What the total is made of
The cost of FedRAMP certification is not one invoice. It is five lines, paid to different people, and only some of them recur. The 3PAO assessment is paid to an independent assessor. Advisory is paid to whoever helps prepare the package. Remediation and engineering are paid largely in the provider’s own salaries. Tooling is licensed, and continuous monitoring is the cost of keeping the designation once it is held.
Most published figures are stated by impact level. FedRAMP’s Notice 0004 gives the existing baselines Certification Class labels without changing their requirements: Class B includes the Low baseline, Class C the Moderate baseline, and Class D the High baseline (FedRAMP). The figures here are shown under those classes. FedRAMP also cautions agencies against reading the classes as one-for-one replacements for impact levels in their own risk decisions (FedRAMP), which is a point about how an agency uses a certification rather than about what one costs.
Class A is a new baseline with no Low, Moderate, or High equivalent. It has its own rule set under FedRAMP 20x: a provider seeking it must have completed a SOC 2 Type II, GovRAMP, or FedRAMP Rev5 process within the past 12 months, and must address the 20x Key Security Indicators even if it plans a Rev5 path later (FedRAMP). Its costs are worked through separately below.
The rows come from different publishers working to different scopes, so they are not meant to be added together. The published totals in the next section are each source’s own.
| Class | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 3PAO assessmentRecurs every year | ||
| Class B | $30,000 to $60,000 for readiness, plus $30,000 to $60,000 for the security assessment | Elevate |
| Class C | $125,000 to $650,000 | FedRAMP Costroughly $125,000 to $650,000 for Moderate |
| Class D | $250,000 to $500,000 | Secureframe3PAO assessments for FedRAMP High may cost between $250,000–$500,000 |
| All classes | $50,000 to $400,000 or more | Elevate |
| Advisory and consultingMostly first year | ||
| All classes | $100,000 to $500,000 or more | Elevate |
| Remediation and engineeringMostly first year | ||
| All classes | $10,000 to $100,000 or more | Elevate |
| Class D | $150,000 to $500,000 or more, for gap assessment and remediation together | SecureframeGap assessments and remediation can range from $150,000 to $500,000 or more |
| ToolingRecurs every year | ||
| All classes | Drata: about $7,500 to $100,000 or more a year, with a median near $12,000 | FedRAMP CostDrata platform pricing runs ~$7.5K to $100K+/yr (median ~$12K) |
| All classes | Paramify: about $25,000 to $125,000 a year | FedRAMP CostParamify platform pricing runs ~$25K to $125K/yr |
| Continuous monitoringRecurs every year | ||
| All classes | $50,000 to $100,000 or more a year | Elevate |
| Class C | $260,000 a year from year two, the publisher’s worksheet estimate for a Moderate system | FedRAMP CostAnnual ConMon (Year 2+) $260k / yr |
- 3PAO assessment
- The independent assessment by an accredited Third Party Assessment Organization, paid directly to the assessor. It recurs, because holding the designation means being reassessed. For Class A it is optional under the rules.
- Advisory and consulting
- Outside help preparing the package: boundary definition, control documentation, the System Security Plan, the POA&M, and support while the assessor works.
- Remediation and engineering
- Closing the gaps the preparation and the assessment find, from configuration changes to new infrastructure, and the provider’s own engineering time spent implementing controls and producing evidence. Much of it is paid in salaries rather than invoices.
- Tooling
- Compliance platforms, scanning, logging, and evidence collection that the controls require to be in place and running, usually licensed annually.
- Continuous monitoring
- Ongoing vulnerability scanning and reporting, POA&M upkeep, change notifications, and the recurring validation that keeps the designation current.
The first year, and every year after it
The first year carries the one-time work: preparing the package, closing the gaps it finds, and the initial assessment. After that the designation has to be kept, and keeping it has its own budget. Reassessment, tooling, and continuous monitoring continue for as long as the system stays FedRAMP Certified.
Workstreet puts Class B at $250,000 to $500,000 (Workstreet) in the first year and Class D at $1 million to more than $3 million (Workstreet). FedRAMP Cost runs higher, at $800,000 to $2 million (FedRAMP Cost) for Class C and More than $2.5 million (FedRAMP Cost) for Class D. Where two publishers disagree, both are shown rather than averaged.
| Class | Year one | Each year after | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class A20x path, from a SOC 2 baseline | About $90,000 to $100,000 | Not published | WorkstreetClass A Entry-level … ~$90K–$100K |
| Class B | $250,000 to $500,000 | $100,000 to $200,000 | WorkstreetFedRAMP Low will generally cost $250K-$500K to get authorized |
| Class C | $500,000 to $1.5 million | $200,000 to $500,000 | WorkstreetFedRAMP Moderate … runs $500K-$1.5M initially |
| Class C | $800,000 to $2 million | Not published | FedRAMP CostModerate $800k - $2.0M |
| Class D | $1 million to more than $3 million | $500,000 to $1 million | WorkstreetFedRAMP High hits $1M-$3M+ initial |
| Class D | More than $2.5 million | Not published | FedRAMP CostHigh $2.5M+ |
Class A, worked through
One publisher prices Class A: About $90,000 to $100,000 (Workstreet) on the 20x path for a provider starting from a SOC 2 baseline, made up of an assessment of $40,000 to $50,000 and readiness work of about $50,000. The Class A rules make that assessment optional. A provider seeking Class A “MAY supply” an independent assessment, where Classes B to D must (FedRAMP).
The estimate below is Verdict’s own, not a market figure. It shows every assumption and every number, so the arithmetic can be checked and any assumption that does not fit a given provider can be swapped out.
| Line | Amount | Assumption |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type II or equivalent | $0 | Class A requires a SOC 2 Type II, GovRAMP, or FedRAMP Rev5 process completed within the past 12 months. That cost is already spent before Class A begins, so it is not counted. (FedRAMP) |
| Advisory | $7,500 | Verdict’s published Class A fee, $7,500, paid once. (Verdict pricing) |
| Remediation and engineering | $10,000 | The bottom of the published $10,000 to $100,000 or more band, because Class A is designed for a provider with a mature security program already in place. (Elevate; FedRAMP) |
| Tooling | $0 | Assumed already in place and licensed for the SOC 2 program above, so not counted again. (Verdict assumption) |
| Continuous monitoring | Up to $50,000 a year | Class A carries its own reduced subset of rules. No source prices monitoring for that subset, so it is carried at no more than the bottom of the published $50,000 to $100,000 or more band, as a ceiling rather than a figure. (FedRAMP; Elevate) |
| Independent assessment, if elected | $30,000 | Optional for Class A, where Classes B to D must supply one. If a provider elects it, it is carried at the low end of the $30,000 to $60,000 Class B readiness band. (FedRAMP; Elevate) |
| Year one | Up to $67,500 | Advisory, remediation, and a first year of monitoring |
| Year one, with the assessment | Up to $97,500 | The same, plus the optional independent assessment |
| Each year after | Up to $50,000 | Continuous monitoring only |
Every total is a ceiling, because the monitoring line is. The estimate differs from the published figure in three ways. It leaves out the assessment the rules make optional. It carries advisory and remediation at $17,500, where the published figure carries readiness work at about $50,000. And it adds up to a year of continuous monitoring, which the published figure does not show as a line of its own.
Class A is an entry point, not a destination. FedRAMP designs the classes to be taken progressively, with investment scaling as agency interest grows (FedRAMP), and its rules set out upgrade paths from Class A to B, C, or D (FedRAMP). A provider that wins agency adoption at Class A should expect to budget for a higher class next, so the Class A figure is not the whole cost of a federal program.
What makes one system cost more than another
The class sets the scale. Each step from Class A toward Class D adds requirements to meet, evidence to produce, and assessment to pay for, which is why the published totals climb by an order of magnitude from one end of the range to the other.
The authorization boundary sets the size. Every component, service, and data flow inside it has to be documented, evidenced, and assessed. A boundary drawn around what the federal offering actually needs is one of the few levers a provider controls directly, and it moves every line in the table at once.
Inheritance lowers it. A system built on infrastructure that is already FedRAMP Certified inherits a share of its controls from that provider, and an inherited control is one the provider neither implements nor pays to have assessed.
Starting maturity decides remediation. A provider that already runs a SOC 2 or ISO/IEC 27001 program has much of the control work and evidence in place, and the gap left to close is narrower. Much of the spread in the remediation line comes from this: it is published at $10,000 to $100,000 or more across classes, and at $150,000 to $500,000 or more for Class D alone.
Automation decides the recurring cost. FedRAMP 20x is built around validation that machines can check. A system whose evidence comes straight out of its own tooling costs less to evidence the first time, and less again every cycle after, than one where people assemble it by hand.
Legacy Rev5 costs against the 20x path
Early published estimates for the 20x path cover the Class B and Class C equivalents, at $100,000 to $300,000 (FedRAMP Cost) for either. Set against the legacy first-year totals for the same classes, the difference is large, and it comes with a caveat: the 20x pipeline for Classes B and C opened only on 31 August 2026, so these are estimates made before many providers have been through it.
The difference is in where the money goes as much as in how much of it there is. Under 20x, Key Security Indicators replace narrative System Security Plans, which means less documentation labor and more engineering, and a program certification removes the need for an agency sponsor (Workstreet).
Rev5 also has a closing date. FedRAMP will stop accepting new Rev5 certifications on June 11, 2027 (FedRAMP). A provider starting a Rev5 certification now is planning against that date.
| Class | Legacy Rev5, year one | 20x, early estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Class B | $250,000 to $500,000 (Workstreet) | $100,000 to $300,000 (FedRAMP Cost) |
| Class C | $500,000 to $1.5 million (Workstreet) | $100,000 to $300,000 (FedRAMP Cost) |
Advisory is one line of five
Advisory is the second line in the first table, and it is the only one Verdict bills. Verdict prepares the package and supports it through the assessment. It does not assess and it does not certify, and the 3PAO fee, the remediation and engineering, the tooling, and continuous monitoring are paid to other people or by the provider itself.
Verdict publishes its own fees in full as FedRAMP 20x pricing by certification class. How that fee compares with the advisory line in published breakdowns, with every source quoted, is set out in how the FedRAMP 20x advisory fee compares with published advisory fees.
FedRAMP certification cost, in short
How much does FedRAMP certification cost?
Published breakdowns put the first-year cost at $250,000 to more than $3 million across Certification Classes B to D, and $100,000 to $1 million a year to hold the designation after that. Class A, the entry class, is published at about $90,000 to $100,000 on the FedRAMP 20x path for a provider starting from a SOC 2 baseline.
How much does it cost to get FedRAMP certified in each Certification Class?
In the first year: Class A about $90,000 to $100,000 on the 20x path, Class B $250,000 to $500,000, Class C $500,000 to $1.5 million, and Class D $1 million to more than $3 million. Early estimates for the 20x path at Classes B and C run $100,000 to $300,000.
What is the cost of FedRAMP certification after the first year?
Published figures put the annual cost of holding the designation at $100,000 to $200,000 for Class B, $200,000 to $500,000 for Class C, and $500,000 to $1 million for Class D. The recurring lines are the 3PAO reassessment, tooling, and continuous monitoring.
What does FedRAMP certification cost include?
Five lines: 3PAO assessment, advisory and consulting, remediation and engineering, tooling, and continuous monitoring. The 3PAO assessment is paid directly to the assessor, and for Class A it is optional under the rules. Engineering time is paid in salaries rather than invoices, and is part of the cost whether or not it is budgeted.
References
13 sources, listed with what each one is relied on for. All were checked on 20 September 2026. Published figures move, so check them against the source rather than against this page if anything here matters to a decision.
- How Much Does FedRAMP Certification Cost?
Workstreet. 18 August 2026.
The first-year and annual totals for Classes B, C, and D, the published Class A figure on the 20x path, and the structural differences between the legacy path and 20x.
https://www.workstreet.com/blog/fedramp-cost
- FedRAMP Certification Cost 2026: Low-Impact Guide
Elevate.
The readiness and security assessment ranges for a Low system, and through them the optional assessment in Verdict’s Class A estimate.
https://elevateconsult.com/insights/ffedramp-certification-cost-2026-exact-numbers-for-low-impact-systems/
- Drata FedRAMP Cost: Platform Pricing in 2026
FedRAMP Cost. Updated 28 April 2026.
Drata platform pricing, and the 3PAO assessment range for a Moderate system. The same publisher’s main cost register gives a narrower $350k - $650k for that line; the wider range on this page is the one quoted.
https://fedrampcost.com/automation-tools/drata
- FedRAMP Cost Breakdown: Rev 5 vs 20x Pricing Guide (2026)
Secureframe. Updated February 2026.
The 3PAO assessment range and the gap assessment and remediation range for a High system.
https://secureframe.com/hub/fedramp/costs
- FedRAMP Certification Cost: Budget Drivers & ROI
Elevate.
The cross-class ranges for the 3PAO assessment, advisory, remediation and engineering, and continuous monitoring, and through them the remediation and monitoring lines in Verdict’s Class A estimate.
https://elevateconsult.com/insights/fedramp-certification-cost-budget-drivers-investment-roi/
- Paramify FedRAMP Cost: Platform Pricing in 2026
FedRAMP Cost. Updated 28 April 2026.
Paramify platform pricing.
https://fedrampcost.com/automation-tools/paramify
- FedRAMP Cost 2026: $1.1M Year-1 Before You Sell to One Agency
FedRAMP Cost. Updated 28 April 2026.
The higher totals for Classes C and D, the annual continuous monitoring estimate for a Moderate system, and the early estimate for the 20x path.
https://fedrampcost.com/
- NTC-0004: Initial Outcome from RFC-0020 FedRAMP Authorization Designations
FedRAMP. 25 February 2026.
The mapping from impact-level baselines to Certification Classes: “Class B will include the current Li-Saas and Low baselines, Class C will include the current Moderate baseline, and Class D will include the current High baseline”, with Class A as a new baseline. Also that the change is “only to provide labels for the existing requirements”.
https://www.fedramp.gov/notices/0004/
- Certification Classes: FedRAMP Consolidated Rules for 2026
FedRAMP. Consolidated Rules for 2026.
The caution that agencies “should not treat Certification Classes as one-for-one replacements for Low, Moderate, or High impact levels.”
https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/agencies/use/classes/
- FedRAMP 20x Certification Rules: FedRAMP Consolidated Rules for 2026
FedRAMP. Launched 24 June 2026.
The Class A rule set: a completed SOC 2 Type II, GovRAMP, or FedRAMP Rev5 process “within the past 12 months” (FRC-CLA-ASF), and the Key Security Indicators, required “even if the provider intends to pursue a Rev 5 Program Certification path in the future.”
https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/providers/20x/rules/fedramp-certification/
- FedRAMP Certification: FedRAMP Consolidated Rules for 2026
FedRAMP. Launched 24 June 2026.
That a provider seeking Class A “MAY supply a fresh initial FedRAMP independent assessment” where Classes B to D MUST (FRC-APP-FIA), and the upgrade paths “from A to B, C, or D” (FRC-CCL-UCC).
https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/providers/rev5/rules/fedramp-certification/
- Choose a Class: FedRAMP Consolidated Rules for 2026
FedRAMP. Consolidated Rules for 2026.
That Class A “is designed for existing commercial products that already have a SOC 2 Type II certification and a mature security program”, and that the classes “are designed to be undertaken progressively where your investment can scale with agency interest”.
https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/providers/start/class/
- What’s Changing: FedRAMP Consolidated Rules for 2026
FedRAMP. Consolidated Rules for 2026.
The date after which FedRAMP stops accepting new Rev5 certifications: “FedRAMP will stop accepting any new FedRAMP Rev5 Certifications on June 11, 2027.”
https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/providers/updating/changes/