{"id":3557,"date":"2026-09-09T21:02:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T21:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/startup-it-budget-uk\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T21:02:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T21:02:42","slug":"startup-it-budget-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/startup-it-budget-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Should a Startup Budget for IT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A UK startup should budget for people, devices, cloud software, security, support and recovery\u2014not just laptops.<\/strong> Build the first-year plan per person and as shared company costs, include one-off setup and replacement reserves, then add contingency. There is no honest universal percentage because a two-person consultancy and a regulated product company have different risk and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Reviewed: 9 September 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Startup IT budget categories at a glance<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Budget line<\/th>\nOne-off examples<\/th>\nRecurring examples<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
People and devices<\/td>\nLaptop, displays, accessories and deployment<\/td>\nSupport, endpoint management and replacement reserve<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cloud workspace<\/td>\nTenant, domain and migration setup<\/td>\nEmail, collaboration, storage and backup<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Security<\/td>\nBaseline design and remediation<\/td>\nIdentity, endpoint, monitoring and awareness<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Business systems<\/td>\nConfiguration and integration<\/td>\nCRM, finance, operations and specialist licences<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Continuity<\/td>\nPlan and recovery setup<\/td>\nBackups, tests, spares and connectivity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

Use ACA\u2019s free startup IT budget planner<\/a> to collect the variables. Its output is a planning estimate, not a supplier quotation.<\/p>\n

Start with headcount and working model<\/h2>\n

Model founders, employees, contractors, locations and hiring dates month by month. Record whether each role needs a standard laptop, higher-performance device, phone, extra display or specialist hardware. Include home, office, hybrid and travel needs because connectivity and support change with the model.<\/p>\n

A standard device catalogue reduces purchasing, support and security complexity. Include warranties, setup, secure delivery, accessories and a replacement cycle instead of treating hardware as an isolated purchase.<\/p>\n

Price the cloud workspace and identity<\/h2>\n

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace price by edition and user, with terms that can change. Check the live provider pages and choose the edition that contains the identity, device, storage and security capabilities required. The guide to Microsoft 365 versus Google Workspace for startups<\/a> gives a workflow-based comparison.<\/p>\n

Budget for the domain, DNS ownership, shared mail, collaboration structure, password management and administrator security. Personal accounts may appear free but create ownership and offboarding problems that become costly at the first dispute or departure.<\/p>\n

Do not leave security as a later upgrade<\/h2>\n

Security starts with company-owned identity, strong MFA, supported devices, encryption, endpoint protection, controlled administration, email-domain protection and reliable offboarding. Some capabilities are included in productivity plans; others need a higher edition or separate service.<\/p>\n

Use the startup IT security checklist<\/a> to turn these headings into owned actions. Budget for ongoing review and response, not only initial configuration.<\/p>\n

Include line-of-business software and integrations<\/h2>\n

List finance, CRM, project, design, development, customer support, HR and specialist industry tools. Record price unit\u2014per user, workspace, contact, transaction or usage\u2014and likely growth. A low entry tier can become expensive when automation, audit or integration capability sits in a higher plan.<\/p>\n

Remove overlap before adding a new tool. Two systems for the same job increase licence cost and fragment company data. Give each platform a business owner, administrator and exit route.<\/p>\n

Budget for support and internal time<\/h2>\n

Someone must onboard people, reset access, configure devices, resolve incidents, manage suppliers and maintain records. That may be a capable internal owner, an external provider or a shared model. Founder time is not free simply because it is absent from an invoice.<\/p>\n

Compare on-demand help with recurring ownership using ACA\u2019s guide to on-demand versus managed IT support<\/a>. If considering a contract, define users, devices, hours, security, projects and exclusions consistently.<\/p>\n

Plan backup, recovery and service interruption<\/h2>\n

Define which data and services the company cannot afford to lose, acceptable data loss and recovery time. Compare native retention with the requirement, then budget for any independent backup, monitoring and restore tests. Include spare-device and connectivity plans where downtime affects revenue or customer obligations.<\/p>\n

The recovery priority planner<\/a> helps order services and dependencies. The result is a conversation starter, not proof that recovery will work.<\/p>\n

Build three startup IT cost views<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Setup cash.<\/strong> Devices, deployment, migration, configuration and initial projects.<\/li>\n
  2. Monthly run rate.<\/strong> Licences, support, connectivity, hosting and security services.<\/li>\n
  3. Annual and irregular cost.<\/strong> Renewals, replacement reserve, audits, training and planned change.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Create low, expected and growth cases. Add contingency for damaged hardware, urgent replacement, supplier price changes and unplanned onboarding. Confirm whether prices include VAT and what annual commitments do to cancellation or cash flow.<\/p>\n

    Review the budget at each hiring stage<\/h2>\n

    Review before the first employee, when a new location opens, before regulated or enterprise customers, and when the team outgrows informal administration. Compare forecast users and actual licences quarterly. Remove unused accounts promptly, but do not cut controls or backup without assigning the risk elsewhere.<\/p>\n

    ACA\u2019s startup IT support<\/a> can help turn the budget into a standard setup, onboarding process and support plan.<\/p>\n

    Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n

    How much should a startup spend per employee?<\/h3>\n

    There is no sound universal figure. Price the device, workspace, specialist software, security, support and replacement reserve for each role using current supplier terms.<\/p>\n

    Should laptops be bought or leased?<\/h3>\n

    Compare total cost, cash flow, warranty, return condition, ownership and secure disposal. The best route depends on hiring stability and the device standard required.<\/p>\n

    Can founders provide their own devices?<\/h3>\n

    That may reduce initial cash but complicates ownership, security, support and data removal. Define requirements and separation before company data is placed on personal equipment.<\/p>\n

    How much contingency should we add?<\/h3>\n

    Base it on identified uncertainty rather than a universal percentage. Show supplier changes, hiring variance, urgent hardware and integration work as explicit assumptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Plan UK startup IT costs across devices, cloud software, security, support, business systems and recovery with one-off and recurring budget views.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information_technology","category-it_services_demystified"],"blocksy_meta":{"page_structure_type":"type-1","styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acatechsolutions.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}