How much do managed IT services cost?
Most small and mid-sized businesses pay about $100 to $250 per person per month for managed IT services, based on ranges published by IT providers Integris and IronEdge Group. A 35-person firm typically lands around $3,500 to $5,500 a month before software licences. Advanced security, backup and specialist support push the price higher.
I'm Igor Dobrovolskiy, founder of As-Built IT in Raleigh. I've spent 15 years in IT, including helping lead the technical recovery after a cyberattack across about 90 locations.
Fair warning: I'm an IT person writing about money, which is like asking a plumber to do your taxes (correct numbers, terrible handwriting). Nearly every IT company hides its prices behind a “contact us” button, mine included. Awkward, I know. I'll explain before the end.
If your firm's IT department is currently Gary, the project engineer who is “good with computers”, this post is for Gary too. Hi, Gary. You can stop pretending the server closet is a supply cupboard now.
On this page: Pricing · Cost per user · Pricing models · Hiring vs managed · Price drivers · Extras · Real costs · Mistakes · Questions
Managed IT services pricing at a glance
Managed IT services pricing comes in four shapes: per user, per device, one flat monthly fee, or by the hour when something breaks. Here's what each costs, by the published figures. Screenshot it and tape it to Gary's monitor.
Sources: per-person range from Integris and IronEdge Group. The 35-person figure is from IronEdge Group, before software licences.
How much do managed IT services cost per user?
Managed IT services cost about $100 to $250 per user per month for most small and mid-sized businesses. Integris puts the average at $100 to $149 per user, while IronEdge Group quotes $150 to $250 for standard plans.
Per user usually means per person, not per computer. That matters in a design firm, where one architect can own a laptop, a rendering workstation and a tablet covered in trace-paper smudges. (No judgement. I have three monitors and mostly look at one.)
Bigger packages cost more: Integris says plans with advanced security and consulting run $150 to $400 a month per user. That's the “everything included, nobody panics” tier, and yes, you're paying for the not-panicking. For the full list of what a plan for design and build firms covers, here's what's in our managed IT services in Raleigh.
Simple maths on the published per-person range. Software licences, hardware and one-off projects are extra.
Managed services pricing models: which one you'll be quoted
Most managed IT providers quote one of three managed services pricing models: per user, per device or a flat monthly fee. Break-fix, paying by the hour, is the fourth option, and it isn't really managed IT at all. Think of it as IT on a pay-as-you-panic plan.
- Per user: predictable, because headcount changes more slowly than Gary's opinion of Windows updates
- Per device: fair when a few people run lots of machines, like a rendering room that hums like a small airport
- Flat fee: one number for the whole firm, which your bookkeeper will want to frame
- Break-fix: cheapest in a quiet month, priciest in exactly the month you can least afford it
Whichever model you're quoted, the total for a mature provider tends to land in the same place, according to IronEdge Group. So compare what's included, not the label on the invoice. The label on the invoice has never once fixed a printer.
Left: per-person pricing grows with headcount. Right: the plotters and workstations that make a design firm's IT different from a dentist's office.
IT support cost: managed IT vs hiring your own IT person
For most small firms, managed IT costs less than hiring. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median computer support specialist salary at $62,890 a year (2025), before benefits. A 20-person firm at the published per-person range pays $24,000 to $60,000 a year for managed IT.
And one person is one person. They get sick, they take holidays, and they can't be an expert in networks, security, backups and why the plotter only prints in pink. (It's always the pink. Nobody knows why.)
Which brings us back to Gary. Gary's IT side job isn't free: every hour he spends resetting passwords is an hour he isn't billing as an engineer. Sorry, Gary, you're doing great, please go back to engineering.
Already have an IT person who's stretched thin? There's a middle option where an outside team backs them up instead of replacing them, called co-managed IT. Everyone keeps their job, including Gary's actual one.
What changes the price for a design or build firm
Three things change a managed IT price the most: how many people you have, how many computers and devices need looking after, and which extra services you add, such as security, backup or CAD support. At As-Built IT, the number of offices doesn't change the price.
Design and build firms come with line items a dentist's office never sees. Picture big Revit models, workstations with graphics cards that cost more than my first car, and a job-site trailer whose internet runs on hope and one Wi-Fi extender.
- Workstations: CAD and rendering machines need more care than a laptop that only does email
- Software licences: Autodesk seats are pricey, and a wasted or locked seat is money on fire
- Big project files: storage and backups sized for models, not for spreadsheets
- Job-site trailers: internet, Wi-Fi and a firewall for an office that moves
That's why we built CAD and BIM IT support and IT services for construction companies around exactly these. A generic plan treats a rendering workstation like the front desk PC, and the rendering workstation will complain about that loudly.
What isn't in the monthly price
Software licences are usually billed separately from managed IT support. IronEdge Group's figures, for example, exclude licences such as Microsoft 365. New hardware and one-off projects, like an office move, are usually quoted on their own (sadly, nobody bundles in the movers).
Some providers also charge a one-time setup fee, which IronEdge Group says often runs about one month of service. So when two quotes look wildly different, check whether one quietly includes licences and setup and the other quietly doesn't. It's comparing pizza prices with and without the cheese (yes, that joke was corny, I'm leaving it in).
What I've seen IT problems really cost design and build firms
In my experience, the monthly IT bill is rarely the expensive part. The expensive part is downtime, and the wrong fix bought in a hurry.
Before I started As-Built IT, I worked with an architecture firm whose Revit models took forever to open and froze during sync. They assumed the computers needed replacing. The real problem was network bottlenecks, slow file storage and inconsistent workstation setups, so new computers would have been a very expensive way to stay slow.
At an engineering firm, a shared drive holding CAD drawings, calculations and weeks of active work failed, and their internal IT person couldn't bring it back. We found the most recent usable backup and restored the active projects first. Deadlines, it turns out, do not care that your drive has feelings.
And at a construction company of about 75 people, ransomware hit in the middle of several active projects. Isolating systems, restoring from clean backups and bringing the most urgent ones back first is the kind of week that makes any monthly IT fee look small.
The monthly fee is the small number. The big number is the week nobody can open a drawing.
Mistakes firms make when comparing IT quotes
- Comparing per-user prices without checking what each one includes
- Forgetting that licences, hardware and projects may be billed on top
- Picking the cheapest quote, then paying the difference in downtime
- Never asking how fast they actually respond (ours: within 30 minutes)
And mistake number five, the classic: leaving it all to Gary until Gary goes on holiday. Enjoy the beach, Gary. Nobody will touch the server closet while you're gone (we promise nothing about the printer).
Why most IT companies don't publish prices, including us
Most managed IT providers quote per firm because two firms with the same headcount can need very different amounts of looking after. At As-Built IT we quote per firm, month-to-month, based on your people, your devices and the services you add.
I know, I promised to explain the awkward bit, and the explanation is “it depends”, the most annoying phrase in English. But a six-person studio and a forty-person engineering firm really are different animals. One of them has a plotter with a name and a personality.
Managed IT cost questions
How much does managed IT cost per month?
For most small and mid-sized businesses, about $100 to $250 per person per month, based on ranges published by Integris and IronEdge Group. A 35-person firm typically pays $3,500 to $5,500 a month before software licences.
Is managed IT cheaper than hiring an IT person?
For most small firms, yes. The median computer support specialist salary is $62,890 a year (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) before benefits, while a 20-person firm at the published range pays $24,000 to $60,000 a year for managed IT.
Are Microsoft 365 licences included in managed IT pricing?
Usually not. Most providers bill software licences such as Microsoft 365 separately from the support fee, so check each quote for what it includes.
What is included in managed IT services?
Typically a help desk for staff, monitoring and updates on every computer, security tools, Microsoft 365 administration, and network and firewall management. Exactly what's included varies by provider, so compare quotes line by line.
How much does As-Built IT charge?
We quote per firm, based on how many people and devices we look after and which services you add, such as security, backup or CAD support. Every plan is month-to-month, and the first 30-minute call is free.
Where to go from here
If your firm is in Raleigh or the Triangle, see what's included in our managed IT services or book a free 30-minute call.
Bring your headcount, your list of computers and your worst IT story. Gary is welcome too, and he gets the comfy chair.
About the author
Igor Dobrovolskiy founded As-Built IT in Raleigh in 2026 after 15 years in IT, including helping lead the technical recovery after a major cyberattack at a global enterprise. He writes these posts so nobody has to email three IT companies just to find out a number.