Pricing
Project work is flat-fee, scoped after the free hour. Partnerships are retained at the cadence your business needs. Advisory is hourly, no commitment. Vendor costs pass through at cost — zero markup, ever.
Our Pricing Philosophy
We're not the cheapest option. We're also not the most expensive. We deliberately sit at the bottom of the market median for senior IT partnership because we'd rather help a small business succeed than be the firm they couldn't afford.
If our pricing is still a barrier and your work matters to your community, tell us. We'll find a number that works for both of us.
Your first conversation, free. 60 minutes walking your environment together. We bring the Tech Debt Checklist. You leave with it filled in — honest assessment, real numbers, written summary. Yours either way.
Where most engagements start
Specific, scoped work with a defined deliverable. Quoted as a flat number after the free hour — no hourly stretch, no surprise invoices. Most clients start here, then move into partnership if it makes sense.
Typical ranges
Ongoing technology partnership at the cadence your business needs. We're your senior IT thinking. Your team owns day-to-day; we own the bigger picture and back them up. Month-to-month after a 3-month onboarding.
Typical ranges
Ad-hoc work outside a retainer. One-off questions, specific projects, things that don't justify ongoing partnership. Senior-level expertise when you need it, no commitment required.
Radical Transparency
Most MSPs bundle everything into one per-user fee so you can't see the markup. We do the opposite. Our fee is our fee. Vendor costs are vendor costs. You see both.
Sample monthly invoice — 15-person business on Standard retainer
Not Sure Which Fits?
One free hour, and you walk away with a real plan — even if you never hire us. We'll tell you what we see, what the right engagement would look like, and whether you need us at all.
The Difference
Typical MSP
Akritos
Pricing model
Bundled per-user fee hiding markup
Project flat-fee or retainer + vendor pass-through
Vendor markup
20-40% hidden markup
Zero. You see the vendor invoice.
Strategic thinking
Help desk model, ticket-driven
Senior IT partnership, proactive
Monitoring
RMM agents on every device
MDM-native. No extra agents or attack surface.
Contracts
12-36 month lock-in
Month-to-month after onboarding
Vendor kickbacks
Partnership revenue, referral fees
None. Recommendations based on fit.
Exit process
Fees, penalties, delayed handoff
Walk away anytime. We help transition.
Community
If you're a non-profit or community organization doing real work, talk to us. We offer reduced rates because the work matters. We won't work for free — our team earns living wages and that's non-negotiable — but we'll find a number that works for both of us.
Have a question not listed here? Call (860) 934-3410 or email gstone@akritos.com
Per-user pricing is the MSP model — it commoditizes the relationship and bundles your fee with vendor costs you can't see. We price for the work. Project work is flat-fee. Partnership is a retainer based on what your business actually needs, not how many seats you have. Vendor costs pass through at cost, on a separate line, so you always know what you're paying for.
No. Vendor costs are pass-through at cost. If a vendor charges $4 per device, you pay $4 per device. If we negotiate a better rate with a vendor, the savings go to you. We show you the vendor invoice — you see exactly what you're paying for.
No. We never accept partnership revenue, referral fees, or volume incentives from vendors we recommend. Our recommendations are based on what's right for you, not what pays us the most.
Project work is a specific, scoped engagement with a defined deliverable — set up the environment, migrate off Intune, audit your vendors, build a custom tool. Flat fee, no recurring commitment. A partnership retainer is ongoing — we're your senior IT thinking month after month, helping you make strategic decisions, vetting new vendors, backing up your team when something complicated comes up. Most clients start with project work and add a retainer once they see the value.
About 6 hours per month of senior IT time, a monthly check-in, ad-hoc questions you can email or call about, and being on retainer so we know your environment when something does come up. For solo professionals and small businesses where you don't need constant attention but you want a real partner you can call. Overages are billed at the regular hourly rate so there are no surprises.
Partnership retainers are month-to-month after a 3-month onboarding. The onboarding minimum exists because it takes time to learn your environment well enough to be useful. After that, you stay because it's working, not because you're trapped.
Tell us. If your work matters to your community — non-profits, mission-driven small businesses, community organizations — we'll find a number that works for both of us. We'd rather help a small business succeed than be the firm they couldn't afford. We won't work for free (our team earns living wages and that's non-negotiable), but we'll be reasonable.
A 15-person company on the Standard retainer: $3,500 for partnership, plus any vendor costs pass-through (Google Workspace, Apple Business is free, MDM if applicable, etc.) listed line by line. If you used 5 advisory hours that month outside the retainer, that's $1,250 extra. Every line visible and verifiable.
RMM (remote monitoring and management) tools are installed on every device and have deep system access — which makes them a prime target for attackers. We manage through MDM when devices are managed at all, which is already on Apple devices by design. One less agent, one less attack surface.
You leave. There's no exit fee, no contract penalty, no hostage negotiation. You own everything we built for you. We'll even help with the transition to whoever comes next.
No. We work with them. Most of our clients have either no internal IT or a small team that lacks the senior thinking layer. We're the strategic / architectural / vendor-management partner — your team handles day-to-day operations. We make sure they have what they need to succeed.
Probably not. We're vendor-agnostic. Tell us what you're already running and we'll work inside it. We're Google Workspace specialists but we work alongside Microsoft 365 environments routinely. Choosing the platform is part of the partnership conversation if you're starting fresh — but we don't migrate businesses just to migrate them.
Book your free hour. We'll tell you what we see and what it would cost. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you that too.