Smart Contract Audit Cost Calculator

Smart contract audits are priced primarily by lines of code, and this calculator builds its estimate from a per-LOC base rate that varies by auditor tier: roughly $40/LOC for top-tier firms (the Trail of Bits / OpenZeppelin / Consensys Diligence caliber), $20/LOC for solid mid-tier shops (Halborn, CertiK, Quantstamp), and $10/LOC for independent or boutique auditors. That base rate is then scaled by a complexity multiplier — 0.8x for a simple standard token, 1.0x for a typical DeFi protocol, 1.5x for complex upgradeable or cross-chain systems, and 2.0x for the highest-risk category like bridges or lending protocols with liquidation logic — since more intricate code takes proportionally longer to review line-for-line. An urgency multiplier lets you model a rush job, which increases cost while compressing the timeline. If you request more than one audit firm — genuinely common practice for serious DeFi protocols, since independent reviewers catch different bugs — each additional auditor beyond the first is added at 60% of the single-audit cost rather than the full price, reflecting typical multi-audit discount structures.

Timeline is estimated from a fixed throughput assumption of about 75 lines reviewed per auditor per day (adjusted inversely by the same complexity multiplier), divided across your chosen number of auditors and urgency setting, with a flat 5 days tacked on for report writing regardless of code size. The tool also recommends a bug bounty pool sized at 3x the total audit cost — a common rule-of-thumb heuristic, not a guarantee — and sums it with audit cost into a total security budget. Real-world quotes will vary by firm reputation and current demand, so treat this as a planning estimate, not a locked-in price.