Break-fix IT support
Paying an hourly or per-incident rate only when something goes wrong, with no ongoing fee or responsibility.
Break-fix is the default for companies with no provider: something breaks, you call somebody, you pay for their time. There is no monthly cost, which is genuinely attractive when nothing is breaking.
The structural problem is the incentive. Under break-fix your provider earns more when your systems fail, and nothing anybody is paid for prevents the next failure. Patching, monitoring and documentation are all unbillable, so they do not happen.
The other cost is invisible: the hours your own staff spend on IT because calling somebody out costs money. That is usually the larger number and it never appears on an invoice.
What it costs
$100 to $200 per hour is typical for break-fix, often with a one or two hour minimum per call-out.
Related questions
When does break-fix make more sense than managed services?
Very small teams with simple setups and a high tolerance for downtime. Below about five people with everything in the cloud, the arithmetic can genuinely favour paying by the hour.