An honest comparison
Virtual CISO vs full-time CISO
Both give you a senior security leader. The difference is cost, speed and what stands behind that person. Here is the comparison in full, including when we would tell you to hire instead.
| Factor | Full-time CISO | Virtual CISO |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | £150,000 to £250,000 salary plus benefits; around £255,000 a year all in | A predictable monthly fee, typically £2,500 to £5,000 |
| Time to start | Three to six months of recruitment, if you can find the right person | Working on your risks within days |
| Expertise | One person's experience and blind spots | A named leader backed by penetration testers, architects and responders |
| Coverage | Gaps for holiday, sickness and resignation | Continuous coverage from a team |
| Scalability | A fixed resource however your needs change | Flexes up for audits and incidents, down for calm periods |
| Continuity | A single point of failure who takes the knowledge with them | Documented ways of working with team backup built in |
The maths
Roughly eight times more affordable
Once salary, benefits, employer taxes and overheads are counted, a full-time CISO typically costs an organisation around £255,000 a year. The equivalent vCISO engagement lands between £30,000 and £60,000. For most small and mid-sized businesses the full-time option is not just expensive, it is more capacity than the role actually requires.
Fair is fair
When full-time is the right answer
- You are a large enterprise with a substantial in-house security team to lead every day
- Security is your product, and the role needs to be full time by definition
- A regulator or contract explicitly requires a permanently employed CISO
If that is you, we will say so in the first call. Several of our clients use a vCISO as the bridge while they recruit.
Terminology
Virtual CISO, Fractional CISO, part-time CISO, CISO-as-a-Service: in 2026 these all describe the same model. If you are comparing providers using different labels, compare the substance: who the named person is, what team stands behind them, and what the monthly fee actually covers.
Still weighing it up?
Talk it through with someone who has done both
Our vCISOs have held full-time CISO roles at major UK organisations. They know exactly what you would be paying for either way.