Honest comparisons

Compare your options before you commit budget

Every SMB that needs cloud, DevOps, and security operations picks from the same four options: hire a team, hire a contractor, sign with a large MSP, or work with us. Here is what each one actually costs and what it actually gets you — including where we are the wrong answer.

Build it yourself

PlatOps vs In-House DevOps Team

Hiring 2–3 DevOps FTEs runs $400–600K/year once salaries, benefits, recruiting, and tooling are counted — and you still have no coverage at 2am or during PTO.

$400–600K/yr vs $42–180K/yrRead the comparison

Hire a contractor

PlatOps vs Freelance DevOps

Contractors bill $150–250/hr and work business hours. When the one person who knows your infrastructure takes a holiday, so does your recovery plan.

$150–250/hr, no on-callRead the comparison

Go with a big MSP

PlatOps vs Enterprise MSPs

Rackspace, Accenture, and the large MSPs are built around Fortune 500 accounts. SMBs get 12-month contracts, shared pooled teams, and ticket queues.

12-month lock-in, shared teamRead the comparison

All four options at a glance

Figures are typical ranges for a 10–200 employee company running production workloads in the cloud. Your numbers will vary with headcount, compliance scope, and how much infrastructure you already have.

Dimension	In-house team	Freelance DevOps	Enterprise MSP	PlatOps
Typical annual cost	$400–600K (2–3 FTEs)	$90–250K (variable)	$120–400K + onboarding	$42–180K
Coverage	Business hours, on-call costs extra	Business hours, best effort	24/7 via shared pool	24/7 dedicated
Time to productive	3–6 months (hire + ramp)	2–6 weeks	6–12 weeks onboarding	2–4 weeks
Breadth of expertise	2–3 generalists	One specialism	Broad, but rationed	10+ specialists on call
Contract commitment	Employment overhead	Per engagement	12–36 months typical	Monthly, or fixed-scope sprint
Key risk	Attrition wipes out knowledge	Bus factor of one	You are a small account	Less on-site context than an FTE

When PlatOps is the wrong choice

A comparison page that only argues one way is a sales page. These are the situations where we would tell you to do something else.

You need someone physically on site — we are remote by design.

You are large enough to staff a real 24/7 rota in-house; past roughly 200 employees the maths starts to favour building.

Your infrastructure is a core competitive product and you want that knowledge held internally.

You need a single named engineer embedded in your team full time rather than a team behind an SLA.

Want the numbers for your setup?

A free assessment gives you a costed picture of your current infrastructure and what each option would mean for it — no obligation, and we will say so if you are better off hiring.

Get a free assessment See pricing