In-house IT vs outsourced managed IT: the true cost comparison

Side by side: what each model really includes

	In-house IT	Outsourced managed IT
Main cost	Salary and package for each IT employee	Monthly fee per user or device for a written scope
Hidden costs	Visa, insurance, leave cover, training, tools, recruitment gaps	Out-of-scope work, projects, extra onsite visits
Skills breadth	Limited to what one or two people know	A team across helpdesk, security, cloud, network and backup
Continuity	At risk during leave, sickness and resignation	Covered by a team and documented process
Onsite presence	All day, every day	Scheduled visits plus remote support; onsite as agreed
Security tooling	Bought and run separately	Usually included or priced as a bundle
Hours	Working hours of the employee	Business hours, with agreed out-of-hours cover
Management effort	You manage a person	You manage a contract and SLA

The cost categories to count

In-house IT: fully loaded cost

1. Salary and allowances for each IT employee.
2. Visa, Emirates ID and medical insurance.
3. End-of-service gratuity accrued each year.
4. Leave and sickness cover: who supports users for the weeks the person is away, and what that costs.
5. Recruitment and vacancy gaps: agency fees, notice periods, and the weeks with no one in the role.
6. Training and certification to keep skills current.
7. Tools: remote support, monitoring, patching, endpoint security, backup software, ticketing.
8. Outside specialists for firewall, cloud, backup design or projects the team cannot do.
9. Equipment and space for the IT staff themselves.

Outsourced managed IT: total cost

1. Monthly fee for the agreed users, devices and sites.
2. Security and backup add-ons if not in the base fee.
3. Onsite visits beyond the included number.
4. Projects: office moves, migrations, new sites, rollouts.
5. Out-of-scope requests at the agreed rate.
6. Internal time someone spends raising requests and reviewing reports.
7. One-off onboarding, if charged.

Hardware and Microsoft licences cost the same either way, so leave them out of the comparison unless one option changes how many you need.

A worked framework, with labelled example assumptions

The numbers below are example assumptions in "units", not market prices. Replace each one with your own figures: your real salary bands and the quotes you receive.

Line	Example assumption	In-house (units / year)	Outsourced (units / year)
Core cost	One IT employee package = 100 units; managed fee for the same users = F	100	F
Visa, insurance, gratuity accrual	Assume 15% of package	15	0
Leave and sickness cover	Assume 6 weeks a year covered by a contractor at the same rate	12	0
Tools and security software	Assume T, the same stack either way; included in F for the provider	T	0
Outside specialists	Assume S for firewall and cloud work per year	S	0 if in scope
Training	Assume 5 units	5	0
Out-of-scope and projects	Assume P, the same projects either way	0	P
Internal time managing IT	Assume M on both sides	M	M
Total		132 + T + S + M	F + P + M

Read it this way: under these assumptions, an in-house hire costs about a third more than the salary alone before tools and specialists are added. Outsourcing is cheaper when the managed fee plus projects (F + P) is below that figure. If you need two in-house people for cover and skills, double the in-house column first.

The cost calculator runs the same logic with your inputs.

When in-house IT wins

• You need a person onsite all day for hands-on, local work (a busy single site, labs, production floors).
• Much of the work is business-specific: in-house systems, workflows and people only an insider knows.
• You already have a team big enough to cover leave and specialist skills.

When outsourced managed IT wins

• IT is one person, or an office manager doing it on the side.
• You need security, cloud, backup and network expertise that no single hire covers.
• You have several sites or entities and want one standard.
• You want continuity that does not depend on one person's notice period.

The middle option: co-managed

Keep your internal person for local support and business knowledge, and have a provider supply monitoring, security, escalation and cover. See co-managed vs fully managed IT.

Questions to put to any provider before you compare

• What exactly is in the monthly fee, and what is listed as excluded?
• How many onsite visits are included, per site?
• Which security tools are included: endpoint protection, email security, patching, backup checks?
• What are the support hours, and how is out-of-hours cover agreed and charged?
• What were typical out-of-scope charges last year for a client of our size?

Where Missan helps

Missan has run IT for UAE companies for 22+ years, with 5,000+ clients served since 2004, and many clients have been with us for more than a decade. We run fully managed and co-managed IT, quote a written scope so you can compare like for like, and support during business hours, with agreed out-of-hours cover. See managed IT services or IT outsourcing.

Related Missan services

• Managed IT services
• IT outsourcing in the UAE
• Managed IT cost guide
• In-house vs managed IT cost calculator
• Managed IT pricing estimator

Frequently asked questions

Is outsourced managed IT always cheaper than an in-house IT person?

No. Compare total cost, not salary against the monthly fee. One in-house person carries visa, insurance, leave, training, tools and cover costs, and cannot be expert in everything. A managed service carries a fee plus project and out-of-scope charges. Which is cheaper depends on your user count, sites and how much specialist work you need. Run both sides of the framework on this page with your own numbers.

What costs do companies usually forget when budgeting in-house IT?

The most commonly missed lines are leave and sickness cover, recruitment and notice-period gaps, training and certification, management tools and security software licences, and the cost of outside specialists for work the internal person cannot do, such as firewall, Azure or backup design.

What costs do companies forget when budgeting outsourced IT?

Out-of-scope work, project fees for moves and migrations, onsite visits beyond the included number, hardware and licences, and the internal time someone still spends managing the provider. Ask every provider for the full list in writing.

Can we keep one internal IT person and outsource the rest?

Yes. That is co-managed IT, and it is common for companies with 50 or more users. The internal person handles local requests and knowledge of the business; the provider supplies security tooling, monitoring, escalation depth and cover for leave.

How does Missan price managed IT?

We quote per user or device for a defined scope, and give fixed quotes after a site survey for onsite work. Our managed IT cost guide and pricing estimator give a starting point before you speak to us.

This guide is general information for planning, not legal or tax advice. Regulations and deadlines change; confirm the current position with the official source linked in the text and with your own advisers. Last reviewed 28/10/2026.