IT support cost in Dubai splits into two kinds of spend: an ongoing support plan, usually a fixed monthly fee per user or per device, and one-off projects such as a new office setup, relocation or cabling, priced as a fixed scope. Headcount, equipment, coverage hours and on-site requirements drive both. Ad hoc hourly help sits outside either.
Part of our guide to IT Support Dubai.
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Best team I’ve ever hired. All in one place.
As a construction company, we have a lot to manage, so finding one team that can handle our IT and digital requirements has been really helpful. Listonics has supported us with office networking, cybersecurity, website development and SEO. Their team knows what they’re doing and has been easy to work with. We no longer need to coordinate with different companies for every requirement, which saves us time and effort. Overall, it’s been a good experience, and we’re happy to have them supporting our business.
We needed a custom ERP and HR system…
We needed a custom ERP and HR system for our business, along with a new website, and Listonics helped us with all three. The team was approachable, listened to what we wanted and made the process easier than we expected. We could discuss changes directly with them, which made a big difference. It was also convenient having one team handle everything instead of dealing with multiple companies. Overall, we’re happy with how things turned out and glad we chose them.
Listonics projects run from AED 2,500 to AED 30,000 as a fixed scope; support is a fixed monthly fee with response times written into the agreement. The IT support cost guide and managed IT pricing guide set out how the numbers are built.
Response times written into every agreement
| Priority | Typical situation | Remote response | On-site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | Office-wide outage, network, internet or server down | 10 minutes | Within 4 hours |
| High | A team or key system unable to work | 10 minutes | Within 4 hours |
| Medium | One user or device affected, workaround exists | 4 hours | Within 4 hours |
| Low | Requests, changes and questions | Same business day | Scheduled visit |
How much does IT support cost in Dubai?
The cost of IT support depends on what you ask a provider to look after and how quickly they must respond, so there is no fair universal price. Listonics publishes no fixed price list for support; we quote after a free assessment so the figure reflects your office rather than an average.
This guide assumes an office of roughly 5 to 200 staff in Dubai. It explains the three ways IT work is bought, what drives the cost of each, and the questions that turn two different quotes into a like-for-like comparison. If you are still deciding whether to outsource, our overview of IT support in Dubai covers what a provider does day to day.
Support plans, projects and ad hoc work: what is the difference?
A support plan keeps what you have working, a project builds or changes something, and ad hoc work is paid for one call at a time. Mixing plans and projects in one quote hides the real cost of each, so ask for them separately.
- Support plan: helpdesk, monitoring, patching, backup checks and on-site visits for a fixed monthly fee, often called an IT AMC or annual maintenance contract, or managed IT support.
- Project: a defined piece of work such as cabling a new office, replacing a network, moving premises or migrating email, quoted as a fixed, itemised scope.
- Ad hoc: an engineer called out when something breaks, billed per hour or per incident, with no preventive work between calls.
What drives the cost of an IT support plan?
Users and devices set the baseline; coverage hours, on-site commitments and what the plan includes adjust it. Our IT AMC cost guide goes through each factor in more depth, with a worked comparison of two offices.
- Number of users and devices, and whether pricing is per user or per device.
- Servers and on-premise systems that need patching, backup and monitoring.
- Coverage hours, business hours or 24/7, and the SLA targets you choose.
- On-site visits included and the response target for them.
- Security tooling such as endpoint protection, email security and Microsoft 365 backup.
- Parts-inclusive hardware cover and compliance reporting.
What drives the cost of IT projects such as a new office, relocation or cabling?
Project cost follows the physical scope: how many data points, what grade of network, what equipment is supplied and how much coordination the building needs. For a full breakdown, read our new office IT setup cost guide.
Example, hypothetical: a 20-person office. Assumption: two data points per desk, so 20 desks × 2 points = 40 points, plus extra points for meeting rooms, printers and access points. Change the assumption and the count changes with it. A relocation adds taking down, moving, reinstalling and testing equipment around a moving date, often out of hours; see our office IT relocation service. A typical 10 to 40 person office takes two to four weeks from survey to go-live, most of it in parallel with the fit-out.
- Headcount and the number of data points, including rooms, printers and access points.
- Cabling category and whether a fibre backbone is needed; our guide to CAT6 vs CAT6A office cabling explains the choice.
- Network equipment grade: business Wi-Fi and a proper firewall versus consumer gear.
- Laptops, desktops, monitors and printers, if supplied.
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace setup, migration and a security baseline.
- Fit-out coordination, building management approvals, out-of-hours installation and documentation.
Which IT support pricing model is most predictable?
A fixed monthly plan combined with fixed-scope project quotes is the most predictable way to buy IT. Hourly models look flexible but make the annual total hard to forecast.
| Model | How it's billed | Predictable? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support plan, per user | Fixed monthly fee for each user | Yes, changes only with headcount | Cloud-first offices with one laptop per person |
| Support plan, per device | Fixed monthly fee for each covered device | Yes, changes only with equipment | Offices with shared PCs, servers and more network equipment |
| Fixed-scope project | Itemised quote agreed before work starts | Yes, if the scope is complete | New offices, relocations, cabling and migrations |
| Prepaid block of hours | Hours bought upfront and used as needed | Partly, until the block runs out | Occasional needs with some in-house capability |
| Ad hoc or break-fix | Per hour or per incident, after the event | No | Very small, simple setups that rarely change |
| Time and materials project | Hours and parts billed as the work runs | No | Work whose scope cannot be defined upfront |
What are the hidden costs of cheap or no IT support?
The largest cost of weak support rarely appears on an IT invoice. It shows up as lost working time, rushed replacements and risk nobody was paid to manage. For a fuller comparison, see managed IT vs break-fix support.
- Downtime: staff waiting on a failed internet line, printer or shared drive while someone finds an engineer.
- IT becoming the office manager's problem, taking time away from their actual job.
- Backups that were never tested, discovered only when a restore is needed.
- Admin passwords held by one former employee or contractor, with no documentation.
- Emergency hardware purchases made in a hurry rather than planned.
- Security gaps such as missing MFA or unpatched devices, which raise the risk of email fraud and data loss.
- Rework when a cheap installation has to be recabled or redesigned later.
What should you ask before signing an IT support contract?
The answers to a handful of questions reveal more about the true cost than the monthly figure does. Ask every provider the same ones and compare the replies in writing.
- What is not included, and how is it billed when it happens?
- Are on-site visits and travel within Dubai included?
- What are the response and on-site targets for each priority?
- Are software licences and replacement parts inside the fee or at cost?
- Who owns the documentation and admin accounts?
- Is the fee fixed for the term, or reviewed during it?
- What is the notice period and exit process?
How Listonics prices IT support and projects
Projects are quoted as a fixed scope after a free site survey, itemised down to cabling runs and licences. Support is a fixed monthly fee per user or per device under our managed IT support service, with the SLA table attached: critical office-wide outages acknowledged within 10 minutes and an engineer on site within 4 hours, and a team or key system down acknowledged within 10 minutes with an engineer on site within 4 hours. Microsoft 365 licences are supplied at cost. Both documents are yours to keep and compare. To start, book a free IT assessment. Monitoring of the kind a support fee should cover is documented in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
Frequently asked questions
Sometimes marginally, but you lose the installer's warranty on the whole system and the compatibility check. Listonics sources equipment at trade pricing, and will audit and reuse equipment you already own where it makes sense rather than replacing it by default.
It depends on size and setup. The useful exercise is to list what you have, what breaks and what a day of downtime costs the business. Our free assessment produces that list, with a fixed quote for support and any projects attached.
No. The site survey and proposal are free, and you keep the documentation whether or not you go ahead. The assessment records your network, devices, accounts and backups, which is useful even if you choose another provider.
Because they are different kinds of work. A support plan keeps existing systems running for a monthly fee, while a project builds or changes something with a fixed scope. Quoting them separately lets you see the real cost of each and compare providers fairly.
Yes, for very small offices running simple cloud apps that rarely change. Once there is shared equipment, on-site data or a dependence on uptime, a fixed monthly plan is usually more predictable, because someone is paid to prevent problems rather than only fix them.
Written by Srinivasan Ramachandran, Founder, Listonics · Last reviewed October 29, 2026