The vCISO Pricing Calculator: How Much Should You Actually Pay?
Josh Mason from Mason SC recently published an excellent breakdown of vCISO pricing in 2026. The article covers real numbers — not vague ranges — and explains what actually drives the cost of fractional CISO services. It got me thinking: this information is valuable, but most people who need it won’t read a blog post and do mental arithmetic.
So I built an interactive pricing calculator based on Josh’s model.
The Problem With vCISO Pricing
Most organizations that need a CISO can’t afford one. A full-time CISO costs between $290,000 and $455,000 per year when you factor in salary, benefits, recruitment, and onboarding. For companies under 500 employees, that’s often more than the entire security budget.
Fractional CISO services solve this. You get strategic security leadership at 30–70% of the cost. But pricing varies wildly based on who you are, what you need, and who you hire.
What Drives the Price
Josh identifies five factors. My calculator uses all of them:
Organization size. A 50-person SaaS startup has different needs than a 500-person manufacturer. More employees, more systems, more surface area.
Industry and compliance. Regulated industries pay more. Healthcare (HIPAA), financial services (PCI DSS, SOC 2), and government contractors (CMMC, NIST 800-171) all carry higher compliance burdens that require more work.
Security maturity. Starting from zero costs more than optimizing an established program. Building policies, controls, and governance from scratch is significant work in year one. The curve flattens over time.
Scope of work. Strategic-only engagements (quarterly board updates, annual risk assessments) cost less than full operational involvement (weekly meetings, hands-on policy development, vendor assessments, incident response planning).
Practitioner expertise. A generalist with five years of experience costs less than a former Fortune 500 CISO with two decades and a network of contacts. You’re paying for judgment, not just time.
The Calculator
The interactive tool lets you select your pricing model (monthly retainer, hourly, or project-based), organization size, industry, security maturity, scope, and practitioner level. It computes a price range in real time and shows exactly which factors are driving the cost up or down.
It also includes a full-time CISO cost comparison, so you can see the savings percentage and absolute dollar difference. The math is based on Josh’s market data — real numbers from real engagements, not guesses.
My Take
I’m building toward a fractional CISO practice myself. One of the hardest parts of starting is figuring out pricing. Not just what to charge, but understanding how the market values different factors. Josh’s article gave me a framework. The calculator makes it tangible.
If you’re a security professional considering fractional work, play with the tool. See how the numbers change when you move from “generalist” to “expert.” See how much regulated industries add. Understand what your experience is worth.
If you’re an organization considering hiring a vCISO, use the calculator to set expectations before you start talking to providers. Understand what drives the price. Ask the right questions.
The question isn’t really “what does a vCISO cost?” As Josh puts it: it’s “what does not having one cost?”
The pricing calculator is based on market data from Josh Mason — vCISO Pricing in 2026. Estimates are for informational purposes only — actual pricing depends on specific engagement terms.