Code audit pricing falls into three bands: automated scans run free to $500, focused manual audits typically land between $2K and $5K, and comprehensive audits start around $5K and climb past $20K. The rule behind every quote is simple: the

more human review and the deeper the scope, the higher the price. The sections below show how to map your repo to a band.

TL;DR:

  • Automated scans can establish a baseline for small, well tested codebases, but they miss application logic and complex security implementations that require human review.
  • Run tests and CI before requesting quotes; a repository that builds cleanly reduces reviewer setup time, while multiple services, languages, or compliance checks increase effort.
  • Require evidence snippets, mapped findings, prioritized remediation guidance, and fix verification; compare proposals by senior engineer hours and deliverables, not scanner names.
  • Focused manual reviews take several business days, comprehensive audits span multiple weeks, and kickoff access, interviews, and demos add time before code review begins.

Table of Contents

What do the three code audit price tiers cover?

Think of the tiers as three different questions you can ask about your code. Each one gets a different depth of answer.

  • Automated scan: Static analysis, dependency and CVE lists, and secrets scanning. It is fast and cheap, and it is enough when you want a baseline on a small, well-tested codebase before a human ever looks at it.
  • Focused manual audit ($2K to $5K): A senior engineer reads the riskiest paths, such as authentication, payments and data access, and reports what automation misses. This band can suit a product with a limited number of services.
  • Comprehensive audit or due diligence: Multiple reviewers, full-path verification, architecture documentation and a written remediation plan. Multi-service systems, compliance targets and investor or acquirer scrutiny are what push fees up here.
  • Fixed-price health check: A package with a defined deliverable, often a short report and a call. It fits small teams and codebases that need a sanity check, not a deep dive.

Our own published rates sit inside these bands. Our Senior Developer Review starts at $449, and the Vibe Check is $449 for AI-built apps that need a human second opinion.

What drives the cost of a software audit?

Price follows effort, and effort follows a handful of variables you can estimate before you ask for a quote.

  • Size and surface: Lines of code, the number of services and repositories, and how many languages and frameworks are involved.
  • Depth versus breadth: A targeted check of critical flows costs far less than executing and verifying every path with evidence.
  • Security and compliance scope: Mapping findings to the OWASP Top 10 and ASVS takes more reviewer time than a general readability pass. Checking whether vulnerable third-party dependencies are actually reachable adds more.
  • Repo hygiene: Clean tests, working CI and current documentation shorten manual review. A messy repo means the reviewer spends paid hours just figuring out how things run.
  • Special cases: Native mobile apps, agentic AI systems, and complex infrastructure as code or cloud setups all take longer to review properly.

Tooling can also show up on your side of the ledger. GitHub Advanced Security features need paid licenses, so factor that in if you plan to run scanning in-house before or after an audit.

Pro Tip: Before requesting quotes, run your tests and CI once and note what fails. A repo that builds cleanly on the first try can cut reviewer setup time and, with it, your estimate.

What deliverables should you expect from an audit?

“Audit” can mean a brief tool printout or a detailed report. Match the deliverables to the price before you sign.

  • Automated outputs: Static analysis results, dependency and CVE lists, and a secrets scan. Quick and useful, but limited. OWASP notes that automated tools find generic vulnerabilities, while manual review is needed for application logic and complex security implementations.
  • Manual security review: Findings mapped to CWE and OWASP categories, evidence snippets from your code, and remediation examples your developers can apply directly.
  • Architecture and maintainability work: Diagrams, technical debt hotspots and a prioritized roadmap so you know what to fix first.
  • Due diligence packages: An executive summary, quantified risk, remediation cost estimates and a plan for verifying fixes. Severity scoring often follows CVSS, which keeps priorities consistent.
  • Common formats: One report, one prioritized roadmap and a walkthrough call, sometimes delivered in stages.

If you are auditing AI-generated code, our guide on why AI applications need a professional audit explains where the deeper review earns its keep.

How long does a code audit take?

Timelines track the tiers. Automated scans can finish quickly, depending on the codebase and tools. Focused manual reviews take several business days. Comprehensive audits run multiple weeks.

Kickoff work adds time that has nothing to do with reading code: provisioning repo access, interviewing the architects, and sitting through demo sessions. Plan for this kickoff work at the start of the engagement.

Staged delivery can help your budget and your calendar. A vendor can hand over initial findings first, so your team starts fixing the worst issues, then follow with deeper verification later. You get usable results sooner, and you can decide whether the second stage is worth it once you see the first.

Audit timelines and staged findings delivery

How do you scope an audit so quotes are comparable?

Vendors price what they can see. Give them the same inputs and you can compare their answers fairly.

  1. Repo links or an SLOC count, plus languages and frameworks.
  2. CI access and the target branches.
  3. The coverage you want: security only, architecture, tests, or all three.
  4. Compliance targets, such as OWASP Top 10 or ASVS alignment.
  5. Your deadline and whether staged delivery is acceptable.

Pricing models vary. You will see fixed-price health checks, time and materials, per-repo or per-SLOC estimates, and staff-day rates. Each is fine when the deliverables are spelled out.

Pro Tip: Normalize proposals by comparing deliverables and senior-engineer hours, not tool names. Two quotes that list the same scanner can differ substantially in the amount of human review.

How should you choose between audit quotes?

Sticker price is the weakest signal. Look for senior reviewer time, evidence quality and help with fixes.

  • Who does the review? A named senior engineer beats an anonymous queue.
  • What evidence comes back? Look for CWE or CVE mapping, code snippets and concrete remediation guidance.
  • Do they re-check fixes? Verification after you patch is where audits pay off.
  • Red flags: Vague deliverables, no mention of human review, or a one-line automated output sold as an “audit.”

How we scope and price our audits

We pair automated tooling with senior human review, and we put the scope and deliverables in writing before work starts. You see what is covered, what is not, and what you will receive. That is how we keep a quote tied to the work instead of a guess.

Why scope matters more than the sticker price

Most advice about audit pricing starts with a number. We think that gets it backward. The number is the output of your scope, and a vague scope produces a vague quote, so the cheapest bid often turns out to be the one that never read your hardest code.

Why scope matters more than the sticker price — overview diagram

Here is what the evidence supports. Automated tools are a good first pass, and they are not a substitute for a person who understands what your application is supposed to do. Spend your first dollars on getting the scope tight: name the critical flows, share a working repo, and state your compliance target. A $2K to $5K focused audit on a well-defined scope will usually teach you more than a $15K audit with a fuzzy one.

Prioritize deliverables you can act on. A ranked list of fixes with evidence beats a long report nobody reads.

— Chad

Get a transparent quote from our team

We offer several routes depending on where you are. Our Senior Developer Review starts at $449, our Vibe Check is $449 for AI-built apps, and our AI Code Reviews and Optimization work is scoped to your codebase. For ongoing help, the Ship Shape Service starts at $1,850 per month and the Crew Service at $2,950 per month, both listed on our Vibe Code Review page.

Bowtie

Every engagement starts with a kickoff, a clear scope and sample deliverables, with remediation support if you want it. See current rates on our pricing page, then book a scoping call and we will send a quote you can compare line by line.

FAQ

How much does a code audit usually cost?

Most audits fall into three bands: free to $500 for automated scans, $2K to $5K for focused manual reviews, and $5K to $20K or more for comprehensive work. Scope and depth of human review decide where you land.

What makes one code audit cost more than another?

Codebase size, the number of services, security and compliance requirements, and repo hygiene are the main drivers. A tested, documented repo is faster to review than a tangled one, and OWASP guidance favors systematic, evidence-backed findings, which takes reviewer time.

Is an automated scan enough?

For a small, well-tested codebase it can be a useful baseline. It will not cover application logic or business rules, which is why manual review is the next step up.

How long should a code audit take?

Automated scans can finish quickly, while focused reviews and comprehensive audits take longer depending on scope. Access setup and architecture interviews add time at the start.

Sources