Ask several IT providers for a quote and the numbers can look wildly inconsistent, sometimes by thousands of pounds a year for what sounds like the same service. That’s usually not a pricing error. It reflects genuinely different service models being compared as if they were the same thing.

Direct answer: most UK small businesses pay between £25 and £90 per user per month for managed IT support in 2026, or roughly £250 to £750 a month for a team of ten. Break-fix support, paid only when something breaks, typically costs £75 to £150 an hour, which can look cheaper upfront but becomes unpredictable, and expensive, the moment something serious goes wrong.

Here’s how the pricing actually breaks down.

The two main pricing models

Managed IT support

A fixed monthly fee covering ongoing support, monitoring, security and backups. Your provider takes responsibility for keeping systems running and catching problems before they cause disruption. This is the more predictable, and for most small businesses, the more cost-effective option over time.

Break-fix support

You call a provider when something goes wrong, and pay for that specific fix, typically at an hourly rate of £75 to £150. This looks appealing in a quiet month with no issues, but a single serious incident, such as a server failure or a ransomware attack, can generate an emergency bill running into thousands of pounds, on top of the disruption itself.

What drives the price

• Number of users. Managed IT contracts are typically priced per user, so total cost scales with your team size, though larger teams often benefit from a lower per-user rate.
• Level of security included. Basic monitoring costs less than a package including advanced cyber security, daily backups and full system monitoring.
• Response time guarantees. Faster guaranteed response times, sometimes called a service level agreement, cost more, since the provider needs to keep more capacity on standby.
• Location. London-based support, particularly with on-site visits, typically costs a premium of around 10 to 25 percent over the national average, reflecting higher labour costs.
• Complexity of your systems. Businesses with more complex infrastructure or specialist software generally pay more than a simple, standard office setup.

Realistic UK pricing by business size

Why the cheapest option isn’t always the cheapest overall

Break-fix pricing looks attractive because there’s no ongoing commitment. The real cost comparison isn’t the hourly rate, it’s the risk of an expensive incident with no preventative monitoring in place. UK research on small business downtime suggests the average business experiences several serious system failures a year, with a single significant incident often costing several thousand pounds once lost productivity and recovery time are factored in. A managed support contract that prevents even one such incident can effectively pay for itself.

Cyber security adds a further consideration

Government survey data indicates a large share of UK small businesses report a cyber breach or attack each year, with the average disruptive incident costing several thousand pounds in recovery and lost time. A managed IT provider with genuine security controls in place meaningfully reduces this risk, which a basic break-fix arrangement typically doesn’t cover at all.

Questions to ask before comparing quotes

• Is this a fixed monthly fee, or billed per incident?
• What’s included: helpdesk, monitoring, security, backups, or a subset of these?
• What are the guaranteed response times, and does that vary by issue severity?
• Are software licences, such as Microsoft 365, included or billed separately?
• Is there a premium for on-site visits, and how quickly can the provider actually reach you?

Getting clear, specific answers to these questions is the only reliable way to compare quotes, since two providers quoting very different numbers may be covering very different scopes of work entirely.

FAQs

What is the average cost of IT support for a small business in the UK? Most small businesses pay between £25 and £90 per user per month for managed IT support, or roughly £250 to £750 a month for a team of ten, depending on the level of service included.

Is managed IT support cheaper than break-fix in the long run? Usually, yes, once the risk of an expensive unplanned incident is factored in. Break-fix can look cheaper in a quiet month, but a single serious failure can cost far more than a year of managed support fees.

Does IT support cost more in London than elsewhere in the UK? Yes, typically. London-based support, particularly with on-site visits, generally costs 10 to 25 percent more than the national average, reflecting higher labour costs and faster expected response times.

What’s usually included in a basic small business IT support plan? A basic plan typically includes helpdesk support, essential security monitoring, and routine updates. More comprehensive managed plans add proactive monitoring, advanced cyber security, and daily backups.