Penetration Tester Salary Around the World (2026)

Worldwide Salary

Worldwide Mid Level Penetration Tester compensation for professionals with about 3 to 5 years of experience. Every row shows a researched local-market salary range and a research-derived USD equivalent using the same annual or monthly pay period.

US

Benchmark

$100K – $156K/year Reported pay range for Penetration Tester.

Read the source notes

Comparability

Different source cohorts Pay periods, role scope, and experience bands vary. These ranges are not a country ranking.

Global Coverage

17 Countries Compared

High-Income Global Markets

Mature security markets with established enterprise, consulting, financial-services, and technology demand for hands-on penetration testing.

Country

Currency

Basis

Local Pay Range

USD Equivalent

United States

3–5 year mid-level band from Jobicy 2026; cross-checked against September 2026 Indeed national base-pay postings and a 2026 mid-career benchmark. USD requires no currency conversion.

USD

Annual

$99.8K – $156.1K/year

$100K – $156K/year

United Kingdom

2026 Barclay Simpson Mid Level Penetration Tester range; 2026 Glassdoor submissions for 4–6 years sit inside or near this band. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

GBP

Annual

£50K – £75K/year

$67K – $101K/year

Germany

2026 Barclay Simpson Mid Level Penetration Tester range for Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt; cross-checked with Kununu Germany penetration-tester pay. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

EUR

Annual

€55K – €95K/year

$64K – $110K/year

Ireland

Morgan McKinley 2026 gives €55K–€70K for 3–5 years; IT Search 2026 gives €55K–€75K for 3–6 years. The narrower overlap is shown. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

EUR

Annual

€55K – €70K/year

$64K – $81K/year

Netherlands

Consultant.nl 2026 explicitly reports this gross monthly band for medior penetration testers with 3–5 years. PayScale was used only as a broad cross-check. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

EUR

Monthly

€5.7K – €7.3K/month

$6.6K – $8.5K/month

Canada

Triangulated from current Canadian penetration-tester postings and the 2026 Indeed national base-salary benchmark; the range centers on web/app/OT penetration-testing postings rather than total compensation. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

CAD

Annual

C$90K – C$120K/year

$65K – $86K/year

Australia

Supported estimate after second-pass search, anchored to the September 2026 Indeed national base-salary benchmark (A$119K) and current penetration-tester postings. Broad senior outliers were excluded. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

AUD

Annual

A$95K – A$140K/year

$68K – $100K/year

Singapore

Supported estimate from September 2026 Indeed national base pay, current penetration-tester job listings, and employer salary observations. It is a conservative mid-level band rather than a single-source measured percentile range. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

SGD

Monthly

S$6K – S$9K/month

$4.7K – $7.1K/month

Growing Mid-Market Technology Hubs

Expanding technology and security markets where specialist offensive-security demand is growing and local compensation remains below many mature-market benchmarks.

Country

Currency

Basis

Local Pay Range

USD Equivalent

Poland

Breachroad 2026 and EITT 2026 both report roughly PLN 14K–22K gross per month for mid/regular penetration testers. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

PLN

Monthly

PLN 14K – PLN 22K/month

$3.7K – $5.9K/month

Portugal

PayMetric Labs 2026 penetration-tester/red-team benchmark: national market range €42K–€55K with a mid-level median near €48K. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

EUR

Annual

€42K – €55K/year

$49K – $64K/year

Estonia

PayMetric Labs 2026 penetration-tester/red-team benchmark: national range €47K–€63K with mid-level pay centered near €54K. One strong specialist dataset was available after a second search pass. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

EUR

Annual

€47K – €63K/year

$54K – $73K/year

United Arab Emirates

Conservative triangulation from Hays GCC 2026 penetration-tester pay (AED 18K–40K total fixed monthly), pentest.ae 2026 mid-level specialist bands, and September 2026 Indeed data. USD conversion uses the CBUAE fixed USD/AED rate of 3.6725.

AED

Monthly

AED 25K – AED 40K/month

$6.8K – $11K/month

Malaysia

Superjobs Malaysia Q1 2026 aggregated base salary for mid-level Penetration Tester / Ethical Hacker, 3–6 years. A second search pass found no equally specific independent local band, so this is retained as a single-source specialist benchmark. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

MYR

Monthly

RM 9.5K – RM 14K/month

$2.3K – $3.5K/month

Emerging and Cost-Competitive Markets

Markets with growing cybersecurity hiring and comparatively lower local compensation, while experienced penetration testers can still command meaningful premiums.

Country

Currency

Basis

Local Pay Range

USD Equivalent

India

Triangulated overlap: EICTA IIT Kanpur 2026 gives ₹8L–₹20L for penetration testers with 2–5 years, while a 2026 India career dataset places mid-level pay at ₹14L–₹28L. The overlapping ₹14L–₹20L band is shown. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

INR

Annual

₹14L – ₹20L/year

$15K – $21K/year

Philippines

Supported estimate anchored to PayMetric Labs 2026 mid-level penetration-tester/red-team pay near ₱83K/month and September 2026 Indeed penetration-tester base-pay data. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

PHP

Monthly

₱75K – ₱95K/month

$1.2K – $1.5K/month

Mexico

PayrollMexico 2026 reports this monthly penetration-tester band for mid-level to senior specialists (3–7 years); 4–6 year Glassdoor observations provide a second check. Used as the closest directly matched band for 3–5 years. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

MXN

Monthly

MX$62K – MX$108K/month

$3.6K – $6.4K/month

Turkey

ElemanBuldum September 2026 reports a 2–5 year average near TRY 38.2K/month and a current role-wide range of TRY 28.7K–51.9K. The range is retained with that experience-match limitation after a second search pass. USD conversion uses ECB 2 Sep 2026 reference rates.

TRY

Monthly

TRY 28.7K – TRY 51.9K/month

$0.6K – $1.1K/month