In-house IT or managed IT services: an honest cost comparison for 10–50 person companies
At some point every growing company asks the same question: should we hire our own IT person or work with an external team? The answer depends less on ideology and more on numbers, risk and how much your business depends on technology. Here is how we would think about it if we were in your place.
What an in-house IT person really costs
The salary is only the visible part. A realistic calculation includes:
- Gross salary and employer costs such as social contributions, which add a significant share on top of the salary in most European countries.
- Recruitment: agency fees or weeks of a manager’s time.
- Tools: monitoring, remote access, backup and ticketing software, usually paid per device or per admin.
- Training and certifications to keep skills current.
- Holidays and sick days, when nobody covers IT unless you pay someone else.
The biggest hidden cost is the single point of failure. One person cannot be an expert in Microsoft 365, networking, servers, security, websites and cloud at the same time. When that person leaves, a lot of knowledge leaves too, especially if nothing was documented.
What a managed IT service gives you
- A team instead of one person, with first-line support and senior engineers behind it.
- Predictable monthly cost, usually per user or per device.
- Tools included: monitoring, patching, backup checks and a ticket system.
- Documentation as part of the service, so your IT does not live in one head.
- Coverage during holidays and staff changes.
The trade-offs are real too. An external team is not in your office, does not know your people on day one and works within agreed hours and scope. Anything outside the contract costs extra.
A simple way to compare
Take a company of 25 employees with Microsoft 365, laptops, a firewall, a small server and a website. A managed service at around €50 per user plus infrastructure and website care comes to roughly €1,500 to €2,000 a month. Compare that with the full yearly cost of an employee with the skills to handle all of the above in your country, divided by twelve, plus tools. In most of Western Europe the external option is cheaper for companies under about 50 people, and it covers more areas of expertise.
When in-house makes sense
- You have more than 60 to 80 users, or several sites, with daily on-site needs.
- You run specialised equipment or software that requires someone physically present.
- IT is part of your product, not just a support function.
The hybrid model
Many companies get the best of both: an internal “IT coordinator” who handles hardware on site and knows the people, plus an external team for helpdesk, infrastructure, security and projects. The internal person is not alone, and the company keeps local presence without hiring a full IT department.
Questions to ask any provider
- What exactly is included per user or device, and what is billed extra?
- What are the response times, and are they counted in business hours?
- Who owns the documentation and admin accounts if we leave?
- How do you handle passwords and access to our systems?
- Can we cancel with 30 days’ notice?
We answer all five on our pricing and FAQ. If you want a comparison based on your actual setup, our free IT audit is a good starting point.