What Managed IT Costs in Monterey County (Real Numbers)

The short answer, by team size

Managed IT is priced per person because people are what get phished, locked out, and onboarded. Here is what our three per-user tiers work out to at common team sizes, before any servers or network gear:

The same prices apply in Salinas, Monterey, Carmel, Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and anywhere else we work. We don't price by zip code.

How MSPs price managed IT

Before you compare quotes, find out which pricing model each one uses. Each model puts the risk on a different side of the table, and a low headline number can hide which side you're on.

Per user. You pay one monthly price for each person, and it covers that person's support, monitoring, patching, and security. It tracks headcount, the number you already budget around, and it prices what actually gets attacked, which is people's accounts and inboxes. It's the most common model for small-business managed IT, and it's the one we use for teams of 5 or more.

Per device. You pay for each computer, server, or phone under management. The headline number often looks lower until you count the second laptop, the desktop at home, and the phone. It also prices hardware instead of identity, which is backwards now that so many breaches start with a stolen login rather than a broken machine. We use per-device pricing for infrastructure that isn't tied to one person: servers ($200 a month), firewalls ($50), managed switches ($25), wireless access points ($20), and NAS storage ($100). Enrolling a laptop or phone in device management is a $15 per device monthly add-on.

Flat rate. One monthly number for the whole company, whatever its size. It's simple to budget, but the provider has to pad it to cover what it can't see, and it gets renegotiated every time you hire. We use a flat rate in one place, where the simplicity helps everyone: Tiny Team, $600 a month for 1 to 4 users.

Hourly, or break-fix. You pay only when something breaks. It's the cheapest option in a quiet year and the most expensive in a bad one, and in between nobody is patching, monitoring, or checking your backups. The provider also earns more when things go wrong, which is the wrong incentive. We bill hourly only for work outside a managed agreement: project work at $175 an hour, on-site visits for managed clients at $150, and remote or on-site help for non-managed clients at $180 or $220. For the full comparison, see break-fix vs. managed IT.

What we use, and why. A mix, on purpose: per user for people, per device for infrastructure and enrolled laptops and phones, flat for very small teams, and hourly for projects. Every rate is published, so you can check our math against the pricing page.

Our published plans

These are the same numbers as our pricing page. Per-user plans start at 5 users on a 12-month agreement, and month-to-month is available at 15% more.

Three worked examples, with the math shown

These are hypothetical businesses priced with real, published rates. Every line shows its arithmetic, so you can swap in your own headcount.

The contractor line is the one to ask about. Contractors on their own laptops don't need device management or a help desk seat. They need their account protected, watched, and switched off when the contract ends, so we price that per identity instead of as a full seat. More on this setup: IT support for nonprofits on Google Workspace.

One thing that isn't in the $2,350: image-based backup of the server itself. It's quoted per server, because its cost scales with the hardware and the amount of data on it.

The jump from 4 people to 5 is smaller than it looks. Tiny Team is $600 flat, and five people on Core cost $625 a month. Core doesn't include the cloud backup Tiny Team has, though. Secure Growth ($175 per user), which does, is $875 for five.

What's usually not included

A managed IT fee covers keeping what you have secure, patched, backed up, and supported. It doesn't cover buying new things or building new things. Budget for these separately, whoever you hire:

• Project work. New server builds, office moves, network redesigns, and configuration work inside your business apps. We bill project work at $175 an hour.
• Hardware. Laptops, desktops, firewalls, switches, and access points. You own the equipment. We spec it and help you buy it, and managing network gear afterward is the per-device add-on.
• Software licenses. Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace licenses and your line-of-business apps are paid to the vendor, not bundled into our fee.
• After-hours and emergency work. Support runs 8am to 6pm Pacific, Monday through Friday. Compliance & Continuity includes after-hours support. On other plans, after-hours work is $250 an hour, and emergency work outside an agreement is $350 an hour.
• On-site time. Remote help desk is part of every plan. On-site visits for managed clients are $150 an hour.
• Server image backup. Quoted per server, because it scales with your hardware and data.

Priced for your setup

The same prices, applied to specific kinds of teams: