Pricing
What IT support actually costs in Greater Boston. Hourly rates, managed plans priced per user, and what drives a project quote up or down. No forms first.
Most IT companies in this market will not publish a price. You fill in a form, you take a call, and a number arrives a week later.
We would rather you could estimate this yourself before talking to anyone. Below is what things actually cost, and — more useful — what makes them cost more or less.
Hourly support
$150 per hour, billed in 15-minute increments after the first hour.
No minimum, no contract, no onboarding fee. This is the right choice for offices where things mostly work and you need someone competent occasionally.
Remote work is billed the same as on-site, and it is usually much shorter — a printer problem that would be a one-hour visit is often fifteen minutes in a remote session. We will always try remote first when the problem allows it, because it costs you less.
Managed support
$110 per user per month, month to month after an initial three months.
Per user, not per device. Someone with a laptop, a desktop and a phone is still one person to support, and per-device pricing quietly penalises you for equipping your staff properly.
Included:
- Unlimited help desk, remote and on site
- Patching and updates on a schedule
- Monitoring, so we hear about problems before you do
- Backup management and tested restores
- Security baseline: MFA, endpoint protection, offboarding
- Vendor coordination — your ISP, your software vendors, your copier company
- Documentation you own
Not included, and quoted separately: new hardware, project work such as an office move or a server replacement, and third-party licences.
Below about eight staff, this usually does not pay for itself. We will tell you that rather than selling it to you.
Project work
Quoted fixed-price after we have looked. Rough ranges for a small office:
| Project | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Wi-Fi survey and reconfiguration | $450 – $900 |
| Wi-Fi with new access points installed | $1,500 – $4,000 |
| Network assessment and documentation | $800 – $1,600 |
| Firewall replacement and configuration | $1,200 – $3,000 |
| Security review with written findings | $600 – $1,200 |
| Written Information Security Program (201 CMR 17.00) | $1,500 – $3,500 |
| Office move — network, cabling, setup | $2,500 – $8,000 |
| Microsoft 365 migration | $1,200 – $4,500 |
Hardware is not included in any of these and carries no markup from us.
Home and personal
$120 per hour for home support, with an estimate before we start.
For a straightforward job — a slow computer, a printer that will not connect, Wi-Fi that does not reach the back bedroom — most visits land between one and two hours.
What we do not charge for
- The first conversation, including working out whether you need us at all
- Telling you a problem is not worth fixing, or that a machine is worth replacing rather than repairing
- Travel within 20 miles of Boston
- Being told what we changed and why
What actually moves the price
How much is documented. Walking into an office where nobody knows what is plugged in costs more than one with a diagram, because the first hours go to discovery.
How old the infrastructure is. Not the age of the machines — the age of the decisions. A network that grew by adding a five-port switch every time someone needed a port takes longer to work on than one that was planned.
Whether you are regulated. Accounting firms and healthcare practices carry documentation requirements that add real work. It is not padding; it is the written program the regulation requires.
How fast you need it. Same-day and out-of-hours work costs more, and we would rather quote it honestly than pretend everything is an emergency.
A note on the cheapest quote
If someone quotes dramatically below this, it is worth asking what is not included. The usual answers: response times that are best-effort, backup that is configured but never tested, no documentation, or hardware margin recovering the difference elsewhere.
We are not the cheapest option in Greater Boston and would rather explain why than compete on a number that has things removed from behind it.
Talk to us before deciding
Text (617) 991-4427 or email contact@althora.com with what you are dealing with. We will tell you which of the above applies, and whether you need us at all — that answer is free, and it is genuinely sometimes no.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do most IT companies hide their pricing?
- Partly because cost genuinely varies, and partly because a quote conversation is easier to control than a published number. We think the first reason is real and the second is not a good enough excuse. You should be able to work out roughly what this costs before spending twenty minutes on a call.
- Is managed support cheaper than paying hourly?
- It depends entirely on how often things break. Below roughly eight staff, or in an office where nothing much goes wrong, hourly usually costs less and we will say so. Managed support wins when the volume of small interruptions is high, or when the cost of being down for a day is serious.
- Do you charge for travel?
- Not within our 20-mile radius. If a job takes us further out, we agree the travel charge before booking rather than putting it on the invoice afterwards.
- What if a job takes longer than estimated?
- We stop and talk to you. You will never receive an invoice with a surprise on it. If we quoted two hours and hour three is approaching, that is a conversation, not a line item.
- Do you require a contract?
- No. Hourly work needs no commitment at all. Managed plans run month to month after the first term — we are not going to hold you for three years to make the numbers work.
- Do you mark up hardware?
- No. We tell you what to buy and you buy it at whatever price you can find. A support company earning margin on the equipment it specifies has an interest that is not yours, and it quietly shapes every recommendation.
Tell us what stopped working
Text or email is usually faster than a call. We serve Boston and everything within 20 miles — and remote support has no radius.