Tier‑1 Help Desk Pricing Models: Per‑Ticket vs Per‑User vs Fixed Monthly Engineer Fees

Buyers searching “help desk pricing” or “help desk outsourcing cost” often get wildly different quotes because vendors aren’t selling the same product—even if they use similar words. One provider may be quoting “Tier‑1 only, tickets only, business hours.” Another may be quoting “Tier‑1 + Tier‑2, phone included, 24/7, SLA guarantees, QA, knowledge base maintenance.”

31West’s own help desk outsourcing page acknowledges multiple pricing models and explicitly lists three: cost per ticket, cost per user/endpoint, and fixed monthly fee per engineer—a useful public framework for buyers.

Meanwhile, some service provider’s Tier‑1 page illustrates a different common approach: pricing tied to per‑ticket volume, coverage hours, SLA targets, and whether knowledge base maintenance is included.

So the “inconsistency” is often legitimate: it reflects different units of work and different risk/coverage commitments.

Per‑ticket pricing is exactly what it sounds like: you pay a rate per handled/resolved ticket. It can be effective for organizations with predictable ticket volumes and mature categorization rules.

Where per‑ticket pricing wins:

• Stable, measurable ticket volume
• A narrow Tier‑1 scope with repeatable SOPs
• Strong controls on what counts as a ticket (merge/reopen rules)

Where it loses:

• Volatility (onboarding surges, seasonal spikes)
• When vendors are incentivized to “not deflect” because ticket volume becomes revenue

Per‑user pricing aligns cost with the size of the supported population. It often maps to MSP economics because MSPs frequently charge clients per seat.

31West explicitly references “cost per user or endpoint” as a standard plan approach (especially for smaller orgs under ~75 employees) and contrasts that with fixed monthly per‑engineer pricing for larger organizations.

Per‑user pricing wins when:

• User count correlates strongly with ticket volume
• The buyer wants predictable monthly spend
• You want to incentivize knowledge base and self‑service (fewer tickets for the same fee)

Per‑user pricing can fail when:

• A small number of users generate outsized ticket volume (e.g., special applications or unstable environments)
• “Fair use” isn’t clearly defined

This is a staffing‑based model: you pay for dedicated (or dedicated‑like) capacity, often easier for budgeting and operational planning. 31West positions this as a “simple and flat monthly IT help desk pricing structure with a fixed monthly fee per engineer,” claiming it avoids over‑usage fees and unpredictable bills.

It tends to win when:

• Volume is high enough that per‑ticket would be expensive
• You want consistent capacity and predictable budgeting
• You want your provider to behave like an “extension of your IT team,” not a metered call center

It can lose when:

• Your ticket volume is low and stable (you may pay for unused capacity)
• The contract does not specify outputs (SLAs, QA, reporting)

Across models, these factors drive your true cost:

1. Coverage hours and days
2. Support channels
3. Ticket volume and volatility
4. SLA requirements
5. Knowledge base and SOP maintenance
6. Tool complexity (ITSM/RMM)

Without paid tools, the best “pre‑quote” method is to estimate monthly workload and map it to pricing units.

Step 1: Pull 30–60 days of ticket counts and channels
– If you have an ITSM, export counts by category, channel, and priority.
– If you don’t, approximate from shared inbox volume + phone logs.

Step 2: Estimate average handling time (AHT) by category

Use practical AHT buckets:

• Password reset / account unlock: 5–10 minutes
• Teams meeting “can’t hear/can’t be heard”: 10–20 minutes using Microsoft’s Tier‑1 audio settings guidance as the baseline set of checks.
• Intune enrollment triage: 15–30 minutes depending on platform and diagnostics; Intune troubleshooting includes specific intake and log collection steps.
• Email delivery triage: 10–20 minutes for intake + escalation packet; admin message trace then required.

Step 3: Decide what you need after hours
If you only need P1/P2 support after hours, your cost model can be lower than “respond to everything 24/7.

Two common places cost is hidden:

• “24/7” that only applies to very specific severity levels
•  “Response time” that sounds great but is only for one channel (e.g., phone) and not for ticket queues

31West publishes claimed averages (ticket response time and Tier‑1 resolution time) and indicates SLAs are customizable. Use that as a baseline for what buyers care about: response and resolution, not vague “support.”

Common contract pitfalls:

• Undefined “ticket” unit (splitting one issue into multiple billables)
• Reopen fees
• Tool licensing surprises
• Unclear escalation timeboxes and ownership
• No QA transparency (no samples, no rubric, no reporting)

Give vendors structured inputs:

• Users/endpoints count
• Ticket counts by channel (email/ticket/phone/chat)
• Required coverage hours/days
• Required Tier scope (Tier‑1 only or Tier‑1 + Tier‑2)
• Tool stack (ITSM, RMM, remote access)
• SLA requirements (first response time + expected resolution time by severity)

31West’s IT help desk pricing page is oriented around custom pricing and explicitly frames services from phone answering to Tier‑1 and Tier‑2 tech support and coverage options; use that positioning to drive quote requests directly from the article.

It varies by coverage, channels, and workload unit; common IT help desk pricing units are per ticket, per user/endpoint, or fixed monthly per engineer.

Per‑ticket is often cheaper for low volume but can be costly during spikes; per‑user offers predictable billing when user count correlates with demand.

Ticket volume, coverage hours (8×5 vs 24/7), SLA targets, and whether knowledge base maintenance is included.

Tier‑1 handles basic issues and triage; Tier‑2 handles deeper troubleshooting; Tier‑3 handles expert‑level issues; Tier‑4 can be external/vendor support.

Often, yes—phone channels require real‑time staffing and can increase cost; some vendors price phone as a premium channel.

It can be for higher volume environments where predictable capacity is needed; it can be inefficient for low volume workloads.

Typically yes—faster response and higher first‑contact resolution targets can increase staffing requirements and cost.

Many do because extended coverage requires shift staffing; clarify whether after‑hours is included and what severities are covered.

Common issues like account unlocks, Microsoft 365 user tasks, basic endpoint troubleshooting, and common Outlook errors.

Standardize inputs (scope, hours, channels, tool stack, SLAs) and compare cost using one monthly model; require clarification on what “ticket” or “user” includes.