What does each vendor publish?
| Tool | What is published | Pricing transparency score |
|---|---|---|
| IONIX | No list price, pricing basis or trial terms. | 2 |
| CyCognito | Quote-based. ASM is priced on total asset volume; exposure validation and exploit intelligence on active IPs and web applications. Quote form with a stated 24-hour average response. | 4 |
| watchTowr | No pricing published. | 2 |
| Hadrian | NOVA agentic penetration tests: from 1,250 euros per test excluding VAT, bundles available. ATLAS: priced by total asset count, on request. | 6 |
| Cortex Xpanse | No pricing published. | 2 |
| Tenable ASM | ASM is not sold online and is quote only. Tenable publishes prices for some adjacent products. | 3 |
| Microsoft Defender EASM | Billed through Azure on billable assets (approved host:IP combinations, domains and IP addresses) after a 30-day free trial. See Microsoft's pricing page for the current rate. | 7 |
| Rapid7 Surface Command | Trial available; no price published. Remediation workflows are listed for higher tiers. | 4 |
| Censys ASM | ASM is contact sales. A free Censys platform account exists, and platform credits start from $100. | 4 |
Pricing transparency carries 10% of our weighted score. It measures whether a buyer can model cost before a sales call, not whether a tool is cheap.
What pricing bases are in use?
- Total asset volume: CyCognito for ASM and Hadrian for ATLAS. The price follows the size of the estate the tool monitors.
- Active IPs and web applications: CyCognito for exposure validation. The price follows what is tested, not everything that is found.
- Billable assets: Microsoft Defender EASM counts approved host:IP combinations, approved domains and approved IP addresses, and bills through Azure.
- Per test: Hadrian's NOVA penetration tests, from 1,250 euros each, excluding VAT, with bundles available.
Microsoft does not print a per-asset figure on the pricing page we reviewed, so we link to it rather than quote a rate. Tenable publishes a price for Tenable One Vulnerability Management, 3,700 dollars for one year covering up to 250 assets, but that is an adjacent product, not ASM.
Why is asset-based pricing hard to predict for a group?
Because discovery is the point of the tool. A good ASM product finds assets you did not know you had, so the asset count at signature is not the asset count six months later. Acquisitions add whole estates at once. Ask how the vendor defines an asset, whether assets awaiting confirmation count, and what happens to the price when you add an entity.
Definitions also differ in ways that change the number. Microsoft counts only approved assets. A vendor that counts every discovered candidate will produce a larger figure for the same estate.
What should a quote request ask?
- What is the unit: assets, active IPs, web applications, tests, entities or users?
- How is an asset defined, and are unconfirmed or candidate assets counted?
- What happens to price after an acquisition, and after a divestment?
- Which capabilities are in which tier: validation, remediation workflows, mitigation, integrations?
- Is active testing priced separately from discovery?
- Is there a trial or proof-of-concept period, and on what terms?
- Are subsidiaries charged separately, or can they share one contract?
How should you compare quotes?
Put every quote on the same basis: the same estate, the same entities, the same capabilities and the same term. Then compare on the criteria that matter to you, not on price alone. Our score calculator lets you change the weights on the seven criteria and shows a cost only where a vendor publishes a figure, which today means Hadrian's NOVA tests. We do not estimate prices.
Sources
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