The short answer
There is no honest single price for managed IT, because two organizations with the same headcount can need very different services. Most Canadian providers charge a recurring monthly fee, calculated per user, per device or as a tiered bundle, plus a one-time onboarding fee and separately quoted projects. Hardware, software and licences are usually billed on top.
What moves the fee most is what you ask the provider to own: coverage hours, security services, the number of sites and servers, and how much compliance evidence you need. Ask for every cost as an estimate in CAD, and compare proposals on total annual cost with identical scope.
How managed IT is priced
| Model | How it works | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per user | A monthly fee for each person supported, covering their devices | Organizations where each person has a laptop and phone | Shared devices, kiosks and servers priced separately |
| Per device | A fee for each computer, server or network device | Many shared or specialist devices | Growth in devices quietly raising the bill |
| Tiered bundle | Bronze, silver, gold style packages | Buyers who want simple choices | Features you need sitting only in the top tier |
| Block of hours | Prepaid hours used as needed | Occasional needs, or project work | No monitoring, and no one accountable between calls |
Many providers combine these: a per-user fee for support and security, with servers and network equipment priced per device.
What drives the price
Scope. Help desk only, or monitoring, patching, backup management, security operations, vendor management and strategic planning as well? Each component adds work and tools.
Coverage hours. Business-hours support costs less than 24/7 monitoring and after-hours response. Ask whether "24/7" means monitoring, a staffed help desk or an on-call engineer, because they are priced differently.
Security services. Endpoint detection and response, email security, security awareness training and alert monitoring are often the largest additions, and increasingly what cyber insurers expect.
Complexity. Several offices, on-premises servers, older systems, specialist line-of-business software and mixed Windows and Mac fleets all take more effort.
Compliance and reporting. If you handle health information, work with federally regulated financial institutions, or answer detailed client security reviews, you need more documentation and evidence.
Starting condition. An environment with no documentation, unsupported operating systems or no working backup needs remediation first. That usually appears in the onboarding fee or as an early project.
What is usually not in the monthly fee
- Hardware, software and licence costs (for example, Microsoft 365 subscriptions)
- Projects such as office moves, migrations and new system rollouts
- On-site visits beyond an agreed allowance, and travel to remote locations
- Support for personal devices or systems outside the agreed list
- Legal, privacy or compliance advice
A cheaper monthly fee with many exclusions can cost more over a year than a higher fee that includes them.
How to compare proposals fairly
- Give every provider the same information: users, devices, servers, sites, key applications and what you want them to own.
- Line up scope side by side. Mark each service as included, extra or not offered.
- Read the service agreement, not the brochure. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security says agreements with managed providers should specify turnaround times, communication methods, escalation, performance metrics and penalties for missed targets (Cyber Centre ITSM.50.030).
- Calculate total annual cost: twelve months of fees, onboarding, expected project work and resold licences.
- Check what the provider's security includes. A low price can mean shared administrator logins or thin monitoring.
Rather talk it through? Send us your user count and main systems and we will explain which cost drivers apply to you before we quote. Talk to a Promatics specialist
Comparing with doing it in-house
When you compare a proposal with an internal hire, include more than salary. An internal team also needs tools (remote management, patching, ticketing, backup and security platforms), training, cover for holidays and sick days, and after-hours availability. Many organizations find the useful comparison is not "provider or employee" but "employee alone or employee with a service team behind them", which is what co-managed IT offers.
Information to prepare before asking for a quote
- Number of users, and how many work remotely or on shifts
- Number of laptops, desktops, servers and network devices
- Office locations and internet connections
- Email and file platform (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or on-premises)
- Key business applications and their vendors
- Current backup and security tools
- Hours when you need support, and when you need monitoring
- Privacy or regulatory obligations (PIPEDA, provincial laws, client contracts, insurer requirements)
- Known problems or projects in the next 12 months
When to bring in help
If you have a handful of devices and rarely need support, occasional help may cost less than an ongoing agreement. A managed agreement pays off when downtime is expensive, when you hold personal or financial information, when your IT person has no backup, or when you need predictable monthly costs instead of surprise invoices. The Cyber Centre's baseline controls (patching, backups, strong authentication, access control and an incident response plan) are a useful test: if you cannot show all of them today, factor that work into your budget (Cyber Centre).
How Promatics prices managed IT
We do not publish prices, because a number without scope helps nobody. We start with a short discovery conversation and, where needed, an onboarding assessment. You receive a written proposal with the monthly fee as an estimate in CAD, the onboarding cost, what is included, what is billed separately and the response targets we commit to in the service agreement. Hardware and licences are quoted separately, so you can see exactly where the money goes. Our managed IT services page describes what the agreement covers.
Sources and further reading
Product capabilities and guidance change. These are the primary sources this article relies on, checked on the review date above.
- Cyber security considerations for consumers of managed services (ITSM.50.030), Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
- Baseline cyber security controls for small and medium organizations, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
This article is general information, not legal, accounting or security advice for your specific situation. Examples are hypothetical unless stated otherwise.