The short answer
As at 2026, most Australian small businesses pay roughly $100 to $250 per user, per month for fully managed IT support. A 10-person business should therefore budget somewhere between $1,000 and $2,500 a month, depending on what's included, how complex the environment is, and how much security and compliance work is involved.
Lighter "essentials" plans (monitoring, patching and basic helpdesk) can sit below that range; premium agreements bundling advanced security, backup licensing and regular on-site time sit at or above it. These are market ranges, not our price list. Every provider packages things differently, which is exactly why this guide focuses on how to compare quotes properly.
The main pricing models
Per user, per month
The most common model. You pay a flat fee for each staff member, covering all their devices and support needs. It's predictable, scales cleanly as you hire, and is easy to budget. This is what most small businesses should look for.
Per device, per month
A fee per computer, server or network device. It can work out cheaper for businesses where many staff share machines (clinics, workshops, retail), and dearer where everyone has a laptop, phone and tablet. Watch for server fees: a single server can be priced anywhere from $150 to $500+ per month to manage.
Ad-hoc / break-fix (hourly)
No monthly fee; you pay an hourly rate, typically $120 to $200+ per hour in Australian capital cities, whenever something breaks. It looks cheap in a quiet month and brutal in a bad one. More importantly, nobody is patching, monitoring or testing your backups between visits, which is how small problems become disasters.
Hybrid / co-managed
A smaller monthly fee for monitoring, security and backup management, with hourly rates for everything else; or an MSP supporting your existing internal IT person. A sensible middle ground for some businesses, and a common stepping stone into fully managed support.
What's actually included, and what costs extra
The single biggest source of bill shock is assuming "managed" means "everything". Typical inclusions and common extras look like this:
| Usually included | Often charged extra |
|---|---|
| 24/7 monitoring and alerting | On-site visits (or limited to a monthly allowance) |
| Patching and updates | Projects: migrations, office moves, new servers |
| Remote helpdesk support | After-hours support (check the SLA fine print) |
| Antivirus / endpoint protection | Backup storage and licensing |
| Basic security management | Advanced security (EDR, email filtering, security training) |
| Vendor liaison | Microsoft 365 / software licences themselves |
None of these exclusions are inherently dodgy. Licences in particular are almost always passed through at cost plus a margin. The problem is quotes that bury them. Ask for the all-in monthly number for your actual headcount, including licences and backup, before comparing anything.
What drives the price up or down
- Headcount and devices: more users cost more in total but usually less per user.
- Servers and legacy systems: on-premises servers, old line-of-business software and anything out of vendor support add real management overhead.
- Compliance and security requirements: businesses handling health, legal or financial data need stronger controls (think Essential Eight alignment), which costs more and is worth it.
- On-site expectations: guaranteed weekly on-site days cost far more than remote-first support with on-site as needed.
- The state of your environment: a neglected network often needs a remediation project before steady-state pricing applies. A good provider will tell you this up front rather than hide it in month three.
Break-fix vs managed: the real cost comparison
Consider a 10-person business on break-fix at $150/hour. A handful of routine issues a month might only cost a few hundred dollars, until the quarter where a server dies, email is down for two days, and the invoice lands at 30 hours plus emergency rates. Meanwhile nobody was watching the backups, so recovery takes longer than anyone expected. One bad incident can exceed a full year of managed support, before counting the revenue lost while ten people couldn't work.
Managed support inverts the incentive: the provider makes the same money whether you have problems or not, so they're motivated to prevent them. That incentive alignment, more than any individual service, is what you're buying.
Red flags when comparing quotes
- No written SLA. "We respond fast" is not a response time commitment.
- Long lock-ins with auto-renewal. Watch for 36-month terms that quietly roll over, with exit fees.
- "Unlimited support" with an asterisk. Read what counts as a project vs included support.
- No mention of backup testing. Anyone can run backups; ask when they last restored one.
- A price with no audit. A provider who quotes without looking at your environment is guessing, and you'll pay for the gap later.
Next step: once you have two or three quotes, run each provider through our 12 questions to ask an IT support company. Price tells you less than the answers will. And if you're weighing up hiring instead, see in-house IT vs managed services.