Microsoft 365 security audit — transparent pricing
Microsoft's Secure Score is free — but auditors and cyber-insurers don't accept it as a formal assessment, and it only sees API-visible settings. Brocent runs a full CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark audit across Entra ID, Defender, Purview, Exchange, SharePoint and Teams — including the manual controls Secure Score can't check — and hands you a prioritised hardening roadmap mapped to GDPR, NIS2, PIPL and PDPL.
Reviewed by Jack Zhang, CISSP & Rogue Yu, CISSP
Year-end IT budget offers · Now – Nov 30, 2026
Microsoft 365 Security Audit — small-team offer
One-time tenant scan, analysis and written report, for teams under 50 users. (The full CIS Benchmark Audit remains US$2,500–4,500.)
US$450 one-time · excl. tax
Promo code — quote it to your consultant:YE26-M365AUDIT
Three depths of M365 assessment
Start with a free posture check, then scale up to a full CIS benchmark audit or a custom-quoted hardening engagement. Every paid tier is delivered by a named engineer, not a self-serve dashboard.
Quick Security Check
Up to 150 users · free, no scoping callSecure Score + ScubaGear baseline with your top-20 fixes — completely free for teams up to 150 users.
One-time assessment
Free
Managed (recurring)
Free
- Microsoft Secure Score review
- CISA ScubaGear automated baseline
- Top-20 prioritised findings
- MFA / conditional-access quick check
- 1-hour findings walkthrough
- Free for teams up to 150 users — no card, no scoping call
- Upgrade to CIS Benchmark Audit for a full audit-grade report
CIS Benchmark Audit
Full tenant · audit-gradeThe complete CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark — including manual controls.
One-time assessment
$2,500–4,500
Managed (recurring)
$6–10 / user / mo
- Full CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark (Level 1 & 2)
- Entra ID, Defender, Purview, Exchange, SharePoint, Teams
- Manual controls Secure Score can't see
- Prioritised remediation roadmap + effort estimate
- Auditor- & insurer-ready evidence pack
- Managed: monitoring + quarterly re-audit
Hardening & Compliance
Audit + guided remediationWe audit, then harden your tenant to Secure Score 80+ and keep it there.
One-time assessment
Custom
Managed (recurring)
Custom
- Everything in CIS Benchmark Audit
- Guided remediation to Secure Score 80+
- Compliance mapping: GDPR, NIS2, PIPL, PDPL
- Conditional access & DLP policy hardening
- Executive + board reporting
- Managed: continuous drift monitoring + monthly review
All prices in USD, indicative starting points, tax exclusive. Invoiced in HKD, SGD, CNY, JPY or EUR on request. Regional pricing (APAC / EU-UK / Middle East) available — final quote depends on scope, asset count and location.
Secure Score vs CIS Benchmark — the difference that matters
Microsoft Secure Score is a free, automated number based on the settings Microsoft's API can read. It's useful as a trend line — but it is not an audit. It misses manual-only controls (break-glass emergency-access accounts, Entra admin-role restrictions, Teams external-app policies, Power BI sharing) and no auditor or cyber-insurer accepts it as formal evidence.
The CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark covers 100% of controls — including those manual ones — and is the recognised standard behind most compliance frameworks. A Brocent CIS audit gives you a defensible, evidence-grade report you can hand to an auditor, a client's security questionnaire, or an insurer, plus a roadmap to fix what's wrong.
Why a CIS audit beats a free score
The market splits into free automated scores, per-user monitoring SaaS, and consulting. Brocent gives you the defensible middle: an audit-grade CIS assessment at mid-market prices.
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Microsoft Secure Score
API-visible settings only (not audit-grade) · Free
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ScubaGear (CISA)
Open-source baseline, no interpretation · Free (self-run)
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Octiga / Syskit
Per-user posture monitoring SaaS · US$1–3 / user / mo
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CoreView
Enterprise governance platform · From ~US$20,000 / yr
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Enterprise consultancy
One-time hardening project · US$15,000–50,000
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Brocent CIS Audit
Full CIS benchmark + roadmap · US$2,500–4,500
Third-party list prices as of July 2026. Brocent runs ScubaGear and CIS tooling under the hood — you pay for the audit, interpretation and remediation, not the tool.
Microsoft 365 audit — pricing questions
Isn't Secure Score already free?
Yes, and we use it — but it only reads API-visible settings and no auditor or insurer accepts it as a formal assessment. The CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark covers 100% of controls, including manual ones Secure Score can't see. You're paying for the audit-grade evidence and the fix plan, not the score.
How is M365 audit pricing calculated?
The Quick Security Check is free for teams up to 25 users — no card, no scoping call. Beyond that, or once you want an audit-grade report, that's the CIS Benchmark Audit at a fixed US$2,500–4,500. If you also want guided remediation, the Hardening & Compliance tier is scoped and quoted individually for your tenant.
What does the audit actually check?
Entra ID (identity, MFA, conditional access, admin roles), Defender (threat policies), Purview (DLP, retention, compliance), Exchange Online, SharePoint/OneDrive sharing, and Teams — against the CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark Level 1 and 2.
Do you fix the problems too?
The Hardening & Compliance tier includes guided remediation to Secure Score 80+ and hardens conditional-access and DLP policies. Audit-only tiers hand you a prioritised roadmap your own team (or ours, on a managed plan) can execute.
Does this satisfy GDPR / NIS2 / PIPL / PDPL?
The audit maps findings to GDPR, NIS2, PIPL and the Singapore/UAE/Saudi PDPL regimes, so the report supports those obligations. We deliver across APAC, EU/UK and the Middle East.
Need a full Managed IT plan, not just this add-on? Real, per-market pricing is on Managed IT Support.
Compare Managed IT pricing →The automated scan engine behind this human-delivered service is also available as a standalone BCS platform module. See the BCS IT Security Auditor module →
Book your Microsoft 365 security audit
Tell us your user count and compliance target — we'll return a fixed-fee quote and a sample CIS findings report within one business day.