How much does a penetration test cost in the UAE?

Typically AED 5,500 to over AED 250,000, depending heavily on scope, application complexity, and testing depth.

How long does an enterprise penetration test take?

Most engagements run 3 days to 6 weeks, depending on scope and the number of systems tested.

What is the difference between a vulnerability scan and a penetration test?

A scan finds known issues automatically. See our vulnerability assessment page for the distinction.

How often should we run a penetration test?

Annually is common, and PCI DSS mandates it explicitly for cardholder data environments plus after major changes.

Is penetration testing mandatory in the UAE?

For PCI DSS-scoped entities, yes. Other sectors follow NESA and DESC expectations. See NESA compliance.

Does the price include a retest?

Not always. Confirm this explicitly, since its a common source of budget overrun.

What is the difference between penetration testing and red teaming?

Testing finds exploitable weaknesses. Red teaming tests detection and response. See our adversarial simulation testing page.

Enterprise Penetration Testing in the UAE: Scope, Cost & Buyer's Guide

Enterprise penetration testing in the UAE typically runs from AED 7,000 for a narrow web application test to well over AED 150,000 for a multi-scope enterprise programme, and scope, not company size, drives that spread. This guide breaks down what different test types actually cover, what pushes the price up or down, what a genuinely useful report looks like, and the regulatory triggers, from PCI DSS to NESA, that make testing a requirement rather than a nice-to-have for many UAE businesses.

Key Takeaways

Before requesting quotes, it helps to understand what actually shapes a penetration testing engagement and its price.

Typical UAE price bands run from roughly AED 7,000 for a narrow web application test to AED 150,000 or more for a full multi-scope enterprise programme.
Scope, application complexity, and whether a retest is included move the price far more than the size of the business being tested.
Different test types answer different questions, and a good provider scopes to the specific risk rather than selling a generic package.
A genuinely useful report goes well beyond a list of scanner findings, with business impact and prioritised remediation guidance.
PCI DSS, NESA, DESC, and ADHICS all create testing obligations for many UAE organisations, and CREST accreditation carries formal recognition through Dubai's own Cyber Force programme.

Understanding these drivers first makes every subsequent quote easier to evaluate.

What Enterprise Penetration Testing Involves in the UAE

Ask several providers to quote what sounds like the same test, and the numbers can vary by a wide margin, sometimes for work that looks identical on paper. The reason is that underlying scope definitions differ significantly, and "penetration testing" can range from a narrow, automated web application check to a genuinely manual, multi-week enterprise engagement.

For a directory of named UAE providers, our existing guide to penetration testing companies in the UAE covers that ground. This page focuses on a different question entirely: what determines scope and price, and how to buy the right test rather than simply the cheapest one.

Businesses that get accurate, comparable quotes define their own scope before the first call, rather than asking a provider to guess at it. Our vulnerability assessment service covers the lighter-weight discovery work that often precedes a full penetration test and helps establish that scope with more precision.

Penetration Testing Types and What Each One Covers

Different engagement types examine different parts of an organisation's attack surface, and buying the wrong type for the actual risk is a common, costly mistake.

Test type	What it examines	Typical duration	Commonly required by
External network	Internet-facing infrastructure and perimeter defences	3–5 days	General security posture, tender requirements
Internal network	Lateral movement risk from inside the network	5–8 days	Regulated entities, post-incident review
Web application	Application logic, authentication, and input handling	3–10 days	PCI DSS, businesses handling customer data
Mobile application	iOS and Android app security, API communication	5–8 days	Fintech, consumer-facing apps
Cloud configuration	Cloud platform settings, IAM, and storage exposure	3–7 days	Cloud-hosted businesses, compliance audits
API	Authentication, authorisation, and data exposure across endpoints	3–7 days	SaaS platforms, integration-heavy businesses
IoT and connected devices	Firmware, device communication, and physical attack surface	5–10 days	Manufacturing, smart building, healthcare devices
Social engineering	Human susceptibility to phishing and pretexting	1–3 weeks	Regulated entities, insurance requirements

The IoT row deserves particular attention, since IoT-specific testing carries genuine and growing demand across the UAE as connected devices spread through manufacturing, healthcare, and smart building environments. Our IoT security assessment service covers this specialised testing area in more depth, since it requires different tooling and expertise than a conventional network or web test.

Choosing between these types comes down to where the actual business risk concentrates, and a provider worth shortlisting will ask pointed questions about your environment before recommending a scope, rather than defaulting to whichever package is easiest to sell.

What Drives the Cost of a Penetration Test

Testers price engagements primarily by the number of days required, and scope is what determines those days far more than the size of the business commissioning the test.

Number of live IPs or endpoints in scope, since each one adds testing time.
Application count and complexity, including the number of distinct user flows and business logic paths.
Number of authenticated user roles, since each role typically needs separate testing to check for privilege escalation.
Whether source code is provided, since white-box testing with code access is more thorough but also more time-intensive than black-box testing.
Cloud estate size, including the number of accounts, services, and regions in scope.
Retest requirement, since confirming that findings were properly fixed adds a distinct phase to the engagement.
Tester seniority, since a more experienced tester typically works faster and finds issues automated scanning misses.
Reporting depth, since a board-ready report with business impact narrative takes longer to produce than a raw findings list.

Buyers who want to manage cost effectively should scope precisely rather than negotiate a discount after the fact. A provider that quotes quickly without asking detailed scoping questions is often quoting for less work than the buyer actually needs.

Typical Price Bands for Penetration Testing in the UAE

The figures below combine published market pricing from multiple UAE providers rather than a fixed Microminder rate card, and you should confirm each figure directly, since scope specifics can move these numbers considerably.

Engagement	Typical AED range	Usual duration
Small external network test	AED 5,500 – 20,000	3–5 days
Single web application test	AED 7,000 – 80,000	3–10 days
Full internal network test	AED 20,000 – 50,000	5–8 days
Cloud configuration review	AED 2,200 – 150,000	3–7 days
Enterprise multi-scope programme	Scoped and quoted per engagement — contact MCS for a tailored estimate	3–6 weeks

The wide spread within each row reflects application complexity and testing depth as much as raw scope size, and a basic automated-heavy check will always sit near the bottom of a range while genuinely manual, business-logic-focused testing sits toward the top. What typically falls outside these figures is remediation support, retesting, and any certification or attestation fees tied to a specific compliance framework.

Choosing Between Provider Types

UAE penetration testing providers broadly fall into four archetypes, and understanding which one fits a given need matters more than comparing individual company names.

Global consultancies bring deep bench strength and brand recognition, often useful for board-level credibility or multinational engagements spanning several jurisdictions, though their day rates tend to sit toward the higher end of the market. Regional specialists, with established UAE and GCC operating history, typically combine strong local regulatory familiarity with more competitive pricing than global firms, making them a common choice for mid-market and enterprise buyers alike.

Boutique offensive security shops focus on deep technical testing with senior, hands-on testers rather than a large delivery team, often producing particularly thorough manual testing at the cost of less bench depth for very large or time-sensitive engagements. Platform-led continuous testing vendors combine automated scanning with periodic manual testing, well suited to organisations wanting ongoing coverage between full point-in-time engagements rather than an annual snapshot alone.

For a named directory of UAE providers across these archetypes, our existing provider guide covers that ground in more detail than this buyer-focused page attempts to.

What a Good Penetration Test Report Contains

A report is often the most lasting artefact of an engagement, and a weak one undermines even excellent testing work behind it.

Executive summary written for a non-technical audience, framing risk in business terms.
Risk-rated findings with evidence, not just a severity label without supporting detail.
Exploitation narrative, showing how findings were chained together where relevant, not just listed individually.
Business impact for each significant finding, connecting the technical issue to a real consequence.
Prioritised remediation guidance, specific enough to hand directly to an engineering team.
Retest results, confirming which findings were actually resolved after remediation.

A report that reads as a raw scanner output with severity labels attached, and little else, is a warning sign that the underlying testing may have leaned heavily on automated tools rather than genuine manual investigation. Asking to see a sample report, with client details redacted, before signing is a reasonable and common request.

Regulatory Triggers for Penetration Testing in the UAE

Several UAE regulatory frameworks create testing obligations, though the specifics vary by sector and framework. PCI DSS Requirement 11.4 mandates annual internal and external penetration testing for any organisation storing, processing, or transmitting cardholder data, plus retesting after any significant infrastructure or application change; service providers must also run segmentation testing every six months.

NESA, DESC, and ADHICS each expect regular security testing as part of their broader control frameworks. None of the three publishes a single fixed testing frequency; the cadence is set per entity during the compliance engagement itself.

CREST accreditation carries particular formal weight in Dubai specifically: through the Dubai Cyber Force Program, a direct collaboration between CREST and the Dubai Electronic Security Center, CREST-accredited companies and CREST-qualified individuals can register as recognised cybersecurity service providers to Dubai government, semi-government, and critical information infrastructure entities. Our NESA compliance page covers the broader control framework this testing obligation sits within.

Questions to Ask Every Penetration Testing Provider

These questions separate providers who scope precisely from those selling a generic package regardless of actual need.

Who specifically performs the testing, and what certifications do they hold?
Is any part of the work subcontracted, and if so, to whom?
Is a retest included in the quoted fee, or billed separately?
How is scope defined, and is it documented in writing before testing begins?
What happens if a critical finding appears mid-test: is it reported immediately or held for the final report?
How is evidence handled and stored during and after the engagement?
What is the typical reporting turnaround after testing concludes?
Can you provide a redacted sample report before we sign?
Is the tester CREST-accredited, or accredited under a comparable recognised framework?
What does the retest process look like, and how long after remediation can it be scheduled?

A provider that answers these questions specifically and without hesitation is generally the safer choice, regardless of where their quote lands relative to competitors.

Don’t Let Cyber Attacks Ruin Your Business

Certified Security Experts: Our CREST and ISO27001 accredited experts have a proven track record of implementing modern security solutions
41 years of experience: We have served 2600+ customers across 20 countries to secure 7M+ users
One Stop Security Shop: You name the service, we’ve got it — a comprehensive suite of security solutions designed to keep your organization safe

Book Your Free Consultation Call Now

UK:

+44 (0)20 3336 7200

KSA:

+966 1351 81844

UAE:

+971 454 01252

Call
UK: +44 (0)20 3336 7200
KSA: +966 1351 81844
UAE: +971 454 01252

Contents