Managed IT services in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are typically priced per user, per month. As of September 2026, the Canadian IT providers we found that publish their prices list standard rates from about $85 to $275 or more per user per month. Where a quote lands in that range depends mostly on how much security, after-hours coverage and on-site support it includes.
Microsoft 365 licences, hardware, projects and onboarding are usually billed on top, so the per-user rate isn’t your whole IT budget. Hourly support is the main alternative: published rates we found ran from $75 to $143 an hour, sometimes with minimum charges. This guide covers pricing models, what’s included, cost drivers, a worked budget for a 15-person office and how to compare quotes line by line.
How managed IT services are priced
Providers mix these models. A common setup is a per-user plan for day-to-day support, plus fixed-price quotes for projects.
| Model | How it works | Typically fits | Ask about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per user | A monthly fee for each person supported, covering their devices | Offices where each person uses a laptop, a phone and Microsoft 365 | How a “user” is counted, including shared and part-time accounts |
| Per device | A monthly fee for each computer, server or network device | Shared workstations and server-heavy setups | Which device types are covered, and rates for servers and firewalls |
| Tiered or all-inclusive | Bundled plans, from basic support to security- and compliance-focused | Businesses that want one predictable bill | What each tier adds, and whether on-site and after-hours work are included |
| À la carte | Individual services such as monitoring, backup or security, priced separately | Businesses with internal IT staff covering the rest | Which gaps remain, and who responds to alerts |
| Block hours | A prepaid bank of hours, drawn down as needed | Small, stable offices that need a few hours a month | Whether unused hours expire, and the minimum billing increment |
| Hourly break-fix | Time billed when something needs fixing | Very small setups that rarely change | Minimum charges, travel and after-hours rates |
Our guide to managed IT vs. break-fix support compares the incentives each model creates.
What’s included, and what’s billed separately
A managed IT plan covers the recurring work of keeping systems running and secure. The list varies by tier, but most plans include:
- A help desk for staff, usually remote, during set hours
- Monitoring, patching and updates for computers and servers
- Endpoint security, and often email security and multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Backup management, ideally with tested restores
- Microsoft 365 administration, including adding and removing users
- Vendor management and periodic planning or budget reviews
These are the items most often billed on top:
- Projects. Migrations, office moves, network upgrades and new systems are usually quoted separately, as a fixed price or hourly.
- Hardware. Laptops, servers, firewalls and Wi-Fi equipment. Some providers publish cost-plus hardware pricing; ask what the markup is.
- Microsoft 365 and other licences. As of September 2026, Microsoft Canada lists Business Basic at $9.50, Business Standard at $19.00 and Business Premium at $29.80 per user per month (CAD, annual subscription, plus tax). Microsoft updated its commercial suite pricing on July 1, 2026, so check licence lines in older quotes.
- After-hours work. Some plans cover weekday business hours only. Ask whether 24/7 monitoring means someone fixes problems overnight, or only that an alert is raised.
- On-site visits. Some plans include them, some cap them, and some bill hourly plus travel.
- Onboarding. Usually a one-time fee, covered below.
Device coverage can also be narrower than it looks. One Vancouver provider’s published fall 2026 offer, for example, covers Windows laptops and workstations only, and quotes servers, network equipment and Mac computers separately.
What drives the monthly price
| Factor | Why it changes the price | Tell providers |
|---|---|---|
| Users and devices | More people and computers mean more tickets, patching and security licences | Headcount, computers and phones, including shared and part-time accounts |
| Servers and sites | Servers, network equipment and extra locations add maintenance, monitoring and travel | Servers, firewalls, Wi-Fi and every address |
| Security stack | 24/7 monitoring, endpoint detection and response, email security and backup add tools and staff time | The tools you already have, and what clients or insurers require |
| Compliance | Privacy and industry rules add controls, documentation and reporting | The rules that apply to you and the data you hold |
| Coverage hours | After-hours and 24/7 support cost more than weekday business hours | When staff work, and what counts as urgent |
| On-site needs | Visits add travel time, and distances add up across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley | How often you need someone on site, and where |
| Onboarding and cleanup | Undocumented or outdated systems take work to bring up to standard | Known problems, old equipment and past incidents |
On compliance, B.C.’s Personal Information Protection Act requires organizations to protect the personal information they hold by making “reasonable security arrangements.” Sector rules and client contracts can add more. On cleanup, check the age of your equipment: Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025, and Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates for organizations cost US$61 per device for the first year, with the price doubling each year for up to three years.
Published Canadian prices, September 2026
Many providers quote only after an assessment, but some publish prices. These figures come from Canadian provider websites we checked on September 16, 2026. They’re a snapshot, not quotes, and the scope behind each number differs.
| Provider | Published price | Scope notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vancouver managed IT provider | $85 per user or computer per month for remote support; $170 with on-site support when needed | Weekday business-hours support; onboarding, licences, hardware and projects billed separately |
| B.C.-based provider serving Canada | $89 or $129 per user per month; compliance tier quoted per site | The $129 tier adds 24/7 monitoring, backup, advanced email security, MFA enforcement, phishing simulation and quarterly planning |
| Vancouver managed IT provider | $149 per user per month | All-inclusive plan, month to month; onboarding charged as one month of service |
| Burnaby managed IT provider | $150 to $200 per user per month | On-site support included; Microsoft 365 licences billed separately by Microsoft |
| Abbotsford managed IT provider | $150 to $275+ per user per month | Cybersecurity included in every plan |
| National provider with a Metro Vancouver team | $160+ co-managed, $180+ fully managed, about $230 compliance-focused | Co-managed assumes you keep an internal IT lead; onboarding quoted as a one-time fixed fee |
Published hourly rates for business IT support included:
- A Metro Vancouver provider: $90 an hour on demand, with a time estimate before work starts and discounted block-hour packages.
- A B.C.-based provider: $95 an hour during business hours, $143 an hour for emergencies and $720 for a full day, plus $0.85 to $1.05 per kilometre where travel applies.
- A Vancouver computer store: $75 an hour on site, with a two-hour minimum.
For context, Job Bank’s median wage for user support technicians in B.C.’s Lower Mainland–Southwest region is $32.93 an hour (2023–2024 data). A billed rate also has to cover payroll costs, benefits, training, software tools, insurance, travel and overhead.
What cybersecurity and IT consulting cost
Cybersecurity
In published managed IT pricing, security is usually built into the plan tiers rather than sold as a separate service. In the table above, one provider’s higher tier costs $40 more per user per month, and another’s compliance-focused plan is about $50 more than its standard plan. That second provider also sells managed cybersecurity on its own, from $180 to $250+ per user per month. Security assessments and penetration tests are often quoted separately.
Check for overlap with licences you already pay for. Microsoft Defender for Business lists at $4.10 per user per month on its own (CAD, annual subscription), and it’s included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
For context, Statistics Canada found that 16% of Canadian businesses with 10 or more employees were affected by cyber security incidents in 2023, and that business spending on recovery doubled from about $600 million in 2021 to $1.2 billion. Our small business cybersecurity checklist covers the controls to ask about.
IT consulting
IT consulting is billed hourly, as a fixed-price project, or as planning time built into a managed plan, as some providers do. Published technician rates ran from $75 to $143 an hour, and one national provider’s pricing guide says project work such as migrations and security audits typically runs $150 to $200 an hour, or a fixed price. For defined work, such as a Microsoft 365 migration, ask for a fixed price with a written scope.
Hypothetical budget for a 15-person office
Assume 15 staff, each with one laptop, in one office with no on-site server. The business uses Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and its managed IT rate is $150 per user per month, which sits inside the published range above.
| Line item | Arithmetic | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed IT plan | 15 users × $150 | $2,250 | $27,000 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | 15 users × $29.80 | $447 | $5,364 |
| Laptop replacement fund | 15 laptops × $1,800 ÷ 48 months | $562.50 | $6,750 |
| Project allowance | $4,800 a year ÷ 12 | $400 | $4,800 |
| Ongoing total | $3,659.50 | $43,914 | |
| Onboarding, year one only | One month of the plan fee | – | $2,250 |
That’s about $244 per person per month before onboarding, well above the $150 plan rate. The plan rate is still the line that moves most: every $10 per user per month changes this office’s bill by $150 a month, or $1,800 a year. At $85 per user, the plan line would be $1,275 a month; at $230, it would be $3,450.
Onboarding fees and contract terms to check
Onboarding is the work of taking over your systems: documenting what exists, transferring admin access, installing monitoring and security tools, and confirming that backups restore. Published approaches vary. One Vancouver provider charges one month of service; others quote a one-time fixed fee after an assessment. Ask what the fee covers, and how cleanup found along the way will be priced.
- Term length. Some Metro Vancouver providers publish month-to-month plans. Others discount longer agreements: one published fall 2026 offer takes 12% off for a 12-month term and 24% off for 24 months.
- Renewal. Ask what the rate becomes at renewal, and whether the agreement renews automatically.
- Minimums. Some plans set a minimum number of users; one provider’s published tiers set minimums of three to ten users.
- Counting rules. One published offer bills on users or computers, whichever is higher. Another bills for each workstation that was online in the past 30 days.
- Exit terms. Notice period, fees to leave, and how documentation, admin access and data are handed back.
How to compare managed IT quotes line by line
Give every provider the same facts: users, computers, servers, network equipment, locations, key software and the hours you need covered. Then check each quote against this list.
What each quote should spell out
- A monthly total for your actual users and devices, and the per-user figure that results.
- Support hours, response targets by priority, and the rate for after-hours work.
- On-site visits: included, capped or billed hourly, plus any travel or mileage charges.
- Security tools by function: endpoint protection, email security, MFA, backup, and who responds to alerts overnight.
- Backups: what’s covered, where copies are stored, and how often restores are tested.
- Exclusions with prices attached: projects, hardware markup, licences and onboarding.
- Licences: whose name they’re in, and any overlap with what you already pay Microsoft for.
- Planning: whether regular strategy or budget reviews are included.
- Contract terms: length, renewal pricing, notice period and exit handover.
A quote well below the rest often covers less, such as business-hours support only, security sold separately or on-site visits billed hourly. That can still be the right fit, as long as you know what’s missing.
YVR Technology provides managed IT services, cybersecurity and IT consulting for small and medium businesses across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, including Vancouver, Surrey and Abbotsford. If you’d like a quote to compare, get in touch.