Outsourced IT vs In-House IT | Cost Comparison

Q: Is outsourced IT cheaper than in-house IT?

For firms under roughly 150 employees, yes. One in-house IT generalist costs $95k–$130k fully loaded and covers 40 hours a week. Outsourced IT at $175 per user per month for a 50-person firm is about $105k per year and covers 24/7 help desk, EDR/MDR, patching, backup, vendor management, and a vCIO. The cost is similar; the coverage and redundancy are not comparable.

Q: When should we keep IT in-house?

Keep IT in-house when you need daily physical presence, run heavily customized line-of-business systems, or are large enough (typically 200+ employees) to staff a team with real depth and after-hours rotation. Even then, most firms outsource the 24/7 security operations layer because a mid-market internal team cannot staff a SOC.

Q: What is co-managed IT and when does it beat both options?

Co-managed IT keeps your internal IT lead responsible for strategy, users, and vendor relationships while an external partner runs 24/7 monitoring, after-hours help desk overflow, patching, backup verification, and compliance evidence. It beats both extremes when you already have 1–5 internal IT staff and the failure mode is coverage or specialization, not headcount.

Outsourced IT vs In-House IT: Run the Real Math

One in-house IT hire costs $95k–$130k loaded and covers business hours, one skill set, and no redundancy. Outsourced IT at $175 per user per month buys 24/7 coverage, a security operations center, and a vCIO. For most firms between 50 and 200 employees the answer is neither extreme: keep your internal lead, outsource the operations. That is the co-managed model, and this page shows where the line falls.

Co-Managed IT Solutions

24/7 Escalation Support

After-hours coverage and overflow support so your team isn't always on call.

Security Operations

SOC monitoring, threat detection, and incident response that augments your internal posture.

Automation & AI

Workflow automation for onboarding, patching, and repetitive tasks your team shouldn't waste time on.

Project Execution

Large-scale migrations, rollouts, and infrastructure projects with dedicated engineering support.

<10 Min Response Time

Guaranteed response SLAs so critical issues never wait for your team to be available.

Strategic vCIO/vCISO

Executive-level IT and security leadership to complement your operational team.

Traditional Support vs. Core12 Managed Intelligence

Capability	Traditional IT	Core12 MIP
After-Hours Support	On-call rotation / none	24/7 SOC + helpdesk coverage
Security Expertise	Generalist IT staff	Dedicated security engineers
Automation	Manual scripts	AI-driven workflow automation
Project Capacity	Pulled from daily ops	Dedicated project engineers
Strategic Planning	Ad-hoc / reactive	vCIO + vCISO leadership
Response Time	Depends on availability	<10 min guaranteed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is outsourced IT cheaper than in-house IT?

For firms under roughly 150 employees, yes. One in-house IT generalist costs $95k–$130k fully loaded and covers 40 hours a week. Outsourced IT at $175 per user per month for a 50-person firm is about $105k per year and covers 24/7 help desk, EDR/MDR, patching, backup, vendor management, and a vCIO. The cost is similar; the coverage and redundancy are not comparable.

When should we keep IT in-house?

Keep IT in-house when you need daily physical presence, run heavily customized line-of-business systems, or are large enough (typically 200+ employees) to staff a team with real depth and after-hours rotation. Even then, most firms outsource the 24/7 security operations layer because a mid-market internal team cannot staff a SOC.

What is co-managed IT and when does it beat both options?