Most SMBs underestimate IT cost by 40–60% because they only see the invoice. This calculator surfaces the hidden costs — downtime, incidents, compliance gaps, and shadow IT — and shows where managed IT can pay for itself.
Step 1 of 4 · About your team
We'll use this to estimate downtime cost and benchmark against similar businesses.
A rough average across your team. Default is the US SMB knowledge-worker median.
Step 2 of 4 · Current IT spend
Just the line items you can see on invoices. We'll add the hidden stuff next.
Your MSP retainer, break-fix invoices, or per-user fees. $0 if entirely in-house.
Including IT directors, sysadmins, helpdesk. Use 0.5 for a half-time person.
Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, AWS/Azure, SaaS tools — anything billed monthly.
Step 3 of 4 · Hidden costs
This is usually 50–70% of true IT cost — and the part that managed services pay back fastest.
Slow computers, can't print, login problems, waiting for help. Industry average for SMBs is 2–4 hrs/employee/month.
Step 4 of 4 · Your result
Your annual cost of IT
$0
That's $0 per employee, per year — and 0% of it is hidden cost most owners never see.
Estimated annual savings with Paliton
$0
Based on typical SMB outcomes: 60% downtime reduction, 80% incident-cost reduction via managed detection, and Drata-automated compliance.
We'll send you the breakdown by email plus a comparison against the SMB benchmark for your segment. No sales pitch — just the data.
We just sent you a confirmation link. Click it to receive your full breakdown — and a calendar link to schedule your free assessment.
Or book a call now →Estimates use US SMB benchmark data (Gartner, Ponemon Institute, IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report). Real numbers vary by industry, geography, and IT maturity. A 30-minute assessment with our team produces a precise figure.