Why per-user IT pricing is so hard to compare

Ask three providers what it costs to look after 60 employees and you will get three numbers that are almost impossible to put side by side, because each one covers something different. In Germany, monthly managed services flat rates commonly land anywhere between €50 and €200 per employee, and the spread has little to do with quality. It reflects scope. One quote includes patching, backups and support, while another quotes monitoring only and bills by the hour the moment something actually needs fixing. The cheapest quote on the page is often the most expensive arrangement by the end of the year, once the excluded work has been bought separately.

That is the trap for the accidental IT owner, the HR manager or founder who ended up responsible for IT without asking for it. You are asked to compare offers in a category you do not work in, using a single number that hides the part that matters. This article does the opposite of that. Below is a straight list of what deeploi’s per-user price covers and what it does not.

How deeploi’s pricing model works

deeploi charges one fixed monthly fee per active employee. There is no setup fee, no onboarding project fee, and no separate charge per support request. Billing follows your active headcount, so it moves with your team as people join and leave, and there is no fee for making those changes.

There are two user types, and the difference is device management rather than service quality:

If you are not sure which category someone falls into, we work that out with you before go-live.

What’s included in deeploi’s price

Everything in this section is part of the standard subscription. There is no premium tier that unlocks it.

Automated onboarding and offboarding

Onboarding runs from your HR system. When a new hire is created in Personio, HiBob, BambooHR, Factorial or another HR tool, the workflow starts on its own: the workspace account is created, the role-based software bundle is installed, security settings are applied, and the device ships preconfigured to the office or to the employee’s home. Input time drops from two to three hours per person to three to five minutes.

Offboarding works the same way in reverse and takes two to five minutes of input. Workspace licenses are downgraded, email forwarding is set up, data moves to the person taking over, SaaS accounts are deactivated centrally, and the device is prepared for return. Deletion only happens where you explicitly choose it.

Migrating to deeploi

Switching is part of onboarding you as a customer, not a project you pay for separately. Our team handles the MDM configuration, the account setup and the device migration, including moving off an MDM you already run, and we work around your normal operations so your team keeps working while the switch happens. Connecting your workspace takes about 30 seconds and your HR system one to two minutes, and you can do both yourself in the platform. From there we support you through each stage, handle the parts that need our team, and keep you updated as things progress. Most teams are fully live within a few days to a few weeks, depending on how complex the setup we are migrating is.

Device management, inventory and patching

Device management covers macOS, Windows and iOS devices through MDM (Mobile Device Management): zero-touch provisioning, software deployment, automated patching of operating systems and third-party apps, enforced encryption, remote lock and wipe, and a live inventory of every device, user and installed application in one dashboard.

The inventory is the part customers tend to underrate before they have it. Knowing what you own, who has it and whether it is patched is the foundation of every audit conversation you will ever have.

Unlimited IT support, in German and English

Support is included without limits. No ticket caps, no per-incident fees, no surcharge for using the phone instead of email, and no separate charge for the everyday requests that make up most of the queue.

Sam, our AI IT support agent, is the first point of contact. He is available 24/7, answers instantly, and takes real action rather than linking to a help article, including suspending users, adjusting group memberships and mailbox access, and reading live device data through MDM. He works under the same approval process as our human team, so he takes no action without sign-off from your IT owner. You keep control.

When a problem needs a human, Sam hands it over to our IT experts, who respond within 30 minutes under SLA and average 12 minutes in practice. Requests are prioritized by urgency, so a person locked out before a client meeting does not wait behind a routine software question. You can read more about how that works on the IT support page.

Account, license and software management

deeploi manages the accounts and licenses your team uses, which is a different thing from paying for them. Included in the price is the administration: assigning the right software bundle per role during onboarding, reclaiming licenses at offboarding so you stop paying for seats nobody uses, keeping a central record of who has access to which tool, and removing the shadow IT that accumulates when access is handed out over Slack.

Unused SaaS seats are one of the most reliable sources of waste in a growing company, because nobody notices a license that is still being paid for after the person using it left. Reclaiming those seats at offboarding is where license management pays for itself.

Security policies and compliance documentation

Password policies, enforced device encryption via BitLocker and FileVault, admin rights management, authentication certificates and automatic security updates are all part of the base scope, along with the documentation you need for an audit. deeploi is ISO 27001 certified and GDPR compliant, hosts data in the EU, and supports NIS2 requirements. The cybersecurity and compliance pages go into detail.

Hardware advice, ordering and warranty handling

The procurement service is included: we recommend the right hardware for a role, handle the ordering process through our partner network including COMSPOT, and support you through returns, warranty and repair cases. Apple devices bought through our partners are registered to your Apple Business Manager, so they enroll into MDM on first startup and appear in your inventory without anyone touching them.

Ordering runs through the deeploi platform, including peripherals like monitors, docks and headsets. You order and track delivery in one place, so the overview stays in the platform instead of scattered across supplier emails.

Leasing is available through our partner topi if you would rather not buy, with terms from 6 to 36 months.

Already have your own devices? That works too. Procurement is a service you can use, not a condition of the subscription. We enroll your existing hardware onto the platform and manage it alongside everything else, so switching to deeploi never means replacing your fleet.

A named customer success manager

Every customer has a dedicated contact who knows your setup, rather than a queue. That is part of the subscription too.

{{cta}}

What isn’t included in deeploi’s price

Three categories sit outside the subscription. Two of them sit outside every provider’s subscription, and the third is optional by design.

The hardware itself

We do not resell devices at a markup buried in your monthly fee. You see the hardware price, you approve it, and you pay the vendor. The work around the hardware, meaning the recommendation, the ordering, the enrollment, the warranty chase when a screen fails, is the part that sits in the subscription.

Your software and workspace licenses

Software licenses are never part of the base fee. Being in the deeploi catalog does not make a tool free, so your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 subscription, your Slack seats and your Adobe plan are all still paid for on top of the subscription, and it is worth budgeting for them separately.

How you buy them is up to you. Many customers keep their own procurement and their own vendor contracts, and deeploi manages assignment and usage on top of that. Others prefer us to procure and manage the licenses on their behalf and bill them alongside the subscription, which means one less vendor relationship to run. We will talk through both options with you rather than pushing one.

Either way, what deeploi does is make sure you are not paying for more than you use, by assigning licenses correctly during onboarding and reclaiming them at offboarding.

Advanced protection: the Security+ add-on

The base subscription already includes real security work: enforced policies, encryption, patching, remote lock and wipe, and access control. Security+ adds a layer on top of that through our SentinelOne integration, which brings real-time endpoint detection and response to every managed device. Threats are identified and contained on the device itself rather than reported after the fact.

Security+ is usually the right call for teams that:

• Face higher regulatory or compliance requirements, particularly in financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals
• Need to evidence a certification such as ISO 27001, SOC 2 or a comparable standard, whether for an audit or a customer security review
• Have been advised by IT or security consultants to put a stronger layer of defense in place

Cloud-to-Cloud Backup

The second add-on backs up your entire Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace environment daily using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud: all mailboxes including shared ones, plus OneDrive and SharePoint, or Google Drive on the Google side. Backups are incremental with unlimited storage, and the subscription applies across all users rather than to individuals.

Worth knowing: the retention built into Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace is time-limited by design. Once that window has passed, something a colleague deleted may no longer be recoverable, which is exactly the gap a dedicated backup covers.

What you will never be billed for

This list matters as much as the inclusion list, because it describes where traditional providers make their margin:

• No setup or implementation fee. Migration, MDM configuration and account setup are part of onboarding you as a customer, including moving off an MDM you already run.
• No per-ticket charges. Support volume does not change your invoice, so nobody on your team has to hesitate before asking for help.
• No surcharge for urgent requests. Sam answers instantly, around the clock, human experts respond within the 30-minute SLA, and urgent cases are prioritized ahead of routine ones at no extra cost.
• No modules to unlock. Onboarding automation, device management, software management and support are not sold as separate products.
• No penalty for scaling up or down. Billing follows your active headcount, and changing it costs nothing either way.

Things people assume cost extra, and don’t

Prospects brace for per-event billing on all of the following, usually because a previous provider did exactly that. None of it changes your invoice:

• Onboarding and offboarding as events. A new joiner adds a user license, but the onboarding and the offboarding themselves are never charged on top of it, however many you run.
• Password resets, account unlocks and the everyday requests that make up most of any support queue.
• Patching and update management across operating systems and third-party apps.
• End-user self-service app installs from the approved catalog, without anyone raising a ticket.
• Minor account changes like adding someone to a group or adjusting a license assignment.

Who this model fits

A scope list is only useful if it also says who it is built for. deeploi fits companies of roughly 20 to 500 people who work in the cloud, run Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, and have nobody whose actual job is IT. That is the accidental IT owner’s situation, and the flat fee exists so that person stops being a cost gatekeeper.

Two things are worth knowing early, because they shape whether the model works for you:

• deeploi is cloud-native. If your IT still lives on your own on-premise servers, this is not the right setup for you.
• Support is fully remote. Everything is handled remotely and digitally rather than by someone coming to your office, which is part of what makes a 12-minute average response time possible.
• deeploi handles your IT requests rather than acting as a company-wide helpdesk. We resolve IT issues for your team. If what you need is an internal ticketing system for passing requests between your own departments, for example Finance raising tickets to Operations, that is a different kind of tool.
• We operate across Europe. If your team sits outside that footprint, raise it early and we will tell you straight away whether we can help.

The point of a fixed price

A predictable IT bill is not just a finance preference, it changes behavior. When support is unlimited and nothing is billed per incident, people report the odd laptop noise instead of ignoring it, and the accidental IT owner stops acting as a gatekeeper for costs they never wanted to manage.

It also makes IT one of the easiest lines in your budget to plan. One fee per active employee means next year’s IT cost is a headcount forecast multiplied by a number you already know, with no allowance needed for incidents, projects or seasonal support spikes. Finance teams can model growth scenarios without asking anyone to guess.

Customers who switched to deeploi report IT costs reduced by up to 75%, and the reason is rarely a single line item. It is the removal of the surcharges, the unused licenses and the hours nobody was tracking.

If you want to see what the scope looks like against your own setup, we will go through it with you honestly, including telling you if we are not the right fit.

{{cta}}

FAQ

What exactly is included in deeploi’s price, and what costs extra?

Included: device management, automated onboarding and offboarding, account and license management, software management, security policies, compliance documentation, hardware advice and ordering, a named customer success manager, and unlimited IT support across all channels. Outside the price: the hardware itself, your own third-party software licenses, and two optional add-ons, Security+ and Cloud-to-Cloud Backup. There are no setup fees and nothing is billed per ticket.

Does deeploi charge per ticket or per hour for IT support?

No. IT support is unlimited and included in the per-user fee, across ticket, email and phone, in German and English. Sam, our AI IT support agent, responds instantly and 24/7, human experts respond within a 30-minute SLA averaging 12 minutes, and urgent requests are prioritized without a surcharge.

Do freelancers and contractors count as full users?

Employees with a company device are counted as managed users. Freelancers, contractors and part-timers without a company device can be added as light users, which includes IT support and onboarding but not device management. We help you classify your team before go-live.

Is antivirus and endpoint protection included in the base price?

The base price includes enforced security policies, device encryption, automatic patching, admin rights management, and remote lock and wipe. Advanced endpoint detection and response through our SentinelOne integration is part of the optional Security+ add-on. See the cybersecurity page for the full picture.

Does deeploi sell the laptops, or do we buy them ourselves?

You buy or lease them, and we handle everything around that. deeploi recommends the right hardware, runs the ordering process through partners including COMSPOT, arranges leasing through topi where you prefer that, and manages returns, warranty and repair cases. Ordering and tracking happen in the platform, peripherals included. If you already own your devices, that is completely fine: existing hardware is registered and managed like anything else, so moving to deeploi never means replacing your fleet.

Do we have to pay for our software licenses separately?

Yes. Licenses for tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Slack are never part of deeploi’s base fee, so budget for them alongside the subscription. You can keep your own vendor contracts and have deeploi manage assignment and usage, or have us procure and manage the licenses for you and bill them separately. Either way, we make sure you are not paying for seats nobody uses.

What happens to our price if we grow or shrink?

Billing follows your active headcount, so it moves with your team as people join and leave, and there is no penalty or fee in either direction. For the exact numbers against your own team size, ask us for a quote on the pricing page.