The Budget Security Alternative to DeepStrike
DeepStrike is a manual-only pentest provider founded in 2016 by bug bounty hunters, with a US entity in Delaware and an office in Dubai. It promises a start within 48 hours and free retesting for 12 months. Those are strong terms. Budget Security sells manual pentests by OSCP-certified testers at $985 per tester-day for US clients, with the price shown before you book.
This page compares the two on what each company publishes. DeepStrike facts come from deepstrike.io, checked 6 October 2026. Budget Security facts come from our own pricing and process pages.
At a glance
| DeepStrike | Budget Security | |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Manual pentest as a service. Two plans: "Basic" (one-shot penetration testing) and "Premium" (continuous testing, two full pentests a year, weekly scanning, attack surface management, dark web monitoring) | Manual penetration testing bought per tester-day, scoped and booked online |
| Published price | Not published. Both plans route to "Let's Talk". DeepStrike's own cost guide publishes market ranges, not its rates | Yes. $985 per tester-day for US clients (€849 per day for EU clients) |
| Best for | Teams that want a manual pentest vendor on retainer, with continuous testing of new features and a Slack channel to the testers | A defined scope that needs a manual test now, sized to the asset, with the price known before you book |
| Testers stated | "elite cybersecurity professionals with top-tier credentials"; "globally recognized certifications". Individual certifications not named on the pages checked | OSCP-certified testers |
| Audit evidence | "Our reports meet compliance requirements, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, HITRUST, HIPAA, and more"; custom or redacted reports free | Manual report with exploitation evidence, mapped to SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS and NIS2 |
| Delivery | "Platform access with realtime results dashboard"; Slack collaboration; Jira and ServiceNow integration. Entities in Newark, Delaware and Dubai; tester locations not published | Remote, from The Hague, Netherlands, during US business hours. No US office. Findings land in your dashboard |
| Turnaround | "Start Pentest within 48 hours" (Basic plan). Report timing not published | Testing starts within 7 days of booking. Report within 48 hours after the test ends |
| Retest | "Free remediation retesting for 12 Months" | Retests booked from the dashboard |
| Booking | Contact form ("Let's Talk"), then onboarding | Self-serve scoping and sign-up; no sales call. You pay after the report is delivered |
When DeepStrike is the better choice
DeepStrike publishes commitments that matter, and it is fair to say where they beat ours.
- You need testing to start in two days. DeepStrike states "Start Pentest within 48 hours" on its Basic plan. Budget Security commits to 7 days; faster is possible but not guaranteed and carries an urgency fee.
- You want a year of free retesting. DeepStrike includes "Free remediation retesting for 12 Months". If your team ships fixes in several rounds, that is worth money.
- You want continuous manual testing on a retainer. The Premium plan tests "newly deployed features, functions, APIs" as they ship, plus two full pentests a year. That is a program, not a project.
- You want the testers in your Slack. "Real-time Collaboration with our team via Slack" is a stated feature. Some engineering teams prefer that to a dashboard.
DeepStrike also ranks well for pentest cost guides and publishes market ranges on its blog. If you are researching what the industry charges, its guide is a reasonable read.
When Budget Security is the better choice
- You want the number before the conversation. DeepStrike's pricing page lists plans but no prices. Ours lists $985 per tester-day for US clients, and the scoping tool turns your asset list into a day count and a total in minutes.
- You want to scope it yourself. Register your assets, pick the goal (SOC 2 readiness, full web app test, authenticated API), and set the days. The tool shows what each extra day adds and what each removed day cuts. No scoping call.
- You want a named credential. Every Budget Security tester is OSCP-certified, and we say so on every page. DeepStrike describes credentials as "top-tier" without naming them on the pages we checked.
- You pay after delivery. No deposit, no retainer. The invoice follows the report.
- You want a known report date. The report is in your dashboard within 48 hours after the test ends. DeepStrike does not publish report timing.
Switching or combining
These two are closer in kind than most pairs on our comparison pages. Both are manual. Both deliver in a platform. The difference is how you buy.
- From DeepStrike to Budget Security. Take the scope from your last engagement, enter the assets in our scoping tool, read off the days and the price, and book. If you used DeepStrike's free retesting, note that our retests are booked from the dashboard as a separate step.
- From Budget Security to DeepStrike. If you reach the point where you want continuous manual testing on a retainer, DeepStrike's Premium plan is built for that. Our reports export and your asset inventory is yours.
- Running both. Unusual, because both are manual testing vendors. One case that works: DeepStrike on retainer for your main product, Budget Security for a one-off test on an acquisition, a side product or a customer-mandated scope that falls outside the retainer.
Other comparisons
Budget Security vs Intruder and Budget Security vs Cobalt.
DeepStrike is a trademark of its owner. This page uses the name only to identify the service being compared. Spotted an error? Email info@budgetsecurity.com and we will correct it.
FAQ
DeepStrike alternative: questions we get
What is the best alternative to DeepStrike for penetration testing?
If you want manual testing with a published day rate and self-serve scoping, Budget Security: OSCP-certified testers at $985 per tester-day for US clients, start within 7 days of booking, report within 48 hours after the test ends, payment after delivery. If you want a 48-hour start and a year of free retesting on a quoted price, DeepStrike's own terms are hard to beat.
Does DeepStrike publish its prices?
No. Its pricing page (deepstrike.io/pricing/penetration-testing-pricing, checked 6 October 2026) lists a Basic and a Premium plan with features but no amounts. Its cost guide (deepstrike.io/blog/penetration-testing-cost, updated 14 September 2026) publishes market ranges such as $5,000 to $30,000+ for a web application test and $8,000 to $20,000 per year for a small business, and hourly tester rates of $100 to $300. Those are industry figures DeepStrike cites, not DeepStrike's own rates.
How does Budget Security pricing compare to DeepStrike?
DeepStrike's own rates are not published, so no direct comparison is possible. Budget Security charges $985 per tester-day for US clients. A 3-day test is $2,955 and a 5-day test is $4,925. Against the market ranges DeepStrike publishes in its guide, a 5-day Budget Security test sits below the low end of its $5,000 web application band. Scope drives the final number; use the calculator for yours.
Is DeepStrike manual or automated?
Manual. Its homepage says "Forget automated pentesting. Our team operates like real threat actors, conducting every assessment manually". The Premium plan adds weekly automated vulnerability scanning on top. Budget Security is manual too; we use AI for scoping, not for testing.
Does Budget Security offer free retesting like DeepStrike?
DeepStrike includes free remediation retesting for 12 months. Budget Security retests are booked from the dashboard after you have fixed the findings.
Where are the testers located?
DeepStrike lists a US entity in Newark, Delaware and an office in Dubai; it does not publish where individual testers sit. Budget Security testers work remotely from the Netherlands and test during US business hours. We have no US office and say so plainly.
See the price for your scope before you book.
$985 per tester-day for US clients (€849 per day for EU clients). Start within 7 days of booking. Report within 48 hours after testing ends. Pay after delivery.