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It’s the first question every business owner asks — and the one most IT providers dodge: how much is this actually going to cost?
The honest answer is that it depends on your environment. But “it depends” isn’t helpful when you’re trying to budget, so here’s a straightforward breakdown of how managed IT pricing works, what drives the cost up or down, and how it compares to the alternatives.
How Managed IT Is Typically Priced
There are a few common pricing models in the MSP industry. Understanding them helps you compare quotes and spot hidden costs.
Per-User Pricing
You pay a monthly fee for each employee. That fee covers their accounts, their support tickets, and their security — regardless of how many devices they use. If someone has a desktop, a laptop, and a phone, it’s still one user.
This is the model most modern MSPs use. It scales cleanly — when you hire, you add a user. When someone leaves, you remove one.
Base Fee Plus Per-User Bundle
A refinement of per-user pricing, and the one we use at DVG Systems. A fixed monthly base fee covers the helpdesk labour, remote monitoring and management, and the tooling that every environment needs whether it has three users or thirty. Each user then carries one bundle: Microsoft 365 licensing suited to their role, endpoint detection and response (EDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), DNS filtering and web protection, and Microsoft 365 mailbox backup.
Because the Microsoft 365 licence is inside the bundle, the bundle rate varies by subscription. A Business Basic user and a Business Premium user do not cost the same, and one organization can mix subscriptions across its staff. Your proposal itemizes the rate for each.
Per-Device Pricing
You pay per managed device — desktops, laptops, servers, network equipment. This can work for simple environments, but it gets complicated fast when staff use multiple devices or when you need to account for shared equipment.
Tiered Packages
Some providers offer packages like “Basic,” “Standard,” and “Premium” with different service levels at each tier. The risk here is that the basic tier often excludes things you actually need — like security, backup, or project work — and you end up paying extra anyway.
All-Inclusive Pricing
Everything — support, security, backup, projects, hardware lifecycle — bundled into one monthly fee. This is the most predictable model, but it’s also the most expensive upfront. It works well for businesses that want zero variability in their IT spend.
What Should Be Included
Regardless of the pricing model, a managed IT plan should include the baseline services that keep your environment running and protected. If any of these are listed as add-ons or billed separately, factor that into your real cost.
Core services (should be standard):
- 24/7 monitoring and alerting
- Patch management (OS and application updates)
- Helpdesk support for day-to-day issues
- Antivirus and endpoint protection
- User account management (onboarding, offboarding, password resets)
- Vendor management (dealing with your ISP, software vendors, hardware suppliers)
Services that vary by plan:
- Advanced security (EDR, identity threat monitoring, email filtering)
- Cloud backup (Microsoft 365, file servers)
- Project work (network upgrades, migrations, office moves)
- Strategic IT planning and quarterly reviews
- After-hours and emergency support
- Compliance support (PHIPA, PIPEDA)
When comparing quotes, don’t just compare the monthly number. Compare what’s included. A lower per-user price that excludes backup, security, and project labour isn’t actually cheaper — it’s just hiding the real cost.
The Costs to Ask About Up Front
Most MSPs charge for some things outside the monthly retainer. The difference between a transparent provider and a painful one is whether those charges are disclosed before you sign — not after the first invoice.
Things to ask any provider you’re evaluating:
- Onboarding fees — Some providers charge a one-time setup fee to audit your environment, deploy their tools, and document your systems. This can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. It’s reasonable, but it should be disclosed upfront.
- Project labour — If a network switch fails or you need to migrate to a new server, is that covered in your monthly fee or billed hourly? Most reputable MSPs (DVG Systems included) bill projects separately at a published hourly rate so the retainer stays predictable. The question is whether the rate is written down before you need it.
- After-hours support — Is emergency support outside business hours included, or does it come with a premium rate?
- Hardware and product markup — Some providers mark up hardware and cloud products significantly and never say so. Others publish a fixed percentage over cost. Ask for the number, and ask whether labour is marked up the same way (it should not be).
- Contract minimums and subscription terms — Are you locked into a 12- or 24-month term? Separately, Microsoft 365 licences carry their own subscription commitments, so ask how licence reductions are handled when someone leaves.
- HST or GST — Quoted figures usually exclude tax. In Ontario, that’s another 13% on top.
At DVG Systems, we publish our pricing structure so you can plan. Managed IT starts with a C$500 monthly base fee, plus one bundle for each user. The base fee covers helpdesk labour, remote monitoring and management, and the tooling used to support your environment. Each user’s bundle includes Microsoft 365 licensing suited to their role, EDR, ITDR, DNS filtering and web protection, and Microsoft 365 mailbox backup, for up to 3 devices per user. The published bundle rates are C$30.64 for Business Basic, C$42.04 for Business Standard and C$55.00 for Business Premium, per user per month; other Microsoft subscriptions are quoted separately.
Outside the bundle: cloud hosting, cloud desktop platform subscriptions, Microsoft 365 Copilot, server backup, and hardware are billed at cost plus 20%. Project work is billed at C$150/hr and additional onsite work outside your included visits at C$175/hr. Non-critical work you ask us to do after hours is C$250/hr — a P1 critical incident carries no after-hours charge. Business phones follow DVGVoIP pricing. Prices exclude HST. We’re upfront about what’s covered and what isn’t — because surprises on an IT invoice are exactly the kind of problem you’re paying us to prevent.
The full breakdown is on our pricing page, and you can build your quote to request an itemized proposal.
Managed IT vs Hiring In-House
This is the comparison that makes the decision clear for most small and mid-size businesses.
Our estimate, as of March 2026, of what a single in-house IT person in Ontario costs:
| Expense | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Salary | $65,000 – $85,000 |
| Benefits and overhead | $15,000 – $25,000 |
| Training and certifications | $3,000 – $8,000 |
| Tools and software licences | $5,000 – $10,000 |
| Total | $88,000 – $128,000 |
That’s one person. They take vacation. They get sick. They have knowledge gaps. And when they leave — which happens — you’re starting from scratch while your systems wait for no one.
For the same annual investment, a managed IT provider gives you a full team: helpdesk technicians, network engineers, security specialists, and a virtual CIO for strategic planning. You get broader expertise, faster response times, and no single point of failure.
In Northern Ontario, the math is even more lopsided. The IT talent pool is smaller than in the GTA or Ottawa. Competitive salaries to attract and retain good IT staff are higher relative to local market rates. And when that one person leaves, finding a replacement in Thunder Bay or Timmins takes longer than it does in Toronto.
What Drives the Cost Up or Down
Every environment is different. Here are the factors that most influence your monthly cost:
Number of users and their subscriptions — The single biggest variable. More users means more accounts, more support tickets, and more bundles, and the Microsoft 365 subscription each person needs sets the rate of their bundle.
Industry and compliance — Healthcare organizations under PHIPA, law firms with confidentiality obligations, and nonprofits with audit requirements all need additional security controls and documentation. That adds cost, but it’s not optional.
Current infrastructure — If you’re running modern cloud-based systems, onboarding is straightforward. If you’re running a 10-year-old server in a closet with no documentation, there’s more work to bring the environment up to standard.
Remote and distributed teams — Staff spread across Thunder Bay, Marathon, Geraldton, and home offices need cloud-based tools, VPN management, and mobile device policies. It’s not dramatically more expensive, but it does add complexity.
Service level — Do you need after-hours coverage or just business hours? Is project work included or billed separately? Do you want quarterly strategic reviews? The more comprehensive the plan, the higher the per-user cost — but also the fewer surprises.
How to Evaluate a Quote
When you receive a managed IT proposal, run through this checklist:
- What’s the base fee, and what does each user cost? Get the actual numbers for your subscriptions, not a range.
- What’s included at that price? Get the full service list in writing, and check whether security and mailbox backup are in the bundle or sold as add-ons.
- What’s NOT included? Ask specifically about project work, after-hours support, hardware, and how products are marked up.
- What are the onboarding costs? One-time fees should be disclosed upfront.
- What’s the contract term? Month-to-month is ideal. If they require a term, ask why. Ask separately how Microsoft 365 subscription terms are handled.
- What’s the response time SLA? How quickly will they acknowledge and resolve issues?
- Can you talk to a current client? References tell you more than any sales pitch.
Build Your Quote
Tell us your team size, which Microsoft 365 subscription each person needs (or leave them under “help me choose”), and anything you need beyond the bundle. We’ll respond within one business day to review your requirements, and most proposals are ready within two to three business days after we confirm your needs. No obligation, no pressure.
Or if you’d rather talk it through: (807) 700-0061 or solutions@dvgsystems.com.
Sources and last verified
Last verified 11 September 2026. The DVG rates are our published pricing at the verification date; the in-house salary table is a DVG estimate rather than a published wage survey.
- Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), Government of Ontario: the HST rate in Ontario is 13%.
- Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), Government of Ontario (e-Laws): Ontario’s health privacy statute referenced under compliance.
- The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: the federal private-sector privacy law referenced under compliance.
- DVG Systems pricing and what is included, DVG Systems: base fee, bundle rates, product markup and hourly rates quoted in this post.
DVG Systems is a Thunder Bay-based managed IT provider serving businesses across Northwestern Ontario. We specialize in managed IT services, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365, and cloud infrastructure for small and mid-size organizations.