Most UK IT providers won’t tell you what they charge until you book a call. We will. Here are the real numbers.
These benchmarks are based on what we’ve seen in the UK market in 2026 — not what providers advertise (which is always lower than what they actually charge once the add-ons kick in). Prices below are ex-VAT, per user per month, for monthly rolling contracts.
The going rate by business size
Solo to 5 staff: £25-£50 per user, per month
What this should buy you: ad-hoc helpdesk, monitoring on a couple of laptops, Microsoft 365 management, sensible security defaults. Anyone charging more than £50/user/month at this size is loading admin cost onto a small base. Anyone charging less is probably one person with day-job-level availability.
5-25 staff: £30-£55 per user, per month
The sweet spot. You should get: helpdesk in office hours, monitoring on all devices, security stack (MFA, EDR, email filtering, backup), monthly reports, a named engineer who knows your business, and Cyber Essentials support.
25-100 staff: £35-£70 per user, per month
You’re now paying for more sophisticated tooling: conditional access policies, Intune device management, SIEM-lite for security events, quarterly business reviews with the MSP’s account lead, change management. The high end is enterprise tooling on an SME contract — usually worth it.
100-250 staff: £40-£90 per user, per month
By this size, you might have an internal IT lead and use the MSP for cover, specialist work, or specific service lines (cyber, M365, projects). The price-per-user range widens because the service depth varies more.
What’s usually included vs. extra
The standard monthly fee usually includes:
- Helpdesk during office hours
- Monitoring of devices and key services
- Microsoft 365 licence management (but not the licence cost itself)
- Patch management
- Antivirus / EDR
- Monthly or quarterly reporting
- Onboarding/offboarding of staff
What’s almost always extra:
- Microsoft 365 licences themselves (usually billed at Microsoft list price plus a markup of 0-40% — ask)
- Out-of-hours support (or it’s included but capped)
- Project work (office moves, migrations, new fibre, etc)
- Cyber Essentials certification project
- Backup retention beyond 30 or 90 days
- Hardware
The biggest sources of bill shock
Licence markup. A Microsoft 365 Business Standard licence is £9.40/user/month direct from Microsoft. Some MSPs resell it at £14-£16. On 30 users that’s £180-£240 a month of unnecessary cost. Ask whether your provider is a Pax8 partner and what they mark up.
Hourly billing on “projects”. Some MSPs will charge a monthly fee for support and then bill anything beyond simple helpdesk at £120/hour. A new starter onboarding becomes a 4-hour ticket. A laptop swap becomes a 3-hour project. Read the contract.
Renewal creep. Year one is £30/user/month. Year two is £33. Year three is £38. None of it was negotiated — just the standard 10% annual uplift built into the contract.
Out-of-scope tickets. Anything the MSP decides is “strategic” or “consulting” gets billed extra. Asking for advice on whether you should buy a new server? £240 for an hour of strategic consulting.
What we charge
We’re publishing this guide partly because we publish our pricing on the website too. £35 per user, per month, ex-VAT, for the base plan. Security stack quoted on top (typically £8-15/user/month depending on what you need). Microsoft 365 licences passed through at Pax8 rates with no markup. No hourly billing.
See the pricing page for the full breakdown with worked examples for teams of 8, 25 and 80.
What to ask in the meeting
When you’re getting quotes from MSPs:
- What’s the all-in monthly cost for [your headcount]?
- What’s included — specifically? (Get a list, not adjectives.)
- What’s extra? Hourly billed?
- What’s the markup on Microsoft licences?
- What’s the contract length and renewal terms?
- Can I see a sample monthly invoice from a similar-size client?
A good MSP will answer all six in two minutes. If they dodge, that’s the answer.
Worth knowing
Cheapest doesn’t always mean worst, but it usually means lighter monitoring, longer ticket queues, and offshore support. Most expensive doesn’t always mean best, but at the top of the range you should expect named senior engineers, in-person availability, and proactive work — not just ticket response.
The right price for your business is the one where the MSP would still be profitable if you asked questions every week. If they’re cutting it that fine on margin, they’ll either disappear or quietly let standards slip.
Want to talk through what your business should be paying? Book a 30-minute chat — we’ll be honest about whether your current setup is good value.