MSSP Pricing: What Cybersecurity Actually Costs for SMBs

The single most frustrating part of shopping for managed security is that nobody publishes prices. You fill out a form, get a discovery call, sit through a slide deck, and finally receive a quote three weeks later — usually with no way to know whether the number is fair.

This guide breaks the pattern. Here are real ranges for what an SMB actually pays for managed security in 2026, what each tier should cover, the fees most providers don't advertise, and how to make quotes comparable.

The Headline Numbers

For an SMB between 5 and 75 employees, expect to spend:

• $25–$100 per user per month for managed security
• $300–$3,000 per month total depending on size and scope
• $1,000–$10,000 one-time onboarding fee (sometimes waived)

Industry averages from MSSP-focused research firms quote $2,000–$5,000 per month for SMBs — but those averages include enterprise vendors selling down-market. SMB-native providers like Kapacyber price lower because the cost base is built around small companies rather than Fortune 500 demand.

The Three Realistic Tiers

Pricing structures vary by vendor, but most credible MSSPs cluster into three tiers. Here's what each should cover:

How Pricing Actually Gets Built

Behind the headline number, MSSP pricing is built from a few stackable cost components. If you understand the build, you can sanity check any quote.

• Endpoint software licensing. EDR runs $4–$12 per device per month at SMB volumes. MSSPs typically buy at wholesale and pass through with a margin.
• Email security gateway. $3–$8 per user per month.
• Cloud / M365 backup. $3–$6 per user per month.
• SIEM / log management. $1,500–$5,000/month for an SMB volume.
• Training platform. $2–$5 per user per month.
• SOC analyst time. The biggest variable — typically 50–80 clients per analyst across SMB MSSPs.
• vCISO time. Roughly $300–$500/hour fully loaded, billed in chunks (e.g. 4 hours/month).
• Tools and infrastructure overhead. Ticketing, reporting, RMM, billing — typically 15–25% of revenue.

A $1,000/month bill for a 15-person business breaks down roughly: $250 software pass-through, $400 SOC analyst time, $200 vCISO/strategy, $150 platform overhead and margin. That's a credible build. If someone quotes you $400/month for the same scope, ask where they cut.

Hidden Fees to Ask About Before You Sign

A headline price often isn't the price. The seven most common add-ons that appear after the contract is signed:

Ask for these in writing during the quote stage. A reputable MSSP will spell them out. An evasive one will hand-wave and surprise you later.

How to Compare Quotes Apples-to-Apples

The fastest way to get fleeced is to compare a $600/month quote to a $1,400/month quote on headline price alone. The cheaper quote usually excludes things the expensive quote includes. Five questions level the field:

1. Is the SOC 24/7 with human response, or business hours only? Business-hours-only is 40% of the cost but useless for ransomware.
2. Is IR included or hourly? Hourly IR can mean a $20,000 surprise bill on the worst day of your year.
3. Are licenses included or pass-through? Pass-through quotes look cheaper until you add EDR, email security, and backup line items.
4. What's the onboarding fee? A "cheap" monthly bill plus a $10,000 onboarding can cost more in year one than a higher monthly with $0 setup.
5. What's the minimum term and exit clause? A 1-year quote is meaningfully different from a 3-year quote with auto-renewal.

What You Should Refuse to Pay For

• "Cybersecurity insurance" sold by the MSSP. They are not licensed insurance brokers in most cases. Buy cyber insurance from a real broker who shops carriers.
• Compliance "guarantees". No MSSP can guarantee you'll pass a HIPAA, NAIC, or FTC Safeguards audit. They can prepare you, but the auditor decides.
• Multi-year minimums on year one. You don't know the relationship yet. Start with 12 months.
• "Threat intelligence feeds" as a separate line item. Those are inputs to their work, not products you should buy à la carte.
• Per-incident fees with no cap. One bad week could double your annual spend.

The Honest Cost-Per-Incident Math

A useful sanity check: the average SMB cyber incident costs around $200,000 (recovery, downtime, legal, regulatory). An $18,000/year MSSP contract is roughly 9% of one incident. If managed security reduces your probability of a serious incident by even 30 percentage points across a 5-year horizon, the ROI math is decisive.

Most SMBs over-index on monthly cost and under-index on the variance they're buying down. The point of an MSSP isn't saving money — it's removing the tail risk that ends the business.

The Bottom Line

A realistic budget for managed security at an SMB sits between $25–$100 per user per month. Expect $300–$3,000 in total monthly spend, $1k–$10k in onboarding, and a clear list of what's included and what's extra. Anything dramatically cheaper than that is almost certainly cutting scope you'll regret cutting.

Our own pricing is published transparently on the pricing page— $375 / $799 / $1,400 / $2,375 per month tiers with no hidden setup fees. We do this because we think the market should be transparent, not because we're the cheapest. We're not. We're the most honest about what you're actually buying.