Summary
Organizations insourcing CMMC face steep costs: around $1M for 100‑employee firms, $4.3M for 500‑employee companies, and $6M for 1,000‑employee enterprises. SOC operations alone reach $2–2.5M, and assessments cost $40k–$60k. At these sizes, outsourcing compliance to Summit 7 can cut spending by 30–60%.
Organizations pursuing Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) compliance often discover that the challenge is both a technical and a financial one.
This breaks down what it realistically costs to insource CMMC-aligned operations at three organizational sizes: 100, 500, and 1,000 employees. If you’re looking for a numbers-driven perspective on the cost of CMMC in-house, you’re in the right place.
The Staffing Cost of Insourcing CMMC by Company Size
Across all organization sizes, a few budgeting realities remain consistent:
- Security Operations Center (SOC) is a significant portion of spend
- Compliance staffing is frequently underestimated
- Salaries and benefits add substantial overhead
- SOC coverage requirements increase quickly with scale
Companies within this size range can save 30-60% of your budget by outsourcing to Summit 7, and today we’ll get into why.
Note: All salary figures in this breakdown are based on 2026 mid‑range market data from Robert Half.
100-Employee Organizations
A 100-person company will pay the highest cost-per-employee to insource CMMC compliance and will typically face challenges staffing an in-house SOC with full 24×7 coverage.
For an 8×5 support model, with limited swing shift over weekends, an organization of this size needs:
- Two to three SOC analysts at around $500,000 total
- Two tier 1/tier 2 analysts at around $163,000 each
- One senior analyst at around $192,000
- One entry-level compliance analyst is about $114,000
- Two members of help desk staff (based on the common ratio of 80-90 employees per IT staff member)
- Tier 1, $66,000
- Tier 2, $79,000
Taken together, base salaries usually land around $776,000 per year, which becomes well over $1 million a year with benefits. That equates to roughly $10,000 per employee annually to insource IT, security, and compliance operations.
500-Employee Organizations
At 500 users, staffing requirements expand significantly:
- Leadership roles emerge (e.g., IT Director, Compliance Director)
- 24×7 SOC coverage becomes necessary
- Compliance staffing typically doubles
- Help desk roles increase proportionally
In this model:
- Leadership costs land around $500,000 annually
- SOC operations reach approximately $2 million
- Compliance adds $230,000
- Help desk roles cost about $650,000
The total base salary comes to roughly $3.3 million per year. After benefits, that can climb to $4.3 million, or around $8,600 per employee. While economies of scale help reduce the per-employee cost, staffing shortfalls can drive operational risks – from slower help desk response times to missed security events.
1,000-Employee Organizations
As organizations grow larger, costs rise sharply:
- Expanded leadership teams (IT Director, Security Director, Compliance Director)
- Larger SOC operations (around $2.5 million annually)
- More help desk staff (around $1.1 million)
- Continued compliance staffing needs
Base salary for a 1,000-person company reaches about $4.5 million. Fully loaded, total cost trends closer to $6 million annually. Due to scale, this brings costs down to approximately $6,000 per employee.
Still, this excludes roles often needed in larger enterprises such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) administrators, cloud/network administrators, Center for Internet Security (CIS) administrators, server infrastructure teams, and more.
Additional Costs Beyond Staffing
Staffing is only one piece of the cost model. Several auxiliary requirements significantly impact both budget and timeline:
- Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Moderate or equivalent cloud environments
- Physical access controls
- Badge systems, cameras, and visitor logs
- CMMC Assessment
- $40,000 to $60,000 every three years or following significant change
- CMMC gap assessment and advisory services
- Typically, $40,000 to $60,000
- Security awareness training
- Hardware supporting Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)-validated cryptography
- U.S.-persons staffing requirements for export-controlled data
- Internal or within Software as a Service (SaaS)-provider support teams
Scope Drives Cost
Insourcing an entire enterprise environment can easily climb into the millions annually. Fortunately, most organizations don’t need to bring everything into scope. By isolating CUI into an enclave, an organization can drastically reduce the number of systems, tools, and users requiring compliance.
Three common approaches to scoping include:
- File sharing tools
- Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) enclaves
- All-in compliance
File-Sharing Tools
File-sharing tools are a low-cost approach, but they are highly user-dependent and increasingly limited due to updated Department of War (DoW) guidance stating that encrypted CUI is still CUI. This means any environment touching encrypted CUI becomes in scope.
You have no control of how data is received, and it’s very difficult to migrate out of when it’s time for a change. You may also find yourself paying more than you thought due to the need for supplemental tools. Overall, file-sharing tools are not a great option in terms of value, security, or scalability.
VDI Enclaves
VDI enclaves are the fastest and most common approach to CMMC scoping; they’re also the type of managed enclave we offer at Summit 7. They isolate CUI within a separate cloud environment and leave the corporate environment out of scope.
VDI enclaves are great for setting a strong boundary while using predictable tools and significantly reducing your scope. They’re much faster than all-in, typically taking 6-12 months for assessment readiness.
In addition to VDI enclaves saving your organization time, money, and effort compared to all-in, there are even more cost benefits if you opt for a managed enclave through Summit 7 rather than insourcing.
All-In Environments
All-in compliance refers to a single, enterprise-wide compliant environment. The main benefits are simplified operations, whole-company protection, insurance benefits, and futureproofing. The caveats are higher cost and a longer deployment (12-18 months) timeline.
An all-in environment is a phenomenal option if you have the timeline and budget to support it. As with a VDI enclave, you can save time and money on deploying all-in compliance by leaning on a managed IT and security provider like Summit 7.
Outsourcing vs. Insourcing: A Practical Decision
Insourcing gives organizations complete control but comes with significant recurring cost. For many companies, especially those with smaller DoW revenue streams, the financial lift is simply not worth it.
Managed enclaves and managed all-in solutions (like those offered by Summit 7) offer alternatives that can often cut costs by half or more per supported user while accelerating the timeline toward assessment readiness.
For support building a compliant enclave or modernizing your entire environment, reach out to an expert at Summit 7.
