“So what’s this going to cost?”
It’s usually the first question a business owner asks me, and it’s a fair one. The frustrating part is that many IT companies won’t answer it until you’ve sat through a sales process. I think that’s backwards. You should be able to understand what managed IT services cost before you ever pick up the phone.
So here’s a straightforward look at how managed IT is priced, what drives the number up or down, what should be included, and the hidden costs worth asking about. I’ll use our own published prices as an example, because I’d rather show you real numbers than talk in generalities.
How managed IT is usually priced
Most managed service providers use one of a few pricing models. None is automatically better, but they behave differently as your business changes.
| Model | How it’s billed | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per user | A monthly fee for each person, covering one primary computer | Your team uses a mix of laptops, desktops, phones and tablets | Make sure it’s clear which devices and services are covered |
| Per device | A monthly fee for each computer, server and network device | You have many shared computers and few named users | Costs climb as people add devices, and counting gets tedious |
| Tiered plans | Good, better and best bundles at different per-user prices | You want to choose how much support and strategy you get | Compare what each tier actually includes, not just the price |
| Block hours | You prepay for a bank of support hours | Your needs are light and predictable | Unused hours may expire, and nobody is watching between calls |
| Hourly (break-fix) | You pay for time when something breaks | You rarely need help | Costs are unpredictable, and prevention usually isn’t included |
Per-user pricing has become the most common model, and it’s the one we use. People work across several devices now, and nobody wants an IT bill that goes up because someone added a tablet.
What drives the price
Two businesses with the same number of employees can have very different IT needs. These are the factors that move the number most:
- Number of users. This is the biggest factor in almost every pricing model.
- Servers. On-site or cloud servers take extra monitoring, patching and backup. Most providers price them separately.
- Locations. A second office adds network equipment, internet circuits and travel.
- How much hands-on help you want. Monitoring and maintenance alone cost less than a plan that adds remote help desk support, on-site time and strategic planning.
- Security and compliance requirements. Businesses handling sensitive data often need additional layers of protection, documentation and monitoring.
- The starting condition of your environment. Years of deferred updates, undocumented systems or aging equipment usually mean more onboarding work up front.
Real numbers: what SOHO Logics charges
At the time of writing, our managed IT plans are priced per user, per month:
- Essentials, $59 per user: 24/7 monitoring, patch management, managed endpoint protection, automated maintenance and reporting, plus preferred rates on hourly support. It’s built for businesses that want protection in place but prefer to pay for hands-on help as needed.
- Business, $155 per user: everything in Essentials, plus remote help desk support, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace administration and backup, onboarding and offboarding, email security, security-awareness training, firewall management and vendor coordination.
- Premium, $225 per user: everything in Business, plus five hours of on-site support per quarter, priority handling for critical issues, founder-led quarterly strategy reviews, annual budget planning, a technology roadmap and annual business continuity planning.
Servers are $199 per month each, additional office locations start at $99 per month, and plans start at 10 users. Month-to-month agreements are available. You’ll always find current prices on our pricing page.
A quick example
Say you run a 15-person professional office with one server, and you choose the Business plan:
- 15 users × $155 = $2,325 per month
- 1 server × $199 = $199 per month
- Total: $2,524 per month
That covers help desk support, monitoring, security, Microsoft 365 administration and backup for everyone in the office. Software licenses like Microsoft 365 itself are billed separately, which is standard across the industry. For your own number, try our IT cost estimator. It takes about 30 seconds and doesn’t ask for your email.
What should be included, and what usually isn’t
A good managed IT agreement makes the line between “covered” and “extra” easy to see. As a rule of thumb, you should expect the monthly price to include:
- Ongoing monitoring, maintenance and patching
- Endpoint protection on every covered device
- Help desk support for covered issues (on plans that include it)
- Routine changes like adding users, resetting passwords and adjusting permissions
- Regular reporting on the health of your systems
These are commonly billed separately, and that’s normal:
- Hardware and software licenses, such as new computers, firewalls and Microsoft 365 subscriptions
- Projects, like office moves, server replacements, migrations and new locations
- Onboarding, which is the one-time work of documenting your environment and deploying tools
The key is that any of these should come with a written quote before work begins. If a provider can’t tell you in advance what something will cost, that’s a warning sign.
Hidden costs to ask about
When you’re comparing proposals, these are the questions that uncover surprises:
- Is onboarding included or quoted separately, and how much is it?
- What does “unlimited” support actually cover? Unlimited often has exclusions, such as after-hours work, on-site visits or anything labeled a “project.”
- What are your hourly rates for work outside the agreement? Even the best plan has edges.
- How long is the contract, and does it auto-renew? Watch for multi-year terms and short cancellation windows.
- What happens if we leave? You should get your passwords, documentation and data back without a fight or an “offboarding fee” that holds them hostage.
- Are licenses marked up? Reselling licenses is common. Just make sure the pricing is transparent.
Managed IT vs. hiring in-house
For many growing businesses, the real comparison isn’t one provider against another. It’s managed IT against hiring an IT employee. A full-time hire brings salary, benefits, payroll taxes, training and tools, and one person still can’t be an expert in everything, work every hour or take a vacation without leaving you uncovered.
Managed IT gives you monitoring and security tools, established processes and experienced help for what is often a fraction of that cost. Our estimator includes an in-house comparison you can adjust to match your market. And if you already have an IT person, co-managed IT can give them better tools and backup instead of replacing them.
If you’re currently paying by the hour, my post on break-fix vs. managed IT walks through how to compare the true cost, including the downtime that never shows up on an invoice.
The cheapest quote isn’t always the least expensive
Price matters, but it’s only half the equation. A low monthly fee that excludes help desk support, leaves security as an add-on and bills every change as a project can cost more by the end of the year than a plan that covers what you actually need.
The right question isn’t “What’s the cheapest?” It’s “What will this cost us over a year, and what problems will it prevent?” A provider worth hiring should be happy to walk through that with you in plain English.
Want to see what managed IT services in Dallas would look like for your business? I’m happy to have that conversation. No pressure, and no jargon.
Get a clear, flat-rate proposal for your business after a free, no-obligation IT assessment.
