Should an MSP pay for its RMM per device or per technician?
Ronan Behymer ·
Most RMM vendors charge in one of two ways, and the rest keep the price to themselves. NinjaOne, Level and Automox charge per managed device. Atera and Gorelo charge per technician and let you add as many devices as you like. Datto RMM, ConnectWise RMM, the N-able products and Kaseya VSA won't tell you anything until you've spoken to sales. Which of these is cheapest for you comes down to a single figure, the number of devices you manage for each person who logs in, and I'd work that out before booking a single demo.
All the prices here are US dollar list prices taken from each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026, and they do change, so check them again before you sign anything.
What the vendors publish
| Product | How it charges | Published price (October 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| NinjaOne | Per endpoint | $3.75 per endpoint per month at 50 or fewer, down to $1.50 at 10,000 |
| Level | Per device | Free up to 10 devices, then $2 per device per month for every device |
| Automox | Per endpoint | $1 per endpoint per month for Patch OS, annual commitment |
| Atera | Per technician | Professional $149 per technician per month billed annually, $169 monthly |
| Gorelo | Per user | Full Platform $99 per user per month, billed yearly |
| Tactical RMM | Flat tiers | $55 a month self-hosted for up to 199 endpoints |
| Action1 | Free tier | Free for the first 200 endpoints, quote above that |
Sources: NinjaOne, Level, Automox, Atera, Gorelo and Tactical RMM pricing pages. The Action1 figure comes from its MSP Software listing.
I wouldn't take the NinjaOne number at face value. It's a range. NinjaOne's own FAQ says the rate depends on region and the products you add, and also on promotions or commitment length. A small shop should read $3.75 as the most it'll pay per device and still ask for a quote.
Atera Professional is the cheapest tier, so it's the one you'll be tempted to price against. Look at what's in it first. According to our Atera listing it comes with two Splashtop sessions and a month of audit logs. If that isn't enough you're on Expert at $189 ($229 monthly) or Master at $219 ($269 monthly), and the sums further down shift with it.
Gorelo has cheaper seats (Co-Managed at $39 and PSA Only at $59 per user per month), though the organisation owner has to hold a $99 Full Platform licence first. Automox at $1 is OS patching and nothing else. Multi-organisation management, which no MSP can do without, sits in its Enterprise tier, and that's quote only. I'd treat the $1 as a figure for internal IT teams.
Level is the simplest of the lot. Once you add an 11th device you pay $2 for every device on the account, so 11 devices is $22 a month and 50 is $100, billed on your peak count for the month. It's month to month, with volume pricing above 2,000 devices and 10% off for nonprofits and education.
Datto RMM, ConnectWise RMM, N-able N-sight, N-able N-central, Kaseya VSA and Pulseway publish no RMM prices at all. They all charge per endpoint once you get a figure, and Datto RMM is usually sold on an annual contract.
I don't mind a sales call, but I do mind comparing two quotes that turn out to cover different things. ConnectWise RMM includes ScreenConnect and is often sold alongside ConnectWise PSA, so ask whether the number in front of you is for the RMM or the bundle. Kaseya sells VSA mostly inside its Kaseya 365 Endpoint bundle, with antivirus, EDR and backup storage under one per-endpoint licence; you can't line that up against VSA on its own and learn much. Get every quote in writing, at your real device count, with the contract length on it.
Do the sum with your own numbers
Say you run three technicians and look after 300 endpoints. At October 2026 list prices the monthly bill comes out like this:
| Product | Monthly cost, 3 technicians and 300 endpoints | What you get for it |
|---|---|---|
| Level | $600 | RMM, remote access |
| Atera Professional | $447 billed annually, $507 monthly | RMM, ticketing, remote access |
| Gorelo Full Platform | $297 billed yearly | RMM and PSA |
| Tactical RMM self-hosted | $80 (Essentials, 200 to 399 endpoints) | RMM, plus your own server to run |
| NinjaOne | Under $1,125, exact rate needs a quote | RMM; PSA and backup cost extra |
The NinjaOne line is just 300 devices at the $3.75 ceiling, so treat it as the worst case.
Now double the estate to 600 endpoints and keep the same three people: Level goes to $1,200 and the per-technician tools don't move a cent.
Turn it round instead: keep 300 endpoints but take on four more staff, a couple of them part-time or first-line. Atera Professional on annual billing goes from $447 to $1,043, while Level stays at $600 and lets you add as many logins as you want.
At $149 a seat against $2 a device, Atera and Level cost the same at about 75 endpoints per login. Above that, per-technician pricing wins; below it, per-device does. Count everyone who needs a login, by the way, not only the full-time engineers. The owner, the service manager and anyone from a client's internal IT team on a co-managed deal all count. And do the sum at where you expect to be in a year, because you'll sign at today's figures and live with next year's.
What the pricing page leaves out
Remote access is the first thing I'd check. Atera includes Splashtop, Datto RMM and Level both have browser remote access, and ConnectWise RMM has ScreenConnect. Automox sells its Splashtop-based remote access as a separate module. If yours doesn't include it, add a remote access tool to the sum.
Then ticketing. Gorelo and Atera include it, NinjaOne sells its PSA as a separate module, and Level says outright that it doesn't do ticketing and plugs into your existing PSA.
Self-hosting looks cheap on paper. Tactical RMM self-hosted and N-central on premises save on the licence, but somebody on your team has to patch and back up that server, and their hours aren't free.
Then there's the contract. Level is month to month. NinjaOne says partners who aren't on a promotional commitment can cancel with 60 days' notice. Datto RMM is usually annual, and a lower rate locked into three years is a bad deal if the tool doesn't suit you after one.
What I'd do with a small shop
With one to five people, I'd trial the per-technician tools and Level side by side. Of the tools here, Gorelo has the lowest published price for RMM and PSA in one product. It only launched publicly in May 2025, though, so I'd push its patching and reporting hard during the trial. Atera costs more per seat but has been around a good deal longer and has remote access built in, and its 30-day trial doesn't need a card. If you already have a PSA you're happy with and want a plain per-device bill with no contract, Level is where I'd start.
If your estate is server-heavy, spread across fewer clients, or you're hiring faster than you're adding devices, per-endpoint pricing usually comes out ahead. That's when it's worth an hour on the phone to get real NinjaOne and Datto RMM quotes at your device count.
Our side-by-side pages for Atera and NinjaOne and Level and NinjaOne cover the feature gaps, the NinjaOne alternatives page lists other RMMs worth a quote, and everything else is in the RMM category.
Questions MSPs ask
Is NinjaOne cheaper than Atera?
It depends on how many endpoints each of your technicians looks after. NinjaOne charges per endpoint, from $3.75 a month at 50 or fewer down to $1.50 at 10,000. Atera Professional is $149 per technician per month on annual billing with unlimited endpoints (both checked October 2026). A small team with a lot of devices will usually pay less with Atera; a bigger team with fewer devices each will usually pay less with NinjaOne.
Why don't Datto RMM and ConnectWise RMM publish prices?
Both sell through account managers and quote per endpoint, often bundled with other products of theirs. ConnectWise RMM includes ScreenConnect and is commonly sold with ConnectWise PSA, and Datto RMM usually comes on an annual contract. Get the quote in writing at your real device count and check what the bundle includes.
Is there a free RMM for a small MSP?
Level is free up to 10 devices. Action1 is free for the first 200 endpoints, though it's a patch management platform and not a full RMM. Tactical RMM's source code is available if you want to run it yourself, and its paid self-hosted tier starts at $55 a month for up to 199 endpoints (checked October 2026). Price the paid tier too, because you'll outgrow the free one.
Does per-technician pricing really mean unlimited endpoints?
For Atera, yes. Its pricing page says the cost stays the same however many devices you add, and Gorelo charges per user, not per device. Each tier still has its own feature limits, such as Atera's Splashtop session count, so check those against how your team works.
Should I sign an annual RMM contract?
Not until you've run the tool on real client endpoints for a full patch cycle. Annual billing is cheaper with several vendors (Atera Professional is $149 per technician per month billed annually against $169 monthly, checked October 2026). Level is month to month, which makes it easy to trial at real scale before you commit to anything longer.