The short answer: in Perth, per-user managed IT runs anywhere from about $80 to $350 per user per month, depending on what is included. At Lucente we publish our numbers. Managed IT starts at $105 per user per month on our Protect plan, and $150 per user per month on Protect+. Both prices exclude GST.

That range is wide because the term “managed IT” covers very different things. This guide breaks down the pricing models you will meet, what pushes the price up or down, what is usually included, and who each option actually suits. We publish our pricing. Many providers quote case-by-case instead, so the comparison below should help you read any quote you receive.

The three pricing models you will meet

Most IT support in Western Australia is sold under one of three models. They are priced differently, and the incentives behind them differ too.

Per-user per-month

You pay a flat monthly fee for each person who uses IT. Support, monitoring and security are bundled in. The fee is predictable, so it suits businesses that want a known monthly cost and a provider who keeps things running. Because the fee is fixed, the provider earns the same whether your week is quiet or busy. That aligns the incentive toward prevention - fewer problems is good for both sides.

Block hours

You buy a block of support hours up front and draw them down as you use them. This suits businesses with steady, predictable support needs and some internal IT capability. The catch is that monitoring and proactive work often sit outside the block, so prevention can take a back seat to using hours on things that have already broken.

Ad-hoc or break-fix

You call someone when something breaks and pay by the hour. There is no monthly commitment, which is why very small businesses start here. The trade-off is in the incentive: the provider earns more when more things go wrong. Per-user models flip that around, because the provider does better when your environment stays stable. None of these models is dishonest. They simply reward different behaviour, and it is worth knowing which one you are signing up for.

What drives the price up or down

Two businesses with the same headcount can land on very different numbers. The main factors:

  • User count. Per-user pricing scales with headcount, so total cost tracks the size of your team.
  • Security maturity required. Aligning to the Essential Eight or answering a cyber insurance questionnaire raises the bar, and the price, compared with a basic baseline.
  • Compliance expectations. Industry or contractual obligations add monitoring, reporting and controls.
  • After-hours needs. Support outside business hours, or a true 24/7 response, costs more than a business-hours helpdesk.
  • How messy the starting environment is. A tidy environment is cheaper to take on. Years of patchwork fixes mean remediation work before steady-state pricing applies.
  • Devices per user. Someone with a desktop, laptop and phone carries more monitoring and management load than someone with a single machine.

What is usually included, and what is extra

Across the industry, a per-user managed plan usually includes the helpdesk, system monitoring, patching, endpoint security, and identity and MFA management. Commonly excluded or charged separately: Microsoft 365 licences, projects, hardware purchases, after-hours callouts, and remediation work needed to clean up a messy environment during onboarding.

Here is exactly what we include in each tier.

Protect - $105 per user per month

  • 24/7 monitoring and helpdesk
  • 30 minutes per user per month of pooled phone and remote support
  • Endpoint security and patching
  • Identity and MFA management
  • Microsoft 365 management (licences quoted separately)

Protect+ - $150 per user per month

  • Everything in Protect, plus unlimited support
  • Cloud backup
  • Application patching
  • Strategy and vCISO input
  • Regular business reviews
  • Essential Eight alignment

You can see the full breakdown on our packages page. Microsoft 365 licensing is a separate bolt-on we manage on your behalf, and any IT Projects or AI Enablement and Purpose-Built Software are priced separately on top of the managed plan.

Our numbers, and who each tier is for

Protect suits teams up to 14 users who want a solid baseline: monitoring, security, identity and a responsive helpdesk, at a predictable price. Protect+ is required at 15 users and above, and it is the right fit for businesses that lean harder on IT and want backup, strategy and Essential Eight alignment built in.

We are not the cheapest option in that range, and that is deliberate. Our pricing builds in enough hours to do preventative and proactive maintenance properly, and to provide real support when you need it. We bundle as much as we can into the base plan, with bolt-ons for the needs that vary from business to business, rather than starting cheap and charging extra for everything.

Who should not buy a per-user managed plan? Businesses under about five staff. At that size, a full managed plan rarely stacks up financially. We will tell you that honestly. A better starting point is a well-configured Microsoft 365 setup, MFA switched on everywhere, reliable backups, and a relationship with a provider you can call as you grow. When headcount and complexity catch up, a managed plan starts to make sense.

A worked example

This is illustrative, to show how the maths works. Take a 20-person firm on Protect+:

20 users x $150 = $3,000 per month, which is $36,000 per year (ex GST), plus Microsoft 365 licensing on top.

Compare that with the fully-loaded cost of a single mid-level in-house IT hire, which runs roughly $78,000 to $106,000 per year once you add superannuation, leave and on-costs. We worked through that comparison in detail in managed IT vs in-house IT. The managed plan buys a whole team and a documented system for less than one salaried generalist, and there is no single point of failure when someone takes leave.

Questions to ask any provider quoting you

  • What is excluded from the monthly price, and what gets billed separately?
  • Who owns the Microsoft 365 and software licences - you or the provider?
  • Is there an onboarding or setup cost, and what does it cover?
  • What are the contract term and exit conditions if we want to leave?
  • What response and resolution expectations come with the plan?
  • How does the price change as we add staff or grow?

If you are weighing up a move from your current provider, our guide to switching IT providers walks through how a clean handover works. Onboarding with us typically takes a few weeks, and longer for more complex environments.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a contract?

Yes. Both plans have a 12-month minimum term. After that, you can review the arrangement as your needs change.

What about Microsoft 365 licences?

Microsoft 365 licensing is quoted separately as a bolt-on. We manage your M365 environment as part of the plan, but the licence cost itself sits on top of the per-user price.

Do prices change as my business grows?

The per-user rate stays the same, so your total scales with headcount. Protect+ is required at 15 or more users. Email-only users are priced from $50 per month.

Are projects and AI work included in the monthly price?

No. IT Projects and AI Enablement & Purpose-Built Software are priced separately on top of your managed plan. The monthly fee covers ongoing support and management, not one-off project work.