Users and devices
Most MSPs price per user. Shared computers, shop-floor machines, phones and tablets add work and often add cost.
Buyer guide
How to compare managed IT quotes in Phoenix
Put every quote on the same basis: price per user per month, what that price covers, what is billed separately and what onboarding costs.
Velocity publishes its own rates, $140 to $185 per user per month, so you can use them as one reference point.
What drives the price
Two offices with the same headcount can get very different quotes. These are the usual reasons.
Servers, sites and network
Each on-site or cloud server, firewall and extra office needs monitoring, patching and someone who owns it.
Support hours
A help desk staffed only during business hours costs less to run than a 24/7 one. Check what happens when something breaks at 9 p.m.
Security and compliance
HIPAA, PCI, contractual security terms and defense contracts add controls, monitoring and paperwork.
Onsite work
Quotes differ on how many onsite visits are included and whether travel is billed.
Cleanup
Undocumented systems, old servers and broken backups raise onboarding cost more than the monthly rate.
Red flags in an MSP quote
No list of exclusions
If a quote does not say what is billed separately, you find out on the first invoice.
"Unlimited" with no scope
Unlimited support means little until the quote says which users, devices, hours and tasks it covers.
Support hours left out
If the hours are not written down, assume business hours only and ask what after-hours calls cost.
Onboarding not priced
A quote with no onboarding line either hides it in the monthly rate or bills it later.
Unclear ownership of admin access
Your business should own its passwords, licenses and documentation. Ask what you get back if you leave.
Security tools with no named owner
A list of security products says nothing about who watches the alerts at night and who calls you.
Questions to ask every provider
Hours and response
When is the help desk staffed? Who answers after hours? How do we report an outage?
Scope
What is included per user? What is billed hourly or as a project? Are licenses and hardware separate?
Onboarding
What does onboarding cost, how long does it take and what do we have at the end of it?
Change in headcount
What happens to the price when we add or lose users mid-year?
Planning
How often do we review the roadmap and budget with you, and who leads that meeting?
Exit
If we leave, how do we get our credentials, documentation and admin access back?
How Velocity compares
Use our published numbers as a reference point when you line quotes up.
Per-user rates
$185 per user per month for 1-10 users, $165 for 11-25, $150 for 26-50 and $140 for 51-100. Over 100 users is scoped individually.
Included at every tier
24/7 help desk, monitoring and patching, security baseline, Microsoft 365 administration, backup monitoring, vendor coordination and quarterly vCIO planning.
Adjustments and onboarding
Complexity adjustments of 5% to 12% for specific environments, capped at 25% combined. Onboarding is a separate one-time charge shown in the calculator.
Year-one cost example
25 users at $165 is $4,125 a month. The calculator puts onboarding for that office at $6,250. Spread over 12 months, year one works out to about $186 per user per month.
Related services
Checklist
Work through this list before the assessment call
- Count users, shared computers and mobile devices.
- List servers, cloud apps and line-of-business software.
- Write down the help desk hours and after-hours terms in each quote.
- Ask every MSP quote what is excluded and what onboarding costs.
FAQ
Questions about this guide
What is a fair price for managed IT in Phoenix?
It depends on scope. Velocity charges $140 to $185 per user per month, with 24/7 help desk, monitoring, patching, Microsoft 365 administration, backup monitoring and vCIO planning included. Compare other quotes against the same list of services.
Should pricing be per user or per device?
Per user is easier to budget and to compare. If a quote is per device, convert it to a per-user number by dividing the monthly total by your headcount.
Is onboarding normally extra?
Often, yes. At Velocity onboarding is a separate one-time charge. Ask every provider for the onboarding cost in writing so you can compare year-one totals.
How do I compare quotes with different support hours?
Ask each provider what an after-hours call costs and how many you had last year. A business-hours quote plus after-hours charges can cost more than a 24/7 plan.
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