You are trying to budget for ten people, and clear numbers are surprisingly hard to come by. Founders usually land in one of two camps: budget nothing for IT and get caught out later, or assume it costs a fortune and put off doing it properly. The real figure sits in between, and it is very manageable once you can see it laid out.

So here it is, broken down. Real numbers for a 10-person startup in the UK.

£630–1,330 a month for a 10-person team

Set up your IT properly and expect roughly £630-1,330 per month in ongoing costs, plus £1,000-3,000 one-off to get everything configured.

That is about £63-133 per person per month, or £750-1,600 per person per year.

The bottom of that range buys reliable basics. The top buys stronger security, proactive monitoring and dedicated support. Most startups we work with sit in the middle, around £80-100 per user per month, and that gives them foundations they can build on.

Here is where the money goes.

The platform everything else sits on

Your productivity platform carries your email, files, video calls and collaboration in one subscription. Every other decision follows it.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium — around £20 per user per month, so £200/month for ten people. We recommend this tier for most businesses. You get the Office apps and email, plus Microsoft Intune for device management, Microsoft Defender for Business for endpoint security, and Azure Information Protection for data security. That bundle is good value.

Google Workspace Business Plus — around £15 per user per month, so £150/month for ten. Gmail, Google Drive with 5TB, Google Meet and a decent set of security features. A solid choice if your team prefers Google’s way of working.

Check the current rate before you budget. Microsoft raised commercial prices on 1 July 2026, and the new rate applies from your first renewal on or after that date rather than immediately. Work from our Microsoft 365 2026 pricing breakdown rather than the round numbers above.

Why this matters: pick the right Microsoft 365 tier now and you buy less later. Business Premium costs more than Basic or Standard, but the security tools it includes often remove the need for separate purchases.

Protecting every laptop and phone you own

Endpoint security protects every device that touches your company data. It goes well past antivirus: threat detection, behavioural analysis to spot unusual activity, and one dashboard showing every device you own.

Cost: £5-15 per user per month, so £50-150/month for ten people.

On Microsoft 365 Business Premium you already have Microsoft Defender for Business, which covers the basics well. If you need more than that, dedicated cybersecurity tools such as CrowdStrike Falcon Go or SentinelOne sit at the top of that range and detect more.

What we would do: start with what Business Premium gives you. Upgrade to a specialist tool when your risk profile justifies it.

A password manager for a few pounds per head

A business password manager lets your team generate and store a unique password for every service, share credentials safely, and stop the “we all use the same password” habit that quietly undermines small businesses.

Cost: £3-8 per user per month, so £30-80/month for ten people.

1Password Teams sits near the top at around £6 per user, Bitwarden Teams near the bottom at around £3. Both are excellent. This is the cheapest line on your budget that prevents genuinely expensive problems, because one compromised account can cost thousands in downtime and clean-up.

Backing up your cloud data separately

Your files and email live in the cloud, which is great, but your provider’s protections do not cover everything. They protect you against their infrastructure failing. They do not protect you against an accidental deletion, a departing employee, or ransomware encrypting your cloud data.

A third-party backup solution copies your email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data somewhere entirely separate. When something goes wrong you restore a file, a mailbox, or everything.

Cost: £5-10 per user per month, so £50-100/month for ten people.

Acronis, Veeam, Datto and Backupify all do this. Set it up once and it runs itself. Treat it as insurance you hope never to claim on.

Hand day-to-day IT to a managed provider

This is where you get an actual team looking after your technology. Managed IT support usually covers:

Helpdesk support — your team calls or emails, and somebody who knows the answer picks it up quickly
Proactive monitoring — your devices and cloud services raise alerts that can be investigated without waiting for someone to report the problem
Patching and updates — security patches applied on schedule, without you thinking about it
Security management — your security tools configured, monitored and kept current
Vendor management — your provider deals with Microsoft, your ISP and your phone system on your behalf, which alone saves founders hours every month

Cost: £30-80 per user per month, so £300-800/month for ten people.

The range is wide because the service varies. At the bottom you get a reactive helpdesk and basic monitoring. At the top you get proactive support, regular security reviews, strategic advice and faster response times.

For ten people, a provider in the £40-60 per user range usually gives you the best balance: responsive support, solid security and enough strategic input to keep you pointed the right way.

£1,000–3,000 to get set up properly

Before the monthly costs start, budget a one-off fee to configure everything.

Typical range: £1,000-3,000, depending on complexity. It normally covers:

Setting up your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant
Configuring security — MFA, conditional access, email filtering
Migrating data from personal accounts, a previous provider or local storage
Installing endpoint security across your devices
Configuring backup
Writing basic documentation and an IT welcome guide for your team

Some providers fold this into their ongoing fee, others bill it upfront. Either way, budget for it. A properly configured environment causes far fewer problems later.

Extras to add when you need them

Not essential for every startup, but worth knowing about:

Cyber Essentials certification — renewed annually, priced by IASME against your organisation size. Check the current bands on the IASME site rather than a figure quoted elsewhere. This UK government-backed certification opens doors with enterprise clients and government contracts. The certificate fee is rarely the main cost; the remediation work needed to pass usually is.
VPN or zero-trust access — £5-15 per user per month. You need this if you run on-premise servers or applications outside the cloud. Cloud-first businesses often do not.
Advanced email security — £3-5 per user per month. Extra filtering for phishing, impersonation and malicious attachments. Worth it if your team handles sensitive financial or client data.

The whole monthly bill in one table

Here is what a typical 10-person startup pays each month.

Category	Per User/Month	10-Person Team/Month
Microsoft 365 Business Premium	£20	£200
Endpoint security	£5-15	£50-150
Password manager	£3-8	£30-80
Cloud backup	£5-10	£50-100
Managed IT support	£30-80	£300-800
Total	£63-133	£630-1,330

Plus one-off setup: £1,000-3,000

The bottom of the range gives you reliable email, basic security, backup and reactive support. The top gives you stronger security, proactive monitoring, strategic advice and faster responses. Most startups land near £80-100 per user per month, and end up with a setup they can genuinely rely on.

Compared with hiring an IT manager

For context, London job adverts for a full-time IT manager commonly sit around £50,000-75,000 in salary, before employer NI, pension, benefits and training. Call it £4,500-7,000 a month before they have bought a single tool.

Outsourcing gives a 10-person startup a whole team instead — helpdesk engineers, security specialists, cloud architects — for a fraction of one salary. Somewhere between 30 and 50 people it starts to make sense to bring capability in-house. For your first few years, a good managed provider is almost always the better buy.

Keeping the budget under control as you grow

Four things worth remembering.

Start with the essentials. You do not need everything on day one. Get your productivity platform, password manager, MFA and basic security right first, then add as your needs sharpen.

Ask about annual billing. Most vendors discount it. Ask what the discount is rather than assuming, because it varies by vendor and by tier.

Ask about startup pricing. Plenty of providers and vendors offer reduced rates for businesses under two years old or under a certain headcount. It costs nothing to ask.

Budget for growth. Every new hire adds roughly £63-133 a month to your IT costs. Build that into your hiring plan and there are no surprises.

Get the numbers for your own team

We work with startups and growing businesses across London, and we are always glad to talk through what your IT should cost. It is a straightforward conversation about what you need and what that comes to.

Get in touch and we will put together an estimate based on your actual situation. It takes about 15 minutes, and you walk away with a clear picture of your IT budget.

How Much Does IT Actually Cost for a 10-Person Startup?