Transparent pricing
What a Virtual CISO costs
Three clear tiers from £2,375 to £4,995 per month, depending on the size and complexity of your organisation and the coverage you want. No hidden extras, no surprise invoices.
Essential
£2,375 /month
£28,500 a year
Strategic advice and guidance to steer your security with confidence.
- Strategic advice and support
- Attend and run governance calls
- Represent you as CISO externally to clients, prospects, third parties and regulators
- Subject matter experts on tap when needed: DevSecOps, security architect, DPO and security engineer
- CISO time: 2 hours a week, 1 day a month
- Specialist expert time: 2 hours a month
Managed
£3,760 /month
£45,120 a year
Everything in Essential, plus the assessments and analyst support to actively drive down cyber risk.
- Everything in Essential
- Cyber threat assessment setting a three to five year strategic target state
- Baseline cyber maturity assessment benchmarking your current posture
- Annual maturity re-assessments to measure progress
- Chair quarterly sessions to review risks and incidents
- Dedicated cyber security analyst
- CISO time: 4 hours a week, 2 days a month
- Specialist expert time: 3 hours a month
Strategic
£4,995 /month
£59,940 a year
Everything in Managed, plus proactive remediation, secure development assurance and board-level reporting.
- Everything in Managed
- Cyber roadmap continually aligned with wider group-wide IT transformation
- Quarterly secure coding reviews of your SSDLC processes and controls
- Chair monthly and quarterly sessions to review risks, incidents and progress against the roadmap
- Annual business continuity table-top exercise
- Board-level reporting on cyber security risks and progress
- Dedicated cyber security analyst and consultant
- CISO time: 6 hours a week, 3 days a month
- Specialist expert time: 4 hours a month
These tiers are a guide: every engagement is scoped and priced to your organisation in a discovery conversation. The service runs from £2,375 to £4,995 per month.
Scoping
What determines your price
Size and complexity
Headcount, technology estate and how many suppliers and customers interact with your data.
Compliance ambitions
Certifications change the workload. An ISO 27001 push needs more hours than steady-state leadership.
Coverage level
How much of your vCISO's time you want each month, and how visible you need them to be on site.
Where you are today
A mature posture needs stewardship; a standing start needs building. The roadmap sets the pace.
Client results
What our clients say
"The University was able to secure a multi-million pound cyber security investment as a result of the cyber roadmap work we did."
Danielle Cairns Cyber Risk & Assurance Manager, University of Glasgow "Within 7 months Pactio achieved both ISO and SOC2 compliance, as well as reduced overall cyber risk."
Sophie Fallen Operations Lead, Pactio "Their new ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications won them more public sector work."
Tom Bennett CTO, FreshWave "A reduced attack surface through consolidation of IT and compliance with GDPR and Cyber Essentials."
Chris Bayley CTO, Audley Travel "PureMalt were able to weigh up different strategic options and make an appropriate investment in cyber security."
Ross Turner Managing Director, PureMalt "Ozone utilised their new capabilities to market to larger clients, whilst expanding into new markets."
Scott Switzer CTO, The Ozone Project The alternative
Compare it with hiring
| Cost | Full-time CISO | UK Virtual CISO |
|---|---|---|
| Base cost | £131,000 to £220,000 salary | £2,375 to £4,995 per month |
| True annual cost | Around £255,000 with benefits, taxes and overheads | £28,500 to £59,940, all in |
| Recruitment | Three to six months, plus fees | Start within days |
| Expertise | One person's background | A named leader plus a specialist team |
Full-time CISO salary figures are from the Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide (London), with employer National Insurance, pension and overheads taking the fully loaded cost to around £255,000. The full picture, including when a full-time hire genuinely is the right call, is on our vCISO vs full-time CISO page.
Get your number
Get an exact quote for your business
A 45 minute discovery call is enough for us to scope your engagement and give you a firm monthly price.