Per-Seat Pricing

Last updated September 09, 2026

Definition

Per-seat pricing – also called per-user pricing – charges a client a flat monthly fee for each person you support, covering all of that person's devices, accounts, and support requests. It contrasts with per-device pricing, which bills per managed asset, and with hourly break-fix billing.

Why it matters to an MSP

Per-seat is the dominant managed services model in 2026 because it matches how clients think about cost: headcount. A prospect with 40 employees and a $150 seat knows their IT bill is $6,000 a month before the meeting ends. Typical US ranges as of 2026 are $100–$250 per user per month all-in, with the fat middle at $125–$200; entry bundles (monitoring, patching, help desk, antivirus, backup) sit low, fully managed plans with EDR and vendor management in the middle, and 24/7 plus compliance tiers reach $250–$300 or more. The economics work when the seat is all-in: licenses, security tooling, backup, and support in one line. That hides individual tool margins from scrutiny, gives you a single MRR-per-seat number to manage upward, and turns license resale through the CSP program into margin. Compute the floor before quoting: per-seat tool cost plus labor at realistic tickets per seat plus overhead, then apply a gross margin target – 70% is the best-in-class benchmark, so $60 of delivery cost implies a $200 floor. Two contract traps. Define "user" precisely – named person with a mailbox, part-timers, shared logins, contractors – or the client defines it in their favor and your seat count shrinks every renewal. And add a device cap or a per-server line, because a warehouse client with 12 users and 60 devices breaks the model. Minimums, onboarding fees, and escalators are covered in MSP pricing models.