Managed IT vs. in-house IT

WEBIT vs. hiring an in-house IT person: the real cost

One IT hire costs more than the salary, and one person cannot cover every skill, every hour, and every vacation. Here is an honest comparison of managed IT vs. in-house IT, using public salary data and our published prices.

The short answer

Managed IT vs. in-house IT in one paragraph

For most organizations with 10 to 150 employees, managed IT costs less than a single full-time IT hire and gives you a whole team instead of one person. An in-house IT person makes more sense when you need someone physically on site all day, or when you have enough IT work for several people. Many growing companies land in the middle: they keep an internal IT lead and bring in co-managed IT for the help desk, security, and after-hours coverage.

Side by side

How the two options compare

	WEBIT managed IT	One in-house IT hire
Annual cost, 25 users	About $47,400 on Priority support, all tools included	About $88,400 for a help desk hire with benefits, before tools
Coverage	A full team, with after-hours and 24/7 options	One person, business hours, minus vacation and sick days
Skills	Help desk, networking, security, cloud, Microsoft 365, and strategy	Whatever one person knows well
Security tools	Zero Trust EDR, allowlisting, DNS filtering, and vulnerability management on every device	You buy, license, and manage them separately
Monitoring and patching	24/7, automated, and reported	Manual, when there is time
When someone leaves	Nothing changes. Documentation and knowledge stay with the team	Recruiting, training, and knowledge walking out the door
Scaling	Add or remove users month to month	Hire again when one person is not enough
Contract	Month to month, with a 90-day money-back guarantee	Employment, benefits, and management time

Managed IT example: 25 computer users and 25 computers on Priority support at WEBIT public pricing, including endpoint management and Security Essentials. In-house example: U.S. median pay for a computer user support specialist with benefits added. Details and sources below.

The in-house number

What one IT hire really costs

Salary is only part of the bill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that benefits make up 30.0 percent of total compensation for private industry workers, so a salary is only about 70 percent of what an employee actually costs. Here is what that means for the three most common IT roles, using national median pay.

	Median salary	With benefits
Computer user support specialist (help desk)	$61,860	About $88,400
Computer network support specialist	$76,220	About $108,900
Network and computer systems administrator	$99,130	About $141,600

Those totals do not include the tools an IT person needs to do the job: remote monitoring and management, endpoint detection and response, patching, backup, documentation, and a ticketing system. They also do not include recruiting, training, certifications, or the cost of a gap when that person is out or quits. Chicagoland salaries often run above the national median.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, median pay, May 2025. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026. "With benefits" divides median salary by 0.70 and is rounded.

The WEBIT number

What WEBIT costs for the same team

WEBIT publishes its prices. Managed IT is priced per computer user, plus a per-device fee for endpoint management and Security Essentials. Every level includes unlimited remote and onsite help desk support.

	25 users	50 users
Essential support (business hours)	About $35,400 a year	About $70,800 a year
Priority support (after-hours emergency)	About $47,400 a year	About $94,800 a year
Always On support (24/7/365)	About $77,400 a year	About $154,800 a year

At 50 users, Priority support costs less than one systems administrator with benefits, and Always On costs $154,800 a year, for a whole team with 24/7 coverage instead of one person. Add-ons such as Security Advanced, Duo MFA, backup, and a dedicated vCIO are priced separately. Build your own number with the managed IT calculator or, if you already have IT staff, the co-managed IT calculator.

Examples assume one computer per user and WEBIT public pricing as of 2026. Your quote depends on devices, servers, email-only users, and add-ons.

Which one fits

Choose based on how you work

When in-house makes sense

You need a person on site all day, every day, or you have enough IT work to keep two or more people busy. Even then, one person should not carry security alone.

When managed IT makes sense

You have 10 to 150 employees, no IT staff or one overloaded person, and you want predictable costs, real security, and coverage that does not depend on one calendar.

See managed IT →

The middle path: co-managed IT

Keep your internal IT lead for projects and relationships. WEBIT handles the help desk overflow, security tools, monitoring, and after-hours coverage.

How co-managed IT works →

FAQ

Managed IT vs. in-house IT: common questions

Is managed IT cheaper than hiring an IT person?

For most organizations under about 150 employees, yes. One help desk hire costs about $88,400 a year with benefits at the national median, before tools. WEBIT Priority support for 25 users costs about $47,400 a year with the tools included.

What does an in-house IT person cost with benefits?

Benefits are about 30 percent of total compensation in private industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A $61,860 help desk salary costs about $88,400 a year, and a $99,130 systems administrator costs about $141,600.

Can we keep our IT person and still use WEBIT?

Yes. That is co-managed IT. Your internal IT lead keeps ownership, and WEBIT adds help desk capacity, security tools, monitoring, and after-hours coverage.

What happens if our IT person quits?

Without documentation, you lose passwords, knowledge, and time. With WEBIT, documentation and admin credentials belong to you, and the team does not change when one person leaves.

Does co-managed IT replace our IT staff?

No. Co-managed IT is built to support internal IT staff, not replace them. Your team can focus on projects instead of password resets.

How fast can we start?

WEBIT onboarding takes about 30 days with no interruption to your business. We take on two new managed clients per month.

Two new clients per month. Maximum.

Want an owner to run your numbers?

Thirty minutes, no pressure. We will compare your current IT cost to managed and co-managed options, line by line.

Support line: 630-523-0220 | Main: 630-870-1088