You are ready for a bug bounty when you already handle unpaid reports well. That means a published policy, a monitored inbox, named owners, a fix process that works, and the budget to pay. If any of those is missing, start with a plain disclosure policy first.
What the guidance says
The OWASP cheat sheet advises considering a bounty only after you have a mature disclosure process and internal processes to fix vulnerabilities. A reward program raises volume. It does not add fixing capacity.
The checklist
Score yourself honestly on each item.
- A public disclosure policy exists and is easy to find.
- A security contact is published, and someone reads it every working day.
- Reports get a human acknowledgement within a stated time.
- One named person triages, with a backup.
- Engineering has agreed how security fixes jump the queue.
- You can reproduce an issue in a safe test environment.
- Scope is written down: assets in, assets out, bug classes eligible.
- Safe harbor wording has been reviewed by counsel.
- A reward table and a budget exist, approved by someone who can sign.
- You have a plan for duplicates, low-value reports and disagreements.
Eight or more yes answers is a good sign. Under six, run a disclosure policy for a few months first and see what arrives.
Capacity is the hidden cost
Money is the visible cost. The larger one is people. Each report needs reading, reproducing, deciding, replying and sometimes arguing. Fixing the real ones takes developer time that competes with the roadmap. Estimate that load before you launch, not after.
Do the cheap work first
A bounty finds what your own testing missed. If routine issues are still reaching production, researchers will find them and you will pay for each one. Fix the basics through code scanning, dependency checks and a scoped penetration test. Our post on what to do when the first report arrives is a good dry run.
Start narrow
If you go ahead, begin with a small scope and a modest, private invite list, then widen as your response times hold. It is much easier to expand scope than to retract a promise.
Quick check
Can a bounty replace penetration testing?
No. A bounty is open-ended and unscheduled. A pentest is a bounded engagement with a defined report. Many teams run both for different purposes.
What if we get a flood of low-quality reports?
Clear scope and a published list of ineligible issues cut most of it. Reply to each briefly and politely.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
