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Cross-industry · Infrastructure & security

Penetration Tester: salary vs freelance rates

Evaluate security weaknesses through agreed testing and clear evidence. Penetration testers work within authorized boundaries, explain business impact, and help teams reproduce findings and verify that a proposed fix addresses the issue.

U.S. employee wage reference

$129,180 / year

Information Security Analysts · May 2025 national median

Illustrative freelance rate

$136.82 / hour

To replace this wage plus $15K benefits, with 1,200 billable hours/year, $20K business costs, and no percentage fees. Before personal taxes.

The wage is for the named occupation; the hourly rate is a planning calculation, not a surveyed freelance price for this specialty. Adjust the assumptions below.

Calculate my freelance rate →

Skills that make the work valuable

  • Authorized security testing
  • Web vulnerability assessment
  • Rules of engagement design
  • Remediation reporting

Build proof, not just a list

Assess an intentionally vulnerable local application within written scope. Produce a report with reproducible evidence, severity reasoning, and remediation advice, then retest one corrected issue and record the result.

How to price this work as a freelancer

Quote against written authorization, target scope, test depth, reporting standards, and an agreed retest allowance. Separate application changes and newly added targets. Preparation, environment constraints, reporting, insurance, and client coordination take real capacity; finding count is not a useful guarantee of either effort or security improvement.

Start with the income you need to replace

Required hourly rate = (target salary + benefits budget + annual business expenses) ÷ (annual billable hours × share of revenue retained after fees).

For illustration, $100/hour × 25 billable hours/week × 48 working weeks = $120,000 revenue. After $20,000 in business expenses, that leaves $100,000 profit before personal taxes. Replacing a $100,000 salary plus $15,000 in benefits under those assumptions takes $112.50/hour, with no percentage fees.

These are editable planning assumptions, not rates surveyed for penetration tester work. Your personal taxes, location, contract terms, and workload still affect the comparison.

Employee or freelancer?

Working as an employee

A testing team can provide peer review, specialist mentoring, and established engagement procedures. The role may involve repeated reporting and retesting as well as investigation, so assess the full workload.

Running a freelance business

Independent testing offers a focused specialist service, but credibility and careful scoping matter. Budget for report writing, appropriate insurance, and business development, with written permission and boundaries for every engagement.

Where this career could take you

  1. 01Junior Penetration Tester
  2. 02Penetration Tester
  3. 03Security Testing Lead

An example path, with room for lateral moves or specialization. Progression depends on opportunities and demonstrated work; these steps do not imply a timetable or salary increase.

Try one small next step

Use an intentionally vulnerable application on your own machine and draft rules of engagement. Document one issue with evidence and remediation guidance without testing anyone else's systems.