Get three IT quotes and you will have three documents that refuse to be compared. One prices per user, one per device, one as a flat monthly fee. One includes security, one lists it as an add-on, one waves at it vaguely. The cheapest number on the table might be the most expensive relationship in the room, and there is no way to know from the proposals alone.
This is not an accident. Unclear comparisons favor whoever wrote the proposal. The fix is to stop comparing their documents and start scoring them against your document: one set of criteria, one scale, every provider measured the same way. Here is the framework we would use if we were hiring, including how to score us.
Step 1: Normalize the price before you compare it
First, force every quote into the same shape: total monthly cost for your actual headcount and device count, with the same inclusions. Take the leanest quote and add whatever it lacks that the fullest one includes (endpoint security, backup management, after-hours coverage, on-site visits) at the provider's own add-on prices. Small-business managed services in this region typically land somewhere around $100 to $200 per user per month all-in; a quote far below that range is usually missing something you will pay for later, one ticket at a time.
While you are in the pricing section, note what is defined as a "project." A provider whose base fee is low but whose definition of billable project work is broad has not given you a low price, only a low first invoice.
Step 2: Score what actually predicts the relationship
Price tells you what year one costs. The following criteria tell you what years two and three feel like. Score each provider 1 to 5 on every row, multiply by the weight, and total it. Adjust the weights to your business, but resist the urge to quietly crank up the price weight; you already tried hiring on price, which may be why you are reading this.
| Criterion | Weight | What a 5 looks like | What a 1 looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Response SLAs with remedies | x3 | Times by severity, in the contract, with service credits for misses | "We're usually pretty fast" |
| Security stack included | x3 | MFA enforcement, EDR, patching, tested backups in the base fee | Antivirus, plus a menu of add-ons |
| Exit and offboarding terms | x3 | Month to month, documented credential handover, defined data return | Multi-year lock-in, silent on offboarding |
| Team depth and coverage | x2 | Named team, real after-hours coverage, no single point of failure | One brilliant, exhausted person |
| Onboarding plan quality | x2 | Written plan with dates, credentials and documentation first | "We'll figure it out as we go" |
| Reporting and reviews | x2 | Monthly metrics, quarterly roadmap and budget conversations | You hear from them when you call |
| Price (normalized) | x2 | Fair, transparent, all-in for what you need | Cheap headline, expansive fine print |
| References, including departed clients | x1 | Happy clients and graceful exits, offered without flinching | Two handpicked references, defensive about churn |
Notice that exit terms carry a x3 weight. That surprises people, since you are scoring a relationship you have not started. But how a provider behaves when clients leave is the purest signal of how they behave when clients stay: confident providers make leaving easy because they do not expect you to want to. The clause-by-clause detail is in MSP contract exit clauses, explained.
Step 3: Ask every candidate the same questions
Scores need evidence, and evidence comes from asking each provider identical questions and writing down the answers. We keep the full list in 10 questions before signing a new IT contract, but the four that separate candidates fastest in a first meeting: Who specifically answers our tickets, and what happens when that person is on vacation? Show us a sample monthly report from a real client. Walk us through your last difficult offboarding. What would our first 30 days look like, in writing?
The last one matters because a provider without a real onboarding sequence is planning to improvise with your business. You can check whatever they hand you against our own first 90 days playbook; the good ones will look similar, because there are only so many right ways to do this.
Step 4: Weigh the tiebreakers honestly
When two candidates score close, the tiebreakers are cultural, and they show up in small behaviors during the sales process. Did they ask about your business before pitching their stack? Did they explain things in plain language or hide behind jargon? Did the proposal arrive when they said it would? A provider who is slow and vague while trying to win you will not speed up after the contract is signed.
And run the comparison against your incumbent too. Sometimes the exercise reveals your current provider is actually fine and underpriced, in which case, congratulations, stay. More often it puts numbers on a feeling you have had for a while; if the feeling needs a checklist, the nine signs you should fire your IT provider is that checklist. If you are tempted to skip providers entirely and hire, read the honest math on in-house IT first.
The comparison we invite
We built our offer to score well on this exact table, on purpose: month to month with no lock-in, a written switch plan in 48 hours, security in the base fee, silent parallel onboarding with a zero-downtime cutover, and we make the breakup call to your old provider ourselves, credentials recovered before we hang up. Put us in a column next to anyone. That is the whole point of scoring.
Get your free switch plan
Comparing providers? Add us to the spreadsheet. You get a written switch plan in 48 hours, free, whether we win the column or not.
Start the Switch