How much does IT support actually cost?
A straight answer rather than a "contact us for a quote" — how UK IT support is priced, what moves the number, and what's usually hiding in the small print.
The honest answer, from Alex.
Video goes here — Alex on camera: "people ask me this every week, here's the honest answer."
Per user, per month — and the exclusions matter more than the headline.
Most IT support companies don't put a number on their website, and we're no exception. That isn't coyness. A guide price for a business nobody has looked at is usually wrong in one direction or the other, and it's what a quote leaves out, not the figure at the top, that decides what you actually end up paying.
What we can tell you is how the price is built. Almost every UK provider charges for managed IT per user, per month, and here's how we do it.
One inclusive monthly fee, based on your users and servers.
The number of users and servers tells us how complex the job is, which level of engineer it needs (from day-to-day helpdesk through to recovering from a serious failure), and what extra admin, custom services or company requirements come with it. That all goes into one monthly figure, so there are no per-ticket charges and no surprise extras for normal support. Antivirus, hardware and projects are quoted separately.
A 12-month first year, then monthly. Taking on a new client means real work up front: documenting your setup, tidying what we inherit and getting monitoring in place. We spread that cost across the first year instead of charging a setup fee. After that it rolls monthly, so you stay because it works.
Built for 5 to 50 users. That's the size we're set up for. Much smaller businesses often don't need a monthly arrangement, and larger organisations usually need a different kind of service. If you're outside that range, we'll tell you honestly on the first call.
If you're comparing quotes, these are the seven things that usually explain why two prices for the same office are miles apart.
Cover hours
Weekday 9–5 support costs less than round-the-clock cover. An international business may genuinely need 24/7, but a local business working 9 to 5 shouldn't be paying for hours it's closed. We work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. If you really do need 24/7, we're probably not the right fit.
How quickly they respond
A contractual one-hour response costs more than "we'll get to it today". Ask what the provider actually commits to, not what they hope to manage.
On site or remote only
If you have a server, networking kit, printers or the odd cabling job, you need someone who'll actually turn up, not just take remote tickets. Ask how far they travel and whether visits are included.
What's bundled in
Backup, antivirus and monitoring tools are sometimes in the price and sometimes extras, so a cheap headline figure can balloon. Ours covers the helpdesk plus the remote-support and monitoring tools, and antivirus is quoted separately.
Users, devices and servers
Most providers price per user. Check whether that covers servers and shared devices, or whether server support is billed on top. Our fee includes both.
Minimum charges
Many providers set a monthly minimum, so a very small office still covers the cost of being looked after properly. Ask what it is before you compare per-user figures.
Contract length and exit terms
A rolling agreement and a multi-year lock-in change the real cost of switching if it doesn't work out. Know the term and the notice period going in, not when you want to leave. Ours is a 12-month first year, then monthly.
How to read a quote
If one quote comes in far below the others, ask what's excluded. It's almost always response times, on-site visits, backup or antivirus. If one comes in well above without a clear reason, such as round-the-clock cover, compliance requirements or a genuinely complex setup, ask what you're paying for. And always ask about per-ticket charges. (We don't have any.)
Choosing on more than price? We've also written up the questions worth asking any IT company before you switch.
★★★★★5.0 on Google — from local businesses like yoursIs it cheaper to hire someone in-house?
Usually not, for a business of 5 to 30 people. Once salary, National Insurance, training and holiday and sickness cover are added up, a full-time IT person costs meaningfully more than outsourced support, and one person can't cover every specialism. Some firms do both: an internal person for the day-to-day, with us behind them.
What's usually not included in a monthly price?
Most commonly: on-site visits beyond an agreed number, out-of-hours work, new starter and leaver setup, hardware, and projects such as an office move or a server replacement. With us, agreed on-site visits are included, out-of-hours work is by arrangement, hardware, projects and antivirus are quoted separately, and there are never per-ticket charges.
Why don't you publish your prices?
Because the fee depends on your users, servers and requirements, a guide price for a business we haven't looked at is usually wrong. Tell us how many users and servers we'd be covering and which services you want, and we'll come back with a real figure in writing.
Get a written estimate for your setup.
Answer four quick questions and we'll email back a written estimate for your business, not a generic range. No call unless you want one.
Want an honest number for your setup?
A free technology review: an hour on what you've got, a straight figure at the end, and no obligation.