How much should I budget for CMMC?
While the DoW offers estimates for the cost of CMMC assessments, they have not provided figures for implementing the necessary security requirements assessed by CMMC.
The DoW suggests companies allocate at least .5% of their revenue to security, but that falls far short of what the DIB companies actually do (and should) spend on IT and compliance. For many companies, a budget like that wouldn’t scratch the surface.
On average, the DIB actually spends 5-8% of their revenue on IT, covering expenses related to CMMC, NNPI, IA PRE, and Export Control. Summit 7, for instance, dedicates 8.2% of revenue to IT and compliance. This spend is similar to that of other regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and telecommunications. Using 5-8% to address your IT and compliance problems makes CMMC certification far more attainable.
How much does CMMC cost?
The DoW gives us estimated costs for CMMC by level, but these are assessment related costs only, not inclusive of any implementation or overhaul you’d need to do to become compliant.
DoW CMMC Cost Estimate by Level
| Small Entities Assessment | Cost |
| Level 1 self-assessed | $5,977 |
| Level 2 self-assessed | $37,196 |
| Level 2 certification | $104,670 |
| Level 3 certification | $12,802 |
| Other Than Small Entities Assessment | Cost |
| Level 1 self-assessed | $4,042 |
| Level 2 self-assessed | $48,827 |
| Level 2 certification | $117,768 |
| Level 3 certification | $44,444 |
Using Guardian, Vigilance, and Commander, the average Summit 7 client with 25 employees will spend $265K on CMMC Level 2 Certification between hardware, software, labor, cloud migrations, etc. The average 250-employee company will spend $504K all-in.
Of course, these numbers change based on the specifics of your organization: the level of compliance you need, your scope, and how much change your organization needs in order to meet CMMC standards.
Is it better to reach CMMC certification in-house or outsource to an MSP?
Whether it’s more cost effective to achieve CMMC compliance entirely in-house or with support from an MSP depends on your organization’s size and your IT team’s capacity.
We’ve done the math, and you’re likely to save 55-70% in costs by outsourcing.
In-House Costs
- Requires dedicated IT and compliance staff
- 25-person company: ~$700K/year in staffing costs
- 250-person company: ~$1.7M/year
Outsourcing Costs (MSP/MSSP)
- 25-person company: ~$265K/year
- 250-person company: ~$500K/year
- 55–70% cost reduction compared to staffing internally
- Includes 24/7 monitoring, patching, reporting, and compliance documentation
MSPs with CMMC experience also shorten your timeline to certification — they already have compliant GCC High environments, security monitoring, and documentation mapped to NIST 800-171 controls.
If you are struggling to figure out whether your company can afford taking CMMC on in-house or if partnering with an MSP/MSSP is a wiser choice, try our Cost Benefit Analysis as a tool to help you make that decision.
How do I save money on CMMC?
One of the biggest contributors to saving money on compliance is a well-established MSP. Instead of your company building and maintaining a compliant enclave from the ground up, a qualified MSP already has Microsoft 365 GCC High or equivalent environments configured to meet CMMC requirements, SOC services, and monitoring tools.
Your MSP will also save you money on staffing. CMMC requires continuous monitoring, patching, and evidence collection. You benefit from the services of your MSP’s security analysts, engineers, and incident response teams without covering salaries, benefits, hiring, and training.
MSPs with CMMC experience already know what auditors look for and are equipped with documentation and evidence templates and policies mapped to NIST 800-171 controls, saving you a lot of time and working hours on preparation.
A second money-saver is narrowing your scope. Only pay to certify the environments that will actually touch your CUI. If you only have a few users in a single environment accessing CUI, certifying your entire company’s network and staff means adding a proportionate amount of unneeded licensing, hardware, and evidence to your cost.
The cost of NOT doing CMMC
The cost of getting prepared and certified for CMMC is significant, but not going through with it could cost you more in lost contracts.
With the CMMC rollout beginning November 10, 2025, more and more companies have scheduled and passed their assessments. If your company hasn’t, you won’t be able to compete as well in the short term or, eventually, bid on contracts with DFARS 7025 at all, representing a massive amount of lost revenue. In 2025 the DoW awarded contracts worth $247.82B in transportation and warehousing, $25.06B in utilities, and $19.38B in construction, to name a few, all of which CMMC compliance postures companies to win in future years.
Even prime contractors without those certification requirements prefer subs with CMMC compliance in advance of hard requirements in order to secure their supply chains.