Managed Services Pricing Calculator
Price a per-device or per-user service from its cost to serve.
What this calculator does
Onboarding is amortised only when both the cost and a recovery period are entered; the calculator refuses to spread a cost over an unstated period.
Inputs and what they mean
- Currency
- — Amounts are shown in the currency you pick. No exchange rate is applied..
- Monthly cost to serve one unit
- — A unit is one device, user or site — whichever you price by..
- Units under management
- — number value.
- Onboarding cost to recover (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Months to recover onboarding over
- — Optional. Leave at 0 to exclude onboarding..
- Pricing method
- — Margin is a share of the price. Markup is an addition to cost. They are not the same number..
- Margin or markup
- — number value.
How to use it
- Enter your own figures — the calculator never fills in a rate, price or benchmark for you.
- Press Calculate to see the result.
- Read the formula, variables, assumptions and source below the result before you rely on it.
Formula
Monthly cost = Cost per unit × Units + Onboarding ÷ Recovery months; Monthly price = Monthly cost ÷ (1 − Margin) or × (1 + Markup); Price per unit = Monthly price ÷ Units
Worked example
180 devices at $42 cost, priced at a 35% margin
Onboarding is recovered only when you enter it and a recovery period.
Reading the result
The headline figure is the main answer. Any breakdown underneath shows the parts that make it up, so you can check the working and see what changes when you adjust an input.
Limitations and assumptions
Results depend entirely on the figures you enter and are rounded for display. They are for general information and education, not professional advice.
Reference: Rice University — Principles of Accounting, Volume 2: Managerial Accounting
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Formula, source and verification
Cost-plus pricing applied to a monthly cost to serve, with any onboarding cost recovered over a stated number of months.
The question it answers: What should we charge per device or user each month?
The formula
Monthly cost = Cost per unit × Units + Onboarding ÷ Recovery months; Monthly price = Monthly cost ÷ (1 − Margin) or × (1 + Markup); Price per unit = Monthly price ÷ Units
- c — Cost per unit per month
- (currency). Cost of serving one device, user or site.
- n — Units under management
- (count). Number of units covered.
- F — Onboarding cost
- (currency). Optional one-off cost to be recovered.
- t — Recovery months
- (month). Months over which onboarding is recovered.
- m — Margin
- (%). Share of price kept as gross profit.
- k — Markup
- (%). Percentage added to cost.
Units: Currency per unit per month; counts; percentages.
What kind of calculation this is
Business input model. The answer depends on business figures only you can supply, such as your own costs, rates or volumes. No market or benchmark values are assumed for you.
Method
Onboarding is amortised only when both the cost and a recovery period are entered; the calculator refuses to spread a cost over an unstated period.
Assumptions built into the result
- Mathematical: Cost per unit is the same for every unit covered.
Figures this calculator will never guess for you
- No industry-average rate, margin, overhead or ticket volume is inserted.
- No optional component is filled in on the user's behalf.
- No per-seat market price is assumed.
Limitations
- Assumes a flat cost per unit; tiered cost structures need to be priced tier by tier.
Source and version
- Standard or reference
- Cost accumulation, cost-plus pricing, margin and markup (OpenStax, Principles of Accounting Volume 2: Managerial Accounting — job order costing, cost-plus pricing, margin and markup.)
- Published source
- Rice University — OpenStax (CC BY)
- Formula version
- Version 1
- Verification
- Reviewed against the cited source on
- How much weight the source carries
- Academic
- Applies to
- Currency
- Amounts stay in the currency you choose; no exchange rate is applied.
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