When you invest in remote support software, you want to make sure you’re getting the best value for your money. However, comparing pricing can be difficult because what vendors offer and how they charge for it can vary wildly.
With each vendor charging for different units, such as technicians, users, endpoints, sessions, or feature tiers, even a low advertised price can become significantly more expensive. For many organizations, including IT teams and MSPs, pricing based on concurrent technician usage offers the most flexibility, but how can they be sure they’re getting it?
With that in mind, let’s break down the most common pricing models, see how each affects the total cost, and how to find the model that best matches how your teams work.
How is remote support software typically priced?
Remote support is typically priced based on specific units, such as the number of technicians, supported users, managed devices, simultaneous sessions, or features included in the plan. Some vendors combine several of these units, such as a price based on the number of supported users and features, or devices and simultaneous sessions.
1. Per-technician pricing
On a per-technician pricing plan, each technician requires an individual license. When another technician needs remote access, the costs will increase accordingly. This makes it a simple pricing plan for small, fixed teams, but becomes more cumbersome and expensive for organizations with rotating shifts, occasional users, part-time technicians, and so on.
2. Per-user pricing
A per-user pricing plan isn’t based on the number of technicians providing remote support, but rather on the end users who receive it. This pricing is tied to every employee or end user who may need remote support, so it can quickly rise in organizations with a large number of employees, even if they only have a small IT team.
When an organization purchases remote IT support software, it should confirm whether “user” means a technician, administrator, supported employee, or account holder; the answer can significantly affect the price.
3. Per-device or endpoint pricing
With a per-device plan, vendors charge based on the number of computers, servers, or other endpoints enrolled in the plan, regardless of how many employees use them or how many technicians need access to them.
This model works well for fixed fleets that require persistent unattended access. However, when teams support large or changing device populations, pricing can become less efficient, especially when you factor in mobile devices, virtual machines, inactive devices, and so forth.
4. Usage-based or per-session pricing
With a usage-based pricing plan, companies are charged based on how much they use the solution, not how many users or endpoints they have. Pricing can depend on session volume, session duration, support minutes, or other consumption metrics.
For organizations with only occasional remote support needs, this can be a cost-effective plan. However, changing demand can make monthly costs difficult to predict. Organizations will also want to be wary of minimum commitments, usage limits, and overage charges that can add unexpected expenses.
5. Concurrent technician pricing
Concurrent technician pricing is similar to per-technician pricing, except that, rather than paying for each technician, organizations license a maximum number of technicians who can provide remote support at a time. As a result, larger IT teams and MSPs can share a smaller pool of concurrent licenses, reducing the overall cost per agent.
This model aligns pricing with actual support demand, rather than the team size, making it a cost-effective choice for help desks, distributed IT teams, MSPs, and organizations with shift-based coverage.
What factors affect the total cost of remote support software?
Keep in mind that the pricing unit is only part of the final cost. There are other factors that will affect how much companies pay and should also be factored into decision-making, especially when calculating the total cost. These include:
Total number of technicians.
Number of technicians working simultaneously.
Number of supported or managed endpoints.
Attended and unattended support requirements.
Number of simultaneous remote sessions.
Supported operating systems and device types.
Required security and administrative controls.
Service desk, ticketing, PSA, or ITSM integrations.
Session recording, audit logs, and reporting.
File transfer, remote command, and background management tools.
Endpoint management and security add-ons.
Cloud or on-premises deployment.
Standard versus premium support.
Monthly versus annual billing.
Implementation, onboarding, and training fees.
Renewal pricing and contract minimums.
Each of these will impact not only the price, but the overall value. For instance, a solution that includes file transfer, ticketing integrations, and robust security will almost always cost more than one without, but that’s because it offers a greater overall value. Decision-makers should calculate the full annual cost at their expected scale (rather than comparing entry-level monthly prices) and see what provides the greatest value for the price.
How do attended and unattended support affect pricing?
Keep in mind that not all remote support software offer the same features and capabilities. One major differentiator is whether they offer both attended and unattended support, or just one. Remote support vendors may package or price these workflows differently, which can significantly impact overall costs.
Attended remote support
Attended remote support is a session in which the end user is present, launches or approves the connection, and allows a technician to access the device.
With attended remote support, vendors may price it according to technicians, concurrent technicians, sessions, or plan tiers, although some plans allow technicians to support an unlimited or varying number of attended devices. This makes it a valuable option for customer support, employee help desks, and Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) environments, since it lets agents launch remote sessions for any number of endpoints as needed.
Unattended remote support
Unattended remote support, on the other hand, provides pre-authorized access to remote devices when users aren’t present. For this, remote access permissions are granted in advance, so the technician can quickly connect to the device without needing someone to be present to enter a code or approve the connection.
For unattended remote support, vendors typically limit the number of computers or endpoints agents can access. This capacity may be included with a technician license, sold in endpoint bundles, or priced separately according to the number of managed devices. Buyers should consider how many devices require persistent access so they can choose an appropriate plan, rather than enrolling every supported device.
Why buyers should evaluate both together
While it may seem like companies must choose between attended and unattended access, in many cases, both are necessary. IT teams often need both attended access for troubleshooting and support and unattended access to manage devices that typically don’t have users present, such as servers or kiosks.
As such, it’s important to check whether both are included in the same plan. If not, this can add extra costs due to the need to buy separate products, endpoint packs, or feature upgrades.
Remember: the best pricing model is the one that aligns with your team’s support workflows and needs, not just the one with the lowest advertised cost.
Why concurrent technician pricing often provides better value
While each business will have distinct remote support needs, concurrent technician pricing often provides better value for teams whose technicians do not all provide support at the same time. Concurrent pricing helps ensure businesses pay for the remote support they need and use, rather than paying based on the total number of technicians or endpoints they have, making it a cost-effective model.
Concurrent technician pricing has many overall benefits, including:
1. You pay for active support capacity
With concurrent technician pricing, organizations pay for the number of technicians actively providing remote support simultaneously, rather than paying for each technician individually. This matches pricing to actual operational demand, rather than requiring the purchase of entire licenses for anyone who may only occasionally need access.
2. Larger teams can share the same license pool
Concurrent technician pricing plans have companies pay for a pool of licenses that can be shared across technicians, shifts, locations, and escalation groups. This means that technicians can share licenses from that pool, instead of needing individual licenses for everyone, and adding a technician doesn’t necessarily require buying a new license.
3. Costs scale with workload instead of headcount
Companies on concurrent technician pricing plans can scale when their workload demand increases, rather than every time they get a new agent or endpoint. This creates a clearer relationship between the support volume and software cost, making budgeting more predictable and making scaling more affordable as IT teams and MSPs grow.
4. Concurrent licensing supports shift-based teams
Many companies and MSPs have technicians that work at different times, including morning, evening, overnight, and regional shifts. With concurrent technician licensing plans, companies only need to pay for the agents they need on each shift, rather than overall. This keeps licenses at a reasonable, affordable amount, rather than based on headcount.
Concurrent technician pricing example
With all the factors that go into pricing, it can be hard to calculate what the overall costs will be. So, let’s look at a hypothetical situation and see how we can determine what the best pricing approach for it would be.
In this scenario, a company has 20 technicians, spread across multiple shifts. With their average support volume, no more than five technicians typically need to provide remote assistance at once.
So, how do the pricing approaches compare?
Pricing Approach | Licenses the Team May Need | What Drives Cost |
Named-technician pricing | 20 | Every technician who may use the software, regardless of when or how many at once. |
Concurrent technician pricing | 5 | The maximum number of technicians supporting users simultaneously. |
Per-device pricing | Varies by fleet size | Number of enrolled or managed endpoints. |
Usage-based pricing | Varies monthly | Session volume, duration, or consumption. |
Given these factors, we can see that the concurrent technician pricing model is the most likely to align with their workloads. In this case, they’ll want to purchase a number of licenses that aligns with normal demand, busy periods, and a reasonable amount of coverage should unexpected issues arise.
For this team, concurrent technician pricing would likely provide better value than licensing every technician individually, while remaining more predictable than usage-based pricing.
When does concurrent technician pricing make the most sense?
That’s far from the only scenario where concurrent technician pricing is optimal. There are several situations in which it’s more affordable to pay for a maximum number of concurrent technicians, rather than on a per-endpoint or per-technician basis.
Concurrent pricing works particularly well in several scenarios and environments, including:
Help desks that have more technicians than simultaneous support sessions.
IT teams that operate across multiple shifts, so only a few technicians will be needed at a time.
MSPs with technicians supporting several customer environments, where paying per endpoint would quickly become overly expensive.
Distributed teams working across different regions or time zones.
Organizations with part-time or occasional support staff, who will not all be working at once.
Teams with specialized escalation technicians.
Service desks where support demand changes throughout the day.
Growing teams that want to add staff without automatically needing to add more licenses.
While per-device pricing may be preferable for organizations managing a fixed fleet of unattended endpoints, concurrent technician pricing is often more flexible for teams with rotating technicians, multiple shifts, or changing support demand.
How to compare remote support software pricing
When you’re evaluating remote support software to find the best one for your business, it can be hard to know where to start or what to measure. To help with that, we’ve created a handy step-by-step guide for comparing software options and pricing plans:
Identify the billable unit: First, you need to know what you’re paying for. Determine whether the vendor charges per technician, user, endpoint, session, concurrent technician, or a combination thereof (and remember, there’s a difference between “per technician” and “per user”).
Estimate simultaneous technician usage: Next, you’ll want to identify how many technicians will actually provide remote support at the same time during normal and peak periods. This will help determine how many licenses you’ll need, and what the price difference between a “per technician” and “per concurrent technician” plan will cost.
Calculate required unattended device capacity: Not all endpoints will require unattended support. Count the devices that require persistent unattended access and verify how the vendor bundles those endpoints to ensure you’re getting the accessibility you need.
Confirm what the base plan includes: Don’t assume the base plan includes everything you need. Check to make sure it offers attended and unattended access, simultaneous sessions, platform support for the devices you use, administrative tools, reporting, and integrations with the tools your teams need.
Add required upgrades and add-ons: If there are any features the base plan doesn’t include, you might be able to get them as add-ons. Look for higher tiers, endpoint packs, security features, service desk capabilities, endpoint management tools, or premium support that include the features you need, and see how that will impact the price.
Convert every quote into an annual cost: It’s important to consider how much you’ll be spending each year. Compare the monthly and annual offers and see how much each will cost over the same contract period to determine the best value.
Model future growth: Planning for the future is also important, especially for growing businesses. Calculate what the plan would cost with more technicians, more endpoints, and higher concurrent support demand and see how it scales as your needs change.
Review contract and renewal terms: Don’t get tripped up by the fine print. Check for terms such as billing frequency, minimum commitments, renewal changes, cancellation rules, and limits that could trigger additional charges so they don’t take you by surprise.
Common remote support pricing mistakes
With all that said, there are some mistakes that organizations and decision-makers can make when evaluating remote support solutions and pricing plans. It’s important to be aware of these common missteps in order to avoid them.
Common pricing mistakes include:
Comparing advertised starting prices without matching plan limits, which can result in paying more than anticipated or not receiving the number of licenses needed.
Assuming “per user” has the same meaning across vendors, when some may mean “per technician” or “per end user.”
Licensing every technician without accounting for concurrent usage, leading companies to pay for an unnecessary number of licenses.
Ignoring unattended endpoint limits, which results in endpoints being left unsupported.
Overestimating the number of devices that require persistent access, leading to companies overpaying.
Failing to account for simultaneous session restrictions, which results in times when technicians are unable to launch a remote session.
Comparing monthly and annual prices as though they are equivalent, rather than calculating based on overall cost and value.
Missing required feature-tier upgrades.
Excluding add-ons, integrations, onboarding, or support fees, resulting in significantly higher prices than anticipated.
Evaluating present-day cost without modeling for future growth.
Choosing a model that reflects an organization’s size, rather than its actual support activity.
How Splashtop Remote Support pricing works
Splashtop Remote Support provides IT teams, help desks, and MSPs with attended and unattended remote support across devices and operating systems. Its pricing combines concurrent user licensing for technicians with managed-computer capacity for unattended access.
With Splashtop Remote Support, you’ll get:
1. Concurrent technician licensing
Splashtop Remote Support uses concurrent user licensing, which means pricing is based on how many technicians need to actively use the software at the same time rather than requiring a separate license for every technician. There’s no need to buy a separate license for every technician, as they can share the available concurrent license pool across shifts and locations.
2. Flexible support for larger teams
Teams with rotating technicians, multiple shifts throughout the day, or teams located across different locations can use the same concurrent capacity, so teams just need to consider simultaneous usage, rather than their size. As an organization’s usage increases, they can add new licenses, rather than needing a new license for each technician.
3. Attended and unattended remote support
Splashtop Remote Support offers on-demand attended sessions and unattended access. On-demand sessions can be used to support computers and mobile devices through a session code, while managed-computer capacity determines how many devices can be configured for persistent unattended access. Organizations should evaluate both their concurrent technician needs and the number of computers requiring unattended access.
4. A more practical way to align price with usage
Named-user pricing can require organizations to license technicians who use the software only occasionally. Splashtop’s concurrent licensing model allows a larger technician team to share available capacity based on simultaneous usage, which can improve license utilization and make scaling more predictable.
Choose a pricing model that matches how your team works
Remote support software prices can vary significantly between vendors and plans. The costs depend on the unit being licensed, the support workflows included, and the limits applied to technicians, devices, and sessions. As such, organizations should ensure they’re getting the best price and value from their remote support tools.
Teams should evaluate simultaneous technician usage alongside the number of devices that require persistent unattended access. This provides the most flexible and cost-effective option for IT teams, help desks, and MSPS when technicians aren’t all providing remote support at the same time.
With Splashtop Remote Support, organizations can get attended and unattended remote support with concurrent technician licensing, making it easy and affordable to support remote devices across the company. As a result, IT support teams and MSPs can avoid purchasing a named license for every technician while selecting the managed-computer capacity they need for unattended access.
Want to experience Splashtop Remote Support for yourself? Get started with a free trial today and see how easy remote support can be.
