For most small businesses in Kent, managed IT support costs between about £20 and £40 per device or per user each month, excluding VAT. At SquareOne IT, our plans are £23, £28 or £35 per device per month, and a typical ten-person office pays somewhere between £230 and £350 a month for a helpdesk, monitoring, security and Microsoft 365 management. This guide explains how IT support is priced, what should be included at each level and the costs that don’t appear on the first quote.
The three ways IT support is priced
1. Per device, per month
You pay a fixed fee for each laptop or desktop that’s looked after. This is how we price our managed IT support, because it’s easy to understand and it scales cleanly: hire someone, add a laptop, and the bill goes up by one device. A device is normally a computer someone works on. Phones and tablets are usually covered by device management rather than counted as full devices.
2. Per user, per month
Some providers charge for each person instead, often covering all of that person’s devices. Per-user prices tend to be a little higher than per-device prices, because each user typically has two or three devices. Neither model is better. What matters is comparing the total monthly cost for your team.
3. Pay-as-you-go (break-fix)
You call someone when something breaks and pay for their time, often by the hour, sometimes with a minimum charge or call-out fee. It looks cheap in a good month. The catch is that nobody is watching your systems in between, so failing disks, missed updates and security gaps are found late, when they’re more disruptive and more expensive to fix.
What should be included at each price
A low monthly price is only good value if it covers the things that actually keep a business running. Here is how our three plans compare, as a benchmark for any quote you’re given.
| Essentials · £23 | Business · £28 | Complete · £35 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helpdesk (no per-ticket charges) | 9–5 | 9–5 | 24/7 |
| 24/7 monitoring and managed updates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Endpoint protection with MDR | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft 365 management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft 365 backup and test restores | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Email security and device encryption | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Vendor management and IT strategy | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Security training and phishing simulations | ✓ |
All prices are per device, per month, excluding VAT. You can see everything in each plan on our IT support plans section.
Worked examples
- A five-person estate agency on Essentials: 5 × £23 = £115 a month plus VAT.
- A twelve-person accountancy practice on Business: 12 × £28 = £336 a month plus VAT. Business is the plan we usually recommend for firms handling client financial data, because it adds Microsoft 365 backup, email security and encryption.
- A twenty-person logistics firm on Complete: 20 × £35 = £700 a month plus VAT, including a 24/7 helpdesk for staff working early starts and late finishes.
Costs that aren’t in the monthly fee
Even with a good managed plan, some costs sit outside the monthly price. Ask about each one before you sign, wherever you buy your IT support.
- Microsoft 365 licences. These are paid to Microsoft (often through your IT provider) on top of support. From July 2026, list prices are £5.40 per user per month for Business Basic, £10.80 for Business Standard and £16.90 for Business Premium, excluding VAT, on an annual commitment.
- Hardware. New laptops, firewalls and Wi-Fi access points are bought separately.
- Projects. Office moves, new networks, server replacements and cloud migrations are quoted on their own. We always agree project prices before work starts.
- Onboarding. Some providers charge a set-up fee to take over from your previous supplier. Ask whether there is one.
- Out-of-hours work. Check whether evening and weekend support is included or charged extra.
- Connectivity and phones. Broadband, leased lines and VoIP are normally separate contracts.
Is managed IT support worth it for a small business?
The honest answer is that it depends on how much a day of downtime costs you, and on how exposed you are to security risks. For most businesses with three or more people, managed support works out cheaper than paying for emergencies, and it brings security tools that would cost a similar amount to buy on their own. It also gives you something pay-as-you-go never does: someone accountable for preventing problems, not just fixing them.
If you only have one or two computers and rarely have problems, pay-as-you-go with good backups and a decent antivirus may be enough. Just make sure someone is checking those backups.
How to compare quotes fairly
- Work out the total monthly cost for your actual team, not the headline price.
- List what’s included, using the table above as a checklist.
- Ask what counts as a device or user, and whether phones are included.
- Check the contract length and notice period.
- Ask how quickly they respond, and whether you’ll speak to an engineer who knows your set-up.
Our buyer’s guide to choosing IT support in Kent covers the questions to ask in more detail.
Get a fixed price for your business
We’ll look at your devices, Microsoft 365, backups and security in a free IT review, then give you a written, fixed monthly price, with any one-off work itemised separately. Book a free IT review or call us on 01843 482 279.