Managed IT is priced per user per month, per device per month, or as a fixed monthly fee for an agreed scope. What moves the number is user count, servers and locations, whether licences and security tooling are bundled, and the response times you are buying.
We price managed support as a custom fixed monthly fee against your actual environment, and publish our ad-hoc rate: $180/hr ex GST, one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments.
Getting a straight number out of this industry is famously difficult, and there is a reason beyond evasiveness: two businesses with the same headcount can differ by a factor of three in what they cost to support. A ten-person office with laptops and Microsoft 365 is not the same job as a ten-person business with a server, a line-of-business application and three sites.
What you can do is understand the models well enough to compare quotes properly - and know which questions expose the difference.
The three pricing models
| Model | How it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Per user, per month | A rate per staff member, covering their devices and accounts | Most common. Check what counts as a user - shared logins and contractors are often billed separately |
| Per device, per month | A rate per computer, server or network device | Penalises businesses where staff have a laptop and a desktop. Servers usually priced far higher than workstations |
| Fixed monthly fee | One number for an agreed scope | Cleanest to budget. Everything depends on how tightly the scope is written - read the exclusions |
| Ad-hoc / hourly | Pay only for time used | No monthly commitment; no proactive work either. Sensible below a few hours a month |
What actually moves the number
- Servers. A single on-premise server can cost more to support than the rest of the office combined. Retiring one is often the biggest available saving.
- Sites. Multiple locations multiply network complexity and travel.
- Licences bundled or not. A quote that includes Microsoft 365 licences will look higher than one that does not. Compare like with like or the comparison is meaningless.
- Security tooling. Endpoint protection, backup and email filtering are sometimes bundled and sometimes line items.
- Response times. A one-hour response guarantee costs more than next-business-day. Buy the one you need.
- After-hours coverage. Business hours only is materially cheaper. Most small businesses genuinely do not need 24/7.
- Age of the fleet. Old hardware generates support tickets. Providers price for it.
Read the exclusions before the inclusions
Every managed agreement has an exclusions list, and it is where the surprises live. Look specifically for: project work, migrations, office moves, hardware, licences, after-hours, third-party vendor liaison, and anything relating to systems the provider does not manage.
The question worth asking: "what would I be billed extra for last month?" A provider who knows their own agreement will answer immediately.
When managed beats hourly
The arithmetic is simple enough to do on the back of an envelope. Take what you spent on IT support over the last six months, divide by six, and compare it to the monthly quote. If you are consistently under, hourly is cheaper. If you are consistently over - or if the months swing wildly - managed is both cheaper and easier to budget.
But cost is only half of it. The genuine differences are:
- Work that happens without being asked. Patching, backup verification, monitoring. On an hourly model these get skipped because nobody wants to authorise them.
- Aligned incentives. Hourly rewards a provider when things break. Fixed monthly rewards them for things not breaking.
- Continuity of knowledge. Someone holding the history of your environment diagnoses faster than someone meeting it fresh.
- A defined response time. With ad-hoc you take your place in the queue.
For a full breakdown of the hourly side, including what an hour typically covers, see what IT support costs in Perth. If ad-hoc is the right fit, that is our ad-hoc support service.
Questions that expose a weak quote
- What is explicitly excluded, and what would you have billed me extra for last month?
- Are Microsoft 365 licences included, and are they bought in my name or yours?
- What is the response time, and what happens when you miss it?
- Is there a lock-in term, and what are the exit terms?
- On termination, do I get documentation, passwords and admin access back?
- Who physically attends when something has to be touched?
That last one matters more in Perth than people expect. A fair amount of "managed IT" is delivered entirely remotely, sometimes offshore, and the gap only becomes visible when something needs a person in the room.
How we price it
Managed support is a custom fixed monthly fee built from your actual environment - users, servers, sites, and the response time you need - with no lock-in contract. Licences stay on your card and we take no vendor margin. Ad-hoc work is $180/hr ex GST, one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments, with no call-out fee in metro Perth.
We will also tell you when ad-hoc works out cheaper for your situation, which for smaller offices it frequently does. See managed IT support in Perth for what is covered.
Managed IT Pricing Questions, Answered
The questions worth asking before signing anything.
How much do managed IT services cost?
Managed IT is normally priced one of three ways: per user per month, per device per month, or a fixed monthly fee for an agreed scope. What drives the number is the number of users, how many locations and servers you have, whether security tooling and licences are bundled or billed separately, and the response times you are buying. Support Perth prices managed support as a custom fixed monthly fee based on the actual environment, with ad-hoc work at $180/hr ex GST.
What is usually included in managed IT services?
A typical agreement covers a helpdesk for staff, monitoring and patching of computers and servers, antivirus or endpoint protection, backup monitoring, vendor liaison, and regular reporting. Commonly excluded: hardware, software licences, project work such as migrations and office moves, after-hours work, and anything caused by systems the provider does not manage. The exclusions matter more than the inclusions - read that list first.
Is managed IT cheaper than paying hourly?
It depends entirely on how much support you actually consume. Below roughly a few hours a month, hourly is usually cheaper. Past that, a fixed monthly fee generally wins on both price and predictability. The other consideration is incentive: on an hourly model the provider earns more when things break, whereas a fixed fee aligns them with keeping things working.
What are the benefits of managed IT services?
The three real ones are predictable cost, work that happens without being asked - patching, backup checks, monitoring - and a defined response time when something breaks. The compounding benefit is that someone holds continuous knowledge of your environment, so problems are diagnosed against history rather than from scratch.
Do managed IT contracts have lock-in periods?
Many do, commonly 12 to 36 months, and that is the term to negotiate hardest. Support Perth does not use lock-in contracts for managed support - if the service is worth paying for, it should not need a contract to retain you. Whatever you sign, check the exit terms and confirm that documentation, passwords and admin access are handed back on termination.
Related
Where to go next, depending on what prompted the question.
Want a number for your business?
Tell us how many staff you have and what you run. We will give you a real figure - and say so if ad-hoc would cost you less.
Support Perth IT Pty Ltd · Perth, Western Australia · $180/hr ex GST, one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments · No call-out fee in metro Perth.