What IT support actually costs
Real UK ranges for 2026, what sits inside them, what tends to get charged on top, and the six questions that make two quotes comparable. Read it before you speak to anyone - including us.
Typical monthly cost by size
These are the numbers we see across UK organisations for a proper managed arrangement - support, monitoring, patching, Microsoft 365 admin and a security baseline. Licences are usually on top.
Under 10 people
£350 - £700
£40 - £70
Small teams pay a little more per head - there's a floor to the cost of being looked after properly.
10 - 24 people
£700 - £1,700
£45 - £75
The most common shape we see. Usually cloud-first with one or two legacy bits hanging on.
25 - 49 people
£1,500 - £3,500
£50 - £80
Security and starters-and-leavers process start to matter more than raw ticket volume.
50 - 149 people
£3,000 - £10,000
£55 - £85
Often co-managed alongside an internal person or small team.
150+ people
Bespoke
£50 - £90
Priced around scope, sites, compliance and how much of it your own team keeps.
Indicative ranges, not a quote. Sector, compliance, ageing servers and the number of sites move these numbers more than headcount does.
What's normally included
- Unlimited help desk during business hours, with a real person answering
- Remote monitoring, patching and update management on servers and endpoints
- Antivirus or endpoint protection, licensed and actually monitored
- Microsoft 365 administration: accounts, permissions, mailboxes, groups
- Starters, leavers and movers handled to an agreed process
- Backup monitoring and restore testing (where backup is in the agreement)
- Asset and licence records kept up to date
- A regular review of what's breaking and what's worth fixing properly
What's normally extra
- Projects: migrations, office moves, new sites, big rollouts
- Hardware and software purchases, and the licences themselves
- Out-of-hours cover, unless you've bought it as part of the agreement
- On-site visits beyond an agreed allowance, if you're outside the usual patch
- Third-party support contracts we hold on your behalf
- Anything caused by a system you've told us to leave alone
None of this is unreasonable - it only becomes a problem when nobody tells you in advance. Ask for the exclusions list and read it.
Six questions that make quotes comparable
01
Is it per user or per device?
Two devices per person makes a per-device quote roughly double. Normalise both quotes to a per-user number before comparing.
02
What counts as 'unlimited'?
Ask what falls outside it. Unlimited support with chargeable 'projects' can mean anything longer than an hour gets invoiced.
03
Are licences included or passed through?
Microsoft 365 licences can be a third of the total. A cheap-looking quote may simply have left them out.
04
What are the response targets, and what happens if they're missed?
A target with no consequence is a hope. Ask for the priority levels in writing.
05
What's the term, and how do you leave?
Notice periods, exit fees and who owns your documentation. Ask before you sign, not in year three.
06
Who actually answers the phone?
Ask how many engineers, where they're based, and whether you'll speak to the same faces.
A quick sense check
If one quote is 40% below the others, it isn't a bargain - something has been left out. Usually it's licences, backup, out-of-hours or the assumption that you'll never need much help. Find out which before you decide.
Want a number for your organisation?
Tell us the shape of things - people, sites, what's still on-premise - and we'll come back with a real figure and the reasoning behind it.