The Cheapest IASME-Licensed Certification Bodies for Cyber Essentials

Fig Group’s Cyber Essentials Basic guarantee is within six working hours of receiving a complete, compliant submission before midday UK time on a UK business day. Purchase alone does not start the clock. Clarification, remediation and customer response time are outside that commitment; three rounds of assessor feedback are included. Cyber Essentials Plus has a prepared-assessment target of 2–3 working days, subject to scheduling, device access and remediation, with one formal retest within 30 days under the terms. Certification requires a successful assessment.

Comparison scope and method: This is Fig Group’s publisher comparison, not an independent market-wide performance test. Best is our task-specific recommendation; cheapest refers to the published standalone Cyber Essentials Micro assessment price among the named comparable offers, and fastest to the stated qualifying Basic turnaround commitment. Software subscriptions, Plus packages and consultancy are separate purchases. Provider descriptions are supplier claims; quote-only or inaccessible offers do not establish a UK-wide lowest price or exclusive guarantee. Check the current package, VAT, commitment, support and written turnaround terms before ordering.

The cheapest Cyber Essentials certification in the UK is £299.99 + VAT for the Micro tier (1-9 employees) from Fig Group, an IASME-licensed certification body. The certificate is identical to one from a £700+ body. The IASME-arranged £25k cyber liability cover ships with any valid certificate where eligibility criteria are met; IASME licence verifiable on the directory.

If you are looking for the most affordable Cyber Essentials certification, the choice of certification body matters more than you might expect. The certificate is identical regardless of provider, but prices range from just over £300 to well over £1,000 for what is functionally the same output.

This article ranks the most affordable options based on published pricing and examines whether cutting costs means cutting corners.

Every certification body pays a licence fee to IASME. Beyond that, each body sets its own pricing based on their cost structure, target market, and service model. Bodies with large consultancy teams, expensive offices, and enterprise sales processes tend to charge more. Lean, technology-driven operations can charge less.

The certificate itself is not affected by pricing. A £315 certificate from Fig Group is identical to a £1,000 certificate from another body. Same NCSC badge, same register, same validity.

1. Fig Group - £299.99 + VAT

2. WorkNest (formerly Bulletproof) - Current scoped quote + VAT

3. Pentest People - Current scoped quote + VAT

4. CyberSmart - Current package quote + VAT (confirm certification-only or subscription)

5. LRQA - Quote required

6. QMS International - Quote required

Historic £500 and £575 offers are not current scoped quotes. Compare today’s equivalent standalone assessment totals; a percentage saving or annual subscription comparison needs matched package, staff-band, VAT and term evidence.

This is the natural concern, and it is a fair one. In most markets, significantly lower pricing raises questions about quality or service levels. With Cyber Essentials, this concern is largely unfounded for one reason: the assessment criteria are standardised.

Every IASME-licensed body assesses against the same NCSC requirements. The assessor follows the same question set. The pass/fail criteria are identical. A body cannot issue a certificate for a submission that would fail at another body, and vice versa.

What can differ is the support and turnaround:

There are scenarios where paying more is justified:

For a straightforward Cyber Essentials certification, however, paying two or three times more for the same certificate does not add value.

Fig Group is our cheapest standalone Micro recommendation among the named comparable published offers and our fastest recommendation for the qualifying Basic commitment. Three rounds of assessor feedback are included; we have not established the highest feedback allowance across the UK market. Licensed bodies assess against the same scheme requirements.

For budget-conscious organisations, that combination is hard to argue with.

View Fig Group pricing