Ask five people what IT setup should cost a new business and you'll get five different answers — because almost nobody itemizes it. Quotes come back as a single number with no breakdown, or as an hourly rate with no estimate of hours, and it's genuinely hard to know if what you're being asked to pay is reasonable. Here's what actually goes into a proper setup, what it tends to run when you piece it together yourself, and an honest, itemized look at what we charge.
What "IT setup" actually includes
When people say IT setup, they usually mean some combination of: business email on your own domain, a password manager with your accounts migrated in, security basics on your devices (updates, encryption, screen lock), a real backup system, and often a website. Each of those is its own small project with its own learning curve — which is exactly why doing them one at a time, researched from scratch, eats far more time than people expect.
What it tends to cost piecemeal
Freelance or agency help for this kind of setup work commonly bills by the hour, often somewhere in the range of $75–$175 an hour depending on scope and who you hire — and a proper email, password manager, and device security setup easily runs several hours even for someone who knows what they're doing. A basic 5-page business website through a freelancer or small agency commonly starts in the $1,500–$4,000+ range before ongoing hosting and maintenance. And traditional managed IT support is usually priced monthly, per device or per seat, which means you're paying an ongoing retainer before the initial setup work is even finished.
None of that is unreasonable pricing on its own — it's just rarely bundled, rarely flat, and rarely quoted as a single number up front. That's the gap Legacy Launch is built to close for a new business specifically.
What Legacy Launch actually costs
| Tier | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Basics | $299 one-time | Business email on your domain, password manager setup, security walkthrough for 2 devices, one setup call, New Business IT Checklist PDF |
| Pro | $699 one-time | Everything in Basics, plus up to 5 hardened/enrolled devices, structured cloud backup, a live 5-page website, and two 30-day follow-up calls |
| Complete | $1,299 one-time | Everything in Pro, plus up to 10 centrally managed devices, staff account structure, and 90 days of text-a-tech support |
Every price is flat and paid once — no retainer, no monthly minimum, no surprise invoice at the end. Pro, at $699, bundles email, device security, backup, and a real website into roughly what a website alone commonly costs through a freelancer, before any of the security or backup work is even considered.
How to decide what's worth paying for
If you're a solo operator who mainly needs to look and run like a legitimate business — a real email address, a password manager, and your devices actually secured — Basics covers that. If you're client-facing and need a website live on your own domain along with hardened devices and backup, Pro is built for that exact combination. If you're about to bring on your first hire and need device management and support that scales past one person, Complete is the one that's actually sized for that.
If you'd rather see the full list of what to check before spending anything, the New Business IT Checklist walks through it item by item, free.