Breach cost calculator

Estimate what a data breach could cost your organization, based on figures from IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report. Use it to weigh a breach against what prevention would cost.
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Figures from the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026. How we calculate

What is your company size?(optional)

Helps us tailor advice. It doesn't change the estimate: IBM doesn't report breach costs by company size.

A record is one individual data entry (e.g., a customer, employee, or patient record).

1,000
records
1,000,000

Select an industry and enter the records at risk to see your estimate.

How we calculate

  • We start from the average cost of a breach in your industry, from the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026 (global average $4.99M).
  • IBM's averages come from breaches of 2,590 to 115,380 records, and IBM warns against multiplying a per-record cost out to large breaches. So we treat the average as a breach of about 17,300 records and assume cost grows 1.8× to 2.8× for every tenfold increase in records. That curve is our assumption; IBM doesn't publish one.
  • Breaches identified and contained within 200 days averaged $4.32M, against $5.65M for slower ones. Each control's saving is IBM's measured drop in average cost for that factor. IBM measures them one at a time, so the combined saving is probably a little lower than shown.
  • Unanswered and “Not sure” questions widen the range instead of assuming the worst. Every range also carries ±15%, because an average hides a lot of variation.
  • Cyber insurance isn't included: it moves the cost of a breach to your insurer rather than making the breach cheaper.