Ask three providers what managed IT costs and you'll get three numbers that can't be compared, because none of them cover the same scope. The only useful way to evaluate a quote is to reduce it to a monthly cost per user, then ask exactly what that number includes.
Across our client base, all-in cost averages about $143 per user, per month. That figure includes the computer itself, peripherals, helpdesk, antivirus, networking and Microsoft licensing. It is not a support-only number, which is why it looks higher than some quotes and lower than others.
Ask what's excluded
- Onboarding. Discovery, documentation and remediation take real hours. A provider quoting zero onboarding is either amortizing it into a longer term or planning to skip the work.
- After-hours coverage. Standard maintenance windows are business hours. If a 2 AM outage matters to you, confirm in writing that it's included.
- Project work. Migrations, office moves and rebuilds are usually separate. That's reasonable — what isn't reasonable is finding out mid-project.
- Licensing. Microsoft 365 is frequently quoted separately, and plan choice can double the per-user cost.
Per-unit, not per-body
Most services should bill per covered device, per server, per site or per line — because that's what actually generates work. A warehouse with fifteen shared-terminal employees is a very different workload from fifteen laptops, and honest pricing reflects that.
If a provider can't itemize the quote, they can't explain the invoice either.
Our cost calculator exists for this reason: check the line items you want, enter your counts, and see the monthly total with every component visible. No form to fill in first.