The honest answer: it's per-unit, and you can do the math yourself
Most managed-IT pricing collapses to three units: per device, per mailbox, and per location. A small business that knows roughly how many laptops it has, how many email accounts, and how many offices can produce a credible monthly number in five minutes. The numbers below are Micro-IT's published rates — transparent on purpose, because per-unit pricing is the only model where the bill is predictable, the math is auditable, and the upsell pressure is bounded.
The three line items
| Plan | Rate | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Endpoint | $79 / device / month | EDR, OS patching, third-party app patching, image-level backup, web filtering, unlimited remote support per workstation or laptop. |
| Managed Inbox | $20 / mailbox / month | Microsoft 365 administration, advanced anti-phishing, MFA enforcement, SaaS backup per mailbox. |
| Managed Site (Small) | from $149 / location / month | Firewall, switching, wireless, and tier-sized onsite hours. Standard at $349, Complex at $649. |
Worked example: a 12-person professional office, one location
Twelve users, twelve laptops, twelve Microsoft 365 mailboxes, one office with a basic network. Monthly:
- Managed Endpoint: 12 × $79 = $948
- Managed Inbox: 12 × $20 = $240
- Managed Site (Small tier, 1 office): $149
- Total monthly: $1,337 — or about $111/user/month all-in.
That number includes the security stack (EDR, MFA, DNS filtering, anti-phishing, backup), the help desk (unlimited), the Microsoft 365 administration, and the network management. There's no per-ticket meter, no surprise hourly charges for the work that's already covered, and the quote on the contract matches the quote on the invoice. Project work (a new office buildout, an Active Directory migration, a Microsoft 365 tenant migration) gets a separate fixed-price quote up front — never an open-ended hourly tab.
Worked example: a 6-person pharmacy or clinic, HIPAA-aligned
- Managed Endpoint: 6 × $79 = $474
- Managed Inbox: 6 × $20 = $120
- Managed Site (Standard tier, 1 office — clinic networks tend to be more complex with imaging segments and EHR integrations): $349
- Total monthly: $943 — about $157/user/month, with HIPAA-aligned environment, EHR-vendor coordination, BAA paperwork, and the same security stack every Micro-IT client gets.
Worked example: a 35-person multi-location retailer
- Managed Endpoint: 35 × $79 = $2,765
- Managed Inbox: 35 × $20 = $700
- Managed Site (4 locations, Small tier for satellite stores at $149 × 3, Standard for HQ at $349): $796
- Total monthly: $4,261 — about $122/user/month, including PCI-conscious POS networks, isolated guest Wi-Fi, and 24/7 monitoring across every store.
What's not in the monthly number (and what it usually costs)
Three categories live outside the recurring fee, every time. Pretend they're free and you'll be unhappy at year-end:
- Microsoft 365 license fees — the actual subscription you pay Microsoft (or pay your MSP to resell). For a small business on Business Standard or Business Premium, expect $12.50–$22/user/month, separate from the management fee.
- Hardware — laptops, switches, firewalls, access points. A workstation refresh on a four-year cycle averages out to roughly $30–$40/user/month in amortized cost. Networking gear depends entirely on the size and complexity of the site.
- Project work — office buildouts, Active Directory migrations, new EHR cutovers. These get a separate fixed-price quote. Industry rule of thumb: a typical small-business buildout runs $5,000–$25,000 depending on scope.
Comparing the three honest pricing models
1. Per-unit (what Micro-IT publishes)
Predictable. Auditable. Aligned incentives — the MSP wants the per-unit count stable and the environment quiet, because every ticket is already paid for. Slight cost-creep risk if user count grows without anyone noticing.
2. Per-user flat-rate
Some MSPs bundle endpoint + mailbox + a network allotment into a single per-user fee, typically $125–$200/user/month. Cleaner to model. Often slightly more expensive at small scale because it averages everything into one number. Watch for the fine print on what's included and what's "out of scope."
3. Hourly / "block hours" / break-fix
Cheap on paper, expensive in reality. The meter runs every time you call. Incentives are inverted — the more your environment breaks, the more they bill. Predictability collapses. Cyber insurance carriers are increasingly skeptical of break-fix-only environments because there's no enforced control floor. See our breakdown of break-fix vs. managed: how to do the math.
How this compares to hiring an internal IT person
An internal hire is a $70,000–$110,000 fully-loaded annual cost in the Western Kentucky / Southern Illinois market (salary, benefits, payroll taxes, training, tools, recruiting). That's $5,800–$9,200/month before they touch a keyboard. For a 12-person office, the managed-IT plan above costs $1,337/month — about one-fifth of a single hire — and you get a help desk that doesn't take vacation, a 24/7 SOC, EDR and backup vendors at scale, and a written quarterly review.
The right time for an internal hire is usually when the team passes 75–100 people, when there's enough volume of routine work to justify a salary. Below that, the math leans heavily toward managed or co-managed. See our co-managed IT vs. fully managed piece for the in-between case.
How to evaluate a managed-IT quote in five minutes
- Is the unit cost published? If you have to ask, the answer is no. Published rates are a transparency proxy.
- What's the SLA on response? Real numbers, not "we'll get back to you soon."
- Is the security stack named? Specific vendors per layer (EDR, SOC, MFA, DNS, backup) means there's an actual stack. "Best-in-class tools" without names means there isn't.
- How are projects priced? Fixed-price up front is the right answer.
- What's the exit clause? A reasonable termination notice (60–90 days) and a documented offboarding process say the MSP plans to earn the renewal, not trap you.
Run your number
The live pricing estimate on Micro-IT's plans page computes the monthly cost for your team size, mailboxes, locations, and add-ons in real time — the same number that lands on the contract. Or call 270.816.5726 for a written quote scoped to your environment.