What are the Costs of Third Party Certification?

One of the most common questions I hear from clients is, “How much will this cost?” Regardless of whether you're in the public or private sector, budgeting and justifying expenses is essential and ISO certification is no exception.

Get a quote for certification One of the key advantages of third-party certification is the objectivity and expertise that an external auditor brings. But how much should that expertise cost? The truth is there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends entirely on your organization and the systems you have in place.

How Much Does ISO Certification Cost?

Whether you're working towards ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management or ISO 27701:2019 for GDPR compliance, ISO certification can deliver significant benefits from cost savings and improved risk management to better stakeholder relationships. In many cases, the long-term financial gains far outweigh the initial investment.

The cost of ISO certification depends on several factors. For example, a small business that already aligns closely with the standard will likely face lower certification costs and a smoother process. Typical costs include:

Purchasing the relevant ISO standard(s)
Initial certification (Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits)
Ongoing surveillance audits
Re-certification every three years

Despite these expenses, certification is often more affordable than expected and attainable for organisations of all sizes. To get a clear understanding of your costs, the best approach is to request a detailed quote from a third-party certification body.

What’s Included in the Quote?

A quote is a detailed cost estimate provided by an accredited certification body. It outlines fees for the auditing process and ISO certification services. While rates vary depending on the provider, the standard, and your business, most quotes are based on:

Audit duration (number of audit days required)
Day rates
Initial certification (Stage 1 and 2 audits)
Ongoing surveillance (yearly audits in years 1 and 2)
Re-certification (in year 3)

In short, your quote will be largely based on the time required to audit your management system, but this is only part of the overall cost.

What Influences the Cost of ISO Certification?

Implementation Costs

These are internal costs associated with aligning your business to the ISO standard. This includes buying the standard, interpreting its requirements, and applying them across your organization. Efficient and accurate implementation from the start can help keep costs low.

Employee Training

Training may be necessary to ensure your team understands and complies with the standard. Consider whether in-house, online, or external training is required and include this in your overall budget.

Hidden Costs

Some certification bodies include additional charges like travel expenses, application fees, and annual management fees. Always read the fine print. For example, NQA never includes hidden fees, all costs are clearly stated.

Audit Duration

The more efficient your system, the shorter the audit and the lower the cost. Audit duration will be reflected in your quote and is influenced by several factors (detailed below).

What Affects Audit Duration?

Audit time is a major cost factor. Below are the five key variables that impact how long an audit will take:

Number of Employees

Employee count is a key determinant. It reflects the size and operational scope of your management system. We also consider employee roles and work patterns like shift workers, seasonal staff, or similar roles grouped across teams to assess audit needs based on the IAF MD 5:2015 guidelines.

Scope of Certification

We need a clear understanding of your business activities. This helps us assess the potential risks and determine how critical the management system is to the safety or quality of your operations. For instance, a system failure in a power plant carries greater risk than one in a small office.

Number of Locations

Multiple sites can increase audit time and cost. As a UKAS-accredited body, we must ensure compliance across all locations within your certification scope. Sampling may be possible if all sites perform similar functions. However, any site with a unique process will need to be audited individually.

This is done in line with IAF MD 1:2007 guidelines for multi-site certifications.

Organisational Complexity

Similar to how insurers assess risks, we evaluate how your organization’s complexity affects audit duration. Factors we consider include:

On-site or off-site work (e.g. construction, engineering)
Structure of your organization (simple vs multi-tiered)
Use of multiple languages (translation increases audit time)
Regulatory environment (e.g. banking, healthcare, food safety)
Whether you're a returning customer familiar to us

These factors either increase or reduce the required audit time and cost.

Integrated Management Systems (IMS)

If you've integrated multiple standards (like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001), you may benefit from time and cost savings. Shared processes such as internal audits and management reviews only need to be audited once, rather than separately for each standard.

To qualify for reduced costs under IAF MD11:2013, two conditions must be met:

Your system must be fully integrated
Your auditor must be qualified to assess all integrated standards

At NQA, 98% of our full-time auditors are trained to assess integrated management systems, ensuring continuity and value.

Lowering Costs with a Gap Analysis

A gap analysis helps you assess how close your current systems are to ISO standard requirements. This pre-assessment identifies areas needing improvement, allowing you to address issues before the formal audit. By doing so, you can reduce both audit time and certification costs.

If your business has already started implementing an ISO standard, a gap analysis is a smart investment to streamline the certification process.Summary: Making ISO Certification Cost-Effective

While ISO certification does come with costs, it's an investment that delivers measurable long-term value. The actual price depends on your organization's size, structure, locations, chosen standards, and how well your systems are already aligned.

To get an accurate estimate:

Review your internal readiness
Consider a gap analysis
Request a tailored quote from NQA

By understanding the variables and preparing effectively, ISO certification can be a cost-effective step toward stronger compliance, improved performance, and greater stakeholder confidence.

Request a Quote

At NQA, we understand that no one knows your business better than you, so we will always try and meet with you or discuss your specific requirements, management system structure and organizational context to ensure that the quote we supply is as accurate as possible.

If you are interested in finding out the cost of gaining certification, please call 0800 0522424 to speak with a representative, reach out to us online or fill out our quote request form. Just provide information about your company, the scope of certification and your level of risk or complexity to receive a quick quote or answer a few more questions to request a formal quote.