Is Trustwave more expensive than Coalfire for PCI?

Generally no, by roughly 5 to 12 percent for like-for-like ROC scope. Trustwave's pricing reflects the managed security services parent product, where the QSA practice is part of a broader security operations offering. The trade-off: Trustwave is harder to disentangle from managed services if you want pure assessment. Buyers who want only the ROC sometimes find Trustwave's standalone offering takes longer to scope because the account team is incentivised to bundle.

Who owns Trustwave and what is their history?

Trustwave was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago. Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) acquired Trustwave in 2015 for $810 million. In 2024 Singtel sold Trustwave to private equity firm MC2 Security Fund, a vehicle of The Chertoff Group, signalling renewed focus on the standalone cybersecurity market. Trustwave is a PCI QSA, ASV, PA-QSA, P2PE QSA, and PFI (Forensic Investigator). The full listings are on the official PCI SSC directories at pcisecuritystandards.org.

What is SpiderLabs and does it affect PCI pricing?

SpiderLabs is Trustwave's offensive security research team, founded in 2005. They publish the annual Trustwave Global Security Report, run Threat Intelligence, and provide the pen testing capacity for Trustwave PCI engagements. The SpiderLabs association is the primary technical-credibility argument for paying the Trustwave premium versus a generic QSA. Trustwave pen tests bundled with the PCI ROC engagement typically save 10 to 18 percent versus buying pen testing separately.

Does Trustwave do small business PCI compliance?

Yes, but it is not their economic sweet spot. The Trustwave TrustKeeper portal handles SAQ attestation for SMB merchants for $99 to $300 per year, often white-labelled through acquiring banks such as TSYS, Global Payments, and others. The TrustKeeper service is fundamentally different from the QSA practice. For Level 4 SAQ attestation through a processor portal, Trustwave is cost-competitive. For Level 1 ROC work, the economics tilt to enterprise.

How long does a Trustwave PCI engagement take?

First-time Level 1 ROC engagements run 4 to 8 months end to end, including scoping (2 to 4 weeks), evidence collection (4 to 8 weeks), on-site fieldwork (2 to 4 weeks), report drafting (3 to 5 weeks), and final remediation (2 to 6 weeks). Renewals are typically 3 to 5 months. Trustwave's evidence-collection portal accelerates renewals because evidence templates carry forward.

Should I bundle managed SIEM with my Trustwave PCI engagement?

Only if you do not have an internal security operations capability. The bundle saves roughly 15 to 25 percent versus buying managed SIEM and the QSA engagement separately, but the recurring managed SIEM fee ($60,000 to $250,000 per year for a mid-market environment) is significant. If you already run an internal SOC or have a different MSSP relationship, bundle only the pen testing with the ROC and keep SIEM separate.

QSA pricing

Trustwave PCI compliance cost 2026: managed security plus QSA pricing

Trustwave is the managed-security-services parent of one of the largest PCI QSA practices. The pricing reflects that bundle: the assessment is rarely sold cleanly without managed SIEM or managed pen testing in the conversation. Here is what the engagement actually costs, and when the bundle pays.

Updated April 2026

Year 1 ROC

$50k - $220k

Pure ROC typical: $80k to $140k

Pricing model

Bundled with managed services

Best fit

Buyers wanting QSA plus MSSP from one vendor

The Trustwave pricing model

Trustwave prices PCI engagements as part of a security services portfolio rather than as a standalone assessment commodity. The account team will typically propose a tiered engagement: a base ROC, plus a recommended managed pen testing programme, plus a recommended managed SIEM (Trustwave Managed Detection and Response), plus optional incident response retainer. The base ROC is roughly 30 to 45 percent of the proposed total, with the rest in the managed services annuity.

For buyers who want only the assessment, ask for an unbundled proposal explicitly during scoping. Trustwave will produce one, but it is rarely the first proposal on the table. The unbundled ROC will price closer to A-LIGN or mid-tier Coalfire (roughly $80,000 to $130,000 for a typical commercial Level 1) without the managed-services cross-sell.

Day rates for Trustwave QSAs run $1,700 to $2,600, with the SpiderLabs pen testing team billing $2,200 to $3,200 per day. Multi-year terms are standard and typically discount the year-one fee 10 to 18 percent for a three-year commitment, with annual scope true-ups in years two and three.

Three concrete cost scenarios

Scenario	Trustwave fee range	What is included
Level 2 SaaS (single-region cloud CDE)	$60k - $90k	SAQ D walkthrough plus ROC-readiness review, three week fieldwork, external pen test bundled
Level 1 retailer (50 stores, P2PE)	$110k - $160k	Full ROC plus quarterly ASV scans, segmentation test, store-sample on-site fieldwork
Level 1 fintech (full managed bundle)	$170k - $220k	Full ROC plus Managed SIEM plus quarterly pen testing plus IR retainer (managed services portion roughly $80k of the total)

Sources: Vendr aggregated buyer data, Trustwave customer case studies, and PCI engagement quotes shared on practitioner forums. Quotes vary 2 to 3x by scope.

SpiderLabs and what the research depth actually buys you

SpiderLabs is the Trustwave offensive security research team. They have published over 100 vulnerability disclosures in widely-deployed software, contribute to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), and run threat intelligence feeds consumed by Trustwave Managed Detection and Response (MDR). The annual Trustwave Global Security Report is one of the most-cited threat-landscape products in the security industry alongside the Verizon DBIR.

For PCI buyers, the SpiderLabs association translates to three things in the engagement. First, pen testers running PCI Requirement 11 work who have actually written exploits, not just run Nessus scans. Second, threat intelligence that informs the assessor's questions about what attackers are actually doing against payment environments today. Third, a higher-quality finding output, because the testing team thinks in terms of business impact rather than CVSS scores alone.

The cost-equivalent of this depth from a generic QSA pen testing team is to engage a specialist offensive security boutique (NCC Group, Bishop Fox, Praetorian, Atredis Partners) at $25,000 to $50,000 per engagement on top of the QSA's own pen test. The Trustwave bundle prices in the SpiderLabs depth so you do not pay twice.

When Trustwave wins and when it does not

Trustwave wins when the buyer wants a single vendor for assessment plus ongoing managed security services. The bundle saves roughly 15 to 25 percent versus the unbundled equivalent, and the integration between Trustwave MDR, SpiderLabs threat intelligence, and the QSA practice is genuinely tight. For Level 1 merchants without an internal security operations function, the bundle removes the "who is watching the SIEM at 3am" problem in one purchasing decision.

Trustwave does not win when the buyer already has an MSSP relationship they intend to keep (the bundle premium becomes negative value), when the buyer's procurement team requires QSA independence from operational security tooling (a small minority of risk-averse enterprises require this), or when the buyer is looking for the lowest-cost Level 1 ROC (A-LIGN at the mid-market tier or boutique-tier firms typically price 10 to 20 percent below Trustwave for unbundled ROC work).

Negotiating with Trustwave

Three tactics. First, ask for an unbundled proposal in writing during scoping. Trustwave can and will produce one; you need to ask explicitly. Second, if you do want some managed services, name the specific service tier (Managed SIEM, Managed Pen Testing, IR Retainer) rather than accepting a "Managed Security" line item; specificity prevents inflated tier assumptions. Third, time the engagement to Trustwave's fiscal Q4 (typically October to December for the US business unit) where revenue pressure improves discount room by 5 to 10 percent.

For multi-year deals, lock in scope-expansion triggers explicitly. The standard Trustwave multi-year contract allows for scope adjustments at renewal based on transaction growth, new payment channels, or new geographies. Without explicit triggers, the year-three fee can land 30 to 60 percent above the contracted year-one figure.

Trustwave on the PCI SSC directory

Trustwave is listed in the official PCI SSC Qualified Security Assessor, Approved Scanning Vendor, P2PE QSA, and PFI directories.

Verify on pcisecuritystandards.org →

Frequently asked

Trustwave first-time Level 1 PCI ROC engagements run roughly $50,000 to $220,000 depending on cardholder data environment scope and whether the engagement bundles managed security services. Public Trustwave customer disclosures and aggregated Vendr buyer data place the typical commercial Level 1 ROC at $80,000 to $140,000. The full bundle (ROC plus managed SIEM plus managed pen testing plus 24/7 SOC) crosses into $200,000 plus per year, but a meaningful share of that fee is the recurring managed service rather than the assessment itself.

Coalfire PCI cost

Federal-adjacent QSA premium for combined PCI + FedRAMP work.

A-LIGN PCI cost

Multi-framework efficiency for SOC 2 + PCI + ISO 27001 buyers.

SecurityMetrics PCI cost

SMB-focused, the cheapest published rate card.

QSA assessment cost

The market-wide rate card and what is included.

ASV + pen test cost

The two recurring scanning line items.

Level 1 PCI cost

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