About 70% lower in costs
This compares like with like: the advisory fee, and only the advisory fee. Published cost breakdowns for a Moderate authorization price consulting and advisory as their own line item, separately from the assessment, and three of them land in the same place. Knox Systems puts it at $100,000 to $300,000, FedRAMP Cost at $120,000 to $300,000, and Paramify at $100,000 to $500,000 on hourly rates of $150 to $210.
The midpoint of that range is $200K. Our Class C fee, which is the Moderate engagement those figures describe, is $60K. That is 70% lower, and the chart marks both points so the division is there to check. At the bottom of the published range, $100,000 against $60,000, the gap is 40%. We quote the midpoint figure rather than the flattering one.
What this is not: a comparison against the total cost of getting certified. That total runs well into seven figures and covers the 3PAO, engineering, remediation and continuous monitoring. We do not bill any of it, and we could not make it smaller by charging less ourselves. Setting our fee against that number would produce a much larger percentage and would be measuring two different things.
| Figure | Published as | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting and advisory, Moderate | $100K to $300K$100,000 - $300,000 | Knox Systems |
| Consulting / advisory line item | $120K to $300KConsulting / Advisory $120k - $300k | FedRAMP Cost |
| External consulting | $100K to $500KExternal Consulting can add $100,000 - $500,000, depending on the scope and hourly rates ($150-$210/hour) | Paramify |
| Verdict, Class C (Moderate) | $60,000One-time engagement fee, with your 3PAO billed separately by your 3PAO. | Verdict, published |
Months, where it used to be years
Unlike the cost figures above, this section is about the programme rather than about anybody who works in it. It is the route getting shorter, not one provider being quicker than another.
Cabrillo Club puts the legacy route at 18 to 24 months end to end, against a 660 day program average, and puts 20x at 90 to 180 days on pilot data. The first provider through the 20x process finished in 119 days.
UberEther reports that some providers in Phase 1 reached authorization in roughly three months, against 18 or more months as the legacy norm, from 26 complete packages and 13 completed reviews in that phase.
The chart below holds one measure on one axis: calendar days from starting to holding the designation. Review time is a different measure and is kept out of it deliberately, because a five week review bar sitting next to a 660 day end-to-end bar invites a comparison that is not there. Those figures are below the chart instead.
| Figure | Published as | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy path, end to end | 18 to 24 months18-24 months end-to-end | Cabrillo Club |
| FedRAMP 20x, end to end | 90 to 180 days90-180 days end-to-end (pilot data) | Cabrillo Club |
Typical agency authorization review time, reported by the program itself.
The average agency authorization review queue remains under 15 cloud services with a typical review time of under five weeks.
FedRAMP
Cloud services authorized in six months, against fewer than 350 in the program’s first ten years.
We authorized 100+ cloud services in the past six months
FedRAMP
What some providers took in Phase 1, against 18+ months before it.
some participating providers achieved authorization in roughly three months during Phase 1
UberEther
How long the agency route runs from initiation to authorization.
typically spans 12 to 36 months from initiation to authorization
Knox Systems
What our own timeline measures
The timeline we publish is not the same measure as any figure above it. Ours is the preparation: from starting an engagement to handing a finished package to your 3PAO. Class A runs 3 to 5 weeks, Classes B and C run 6 to 8 weeks. What happens after that belongs to other people. The assessment is the 3PAO’s, and the review window is the program’s.
We prepare, we do not assess and we do not certify. So the honest way to read the two sets of numbers together is this: the program has taken the back half of the route from years down to months, and our part of the front half is measured in weeks. Neither one is a promise about your system, and neither one is a schedule we can commit to before seeing your boundary.
References
Four sources, listed with what each one is relied on for. All four were read on 20 August 2026. Published figures move, so check them against the source rather than against this page if anything here matters to a decision.
- FedRAMP 20x: Four Months In and Authorizing
FedRAMP. 30 July 2025.
The program speaking for itself on review times and volume. This is the primary source on the page and the only government one.
https://www.fedramp.gov/2025-07-30-fedramp-20x-four-months-in-and-authorizing/
- FedRAMP 20x Explained: Timeline, Impact, and Contractor Implications
Cabrillo Club. Updated 25 April 2026.
The end-to-end duration figures the timeline chart is built from, the 660 day programme average, and the 119 day first completion. Its cost figures describe the whole programme rather than the advisory line item, so they are not used in the cost comparison.
https://cabrilloclub.com/insights/fedramp-20x-explained
- What Does FedRAMP Actually Cost?
Knox Systems. Published 2 April 2026.
Breaks a Moderate authorization into line items and prices consulting and advisory separately from the 3PAO assessment, which is what makes a like-for-like comparison with our own fee possible.
https://knoxsystems.com/resources/fedramp-cost
- FedRAMP Cost 2026: $1.1M Year-1 Before You Sell to One Agency
FedRAMP Cost. Updated 28 April 2026.
A full year-one breakdown for Moderate with consulting and advisory as its own line, and a 20x estimate.
https://fedrampcost.com/
- This is How Much FedRAMP Certification Costs in 2026
Paramify. January 2026.
Separates external consulting from the rest of the programme cost and gives the hourly rates behind it. Also maps Class B to Low and Class C to Moderate, the same way we do.
https://www.paramify.com/blog/fedramp-cost
- FedRAMP Authorization Timeline: How Long Does It Take?
Knox Systems. Published 13 May 2026.
Why the legacy path takes as long as it does, broken into structural bottlenecks, and the duration of the agency route. It carries no dollar figure, so it is not relied on for cost.
https://knoxsystems.com/resources/fedramp-authorization-timeline
- FedRAMP Compliance: Guide to FedRAMP Requirements
UberEther. Undated.
Phase 1 completion times against the legacy baseline, and the count of packages submitted and reviewed in Phase 1.
https://uberether.com/fedramp-compliance/