Vulnerability Assessment vs Penetration Testing: Which Does Your Business Need?
Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing are not alternatives. One is a broad, repeatable sweep that tells you what is known to be wrong across everything you own; the other is a narrow, manual, adversarial exercise that proves what an attacker could do with it. This guide defines both in the NCSC’s own terms, sets out the five differences that decide the buying order, maps what each instrument finds and misses, prices both against 2026 UK market rates, and costs one 60-person business four different ways.
