Maintaining compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can require significant time and resources, and the total cost isn’t always easy to predict. With legal fees, audits, training, and tools, the expenses of achieving GDPR compliance can add up quickly.
Whether you’re budgeting from scratch or optimizing your existing program, this guide will help you understand the true cost of achieving and maintaining GDPR compliance. We share real-world benchmarks and tips to help you manage spend without incurring unforeseen risk.
Key takeaways
- GDPR compliance involves a mix of one-off and recurring costs, including legal fees, audits, software, employee training, and data protection officers.
- The true cost of compliance varies widely by company size, industry, data practices, and whether functions are managed in-house or outsourced.
- While GDPR compliance can require a significant financial investment from companies, the expense is often far lower than the cost of fines or breaches.
- Fulfilling GDPR obligations like data subject access requests (DSAR) and data protection impact assessments (DPIA) can be expensive if businesses lack streamlined data management processes.
- Proactive investment in compliance reduces risk, builds trust, and is more cost effective than dealing with noncompliance penalties or reputational damage.
GDPR compliance cost breakdown
In a 2025 PwC survey, over half of company executives identified data protection and privacy as a key priority for their organizations. Despite the understanding that strong data protection practices are essential for achieving privacy compliance and building trust with customers, many businesses still lack clarity on what this entails in practice.
When putting together a budget for GDPR compliance, there are a variety of one-off and ongoing investments that you’ll need to account for.
| Cost | Frequency | Reason |
| Legal and advisory fees | Recurring | Covers drafting policies, reviewing contracts, and responding to regulatory inquiries or breach notifications. |
| Certifications (e.g., ISO 27001 and ISO 27701) | Recurring | External validation that your company’s security and privacy practices are aligned with GDPR requirements. |
| Audits | Recurring | Verifies the effectiveness of your data protection controls to identify potential risk areas that need attention. |
| Data Protection Officer (DPO) | Recurring | Required for businesses that process sensitive data or large volumes of information. Can be fulfilled by an in-house employee or an external provider. |
| Employee training and awareness | Recurring | Helps to ensure staff understand GDPR responsibilities as the law evolves, and know how to handle data properly. |
| Monitoring and compliance tools | Recurring | Includes consent management platforms (CMPs) and data mapping tools to manage consent and monitor compliance. |
| Security and risk management tools | Recurring | Supports security-by-design through encryption, access controls, intrusion detection, and vulnerability management. |
| Data storage and infrastructure | Recurring | Secure hosting, anonymization, compliant retention, and data deletion workflows are all necessary for GDPR compliance. |
| Policy management and updates | Recurring | Privacy policies and notices must be updated as business practices and legal requirements evolve. |
| Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) | Ad hoc | Required to identify and mitigate data protection risks for high-risk processing activities. |
| Data subject access requests (DSARs) | Ad hoc | Includes costs related to fulfilling data subject rights to access, rectify, or erase their data, among other data subject rights. |
| Insurance | Recurring | Offsets potential losses from data breaches or regulatory penalties. |
What is the cost of GDPR compliance?
The total cost of GDPR compliance will vary significantly depending on an organization’s size, data practices, risk exposure, and tendency to outsource major functions.
A study published by the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. found that when the GDPR was implemented back in 2018, GDPR compliance costs sat at around USD 1.7 million per year for small businesses, and could rise to USD 70 million for large enterprises.
Businesses that operate in data-intensive industries usually face higher costs. For example, the research found that firms in the software, manufacturing, and services sectors saw costs increase by 24 percent, 18 percent, and 18 percent, respectively, after the introduction of the GDPR.
Fortunately, the European Commission is currently considering proposals for GDPR simplification, including easing certain documentation obligations for smaller businesses. This could reduce compliance burdens — and therefore costs — for many organizations.
It’s important to keep in mind that while GDPR compliance costs can be substantial, they’re not the only ones you need to think about.
Depending on where your business is incorporated, where your customers are located, and what industry you operate in, you may also need to invest in compliance for frameworks like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and others.
How much does a GDPR request cost?
Some companies will get DSARs in volumes high enough to require automation software to manage them. For other companies, they could be rare occurrences. But they’re an expense you need to take into account when budgeting for GDPR compliance.
A good portion (41 percent) of privacy experts surveyed in the UK, for example, estimate that DSARs can cost businesses around EUR 3,000 to EUR 7,000 per year.
Of course, the actual cost will vary based on how many systems you must query to extract the data and how much manual review or redaction is required. And both of these costs can get expensive if you don’t have reliable data management software in place.
How much does a GDPR breach cost?
A GDPR breach can cause significant financial damage. The average fine was approximately EUR 2.8 million in 2024, but GDPR penalties can reach EUR 20 million or four percent of a company’s global turnover (whichever is higher), with the highest fine to date being over a billion Euros.
The financial hit isn’t necessarily a one-off, either. The GDPR creates private right of action, so companies may end up ordered to pay more in damages to individuals who have pursued legal action.
If a company’s penalties and oversight from data protection authorities (DPA) include deletion of data and/or a halt to data processing activities, it can have a significant impact on the company’s operations and ability to earn revenue.
Plus, the reputational damage can have a lingering impact on revenue-generating opportunities if prospective customers, advertisers, partners, potential investors, and others are deterred.
5 factors that influence how much GDPR compliance costs
The true cost of GDPR compliance will vary depending on the context of your business’s operations. The following five factors will all impact what you need to budget when putting your compliance program together.
- Organization size: Smaller businesses tend to have lower base costs, while large scale organizations need broader programs, specialized teams, and comprehensive tools to achieve and maintain compliance.
- Volume and type of personal data: Data processing activities that include handling large amounts of sensitive information or making frequent cross‑border data transfers increase complexity, which pushes up costs.
- Security infrastructure: If you already have strong security controls, risk assessments, monitoring, and encryption in place, the incremental cost is lower than building these from scratch.
- Maturity of policies and practices: Businesses that already conduct regular risk assessments and have structured privacy governance will require less overhaul than businesses starting without these policies.
- Outsourcing vs. in-house management: Using external consultants or shared DPO services can be efficient, but internal employee or human resources investments could pay off in the long term.
In practice, two companies of similar size might see wildly different budgets if one is lacking in controls and the other has systems in place, or depending on the nature and volume of data each one processes.
10 primary GDPR compliance expenses
Paulat explains that, “There are four main categories of GDPR-related expenses that businesses should plan for.” These are:
- Legal and consultancy fees for interpreting regulatory requirements and designing processes for compliance.
- Technology investments for tools like a consent management platform, data mapping, and security infrastructure.
- Operational costs for ongoing staff training, periodic audits, and policy updates.
- Potential financial exposure due to a breach or other violation.
While achieving GDPR compliance comes with real costs, it also creates real value. Investing in the right areas can help you avoid fines, reduce the threat of breaches, and build customer trust. Below, we break down the key expense categories and show you how they can move you towards stronger data governance and long-term business resilience.
1. Compliance software and tools
The GDPR requires businesses to obtain, manage, document — and increasingly be able to signal to third-party services — valid user consent for use of cookies. This makes GDPR cookie consent a nonnegotiable.
Compliance software with features like geolocation-powered consent banners and audit logs help to simplify this process. They can significantly reduce manual workload while lowering the risk of noncompliance and potential fines.
There are many effective, affordable tools that can help you fulfill this obligation. For example, Usercentrics Web CMP plans start at just USD 8/month for websites with up to 1,500 sessions.
2. Employee training
Employee training is one of the most important ongoing GDPR compliance expenses. While it might be costly upfront, it enables teams to effectively implement and adapt to complex privacy requirements over time and helps prevent security breaches and penalties.
Depending on your industry and risk profile, you could spend anywhere from USD 50 to USD 1,000 per employee annually on workshops, certifications, and role-specific training, though reported costs vary widely.
3. Legal and consultancy costs
Legal costs are a constant and often sizable component of GDPR compliance; you’ll need lawyers to review privacy policies, interpret regulatory guidance, and respond to DPA inquiries, and handle disputes. And the cost of GDPR legal consulting will be highly specific to your organization’s needs, resources, and requirements.
For example, costs will likely be lower if you already have an in-house legal team equipped to manage privacy compliance tasks. And note that legal fees can escalate quickly in the case of a dispute or enforcement action, adding significant expenses as a result of litigation, appeals, or settlement payments.
4. DPO requirements
Art. 37 GDPR requires businesses with core activities that include large-scale processing of sensitive information, systematic monitoring, or cross-border data transfers to appoint a DPO.
The DPO doesn’t always have to be a permanent employee; you can outsource or contract the role. An in-house DPO salary typically ranges from EUR 50,000 to EUR 120,000 annually, depending on experience and scope. Outsourced options often start at a few hundred Euros per month but can increase significantly with complexity.
5. Data mapping, RoPAs, and auditing
Businesses have to document where collected personal data lives, how it flows, and who processes it. This makes data mapping, maintaining Records of Processing Activities (RoPAs), and conducting regular audits essential. Together, these activities form the foundation of accountability.
Costs vary widely, though, and will depend on the current state of your organization’s data. Another important factor to consider is your team’s current understanding of your data processes; this will determine whether RoPAs can be handled in-house or if you need to bring in external support for the task.
6. Conducting data protection impact assessments (DPIAs)
You’ll need to carry out DPIAs if your business is a data processor that conducts any of the activities set out in Art. 35 GDPR. These assessments help you identify, evaluate, and mitigate privacy risks before proceeding.
As with other regulatory compliance activities, DPIA costs vary considerably depending on your operational setup. One European academic study estimated that SMBs might pay anything from EUR 688 to EUR 2,236 per assessment. The European Commission has cited figures from EUR 14,000 for basic systems up to EUR 149,000 for more complex ones.
7. Managing Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs)
Responding to DSARs is a legal obligation under Art. 15 GDPR, and fulfilling these requests creates expenses. For example, locating, reviewing, redacting, and delivering personal data across systems takes time and resources, whether done manually or via software tools.
Processing is estimated to cost around EUR 3,000 to EUR 7,000 per year, depending on the complexity of the request. The price can shoot up quickly if data is spread across many systems, third‑party services that must be queried, or redactions are required.
8. Cybersecurity measures
Robust cybersecurity is essential for protecting personal data against breaches and attacks. With the average data breach costing around USD 4.4 million, underinvesting in defenses can be vastly more expensive than preventive measures.
Some experts recommend allocating seven to ten percent of your IT budget to security measures like firewalls, intrusion detection, and encryption.
9. Fines and penalties
GDPR fines have the potential to be financially devastating for businesses. One study found that SMBs were fined an average of EUR 69,119 for noncompliance between 2021 and 2023 (excluding disproportionately large outliers.)
The highest GDPR penalty to date was a EUR 1.2 billion fine imposed on Meta by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The same regulatory body recently fined tech giant TikTok EUR 530 million.
10. Ongoing admin and maintenance
Compliance isn’t a one-and-done project; it demands continuous attention. Ongoing admin includes refreshing policies, periodic staff training, updating vendor contracts, and monitoring regulatory changes.
IAPP’s Privacy Governance Report 2024 found that at over half of companies surveyed, at least 90% of employees completed privacy training, which is an important cost for businesses to factor into their ongoing GDPR- compliance expenses.
Manage GDPR compliance with a reliable and cost-effective solution
Achieving and maintaining GDPR compliance doesn’t have to overburden your organization or its budget. Usercentrics is a flexible, scalable, and affordable solution that’s designed to help companies effectively oversee GDPR compliance.
From consent management to detailed audit trails, it can help businesses of all sizes stay ahead of evolving data protection requirements across GDPR jurisdictions and avoid the steep costs of noncompliance.
Whether you’re building your privacy program from scratch or scaling it to new markets, Usercentrics gives you the tools to stay compliant, transparent, and in control.
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