One hourly rate covers everything beyond a package, including additional devices, open-ended forensic and advisory time, breach-counsel support, and every bracket of expert-witness work (case review, deposition prep, deposition, trial testimony). Testimony outside business hours is the one exception, set out in the testimony terms. Firms on a managed security plan pay a lower rate for some of this work, which is a benefit of holding a plan and not a surcharge on anyone else. Hourly engagements without a retainer carry a 4-hour-per-session minimum.
Engagement retainer (active matters)
Done-for-you engagements begin with the engagement retainer. The engagement retainer covers 12.5 examiner hours, and you decide how they are spent. It is refundable within 7 days of signing if no work has started, and not refundable once work starts. Expert-witness engagements take the testimony retainer instead, set out below. We do not bill outside the written scope without a scope update you authorize first.
The rest of the catalog
Self-serve tool
$200/mo, billed monthly, for access to every tool. The AI investigator runs in SleuthX's cloud and you review the results. It includes automated collection and analysis, AI triage, link analysis, a case vault for your evidence, reports with every finding cited, and the full methodology engine. Includes $200 of usage credit each month. The credit resets at the start of each billing month and does not carry over. Usage beyond it draws down a prepaid balance you top up in-app, and top-ups never expire. The subscription and prepaid top-ups check out in-app.
Complex & litigation cases
Identity-theft rings, multi-actor harassment, and layered scams (romance-to-crypto, executive sextortion, pig-butchering rings) coordinated across multiple devices, accounts, and jurisdictions are scoped per case at the hourly rate, priced in writing before any work starts, and often coordinated with breach counsel and law enforcement.
Expert witness & testimony
Case review, deposition and trial testimony bill at the hourly rate in business hours, under the testimony terms in your engagement letter. Findings are documented.
Enterprise
SleuthX Enterprise is billed on two rates. Seats are $200/seat/mo, counted as the people who actually hold a live seat in your organization. Devices are $5/device/mo, counted as the machines enrolled for monitoring. The tier adds frontier reasoning, a dedicated analyst escalation channel, and team billing for firms running multiple cases. Checks out in-app.
A seat added partway through a month is billed for that month. A seat removed partway through keeps its seat until the month ends, then stops. Your invoice lists every seat and every device it charged for, so the number on it can be checked against the people and machines you recognise.
A company with no enrolled devices pays for seats alone. There is no minimum, no platform fee, and no floor under either rate.
What that comes to
| Organization | Seats | Devices | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small firm, software only | 3 | 0 | $600 |
| Mid-size team with a managed fleet | 12 | 8 | $2,440 |
| Multi-office agency | 40 | 25 | $8,125 |
Every figure in that table is the two rates multiplied out. Nothing is rounded and nothing is bundled.
Payment
All standard payment methods are accepted via Stripe, including credit card, debit card, and ACH bank transfer for US clients. For larger engagements we prefer ACH or wire transfer to keep processing costs down for both sides. The self-serve tool ($200/mo, billed monthly) and Enterprise ($200 per seat per month, plus $5 per billable device per month) check out in-app; prepaid usage top-ups are handled there too. Done-for-you engagements collect an engagement retainer before any billable work begins; payment instructions go out in the engagement letter.
Cross-cutting policies
Written scope before any billable work
Every engagement is scoped in writing before any retainer is collected. The estimate names the device package or hour range, the deliverables, and the milestone gates where scope is reviewed before additional time bills.
Attorney volume
Attorneys with 3 or more active cases per quarter receive floor pricing on subsequent personal-side cases (internal volume policy).
What this means for you
- Written scope before any work. You see a written scope covering deliverables, timeline, and price, and you approve it before we begin. You are never billed for work you did not authorize.
- We commit to findings, not outcomes. We tell you up front what the evidence can and cannot establish. Recovery, attribution, and prosecution are decided by banks, platforms, insurers, and courts. We produce the record they act on, and we put that distinction in writing.
- Every case is investigated, not just scanned. A credentialed examiner reviews every case before findings leave the practice. You get a documented investigation with the hashes, method and tool versions recorded, not a single automated scan and a one-line answer.
- We will tell you if you do not need us. If a free or simpler step would resolve your situation, whether a police report, an IC3 filing, or a platform's own recovery flow, we point you there first.
- One hourly rate. One hourly rate for work beyond a package, set out in your engagement letter before any of it bills. Testimony outside business hours is the one exception, set out in the testimony terms.
- Senior work at the senior rate. The examiner you are quoted is the one who does the work. Quoted rates and delivered work are the same tier.
How it starts
- See the price. Press Start my case and see the fixed price before you sign. For work outside a package, describe the matter in writing.
- Sign the engagement letter. It names how you're working with us (self-serve tool, done-for-you package, or hourly), the price or device package, deliverables, and retainer. We examine only a device you own. Before we start, you sign a form stating that you own it.
- Retainer + start. Done-for-you engagements start with the engagement retainer. The self-serve tool starts immediately. Purchase once at sleuthx.ai/app and begin.
- Investigation, report, optional testimony. A documented methodology, written report, expert testimony coordination if your case ends up in court.
SleuthX is a digital forensics firm. We are not a licensed private investigation agency, and our examiners are not licensed private investigators.
