What Does Managed IT Cost for a Small Office in Ohio?

Per user. The most common model. You pay a monthly rate for each person who uses a computer, usually somewhere between $100 and $250 per user, and the provider covers that person’s devices. It is simple to explain, and it quietly charges you for people who share a machine or rarely touch one.

Per computer (per device or per endpoint). You pay for each managed workstation, laptop and server. Rates for a workstation commonly sit between $50 and $150 a month, with servers on their own line. This model fits offices where the computer count and the people count are not the same number: a shop floor terminal, a shared front-desk machine, or one person with a desktop and a laptop.

Flat monthly fee. One number for the whole office, sometimes with a device cap. It is predictable, but it is only a good deal if the cap matches your office and the scope is written down. A flat fee that covers “up to 25 devices” is expensive for an office of eight.

Many providers also carry a monthly minimum or base price, so an office of three or four computers pays as if it had ten. Ask about that first. It is the single biggest reason small offices are quoted numbers that do not match the advertised rate.

A typical managed plan covers remote monitoring and management software on each computer, automated Windows and application patching, administration of your Microsoft 365 or Google accounts, some level of help desk support, and documentation of your environment. From there the plans diverge.

Usually extra, and worth asking about: endpoint security (business-grade antivirus with someone actually watching the alerts), backup of Microsoft 365 email and files, image backup of whole computers, vulnerability scanning, after-hours support, on-site visits, and projects such as a migration or an office move. Software licences, especially Microsoft 365, are almost never inside the plan fee because Microsoft prices them per person; they should appear as a separate line on the quote, and you should be told what margin, if any, the provider adds.

The question that separates providers is how support is counted. “Unlimited” support during business hours with no per-ticket charge is the market norm for a full managed plan. Some providers still cap tickets, pool hours, or charge per incident, which makes the monthly number look lower than it is.

Office size. Larger offices pay less per computer because the fixed cost of documenting and onboarding an environment is spread across more machines. A fair rate card shows that step-down openly rather than hiding it in a custom quote.

Security and backup scope. Managed endpoint security, backup with verified restores and vulnerability scanning cost the provider real money per device, so a plan that includes them will cost more than one that does not. It should also say so plainly.

Servers. A server is more work to look after than a workstation and should be priced separately, typically $100 to $300 a month depending on what is backed up.

Support model. Business-hours-only versus round-the-clock coverage is a large cost difference. Most offices of three to twenty computers do not need a staffed desk at 2 a.m.; they need monitoring that runs overnight and a person who answers in the morning.

What you are running today. Computers on Windows Home, machines past Microsoft’s support window, or email that is not yet on Microsoft 365 all add one-time work before the monthly plan can do its job. A good provider quotes that work as a fixed project rather than folding it into a higher monthly fee.

Ridgepoint prices per computer per month, with one rate for every computer in the office set by the size of the office. Foundation (monitoring, patching, documentation, Microsoft 365 administration, vendor management; support billed hourly) is $60 per computer for offices of 1 to 5 computers, $55 for 6 to 10, and $50 for 11 or more. Managed (adds unlimited business-hours support, managed endpoint security, Microsoft 365 backup, patch reporting and internal vulnerability scanning) is $90, $80 or $75. Complete (adds full machine image backup, QuickBooks Online backup, a quarterly external vulnerability assessment and priority response) is $120, $110 or $100. Servers are $100, $150 or $200 a month by plan. There is no base price and no minimum, and onboarding is included.

Worked examples, licences excluded. 3 computers, no server: Foundation $180, Managed $270, Complete $360 a month. 5 computers, no server: Foundation $300, Managed $450, Complete $600 a month. 8 computers, one server: Foundation $540, Managed $790, Complete $1,080 a month. 12 computers, one server: Foundation $700, Managed $1,050, Complete $1,400 a month. 20 computers, two servers: Foundation $1,200, Managed $1,800, Complete $2,400 a month.

Microsoft 365 licences are billed separately, either where you buy them today or through Ridgepoint at cost plus a small margin, in your name. The full rate card, add-ons and an estimator are on the Managed IT page.

Put both quotes on the same basis before you look at the total. Count your computers and servers, not your people. Ask each provider for the monthly price at that exact count, whether there is a minimum, and what happens to the rate when you add a computer.

Then list what is included by name: monitoring, patching, account administration, endpoint security, Microsoft 365 backup, image backup, vulnerability scanning, support hours, per-ticket charges, on-site visits, after-hours work. Anything not on the list is either extra or not being done.

Finally, ask about the term and the exit. A one-year initial term is normal; automatic multi-year renewals and large early-termination fees are not. Ask how the handover works if you leave: your documentation, your admin credentials and your licences should stay yours.

Questions worth asking on the first call: How do you count a shared computer? What is your monthly minimum? Is support unlimited, and during what hours? Are Microsoft 365 licences included, and at what margin? What is quoted separately? What does onboarding cost? Who actually answers when we call?