Is Schellman more expensive than A-LIGN?

Marginally and inconsistently. For single-framework Level 1 ROC engagements, Schellman and A-LIGN price within 5 to 10 percent of each other, with the winner of any specific quote often coming down to engagement-team availability and fiscal timing rather than headline pricing. For multi-framework bundles, A-LIGN's combined engagement pricing is typically more aggressive by 5 to 15 percent. For pure PCI work where the customer-procurement team weights brand recognition, Schellman's published audit volume (one of the largest in the QSA market) often justifies the marginal premium.

Who is Schellman and what is the history?

Schellman & Company was founded in 2002 by Chris Schellman and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. As of 2026 Schellman is one of the largest dedicated cybersecurity audit firms in the US by SOC, PCI, ISO, FedRAMP, and HITRUST audit volume. The firm publishes annual audit-volume data showing it is consistently among the top three FedRAMP 3PAO firms, top three SOC 2 audit firms by report count, and a top-tier PCI QSA. The full PCI listings are on the official PCI SSC directories at pcisecuritystandards.org.

Does Schellman handle SOC 2 and PCI together?

Yes. Schellman is one of the few audit firms credentialed across the full commercial framework set: PCI QSA, AICPA SOC 2 auditor, ISO 27001 certification body, HITRUST CSF Assessor, FedRAMP 3PAO, and StateRAMP 3PAO. Combined engagements (PCI plus SOC 2, PCI plus ISO 27001, PCI plus HITRUST) typically save 18 to 32 percent versus separate engagements with the same firm. The combined-engagement pricing is competitive with A-LIGN's, with Schellman often winning on engagement-team continuity (Schellman's named partners and managers tend to stay on accounts longer than the named-firm comparators).

Is Schellman a Big 4 firm?

No. Schellman is a dedicated cybersecurity audit firm, not a Big 4 generalist. The Big 4 (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC) all maintain PCI QSA practices, but they are sub-practices within larger audit and consulting businesses. Schellman's positioning is Big-4-adjacent: comparable brand recognition for cyber audit specifically, materially lower pricing than the Big 4 equivalent engagement (roughly 35 to 55 percent below for like-for-like ROC scope), and a more focused engagement team where every member carries the cyber audit specialism.

How long does a Schellman PCI engagement take?

First-time Level 1 ROC engagements run 4 to 7 months end to end, in line with Coalfire and A-LIGN timelines. Renewals are typically 3 to 4 months. Schellman tends to over-resource fieldwork weeks slightly (typical Schellman engagement uses 3 to 4 named assessors versus 2 to 3 at boutique firms), which compresses the calendar timeline at the cost of a marginally higher fee. The trade-off works well for buyers with hard PCI deadline pressure.

Can Schellman handle FedRAMP plus PCI engagements?

Yes. Schellman is consistently among the top three FedRAMP 3PAO firms by authorisation volume per the FedRAMP Marketplace, with deep bench at FedRAMP Moderate and FedRAMP High. Combined PCI plus FedRAMP engagements with Schellman price roughly at parity with A-LIGN and roughly 8 to 15 percent below Coalfire on the FedRAMP portion. For commercial PCI work that overlaps with federal customer pursuits, Schellman is a strong alternative to Coalfire.

QSA pricing

Schellman PCI compliance cost 2026: an independent pricing read

Schellman is one of the largest dedicated cybersecurity audit firms in the US. The brand recognition premium versus boutique QSAs is real and often justified for buyers whose customer-procurement teams weight assessor name. For multi-framework engagements the pricing is consistently competitive with A-LIGN, often below Coalfire.

Updated April 2026

Year 1 ROC

$50k - $210k

Commercial Level 1 typical: $75k to $145k

Pricing model

Fixed-fee, brand-recognition premium

Best fit

Multi-framework, brand-conscious buyers

The Schellman pricing model in plain English

Schellman prices PCI engagements as fixed-fee proposals with explicit named-assessor lists and an itemised deliverable schedule. The pricing typically includes 3 to 4 named on-site assessors plus a senior reviewer, which is one more headcount than most comparators. The extra resourcing compresses the fieldwork calendar and, in Schellman's positioning, produces a higher-quality ROC narrative through the additional review pass.

Day rates for Schellman senior assessors run $1,800 to $2,800, with partner-level reviewers billing $3,000 to $4,000 per day. The combination of higher headcount per engagement and partner-level review time produces a fee profile that lands close to Coalfire on Level 1 work and slightly above A-LIGN. For buyers who explicitly want the partner-level review (banks, public companies, or any organisation where the QSA partner signature is going to be read by a senior customer), the Schellman premium is straightforwardly justified.

Multi-year terms are standard at 10 to 18 percent discount for a three-year commitment, with annual scope true-ups documented in the contract. Schellman engagement managers tend to push for multi-year commitments more aggressively than other named-firm comparators because Schellman's renewal retention is among the highest in the market, and the firm prices the renewal discount accordingly.

Three concrete cost scenarios

Scenario	Schellman fee range	What is included
Level 2 SaaS (single-region cloud CDE)	$55k - $85k	SAQ D walkthrough or compact ROC, two week fieldwork, three named assessors plus partner review
Level 1 e-commerce + SOC 2 Type 2 bundle	$120k - $170k	Combined PCI ROC plus SOC 2 Type 2, three week fieldwork, shared evidence collection, partner-level review
Level 1 fintech + FedRAMP Moderate	$170k - $210k	Combined PCI ROC plus FedRAMP 3PAO engagement, five week fieldwork, shared technical scoping

Sources: Vendr aggregated buyer data, Schellman customer case studies, and PCI engagement quotes shared on practitioner forums. Schellman publishes annual audit-volume data confirming its top-three positioning across SOC 2, FedRAMP, and PCI ROC volume.

What the Schellman brand actually buys you

Brand premium in QSA work is real but easy to overpay for. The genuine value is in three specific places. First, customer-procurement teams at large commercial buyers (Fortune 1000 enterprises, regulated financial services, federal agencies, large healthcare systems) recognise Schellman as a top-tier audit firm and treat the ROC as more credible by default. This shows up most concretely in vendor risk management questionnaires where "named auditor" is a check-box: Schellman's brand is a known quantity.

Second, Schellman's audit-volume scale produces deeper benchmarking insight. The firm sees enough Level 1 ROC engagements across SaaS, fintech, retail, hospitality, and healthcare to know where typical buyers' control implementations sit on the maturity curve. That benchmarking is genuinely useful during scoping conversations because the assessor can flag "you are below typical peer benchmark on Req 10 logging" before fieldwork rather than during.

Third, the partner-level review. Schellman engagements include a partner-level reviewer pass on the ROC narrative, not just the engagement manager. For buyers whose ROC will be read by their own customers' security teams (especially in B2B SaaS where vendor security review is intense), the partner review materially improves the narrative quality versus boutique-tier engagements where the lead assessor self-reviews.

When Schellman wins and when it does not

Schellman wins when customer-procurement teams will read the ROC and the named-auditor brand matters, when the buyer has combined PCI plus SOC 2 plus FedRAMP obligations and wants a single firm credentialed across all three, and when calendar compression matters (Schellman's heavier engagement-team staffing meaningfully reduces total elapsed time).

Schellman does not win for buyers focused on absolute lowest pricing on single-framework Level 1 ROC work (A-LIGN's mid-market tier and the boutique firms typically price 10 to 25 percent below for the same scope), for buyers focused exclusively on Level 4 SAQ attestation (SecurityMetrics and ControlScan price 70 to 85 percent below for SAQ work), or for buyers whose engagement is genuinely simple and small (Schellman is over-resourced for sub-$50K engagements).

How to negotiate with Schellman

Three tactics. First, bring a comparison quote from A-LIGN explicitly. Schellman engagement managers respond to A-LIGN as the closest competitor in the named-firm tier, and they will typically match a credible A-LIGN proposal down by 5 to 12 percent without partner escalation. Second, time the engagement to Schellman's fiscal year-end (typically March, on a fiscal year ending in February) where revenue pressure widens the discount window. Third, commit to multi-year scope explicitly during the proposal phase; Schellman discounts multi-year more aggressively than competitors because of their high renewal retention rate.

For combined PCI plus SOC 2 plus ISO 27001 engagements, ask Schellman to commit to a specific named partner on the engagement. Partner-level continuity across the three frameworks is the single best operational outcome of the bundle, and naming the partner in the contract anchors the engagement quality.

Schellman on the PCI SSC directory

Schellman is listed in the official PCI SSC Qualified Security Assessor directory and the PCI SSC ASV directory.

Verify on pcisecuritystandards.org →

Frequently asked

Schellman first-time Level 1 PCI ROC engagements run roughly $50,000 to $210,000 depending on cardholder data environment scope and bundled framework work. Vendr aggregated buyer data and public Schellman customer disclosures place the typical commercial Level 1 ROC at $75,000 to $145,000. Schellman's standalone ROC pricing sits at parity with A-LIGN on the mid-market commercial tier and roughly 5 to 10 percent below Coalfire on the same scope, with the gap widening on multi-framework bundles.

A-LIGN PCI cost

Mid-market commercial parity with multi-framework efficiency.

Coalfire PCI cost

Federal-adjacent QSA premium.

Trustwave PCI cost

Managed-security-plus-QSA bundle.

QSA assessment cost

The market-wide rate card.

Level 1 PCI cost

$50k to $500k+ for 6M+ transactions per year.

v4 vs v3 cost delta

What 4.0 mandatory effective date added to the bill.