"How much does IT support cost?" is one of the hardest questions to get a straight answer to, because most providers won't quote a number until they've walked your office and sized up your setup.
That's a reasonable instinct on their part, but it leaves a small business owner with no way to sanity-check a proposal when it finally lands. Seattle adds its own wrinkle: it's a tech-dense market with higher wages than most of the country, which tends to push local IT labor rates above the national average. This guide breaks down the pricing models providers actually use, what a realistic monthly number looks like at different company sizes, what pushes that number up or down, and the signs a quote is worth a second look.
How Managed IT Is Priced
Per-user pricing
The most common model for small businesses today. One flat monthly rate per employee covers their devices, email, help desk tickets, and basic security, regardless of how many devices that person actually uses. Easy to budget, easy to compare across providers.
Per-device pricing
You pay per workstation, laptop, server, or network device instead of per employee. This tends to suit businesses where staff share workstations, or where device count runs higher than headcount, like a retail floor or a clinic.
Tiered bundles
Bronze, silver, gold-style packages, with basic monitoring at the low end and full-service security and strategic planning at the top. Convenient to compare on paper, but businesses often find the tier they picked doesn't quite cover what they actually need.
Flat or fixed-fee agreements
A single negotiated monthly rate for a defined scope of work, regardless of user or device count. More common for businesses with unusual environments that don't map cleanly onto a per-user or per-device model.
Typical Monthly Costs By Size
| Company Size | Typical Per-User Range | Rough Monthly Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1–10 employees | $125–$225 per user per month for a standard security baseline | $1,250–$2,250 per month |
| 10–20 employees | $120–$220 per user per month, help desk plus monitoring and basic endpoint protection | $2,500–$4,000 per month |
| 20–50 employees | $120–$220 per user per month, often with a dedicated account contact | $3,000–$9,500 per month |
| 50+ employees, with compliance needs | $150–$250+ per user per month for full security and compliance documentation | $9,500–$15,000+ per month |
These figures reflect national 2026 benchmarks. Seattle's higher cost of technical labor, relative to lower-cost markets like Phoenix or Tampa, tends to push local quotes toward the upper half of each range, closer to what providers in New York or San Francisco charge for equivalent scope.
What Drives the Price Up or Down
Security scope
Basic antivirus and patching sits at the low end. Advanced endpoint detection, 24/7 security monitoring, and incident response push the per-user rate toward the top of the range.
Compliance requirements
HIPAA, PCI, or similar obligations mean audit trails, documentation, and stricter controls — all of which add cost regardless of company size.
On-site vs. remote-only support
A provider who can physically show up when something breaks charges more than a remote-only shop, but remote-only can't help with hardware failures or network wiring.
Infrastructure complexity
On-site servers, legacy applications, and multiple office locations all add support burden that a simple cloud-only setup doesn't have.
Coverage hours
Business-hours-only support costs less than a guaranteed 24/7 response window. Confirm which one a quote is actually covering before comparing numbers.
Pro tip: Ask every provider to quote against the exact same scope document — same user count, same security tier, same coverage hours. Quotes that look wildly different usually aren't pricing the same thing.
Red Flags in a Quote
A single number, no line items
A bundled monthly total with no breakdown makes it impossible to tell what's included versus what will show up as a surprise add-on later.
No mention of response time SLAs
If a proposal doesn't specify a guaranteed response window for tickets and emergencies, there's nothing holding the provider to a standard once you've signed.
Security listed as an optional add-on
Basic endpoint protection and patching should be part of any managed IT plan, not an upsell tacked on after the base price hooks you.
Unusually low per-user pricing
A quote well under the $100–$125 per-user floor for full-service support is often missing something — fewer covered hours, thinner security, or a longer contract lock-in to make up the difference.
No exit terms in the contract
Ask what happens if the relationship doesn't work out — data handoff, notice period, and any early-termination fees should be spelled out before you sign, not negotiated after.
The Bottom Line
Most small businesses in Seattle should expect to land somewhere between $120 and $250 per user per month for full-service managed IT, with the exact number shaped by security scope, compliance needs, and how many hours of coverage the contract guarantees. A 15-person company is realistically looking at $2,000–$3,500 a month; a 40-person company with compliance obligations can run well past $8,000.
The number matters less than what it's actually buying. A cheaper quote that leaves security as an add-on or offers no response-time guarantee often costs more in downtime than it saves on the invoice. Compare scope before you compare price.
