How much does technical due diligence cost?
For PE firms and investors buying software companies: what a real technical read costs, what moves the fee, and my published per-deal pricing. Cheap DD is the most expensive kind.
From $15K a deal, scoped to the target.
In the US market, technical due diligence on a software acquisition typically runs from the low tens of thousands for a focused read on a mid-market target to well into six figures when a big advisory firm staffs a team on a large platform. My published pricing starts at $15,000 per deal, scoped up with the size and complexity of the target.
What you get is a decision-ready report written for partners, not just engineers: code quality and architecture, scalability, security and compliance exposure, the team and key-person risk, and the true cost of ownership, with a clear remediation roadmap you can price into the deal.
The fee is small against what it protects. A missed compliance gap, a rewrite-in-disguise, or a key-person dependency discovered after close doesn't cost $15K; it costs a chunk of the thesis. And because I operate as a turnaround and fractional CTO after deals close, the report reads like a plan, not a caveat list.
Related searches: tech DD cost, software due diligence pricing, IT due diligence fees, technical audit for acquisition.
What I charge, exactly.
Fixed per-deal pricing, scoped before we start. All prices USD.
Technical Due Diligence
Code, architecture, scalability, security, team and cost of ownership, delivered as a decision-ready report for partners with a remediation roadmap.
Post-Close Diagnostic
After the deal: the deeper Business-Down read of the acquired company, turned into a 90-day value-creation plan.
Value-Creation Leadership
If the plan needs an operator, I stay on as fractional or interim CTO to execute it, including AI-native modernization.
All prices USD. Full tier detail on the Fractional CTO page. Email me ↗
What investors ask about price.
How much does technical due diligence cost?
My published pricing starts at $15,000 per deal for a mid-market software target, scoped up with size and complexity. Market-wide, focused independent reads run in the low tens of thousands, while large advisory firms staffing teams on big platforms charge well into six figures. All prices USD.
What does the fee include?
A decision-ready report covering code quality and architecture, scalability, security and compliance exposure, the engineering team and key-person risk, and true cost of ownership, plus a remediation roadmap priced for the deal model. Written for the partners making the decision.
How long does technical due diligence take?
Most reads run around two to three weeks from data-room access to report, and I work to the deal timeline. Compressed reads are possible when a process is moving fast; the scope narrows to the questions that can kill or reprice the deal.
Why not have the big advisory firm do it?
Sometimes you should, on very large platforms. But a firm sends a team and a template; I send the person who has run engineering organizations and fixed these companies after close. The read is operational, the report says what I'd actually do, and the fee doesn't carry a partner-leverage margin.
What happens after the deal closes?
That's the point of the model. The DD report converts into a post-close Diagnostic and 90-day plan, and if the thesis needs an operator I stay on as fractional or interim CTO to execute it. The person who priced the risk is the person accountable for retiring it.
Related reading & paths.
Technical Due Diligence
The service itself: what the read covers and how it converts into a value-creation plan.
Turnaround CTO cost
When the portfolio company needs more than a report: pricing for post-close stabilization.
Fractional CTO cost
The ongoing leadership tier: what part-time senior technology leadership costs.
A deal on the table and
a codebase you can't see into?
Send me the timeline. I'll scope the read to the questions that can kill or reprice the deal.