What Does Managed IT Cost for a Small Business?

It is the first question we get, and the one the fewest providers answer publicly. Here is our answer, with actual amounts.

The Canadian market, in one line

For full managed IT, among Canadian providers who post their prices, published ranges run from roughly 100 to 250 dollars (CAD) per user per month. Below that range, worry about what is missing; above it, you are probably paying for enterprise services a team of 10 does not need.

The math for 10 people, with us (prices before taxes)

Essential, $95 per user: about $950 per month. Monitoring and updates on every workstation, managed antivirus, business-hours support with a 4-hour response, cloud file backup. This is the "sleep at night" plan for a team whose IT is simple.

Professional, $145 per user: about $1,450 per month. Everything above, plus EDR security (detection and response on every workstation), image backup of servers and workstations plus a separate Microsoft 365 backup, support 7am to 7pm (Eastern) plus weekends, 1-hour response, and a quarterly strategy review. 24/7 MDR is available as an add-on. It is our most popular plan, and the one we recommend as soon as a day of downtime would hurt.

Complete, $195 per user: for teams of 25 and up with regulatory obligations. 15-minute response, 24/7 MDR (a partner security operations centre triages alerts and responds at any hour), full disaster recovery, and unlimited on-site visits. A team of 10 generally does not need it, unless regulations (a clinic, a financial practice) or your cyber insurance require it. Team sizes are a guide: a smaller team can take this plan and pay the monthly minimum.

Smaller than that? The Starter plan is $395 per month for up to five users, with no per-user math: monitoring, patching, managed antivirus, business-hours support, and cloud file backup. Response time is the trade you are making: Essential answers in four hours, Starter the next working day.

Each per-user plan also carries a monthly minimum: $595 on Essential, $1,195 on Professional, $2,495 on Complete. At seven or more users on Essential, nine on Professional and thirteen on Complete, the per-user math is what you pay. Below those counts the minimum is, which is why Starter is a flat price instead.

What these prices include that hourly rates hide

Hourly billing points the incentive the wrong way: the longer a problem lasts, the bigger the invoice. A per-user plan flips that incentive: every outage costs us money, so we prevent instead of billing the repair. With us, time overruns on a plan are our problem, not yours, and it is written into the agreement.

Questions to ask any bidder

1. What triggers extra charges? If the answer is vague, the sticker price is fiction.
2. Are backups tested, and how often? A backup that has never been restored is a hypothesis, not a protection.
3. What is the guaranteed response time, in writing? "We answer fast" is not a commitment.
4. What happens if we leave? Get it in writing that the documentation of your environment is handed over when you go. If the agreement does not spell it out, getting it back can turn slow and expensive.
5. Who answers the phone? A call centre across the country, or someone who knows your office?

What if we already have someone internal?

Co-managed costs less than the full plan: your person keeps what they do well, and you only buy the missing modules (managed backup, security, ticket overflow, network). Three or more modules: 10% off.

The real question is not the price

It is the cost of a day of downtime. Unproductive salaries, lost sales, waiting clients: for a team of 10, a single major outage per year often costs more than the difference between two plans. The right plan is the one that makes that day unlikely.

Our four plans and every project price are published on our Services page, with no form to fill out to see them. All prices are in Canadian dollars. If you want a comparable quote for your team, the 30-minute call is free and commitment-free.