What does a web-application security test cost in South Africa?
By Matt Owen, Auto Alpha Security
Here’s the number, because you came for it: a done-for-you Deep Scan of a live web application in South Africa costs R8,000–R20,000 as a once-off, with the final price set by how big and complex the app is. That sits well below a manual penetration test (from around R35,000, and often past R150,000) and below an enterprise scanning platform (frequently R100,000+ a year). It sits above a cheap DIY SaaS scanner or a free open-source tool. Below is the full spectrum, and — more importantly — what actually moves the price.
The honest cost spectrum
Web-application security testing isn’t one product with one price. It’s a spectrum, from “free and entirely your problem” to “six figures and someone else’s job.” Most of the confusion in the market comes from comparing points on that line as if they were the same thing. They’re not: a R2,000-a-month scanner and a R150,000 pen test buy you very different amounts of certainty and very different amounts of your own time.
What it costs — the spectrum
- Free / open-sourceR0DIY tools (e.g. OWASP ZAP). No licence cost — you supply the skill, time and triage.
- Cheap SaaS scanner~R1,000–3,000 / moSelf-serve automated scans. You run it and read the output yourself.
- Deep ScanR8,000–R20,000 once-offDone-for-you, operator-run, confirmed findings with re-runnable proof.
- Enterprise DAST platformR100,000+ / yearFull scanning suite, licensed per domain. Powerful; still your team’s job to run.
- Manual penetration test~R35,000 to R150,000+Human-led, priced by the day. Required for some PCI DSS / procurement cases.
Two things are worth saying plainly about that spectrum. First, most of the market won’t show you a number at all — enterprise DAST platforms and pen-test consultancies almost universally hide behind “request a quote,” and independent buyer’s guides note the same thing. Second, the cheapest options aren’t actually free once you count your own hours: an open-source scanner costs R0 in licence and a great deal in the skill and time needed to run it, read it, and separate real bugs from noise.
What actually drives the price
Whichever end of the spectrum you’re on, the same handful of factors move the figure. Knowing them is how you sanity-check any quote you’re handed.
App size and complexity. A five-page brochure site and a multi-tenant application with logins, uploads, payments and an admin panel are not the same test. More surface area means more to check, and it’s the single biggest reason our own Deep Scan spans a band rather than a fixed price. Scope. One domain or ten; the public site only, or authenticated areas behind a login too. One-off versus ongoing. A single point-in-time scan is cheaper than a retainer, but a retainer catches the drift that a once-a-year snapshot misses. And the big one: automated-first versus sold-by-the-day. A manual pen test is priced on a skilled human’s time, so the meter runs by the day. Automated-first testing does the repeatable work efficiently and only spends human judgement where it’s needed — which is why the price lands where it does.
Where Deep Scan sits, and why it costs what it costs
Deep Scan is R8,000–R20,000 once-off. Where you land in that band depends on app size and complexity — we’ll tell you the figure before you commit, not after. You can add a written audit report for R5,000–R10,000, or move to a Monitoring Retainer at R2,500–R5,000 a month, which includes a quarterly re-scan so nothing rots quietly between annual reviews.
It’s cheaper than a pen test for one structural reason: it’s automated-first and run efficiently, not sold by the day. But the part that should matter more to you is what you get for the money. It’s operator-run, not an unattended bot fired at your domain. Every finding is reproduced by a re-runnable proof-of-concept, and we strip false positives before anything reaches you — so you get 0 false positives on confirmed findings. That last point is the whole trust argument: you’re not taking the price, or the results, on faith. Every confirmed finding comes with proof you can re-run yourself.
Which one should you actually buy?
If you have the in-house skill and time, a free tool or a cheap SaaS scanner can be a reasonable first line — provided someone competent is reading the output. If you’re contractually required to do a formal, human-led penetration test (some PCI DSS and enterprise-procurement situations demand exactly that), pay for the pen test; nothing cheaper substitutes. But if what you need is to know your live web app has been properly checked, by a person, with defensible proof you can hand to a bank, insurer or client — without a five-figure invoice or a DIY project — a confirmed Deep Scan is built for precisely that gap.
Send us your domain and we’ll give you the exact figure within the band for your app, plus an honest read on whether a scan is even the right tool for your situation, before you spend anything.