If your contract just landed a CMMC Level 2 requirement, your two real options are software or a consultant. Here is what each actually costs, how long it takes, and which path fits your situation.
If you are a small or mid sized defense contractor with under about 200 employees and a single site, modern CMMC compliance software will get you assessment ready for roughly 5 to 15 percent of the cost of a traditional consultant, in days instead of months. A consultant still earns their fee when your environment is large, your CUI flow is genuinely complex, or you have no internal IT capacity at all. Most small contractors do not need that depth.
The deciding factor is not "do I want to save money." It is "do I have one motivated person on my team who can spend a few weekends answering structured questions about how the business runs."
| What you actually get | CMMC compliance software | Consultant engagement |
|---|---|---|
| Typical total cost to a Level 2 SSP | $1,800 to $18,000 per year | $30,000 to $300,000 one time |
| Time from kickoff to working SSP draft | 1 to 3 days | 2 to 6 months |
| Who does the writing | You answer structured questions, the tool drafts the SSP | The consultant interviews you, the consultant writes the SSP |
| SPRS score visibility | Live, calculated continuously | Computed periodically, often at the end |
| Evidence vault and POA&M | Built in | Often a separate workbook or another tool |
| Ongoing maintenance (renewals, control drift) | Included in the subscription | Re engagement at the next renewal cycle |
| Best fit | Small or mid sized contractor with one internal champion | Large enterprise, complex enclave, regulated industry overlap, no internal IT |
A reputable CMMC consultant is a Cyber AB Registered Practitioner or Registered Practitioner Advanced, often with prior assessment experience. The work usually breaks into three phases.
This is real, valuable work for a complex environment. The trouble is the typical bill is $30,000 to $300,000, and it takes months. For a 12 person machine shop with a single contract that asked for Level 2, that math rarely lands.
Modern compliance software replaces the documentation labor, not the assessment. A tool like Verdiex asks you plain English questions, maps each answer to one or more of the 110 NIST controls, drafts your SSP automatically, computes your SPRS score using the DoD methodology, and maintains your POA&M. You still own the answers and the decisions. The tool just removes the months of typing.
The output is the same artifact a consultant would produce: an assessment ready SSP, a SPRS score worksheet, a POA&M, and an evidence vault. The price is roughly 5 to 15 percent of a consultant engagement.
Here is a representative comparison for a small defense contractor with about 25 employees pursuing CMMC Level 2.
| Line item | Software path | Consultant path |
|---|---|---|
| SSP, SPRS, POA&M, evidence | $799/month (Verdiex Professional) | $45,000 typical engagement |
| Internal time investment | ~40 to 60 hours from a champion | ~25 to 40 hours of interviews |
| C3PAO assessment fee (the same either way) | $30,000 to $90,000 | $30,000 to $90,000 |
| First year total | $39,588 to $99,588 | $75,000 to $135,000 |
The C3PAO assessment fee is the unavoidable cost in either path. Where the math changes is the documentation and gap remediation work that leads up to it.
The under appreciated option is to do 90 percent of the work with software and then hire a Registered Practitioner for a focused review at the end. You spend $1,800 to $18,000 on the software for a year, and another $2,000 to $4,000 for a 6 to 10 hour expert review of the finished SSP and SPRS score. That is usually under $20,000 in prep, plus the C3PAO assessment fee, which is one quarter to one third of a full consulting engagement.
Yes. A full CMMC Level 2 consulting engagement typically costs $30,000 to $300,000. A year of CMMC compliance software is roughly $1,800 to $18,000, or 5 to 15 percent of the consulting price. The C3PAO assessment fee is the same in either path.
Yes. The DoD does not require a consultant. You need a complete System Security Plan, a SPRS score, and a POA&M, and you need a C3PAO to perform the actual assessment. Compliance software produces the same documentation a consultant would, then you go directly to the C3PAO.
For Level 2, most engagements run $30,000 to $150,000. Very large environments with multiple enclaves can run $200,000 to $300,000 or more. Hourly rates from Registered Practitioners commonly fall between $200 and $400.
It guides you through a structured questionnaire about how your business handles data, maps each answer to the 110 NIST SP 800-171 Rev 2 controls, drafts your System Security Plan, computes your SPRS score using the DoD methodology, and tracks your POA&M as you close gaps. The output is the same artifact a consultant would produce.
The C3PAO assesses your environment against the SSP, regardless of who or what wrote it. What matters is that the SSP accurately describes your implementation of each control and that your evidence backs up the claims. Software written SSPs are common and accepted; the assessor reads the document, not the byline.
Verdiex walks you through the questionnaire, generates your SSP, calculates your SPRS score, and tracks your POA&M. Get on the early access list and we will notify you when it opens.
Verdiex prepares you for assessment. A C3PAO performs the assessment and issues certification.