How Much Does It Cost to Outsource Help Desk Support?

For years, outsourcing has been the go-to option for companies across multiple industries seeking to deliver cost-effective technical support to their customers. But how much does it cost to outsource help desk support, actually?

That’s precisely what this guide is all about. Stick around as we analyze outsourced help desk pricing, including agent types and typical rates for each, pricing models, and common cost drivers that many companies taking the outsourcing route tend to overlook.

What Determines the Cost of Help Desk Outsourcing?

The answer to the burning question of “How much does it cost to outsource help desk support?” depends on several factors, including:

• Location of agents: The type of workforce you choose, by location, will be the most important price-determining factor, with onshore agents being more expensive than nearshore or offshore ones.
• Complexity of support: The kind of issue your outsourced support team is handling also matters. For example, Tier 1 tickets, such as simple password resets, cost less than Tier 2 work, which involves more complex issues.
• Support hours: Availability is another important consideration, as offering help desk support during standard 9–5 hours is cheaper than being on call 24/7.
• Volume and channel mix: The number of channels you want to cover, including tickets, chat, email, and phone support, is also important, and so is the volume of requests coming through each channel.
• Required skills and certifications: Not all technical issues are equal. Some industries require agents to fill specific technical roles or hold ITIL certifications. Others rely on security clearance, and all this impacts cost.
• Industry compliance needs: Different industries have to abide by different rules. For instance, eCommerce requires PCI DSS compliance, while healthcare demands HIPAA, both of which are bound to affect outsourced help desk pricing.

Typical Price Ranges for Help Desk Outsourcing

Outsourced help desk pricing can vary significantly. But in most cases, these are the price ranges you’ll be dealing with:

• Offshore help desk support: Going the offshore workforce route is the most cost-effective way to handle outsourcing, as agents in India and the Philippines typically cost $8–$18/hour.
• Nearshore help desk support: If you prefer your agents to be in a closer time zone for better availability, the nearshore (Mexico and Latin America) workforce generally costs $20–$30/hour.
• Onshore help desk support: Depending on your business’s location, onshore agents (the US, Canada, or the UK) are commonly available for $35–$60/hour. But they also provide native-level technical support.
• Per-ticket pricing: As one of the most popular help desk outsourcing models, per-ticket pricing typically ranges from $1 to $20 per resolution. The final price depends on the complexity of the work and service-level agreements (SLAs).
• Dedicated agent model: Another common model, known as per-agent pricing or full-time equivalent (FTE), involves having fully managed agents. As you can imagine, this one costs more, ranging from $2,500 to $4,500 per agent per month.

Do keep in mind that all numbers above are rough estimates, not exact quotes. The final price will depend on your business’s specific needs, the industry you’re in, and the pricing model you opt for.

Pricing Models You’ll Encounter (Pros, Cons, and When to Choose Them)

Now let’s break down the industry’s most common pricing models. We’ll also cover their strengths and drawbacks, as well as scenarios they work best in:

Per-hour pricing

As the name implies, this model uses a flat hourly rate. While it has become the industry standard due to its predictable budgeting, it works best when you have a steady volume of support requests.

• Pros:
  
  • Highly predictable support costs
  • Easy to budget for

• Cons:
  
  • Leads to overpaying during low ticket volumes
  • No incentive for support providers to rush to fix things

• Use cases:
  
  • Organizations with steady ticket volumes
  • Teams that want fully transparent billing

Productive-hour pricing

This model charges only for time agents spend actively working, such as waiting in the queue, handling tickets or calls, and completing after-call work. Time spent on breaks, lunches, training, or idle hours is not billed.

• Pros:
  
  • You only pay for productive time
  • Typically 35%–55% more cost-efficient than traditional per-hour pricing

• Cons:
  
  • Requires leadership teams to adopt a different mindset
  • Can feel less familiar to teams used to fixed schedules

• Use cases:
  
  • Businesses with fluctuating ticket volumes
  • Teams looking to reduce wasted spend without sacrificing coverage
  • Organizations that want flexible scaling without paying for idle time

Per-ticket pricing‍

Also known as the per-resolution model, this kind of system charges for each resolved issue or ticket. It’s particularly well-suited for companies with lower ticket volumes that tend to spike.

• Pros:
  
  • Costs align directly with the actual support provided
  • Faster ticket resolution times encouraged

• Cons:
  
  • Often requires a minimum monthly ticket commitment
  • More hands-on billing and ticket resolution management

• Use cases:
  
  • Companies requiring predominantly Tier 1 support
  • Businesses with drastically fluctuating customer interaction flows

Per-minute / per-call models

As some of the most flexible options out there, these two models are ideal if you don’t feel like paying fixed rates during periods of low customer traffic. However, they don’t exactly encourage efficiency.

• Pros:
  
  • Easy to understand
  • Super flexible for low ticket volume seasons

• Cons:
  
  • Issues that extend across multiple calls
  • Friendly banter and slower customers can quickly rack up minutes

• Use cases:
  
  • Tier 1 requests that can be resolved quickly
  • Startups or small teams with infrequent support needs

Fixed monthly retainer‍

If you’re looking for a safe option with a clearly defined scope of services and hours, keeping an outsourcing provider on a monthly retainer makes a lot of sense. That said, sudden drops in support volume can be unnecessarily costly.

• Pros:
  
  • Highly predictable costs
  • Dedicated agents who know your company’s processes

• Cons:
  
  • Not the most flexible option
  • Possible overpaying due to sudden drops in customer interactions

• Use cases:
  
  • Mature organizations with stable customer support volumes
  • Companies that prioritize consistency and knowledge retention

Hybrid approach‍

For those who want the best of both worlds, the hybrid model combines elements like a base retainer with per-hour or per-ticket overages. As such, it provides both expense predictability and smoother ramp-ups.

• Pros:
  
  • Balances cost control and quality
  • Easier scaling during growth phases

• Cons:
  
  • More complex, long-term contract management
  • Forecasting requests extensive support tracking

• Use cases:
  
  • Businesses that are gradually scaling their support
  • Situations where exact volumes are still unknown

Hidden or Overlooked Costs to Plan For

Regardless of the outsourcing pricing model you choose, there’ll always be a few more costs associated with contact center operations that are unaccounted for. Here are a few of the most common ones that many teams miss early on:

• Technical training and product documentation: First, your in-house team will spend substantial time documenting your company’s specific products, processes, protocols, systems, and apps, which will affect their productivity.
• Onboarding and knowledge transfer: Then there’s the transition period itself, with various onboarding expenses for outsourced agents, who’ll need to acquire all that knowledge from your in-house team.
• Tooling: Setup and integration fees are another crucial aspect that many businesses overlook. While not all outsourcing providers charge for this, configuring new tools and systems and integrating them with your current infrastructure are also vital concerns.
• Compliance/security requirements: Depending on the industry you’re in, there may also be additional audit, legal consultation, and security-related costs to ensure the outsourcing vendor complies with HIPAA, GDPR, or other industry-specific regulations.
• Volume spikes or seasonal ramp-up costs: While easier scaling is a given with outsourcing, quickly ramping up your support workforce during seasonal spikes will naturally lead to higher costs that are often overlooked.

While these costs are common across many outsourcing providers, ShyftOff does not charge separately for onboarding, training, management coordination, or scalability, as these are built directly into our productive-hour pricing model.

Comparing In-House vs. Outsourced Cost

By now, it should be clear that outsourcing eliminates many fixed costs typically associated with the in-house model. But before you pull the trigger and take this route, let’s actually compare the two systems in more detail and see what you’ll be dealing with in each case.

In-house cost elements:

• Salary and benefits: Your staff are among the most significant cost drivers in the in-house model. If you employ a full-time team, you’ll also have to pay full-time salaries, benefits, and taxes, and that’s not even mentioning potential bonuses.
• Software and hardware: Another thing you’ll have to worry about is the infrastructure, which often includes significant investments in help desk support software and the computers running it. Some outsourcing providers, like ShyftOff, use a BYOD (bring your own device) model, which can reduce hardware costs by allowing companies to invest in remote desktop software instead of physical equipment.
• Recruitment and training: In addition to spending significant time sourcing talent capable of delivering native-level technical support, you’ll also need to invest in onboarding, including documentation, guides, and videos.
• Office and operational overhead: An in-house team also requires a workspace. Then there’s rent, utilities, insurance, administrative salaries, and all other behind-the-scenes expenses to take into account.
• Management supervision: As the last piece of the in-house puzzle, you have supervisors, HR staff, and managers to worry about, which means even higher costs.

Outsourcing cost elements: 

• Hourly or per-ticket rates: When outsourcing help desk support, the majority of your expenses will revolve around hourly rates for on-, off-, or near-shore agents, or per-ticket rates if you choose that particular pricing model.
• Minimal HR/administrative overhead: Adopting an outsourcing model doesn’t entirely remove HR staff and administrative salaries from the equation. That said, the associated costs will be much lower if you choose to outsource help desk support.
• Faster ramp-up with easier scalability: While rapidly scaling an in-house team to meet fluctuating demand is slow, it’s not nearly as much of an issue when outsourcing. Both traditional BPOs and modern platforms like ShyftOff enable you to scale high-performing agents with ease.

How to Estimate Your Outsourcing Budget

If you’re ready to pull the trigger on outsourcing, but still aren’t sure what to expect in terms of pricing, the following tips can give you a rough budget estimate:

• Start by roughly gauging the number of monthly tickets or calls you’ll have.
• Determine whether 9–5 hours work for you, or if you need 24/7 support.
• Evaluate the most common issues your customers deal with to choose a support tier.
• Pick a model whose strengths and use cases best align with your company’s needs.
• Apply the hourly or per-ticket rates from above to obtain a more accurate price estimate.
• Add the often-overlooked costs like tooling, training, and compliance to the equation.

Final Thoughts: Cost Is Important - But Value Matters More

While outsourcing is all about making help desk support more cost-efficient, price isn’t everything. If you care about long-term customer relationships, choosing the lowest-priced provider may not be the best decision for your business.

What you should do, instead, is dig a bit deeper into the potential outsourcing partner’s support quality, product knowledge, and customer experience. After all, these are the factors that drive ROI and impact your CSAT scores.

Running a pilot is also a good idea, as it allows you to test things out without full commitment. It lets you start small, track performance, and optimize or scale accordingly. And if that’s something you’re willing to try, contact ShyftOff today to start your outsourcing journey.