How much does an RMM cost: pricing models compared

Finding out the real RMM software cost is harder than it should be: a good part of the market does not publish rates and quotes case by case, so you cannot even draft a budget without first going through a sales process. Among the vendors covered by this guide, NinjaOne (comparison) and ConnectWise Automate (comparison) do not publish pricing; Atera publishes USD 129 per technician per month on the Pro MSP plan with annual billing (comparison), and KairosLink publishes per device plans from USD 36 per month. With what is published plus your own quotes you can calculate quite a lot, and this guide shows how.

The three models and how each one works

Per device or endpoint

You pay based on the number of managed devices, either a rate per device or plans with a device allowance included. The cost tracks your client base: it grows when you add clients and shrinks when you lose them, and it is straightforward to pass through to your own contract pricing because you know what each device of each client costs you.

Per technician, with unlimited devices

You pay for each technician using the console, with no device limit. It is Atera's model: USD 129 per technician per month on the Pro MSP annual plan. The mechanics reward density: the more devices each technician manages, the cheaper each device gets. With few technicians and many devices it is unbeatable on cost, and that deserves to be said plainly.

Quote based

The vendor builds a custom price based on volume, modules and term. It is the model of NinjaOne and ConnectWise Automate. It usually comes with real volume discounts, and also with two costs for the small MSP: budgeting requires a sales process, and at renewal you negotiate at a disadvantage because migrating is expensive. With scale and bargaining power, however, it is where the best prices are found.

The break even point, with a table of scenarios

The division that drives the decision: price per technician divided by price per device gives the number of devices per technician at which both models tie. With the prices published today, USD 129 per technician against USD 3 to USD 4 per device depending on the plan, the tie lands between 32 and 43 devices per technician. The table brings it down to concrete scenarios, calculated with those same prices.

The column that rules is devices per technician. Below 32, the per device model wins; above 43, per technician wins and the gap widens fast, as the last scenario shows. In the middle band the models tie and the decision comes down to the other costs in this guide. Which is why there is no single cheapest RMM: there is a cheapest model for your ratio of devices per technician, and it changes as that ratio changes.

Two notes to use the table well: the per device column uses the published rate range of USD 3 to USD 4 per device depending on the plan, and every scenario uses the prices in force when this guide was written. Redo the math with your own numbers and with the prices on the day you decide; the guide on how to choose an RMM for a small MSP has the rest of the criteria.

The costs that do not show up in the rate

The monthly fee is the visible part. Before comparing proposals, ask about these six costs, which appear after you sign:

• Onboarding and implementation. Some vendors charge separately for the initial setup. Get the number before comparing fees.
• Data migration. Moving inventory, history and tickets from your previous tool can be manual or paid. Ask what gets migrated and who does it.
• Training. The hours your technicians spend learning the tool are a real cost even if nobody invoices them.
• Modules charged separately. The base rate may not include everything you saw in the demo: confirm which modules are part of the plan being quoted.
• Third party licenses. Some functions depend on another company's products: in Atera, for example, remote control runs on Splashtop or AnyDesk and MDM is a paid Miradore add-on. Ask which pieces are third party and whether their license is included in the price.
• Contract minimums. A minimum number of devices or technicians, or annual billing paid upfront. An attractive monthly price with 12 months paid in advance is a different thing.

The exit cost

Switching RMMs costs money even if the new one were free: you have to uninstall and reinstall the agent across the whole fleet, rebuild policies, alerts and reports, retrain the team and notify every client. And there are two costs that get defined the day you sign, not the day you leave: the history (what you can export from reports, inventory and tickets, and in what format) and the contractual commitment (if you signed 12, 24 or 36 months, leaving early carries a penalty or is simply not possible).

The practical consequence: your bargaining power at renewal depends on how expensive it is for you to leave. The shorter the contract and the more exportable the data, the better you renew.

How to compare two quotes that are not comparable

One proposal quotes per technician with onboarding included, another per device with implementation charged separately, and a third a closed annual price. You compare them by bringing everything to the same unit: cost per device per month, counting 12 months and every extra. The formula: monthly fee times 12, plus onboarding, plus separate modules, plus third party licenses; all of that divided by the number of devices and divided by 12.

An example with round numbers: a quote of USD 500 per month with USD 1200 of implementation, for 250 devices: 500 times 12 is 6000, plus 1200 is 7200; divided by 250 devices and by 12 months it comes to USD 2.40 per device per month. Run the same math on every proposal, including your current tool, and only then compare.

Related guides

• How to choose an RMM for a small MSP
• What is an RMM and how it differs from an ITSM

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