How to choose an RMM for a small MSP

Choosing an RMM is one of the most expensive decisions an MSP makes, and not because of the monthly fee: the big cost is the migration. Deploying the agent across the whole fleet, rebuilding patch policies, retraining technicians and walking every client through a new portal takes weeks of work. That is why most MSPs stay for years with the tool they picked, even when it no longer fits or they use half of what they pay for.

And the thing that gets decided badly most often is not the feature list. Almost any RMM on the market covers the basics well: monitoring, patching, remote control, alerts. What gets decided badly is the pricing model against the real size of the operation, and how much you can trust the vendor. This guide focuses on those two things.

The three pricing models and when each one wins

Almost every RMM charges in one of these three ways. None of them is better in the abstract: each one wins in a different range of devices per technician, and the only way to know which one fits you is to run the numbers with your own figures.

Per device

You pay for each managed device. It wins when each technician manages relatively few devices, because the cost tracks the real size of your client base: it grows when you add clients and shrinks when you lose them. It is also the easiest model to pass through to your own contracts, because you know exactly what each device of each client costs you. KairosLink uses this model, with published pricing from USD 36 per month.

Per technician, with unlimited devices

You pay for each technician, no matter how many devices they manage. Atera uses this model and publishes its price: USD 129 per technician per month on the Pro MSP plan with annual billing. It wins when few technicians manage many devices: in that scenario no per device model can beat it on cost, and that needs to be said plainly. If that is your case, start there; the comparison with Atera has the point by point detail.

Quote based

The vendor does not publish a price and quotes based on your operation. NinjaOne and ConnectWise Automate work this way. It is not a bad sign in itself: it is the typical model of products aimed at large operations, where price is negotiated on volume. It wins when you have real scale and bargaining power, hundreds or thousands of devices that justify sitting down to negotiate. For a small MSP it has two hidden costs: you cannot budget without going through a sales process, and you arrive at every renewal at a disadvantage, because migrating is expensive and the vendor knows it. You can see what each one publishes and what it does not in the comparisons with NinjaOne and with ConnectWise Automate.

The break even point, with numbers

The calculation that decides almost everything is a single division: the price per technician divided by the price per device gives the number of devices per technician at which both models cost the same. With pricing published today, USD 129 per technician per month (Atera, Pro MSP annual plan) against a rate of USD 3 to USD 4 per device per month, the break even point lands between 32 devices per technician (at USD 4 per device) and 43 (at USD 3 per device).

Read it like this: if each of your technicians manages fewer than 32 devices, the per device model is cheaper for you. If they manage more than 43, the per technician model wins, and it wins big as the gap grows. An extreme case makes it obvious: an MSP with 3 technicians and 2000 devices pays USD 387 per month per technician, versus USD 6000 per month per device at USD 3 per device. There is nothing to discuss there: the per technician model is the right call.

This calculation uses the prices in force when this guide was written. Redo it with your real numbers and with the prices on the day you decide, and where a price is not published, request the quote and put it in the same spreadsheet. One hour of spreadsheet work here is worth more than every demo combined.

The seven questions to ask before you sign

No demo answers these questions on its own. Ask them in writing and keep the answers.

How much does it cost to leave? Ask for the procedure to export your data, the process to mass uninstall the agent and what happens to your report history if you cancel. If the answer is vague, the real price of the tool is higher than it looks.
Is today's price the renewal price? Ask for the price increase policy in writing. Aggressive first year discounts are usually recovered at renewal, when migrating is already expensive for you and the vendor knows it.
Which parts of the product are third party? Remote control, antivirus or backup can be another company's licenses resold inside the product. It matters because the price, support and continuity of those pieces do not depend on the vendor that signs your contract.
How many customers do you have today, and how long have you existed? This is the uncomfortable question for young vendors, including the one publishing this guide, and it has to be asked anyway. A small vendor can give you a price and a level of attention that a large one cannot, but you have the right to know how battle tested the thing you are buying is, and to decide with that information on the table.
What exactly does support include? Language, channel, hours and the response time committed in the contract, not the one promised in the demo. Support in another language or another time zone ends up being paid for in your technicians' hours.
Can I try it on my real devices before paying? A trial on 10 or 20 of your own devices is worth more than any guided demo. If there is no free trial, or a credit card is required to enable it, ask why.
What happens when the agent fails? Ask how the vendor finds out that an agent stopped reporting, how the agent gets updated across the whole fleet and what public incident history they have. The agent lives on your clients' devices: its quality is the quality of the product.

Common mistakes when choosing

Choosing the longest feature list. Feature lists even out quickly between products; what differs is how much of it you will actually operate. Paying for modules nobody uses is the most common mistake and the most expensive one.
Not running the devices per technician calculation. The same MSP can pay double or half depending on the pricing model, as the break even point above shows. It is one division: do it before looking at anything else.
Underestimating the cost of migrating. If the new tool saves USD 50 per month but the migration costs 80 hours of work, the payback takes years. The full calculation includes the migration, the retraining and the months of running both tools side by side.
Confusing the demo with the product. The demo is driven by a salesperson over prepared data. What you will operate every day you only get to know by testing with your devices, your technicians and your tickets.
Signing a long term contract in exchange for an initial discount. That commitment is worth real money: it takes away the only bargaining lever you have at renewal, which is being able to leave.

What to look at depending on the size of the MSP

Under 100 devices

Prioritize published pricing, a trial with no credit card, support in your language and no long term contract: at this scale you have no bargaining power, and what protects you most is being able to leave at no cost. The devices per technician calculation rules even here: with one technician and 30 devices, per device and per technician cost about the same; with one technician and 90 devices, per technician already wins clearly.

Between 100 and 1000 devices

Here processes start to matter: patch groups, per client reports, a ticket portal, an audit trail of who ran what on which device. The pricing model is still decided by the division above, but you now have enough volume to request quotes as well as compare published prices, and to make them compete with each other. Before migrating the whole fleet, test on a real subset of devices for weeks, not days.

Over 1000 devices

At this volume you are fully in the territory where NinjaOne and ConnectWise Automate quote, and it makes sense to sit down and negotiate with them: at this scale the negotiated price matters more than any list price, and depth of product and the integration ecosystem weigh more than simplicity. Request quotes from more than one vendor and make them compete. Add to the calculation the cost of the PSA if it is a separate product and the work of integrating it with what you already use.

Where KairosLink fits

This guide is published by KairosLink, an RMM with a per device model and published pricing from USD 36 per month, in Spanish and English, with no long term contract and a 14 day trial with no credit card. It is a young product, with fewer years on the market than the other names in this guide: the uncomfortable question on the list above applies here too.

It can be a fit if you are a small or mid sized MSP, you want to budget without going through a sales process, and working in Spanish matters to your team. It is not the right choice if you have few technicians managing a very large number of devices, where Atera's per technician model comes out cheaper, nor if your operation needs the depth and ecosystem of a large suite, which is NinjaOne and ConnectWise territory. The three comparisons linked above show the point by point detail, with what each vendor publishes and what it does not.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an RMM and a PSA?

The RMM manages the devices: monitoring, patching, remote control, scripts, alerts. The PSA (or ITSM) manages the business: tickets, time tracking, contracts, billing. Some products bring both in the same console and others sell them separately; if they come separately, add the second product and the integration work to your budget.

From how many devices per technician does per technician pricing win?

With the prices published today, the break even point lands between 32 and 43 devices per technician: USD 129 per technician per month against USD 3 to USD 4 per device. Above that range, per technician pricing wins; below it, per device. Redo the calculation with the prices in force when you decide.

Is the cheapest RMM the right choice?

Not necessarily. The total cost includes the migration, the learning hours, the support and the price you renew at, not just the first year fee. A cheap RMM with support in another language or without a trial on real devices can cost more in hours than it saves in fees.

How hard is it to switch RMMs later?

It is expensive: you have to reinstall the agent across the whole fleet, rebuild policies and reports, and retrain the team. It takes weeks. That is why it pays to avoid long term contracts and to test on real devices before signing: you greatly lower the odds of having to migrate again.

Is the free trial actually useful?

Yes, if you use it on real devices: install the agent on 10 or 20 machines of a tolerant client, let it run for as long as the trial lasts and measure alerts, patching and remote control under normal working conditions. A demo guided by a salesperson does not replace that.

Data verified on August 4, 2026. The brands mentioned on this page belong to their respective owners. KairosLink is not affiliated with them; this comparison is independent and based only on verified public information.