In the model, an on-call engineer is the cheapest way to cover nights and weekends at every size it tests, and by a wide margin. An own 24/7 team only starts to make sense around 2,500 seats, and the reason is the number of live call-outs a week rather than cost.
So before you price a night desk because a prospect asked whether you are 24/7, price what you have, and count how often someone actually has to get up.
How Much Work Actually Arrives After Hours?
The model puts it at about 5% of tickets; about 95% arrive in business hours. That is a share of tickets logged, not a measure of when problems start: an issue that begins at night may only be logged in the morning, so check your own logs for both.
Of the ones that arrive after hours, about 25% need a live engineer that night. The rest can wait for the morning queue.
Take the model's example MSP: 700 seats at 0.5 tickets a seat, a well-run desk. A typical MSP runs 1.0 to 1.4, so double these numbers or more if that is you. At 0.5, the example sees 350 tickets a month, and 5% of 350 is 17.5 after hours. A quarter of those is about 4.4 live call-outs a month, which works out to about one a week.
What Does on-Call Cost?
Two pieces. The engineer on rotation gets a stipend of $300 a week. Each live call-out pays a two-hour minimum at time and a half of a Tier 2 tech's hourly cost.
In the example, that comes to about $1,789 a month. Over a year it is about $21,468. Spread over 700 seats, on-call is about $2.56 a seat a month.
It also gets cheaper per seat as you grow, because the stipend is fixed. The model's size ladder puts on-call at $5.03 a seat at 300 seats and $1.35 a seat at 2,000.
How Do the Alternatives Compare?
Here is the monthly cost of covering after hours for the whole MSP, at the model's ticket rates. The outsourced prices come from vendor pages and the Philippines figures from one operator's actual costs, so treat both as rough.
| Seats | On-Call Engineer | Outsourced After-Hours Desk, Plus Escalation | Own Philippines After-Hours Team (4 People) | Own Philippines 24x7 Team (5 People) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | $1,510 | $3,567 | $12,150 | $15,330 |
| 700 | $1,789 | $3,656 | $12,150 | $15,330 |
| 2,000 | $2,697 | $3,947 | $12,150 | $15,330 |
| 3,000 | $3,396 | $4,171 | $12,150 | $15,330 |
On cost alone, on-call wins at every size in the table, and an own team never pays for itself on 5% of tickets. If money were the only question, you would never build a night desk.
So When Does on-Call Stop Working?
When it starts wearing people out. The line the model uses is more than two live call-outs a week. Past that, the engineer carrying the phone is working a regular night load on top of a full day job.
At the model's ticket rates, on-call reaches two live call-outs a week at about 1,387 seats. At 2,000 seats it is 2.88 a week, and at 2,500 it is 3.61.
That is why the model treats an own after-hours team as worth it only around 2,500 seats and up, because of the call-out rate; on cost alone, on-call still wins there. The other reason to build one is a client who will pay for 24/7 as a service of its own.
What Should You Do Before That Point?
- Below about 1,387 seats at a well-run ticket rate: keep on-call, pay the stipend and the call-outs properly, and protect the rotation.
- Approaching that line, or there sooner because your ticket rate is typical: look at an outsourced after-hours desk with your on-call engineer as the escalation path. It costs more, and it takes the routine calls off your team.
- Around 2,500 seats: an own team becomes worth pricing. Philippines staff working our nights on their day shift carry no night differential, which is the natural fit.
Count the call-outs before you answer the 24/7 question, because the count, more than the question, tells you which option you need.
How to Answer the 24/7 Question
Say exactly what you do. Something like: a named engineer is on call every night and weekend, critical issues get a live response, and everything else is first in the queue at the start of the next business day.
If a client needs more than that, it is a service with a price, written into the agreement like anything else. Don't bundle a night desk into the standard seat to win one deal.
How Do You Check Your Own Numbers?
- Pull last quarter's tickets and count the ones logged outside business hours.
- Divide by all tickets for your off-hours share.
- Count the ones where somebody actually got up and worked them that night.
- Divide that by the weeks in the quarter. That is your live call-outs a week.
- If it is over two, fix the triage first, then look at outsourcing the routine calls.
- If it is under two, the call-out rate is inside the model's line, which is one check, not proof the rotation is healthy. Also look at how long call-outs run, how many people share the rotation, and whether you meet the response you promise clients. If those hold, pay the rotation fairly and give the prospect a straight answer.
mspoutpost.com/articles/what-after-hours-support-costs-and-when-24-7-is-worth-building
Written by Megan Friesen
MSP Outpost publishes information, not legal, financial, insurance, tax or compliance advice, and reading it creates no professional relationship. For decisions about your business, talk to a qualified professional.