Ask how much does IT support cost and most IT companies will give you a vague answer and a request for a meeting. That is frustrating when all you want to know is whether this is a £300 a month decision or a £3,000 a month decision.
So here is a straight answer, with real numbers.
The short answer: how much does IT support cost?
Most UK small and medium businesses pay between £30 and £90 per user per month for managed IT support. A typical 15 person business should expect somewhere in the region of £600 to £1,200 a month for a properly managed service that includes support, monitoring, security and backup.
Pay as you go support, where you call someone only when something breaks, usually runs at £75 to £150 per hour.
The rest of this guide explains what drives those numbers, what should be included, and where providers quietly add cost.
The three ways IT support is priced
1. Per user, per month
The most common model, and generally the fairest. You pay a fixed monthly fee for every member of staff who uses IT, whatever devices they have. Someone with a laptop, a desktop and a mobile counts once.
Typical range: £30 to £90 per user per month.
It is easy to budget for, it scales cleanly as you hire, and it does not punish you for giving people the equipment they need.
2. Per device, per month
You pay for every machine, server and piece of hardware being supported.
Typical range: £15 to £50 per device per month, with servers charged considerably more.
This can work out cheaper if your staff share machines. It works out expensive if everyone has a laptop and a desktop, and it can create an odd incentive where you avoid buying equipment your team actually needs.
3. Pay as you go, or ad hoc
You call when something breaks and you pay for the time.
Typical range: £75 to £150 per hour, often with a minimum charge.
It looks like the cheapest option and it is the most expensive one for most businesses. More on that below.
What should be included in a managed IT contract
The headline price means nothing until you know what sits behind it. A proper outsourced IT support service should include all of the following as standard:
- Unlimited remote support during business hours, so nobody hesitates to raise an issue
- Proactive monitoring of your systems around the clock, so most problems are caught before you notice them
- A guaranteed response time, in writing, not a vague promise
- Patching and updates applied automatically across every machine
- Antivirus and endpoint protection
- Backup and disaster recovery, and just as importantly, regular testing that the backup actually restores
- Microsoft 365 management, including user setup, permissions and security settings
- Onboarding and offboarding of staff
- Account management, meaning someone who knows your business and reviews it with you regularly
If a quote looks unusually cheap, one of these is almost certainly missing. Usually it is backup testing or monitoring, and those are the two you will miss most on the day something goes wrong.
What is usually charged separately
Even with a good contract, some things sit outside the monthly fee. That is normal and reasonable, but you should know about them upfront:
- Onboarding or setup fee. Typically £500 to £2,000, covering the work to audit, document and take over your systems properly
- Hardware. Laptops, servers, firewalls and phones are bought, not rented, unless you agree otherwise
- Microsoft and software licensing. Usually billed at cost or with a small margin, on top of support
- Projects. Office moves, migrations, new server installs and similar are quoted separately
- Out of hours support. Some providers include it, most charge extra
Why the cheapest quote is usually the most expensive
Businesses that stay on pay as you go support tend to believe they are saving money. In practice they pay in three ways.
They pay in downtime. With no monitoring, nobody spots the failing hard drive, the backup that stopped running three months ago, or the machine quietly missing security updates. Problems are only found when they become emergencies.
They pay in hesitation. When every call costs money, staff put up with slow machines and broken processes rather than pick up the phone. That lost productivity never appears on an invoice, but it is real.
They pay in the bad month. Reactive support is cheap until the month it is not. A serious incident, a failed server or a security breach turns a modest monthly saving into a very large bill, alongside days of lost trading.
Managed support is not just cheaper support. It is a different product. You are paying for problems that never happen.
What drives the price up or down
Two businesses of the same size can get very different quotes. The main factors are:
- Number of users and devices. The single biggest driver
- Servers. On premise servers cost meaningfully more to support than a cloud only setup
- Security and compliance needs. Businesses handling sensitive data, or working in regulated sectors, need more protection and often managed cyber security and Cyber Essentials certification
- Age of your equipment. Old hardware breaks more, so it costs more to support
- Number of sites. Multiple locations mean connectivity between them and more to keep in sync
- Response times. A 15 minute guarantee costs more to deliver than a next working day one
Does the price change by industry?
Somewhat. What changes most is what you need, rather than the rate itself. Sectors handling sensitive client data or working to compliance requirements tend to need more security, tighter access control and formal certification, which pushes them towards the upper end of the range.
We publish sector specific guidance for solicitors, accountants, veterinary practices, architects and construction firms, because the right setup genuinely differs between them.
Questions to ask any IT provider before you sign
- What exactly is included, and what will I be billed extra for?
- What is your guaranteed response time, and is it in the contract?
- Do you monitor our systems proactively, or only react when we call?
- How often do you test that our backups actually restore?
- Is support genuinely unlimited, or is there a cap?
- What is the contract length, and what happens if we want to leave?
- Who will actually answer the phone, and will they know our business?
An honest provider will answer all seven without hesitating.
If you are asking these questions because your current provider is falling short, it is worth reading our guide to the signs it is time to change your IT support provider.
Frequently asked questions
How much does IT support cost per user in the UK?
Most UK businesses pay between £30 and £90 per user per month for managed IT support. The range depends on what is included, particularly whether security, backup and Microsoft 365 management are part of the package or charged separately.
How much does IT support cost for a small business?
A 10 person business should typically budget £400 to £900 a month for a fully managed service. A 25 person business should expect £1,000 to £2,000 a month. Businesses with on premise servers or higher security requirements sit at the upper end. See our small business IT support page for more.
Is managed IT support worth it for a small business?
For most businesses with five or more staff, yes. Below that, ad hoc support can be reasonable. Above it, the cost of downtime, the security risk and the productivity lost to staff struggling on alone usually outweigh the monthly fee comfortably.
What is the difference between managed IT support and pay as you go?
Pay as you go is reactive. You call when something breaks and pay for the time. Managed support is proactive. Your systems are monitored continuously, problems are prevented rather than fixed, and support is included in a fixed monthly fee so there is no hesitation about picking up the phone.
Should IT support include Microsoft 365 licences?
Not usually. Licences are typically billed separately from support, because the cost depends entirely on how many people you have and which Microsoft plan you are on. Your provider should manage the licences as part of the service, but the licence cost itself sits on top.
How much does an IT support contract cost to set up?
Expect an onboarding fee of £500 to £2,000 depending on the size and complexity of your setup. This covers auditing your systems, documenting them, deploying monitoring and security tools, and taking over from your previous provider properly.
Get a real number for your business
We have supported businesses across Chichester, Worthing, Arundel and West Sussex for over 20 years. We are Cyber Essentials certified and a Microsoft Partner, and we look after everyone from architects and engineers to hotels, vets and property firms.
If you would like a straight answer on what IT support would cost for your business, book a free IT review or get a quote and we will give you a real number.