isn't right. The numbers don't expire when you close the tab.
Key facts
- A DSE AI security assessment of a single LLM application starts at $18,000 and runs about 2 weeks, mapped to the OWASP LLM Top 10 and MITRE ATLAS (DSE, 2026).
- A full DSE AI red-team engagement across an application with its RAG and agent layers runs about 4 weeks at $35,000–$55,000, with a 30-day retest after fixes ship (DSE, 2026).
- Retained AI security leadership (a vCISO for AI programs) is priced from $6,000/mo, and continuous AI security re-testing from $8,500/mo, both fixed-fee (DSE, 2026).
- For comparison, a US small-business penetration test most commonly runs $8,000–$10,000, and a small-business SOC 2 / compliance audit program runs $15,000–$40,000 (IBSSCORP, 2026).
- DSE publishes fixed fees rather than quoting per buyer; the same numbers appear on its services and small-business pages (DSE, 2026).
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI security assessment cost?
A focused DSE AI security assessment of a single LLM application starts at $18,000 and runs about two weeks (the AI Security X-Ray band is $12k–$18k). A full red-team engagement across the application plus its retrieval and agent layers is $35,000–$55,000 over roughly four weeks. Retained leadership starts at $6,000/mo. All fees are fixed and published.
Why do most firms hide their AI security pricing?
Opaque pricing lets a firm quote each buyer based on perceived budget rather than the work. DSE publishes fixed fees because our scope is fixed: you buy a defined deliverable, not an open-ended retainer. You can budget from this page before you ever talk to us.
What's the difference between an AI security assessment and a penetration test?
A traditional pen test ($8k–$10k for most SMB engagements, per IBSSCORP's 2026 study) tests your network and applications. An AI security assessment targets the unique failure modes of LLM systems — prompt injection, tool and agent abuse, RAG poisoning, and data-leakage paths — where the attacker's payload is natural language. They're complementary, not interchangeable.
Is an AI security assessment the same as a SOC 2 audit?
No. A SOC 2 or compliance audit ($15k–$40k for a small-business program, per IBSSCORP 2026) certifies that controls operated over a period of time. A DSE AI security assessment is point-in-time adversarial testing: an attacker actively trying to break one AI system, with reproducible evidence. DSE delivers readiness and testing, not certification.
What makes the price go up?
Scope is the main lever: how many distinct attack surfaces are in scope (prompts, RAG, agents, supply chain), whether the model can call tools or drive multi-step agents, testing against production versus staging, and any compliance or federal (CMMC-aware) overlays. Company size is not a pricing factor — surface area is. Every factor is fixed in writing before work starts.
On the numbers: DSE figures are our own published fixed fees and reflect typical scopes; your exact fee is fixed in writing during scoping. Market figures are attributed published ranges provided for context and are not DSE prices.
On scope of work: DSE delivers point-in-time, advisory security assessment and readiness work — not certification, and not a 24/7 security operations center. Continuous monitoring, where needed, is delivered by a vetted MDR partner the client contracts and we orchestrate.
Scope a fixed-fee AI security assessment.
You've seen the numbers and what moves them. The next step is a 48-hour fixed-fee proposal for your exact system — no obligation, no sales gauntlet.
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