How Much Does Outsourced IT Support Cost in the UK? 2026

Key Takeaways

• UK providers publish managed support ranges of about £45 to £95 per user per month (2026 guides).
• Per user is the common model; per device suits shared equipment.
• In an illustrative 25-person example, outsourcing costs about £26,500 in year one against about £70,150 for an in-house IT manager.
• Onboarding, projects, out-of-hours work, licences and exit fees are the usual hidden costs.
• Compare proposals on total annual cost and written scope, not the headline fee.

Outsourced IT support in the UK typically costs between about £45 and £95 per user per month for a small or mid-sized business, with most published guides placing the middle of the market in the £50 to £85 range as at October 2026. For a 25-person company that works out at roughly £13,500 to £28,500 a year before Microsoft 365 licences, hardware and project work.

The headline figure is only part of the answer. What the monthly fee includes, how the provider counts users and devices, and what sits outside the contract decide whether outsourced IT support cost in the UK stays predictable or drifts upwards. This guide sets out the pricing models, the ranges published by UK providers in 2026, a worked 25-person example against an in-house IT manager, the hidden costs to look for, and a checklist for comparing proposals.

All ranges below come from provider guides published in 2026 and are cited with the year. Providers set their own prices, so treat them as benchmarks for testing a quote, not as a rate card. Where a figure is our own arithmetic, it is labelled as an illustrative budgeting example.

How much does outsourced IT support cost in the UK per user?

Per user, per month is the dominant way UK providers price managed support. Three 2026 guides give overlapping but not identical ranges, which is itself useful: it shows how much the market varies by scope.

Sources: Inology (May 2026), Cloudswitched (April 2026) and IT Pro Expert (September 2026). These are provider-published figures, not independent surveys, and the IT Pro Expert page itself advises checking them against current quotes.

The pattern is consistent across all three. Basic, mainly reactive cover sits at the bottom. A standard tier with endpoint protection, Microsoft 365 administration and a helpdesk sits in the middle. Round-the-clock cover, managed detection and response and named senior engineers push the price towards the top.

Smaller teams usually pay more per head, because the provider's fixed costs are spread across fewer users. If you are in the small-business bracket, our small business IT support page explains how we scope cover for smaller teams. NetMonkeys quotes against your user, device and security needs, so there is no single rate to quote here.

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IT support pricing models in the UK compared

Outsourced IT support pricing models fall into six groups. Most providers sell a variant of the first three and add the others as options.

Hourly rates vary widely. IT Pro Expert (2026) reports remote ad-hoc support at £70 to £150 an hour and project work at £100 to £175 an hour, while Cloudswitched (2026) gives £75 to £150 for ad-hoc support. Break-fix looks cheap until the first serious incident.

For most firms above a handful of staff, a per-user or tiered managed contract is the practical choice. Our managed IT support service follows that structure, and our outsourced IT support page explains how the arrangement works day to day.

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Is IT support priced per user or per device?

Both exist, but per user is more common for office-based firms. Per-device pricing makes sense where devices are shared or where staff and devices do not match one to one.

Which model suits a business with more devices than staff?

If every employee has a laptop, a phone and sometimes a tablet, a per-device model multiplies the bill. If your estate includes shared tablets, kiosks, warehouse scanners or workshop PCs used by many people, a per-user model can leave a lot of equipment unsupported.

Here is an illustrative budgeting example using the published ranges. A 25-person firm has 25 users and 40 managed devices. At the per-user range of £45 to £95, the monthly bill is £1,125 to £2,375 (25 x £45 and 25 x £95). At the per-device range of £15 to £50, it is £600 to £2,000 (40 x £15 and 40 x £50). The ranges overlap, so the answer depends on the exact quote, not the model name.

• Choose per user when staff map neatly to devices and the provider includes a stated number of devices per user.
• Choose per device when many devices are shared or unattended.
• Ask for a hybrid when you have both: a per-user fee for staff and a lower per-device fee for shared equipment.
• Always ask what happens when a new device or starter is added mid-term.

Source for per-device range: IT Pro Expert (September 2026).

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What is included in a £50 per user IT support package?

A £50 per user package sits at the lower end of the standard band, so treat it as an example tier. Inology (2026) describes the £45 to £60 band as covering helpdesk, patching, basic endpoint protection, Microsoft 365 administration and monthly reporting, with licences extra. Cloudswitched (2026) places £30 to £50 in its basic tier and £50 to £85 in its standard tier.

The bands come from Inology (May 2026), and the grouping is a summary of that guide, not a promise from any one provider. A low price is not a warning on its own, but Inology notes that anything below £45 can signal hidden exclusions, so ask for the scope in writing.

Security is where tiers differ most. If you need managed detection, look for tiers that include managed EDR and ask how alerts are handled out of hours.

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What should a 25-person company pay for managed IT support?

This is an illustrative budgeting example, not a NetMonkeys quote. It uses published 2026 ranges and stated assumptions so you can substitute your own figures.

Assumptions

• 25 users, one managed device each, a single office.
• A mid-range managed tier at £70 per user per month, inside the £45 to £95 range from Inology (May 2026).
• One-off onboarding of £3,000, inside the £1,500 to £5,000 range reported by Cloudswitched (April 2026).
• 20 hours of project work a year at £125 an hour, inside the £100 to £150 range from the same source.
• Microsoft 365 licences and hardware excluded from both columns.

Outsourced cost

• Monthly fee: 25 x £70 = £1,750; annual fee: £1,750 x 12 = £21,000.
• Projects: 20 x £125 = £2,500.
• First year: £21,000 + £3,000 + £2,500 = £26,500. Later years: £23,500.

The full published range gives £13,500 (25 x £45 x 12) to £28,500 (25 x £95 x 12) a year before onboarding and projects.

Is outsourced IT support cheaper than hiring an IT manager?

At 25 users, usually yes on cost, and the comparison is not like for like. The median UK IT manager salary was £55,000 in the six months to 22 October 2026, according to IT Jobs Watch. Here are the employer costs on top, using GOV.UK employer rates and thresholds for 2026 to 2027 (employer National Insurance at 15% above a £5,000 threshold; statutory sick pay at £123.25 a week).

Against the £26,500 first-year outsourced figure, the gap is £43,650. The in-house figure still excludes recruitment fees, training, and the cost of cover during holiday (5.6 weeks of statutory leave) and sickness, when one person is your whole IT department.

Some firms keep an internal lead and add outside support, particularly beyond roughly 50 users. Our comparison of outsourced IT support vs in-house IT covers when each model fits.

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What affects the price of IT support?

Two firms with 25 users can receive very different quotes. These are the factors that move the number most.

• User count. Smaller teams tend to pay more per head.
• Device count and type. Servers, shared devices, mobiles and tablets may be priced separately.
• Security requirements. Endpoint detection, MFA enforcement, tested backups and compliance support add cost. Cloudswitched (2026) reports a regulated-sector premium of £15 to £30 per user.
• Response times and hours. 24/7 cover costs more. IT Pro Expert (2026) puts the uplift at £10 to £30 per user per month.
• Environment condition. Inheriting an unmanaged estate means heavier first months.
• Contract length. Cloudswitched (2026) reports 24 to 36-month terms discounted by 8 to 15%, and rolling monthly terms priced 15 to 25% above fixed-term rates.
• Number of sites and onsite needs. Visits and travel are often charged separately.
• Microsoft 365 and licences. Whether they are bundled or passed through at cost. See our Microsoft 365 support service for how we handle this.

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Does IT support cost more in London?

Published guides say yes, though the size of the premium varies. Cloudswitched (2026) reports London at 15% to 25% above the national average, with standard-tier prices of £65 to £100 per user per month, against £45 to £75 in the North West and £48 to £78 in the Midlands. IT Pro Expert (2026) reports London providers charging roughly 10% to more than 25% more than elsewhere, citing higher salaries and onsite costs such as the Congestion Charge, ULEZ and parking.

Both are provider-published figures and local quotes vary, so treat regional differences as a pricing driver, not a rule. The main drivers are staff salaries, office and travel costs, and local competition for engineers.

If you are comparing local providers, look at the regional pages for IT support in London, IT support in Manchester, IT support in Birmingham and IT support in Leeds. NetMonkeys is headquartered in Manchester with offices in Nottingham and London, and field engineers across around 12 UK cities, so location rarely limits who can support you on site.

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What are the hidden costs in an IT support contract?

Most disputes about price come from items that were never in the monthly fee. Ask for each of the following in writing before you sign.

Sources: Inology (May 2026), Cloudswitched (April 2026) and IT Pro Expert (September 2026). The last row matters because exit terms decide how easily you can change provider. Make sure you hold your own admin credentials and documentation, as covered in our guides on what to do when a provider won't give admin access and switching IT support providers without downtime.

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How to compare two IT support proposals

Compare proposals on the same footing. A cheaper monthly fee can cost more once exclusions are added. Use this checklist.

1. Fill in both columns from the written proposals, not the sales call.
2. Convert every price to a total annual figure including onboarding, licences and expected projects.
3. Check security scope against your needs. Our Cyber Essentials service shows what a certified baseline involves.
4. Ask for the handover process at exit, including documentation and credentials.

For wider selection criteria, see our practical guide on how to choose an IT support company.

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Conclusion: budgeting for outsourced IT support cost in the UK

Outsourced IT support cost in the UK is best judged as a total annual figure, not a headline per-user price. The published 2026 range of roughly £45 to £95 per user per month is a useful benchmark, but scope, security, licences, projects and exit terms decide what you actually pay.

For a 25-person firm, our illustrative example puts outsourced support well below the cost of an in-house IT manager, while the in-house route brings single-person risk. Whichever model you choose, ask for exclusions in writing and compare proposals line by line.

If you would like a quote built around your users, devices and security needs, contact NetMonkeys and we will scope it with you.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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