Mobile device management pricing depends first on what you already license: Microsoft Intune is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Apple Business has offered free built-in device management for Apple devices since April 14, 2026. Standalone MDM platforms listed prices from $1.00 per device to $8.00 per user per month when we checked their pricing pages in October 2026. Either way, budget for the labor to configure and run the platform, which no license price includes.
Intune is also part of the Microsoft 365 enterprise suites, so a business on those plans has already paid for the platform and is budgeting for the labor to run it. A business on a cheaper plan, or one with a fleet of Apple devices that needs Apple-specific tooling, is looking at a standalone subscription priced per user or per device on top. NetSys manages devices in Intune as part of its managed agreements and quotes standalone device management per business, month to month. This guide compares the license options and published prices, what the labor covers, and what usually lands outside the per-device fee.
What are the licensing options for MDM?
| Option | Who it suits | How it is priced |
|---|---|---|
| Intune inside Microsoft 365 Business Premium | Small businesses (up to 300 users) already on Premium for its security features | No separate MDM license; the cost is setup and management labor |
| Intune inside Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 | Larger firms on enterprise suites | Included in the suite; from July 2026 Microsoft is adding Remote Help, Advanced Analytics and Plan 2 capabilities to E3, and more to E5 |
| Standalone Intune Plan 1 | Businesses on Business Basic or Standard, or on other mail platforms | $8.00 per user per month; one user license covers that person's devices |
| Intune device licenses | Shared, kiosk and frontline devices with no assigned user | Per device per month; no app protection or conditional access on those devices |
| Intune Plan 2 and Intune Suite add-ons | Remote help, endpoint privilege management, advanced analytics | Per user on top of Plan 1: Plan 2 at $4.00, the Suite at $10.00, single add-ons from $2.00 to $5.00 |
| Apple Business (formerly Apple Business Manager) | Every business buying Macs and iPhones, and Apple-only offices with simple needs | Free, including built-in MDM for Apple devices |
| Apple-focused MDM platforms | Mac and iPhone fleets wanting deeper Apple integration | Per device per month or per year, published by some vendors and quoted by others |
| Other standalone MDM platforms | Mixed fleets outside the Microsoft ecosystem | Per device or per user, tiered by features |
Microsoft's Intune licensing documentation is the reference for what each plan includes, and its Intune plans and pricing page carries the current list prices; both change often enough that we date every figure on this page. Our Intune Plan 1 vs Plan 2 guide compares the plans and add-ons feature by feature. Our comparison of Business Premium and Business Standard explains the other security features that arrive with Premium alongside Intune.
Mobile device management price comparison
These are the published list prices for a sample of common platforms, read from each vendor's pricing page on October 10, 2026. They are in US dollars before tax, they cover the license only, and a reseller, an annual commitment or a volume tier can change them.
| Platform and plan | Published price | Billing notes |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Intune Plan 1 inside Microsoft 365 Business Premium | Included; Business Premium lists at $22.00 per user per month | Paid yearly; Business Premium is for up to 300 users |
| Microsoft Intune Plan 1, standalone | $8.00 per user per month | Priced per user, not per device |
| Microsoft Intune Plan 2 add-on | $4.00 per user per month | Paid yearly; requires Plan 1 |
| Microsoft Intune Suite | $10.00 per user per month | Requires Plan 1; bundles the advanced add-ons |
| Apple Business built-in MDM | Free | Apple devices only; launched April 14, 2026 |
| Mosyle Business Premium | $1.00 per device per month | Apple devices; billed annually; 30-license minimum; a free tier covers up to 30 devices |
| Hexnode UEM | $2.20, $3.20 or $4.70 per device per month | Three published tiers starting at 15 devices; top tier priced on request |
| Scalefusion UEM | $2 to $6 per device per month | Four tiers; billed annually only; 10-device minimum |
| Jamf for Mac, Jamf for Mobile and Jamf Now | Not published | No prices on Jamf's pricing page; Jamf Now is for organizations with fewer than 25 employees |
An illustrative example shows why the pricing unit matters. Take a 20-person office with 20 Windows laptops, 20 iPhones and 3 shared tablets. On Microsoft 365 Business Premium the MDM license adds nothing, though the shared tablets need device licenses. With standalone Intune Plan 1, the license line is 20 users at $8.00, or $160.00 a month, because each user license covers that person's laptop and phone. A per-device platform at $2.20 counts all 43 devices, or $94.60 a month, before any identity product it needs to keep unmanaged devices away from company mail. None of those figures includes setup, enrollment or ongoing management, which the next sections cover.
What does Intune cost if you already have Business Premium?
Nothing more in license terms for company-owned and personal Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android devices assigned to licensed users. Microsoft's Business Premium documentation states that the plan includes Intune Plan 1, and Business Premium listed at $22.00 per user per month, paid yearly, as of October 2026. The Premium bundle also carries Entra ID Plan 1, which provides the conditional access policies that make MDM useful: no compliant device, no access to company mail and files. That combination is the reason most small businesses on Premium should not buy a separate MDM product, and it is the reason NetSys builds its device management on Intune.
What Premium does not include is the work. A tenant with Intune licensed and nothing configured has no device management. Enrollment profiles, compliance policies, configuration baselines, application deployment, update rings, encryption enforcement and the conditional access rules that tie it together are all labor, and so is enrolling the devices that already exist. That labor is the real cost of MDM for a Premium customer, and it is what a managed provider quotes.
What does standalone MDM cost per device?
For businesses outside Premium, the subscription is the published figure in the comparison above: $8.00 per user for standalone Intune Plan 1, or $1 to $6 per device for the other platforms we checked that publish prices. What the pricing pages do not show is the total: the subscription, plus the labor above, plus whatever identity platform the MDM needs to enforce access. A standalone MDM bolted onto a tenant without conditional access can enforce a passcode and wipe a lost phone, but it cannot stop an unmanaged device from signing into mail. Compare the standalone route against upgrading the affected seats to Premium, where the identity, device and endpoint pieces arrive together, before assuming standalone is cheaper.
Per-device licensing appears in one more place: shared devices. A warehouse scanner, a clinic kiosk or a conference room tablet has no assigned user, and both Intune and most other platforms sell a device license for exactly that case. Microsoft notes that a device enrolled on an Intune device-only license does not support app protection policies, conditional access or user features such as email, so it suits single-purpose equipment rather than a shared phone that opens company mail. Count those devices separately when comparing quotes, because a per-user plan quietly excludes them.
How are Apple devices licensed and managed?
Apple devices carry no extra cost for the Apple side of management. On April 14, 2026, Apple replaced Apple Business Manager, Apple Business Essentials and Apple Business Connect with Apple Business, a free service with built-in MDM, and former Business Essentials customers stopped paying its monthly device management fee. Apple Business is still what lets a business buy Macs and iPhones that enroll into MDM automatically on first power-on and cannot be removed from management by the user, and it can link to an external device management service such as Intune instead of, or alongside, its own. The Apple push certificate that Intune and other third-party MDMs need is free and renews annually, which is a small but real maintenance task that, when missed, breaks management for every Apple device at once.
Intune manages Mac, iPhone and iPad well for the needs of most small businesses: enrollment, compliance, encryption, app deployment and wipe. Businesses with a large Mac fleet, a design or development team, or an administrator who lives in the Apple ecosystem sometimes choose an Apple-focused platform for deeper configuration and faster support of new macOS releases, at a per-device subscription on top of Microsoft 365; NetSys adds Jamf for Mac-heavy teams and joins it to Intune so device compliance still feeds conditional access. An office that runs only Apple devices and has simple needs can now start with Apple Business's own management at no license cost. The right question is whether the Apple-specific needs are real or assumed; for a firm with a handful of Macs among Windows laptops, Intune alone is usually the cost-effective answer, and our Intune vs Jamf comparison covers the trade-offs.
What labor sits behind the license, and what is billed separately?
- Design. Which devices are managed, what compliance means (encryption, passcode, OS version, no jailbreak), and what personal devices are allowed to do.
- Enrollment. Every existing device has to be enrolled, which takes minutes per device and coordination per person. New devices arrive pre-enrolled through Windows Autopilot or Apple Business once those are set up; our Windows Autopilot guide covers that side.
- Applications. Packaging and deploying the software people need, and the updates that follow.
- Policy maintenance. OS updates change what policies can do; conditional access rules need a review when roles change.
- Help desk. Lockouts, lost devices, new phones and departing staff all generate tickets that land on someone.
Hardware, first: MDM does not replace the devices that cannot run a supported operating system, and the compliance policy that blocks them will reveal how many there are. Identity licensing, when the tenant does not already have conditional access. Apple-focused or other third-party platforms when they are chosen. BYOD policy work, including the legal and HR review of what the company may and may not do to a personal phone, described in our BYOD policy FAQ. And on-site time for enrolling devices that cannot be reached remotely, such as a closet full of shared tablets.
How do you compare MDM quotes?
Use this checklist to compare mobile device management quotes line by line rather than by the headline price:
- One device list. Price both quotes against the same inventory, sorted into company-owned, shared and personal devices.
- Licenses you already own. Check whether Intune is already inside your Microsoft 365 plan, and whether Apple Business covers your Apple devices, before paying for MDM twice.
- Pricing unit. Convert per-user and per-device prices to a monthly total for your actual fleet, including minimum license counts and annual billing terms.
- Setup scope. Ask whether existing devices are enrolled as part of setup, and whether Autopilot, Apple Business and the Apple push certificate are included.
- Access enforcement. Confirm how a non-compliant or unmanaged device is kept away from company mail and files.
- Ongoing work. Ask who handles lost-device wipes, lockouts, new phones and departures afterward, and whether that management is inside a monthly agreement or billed by the ticket.
- Exit terms. Ask what moving devices to another platform would involve if you leave, since a platform change takes planned work on every device.
A quote that lists a per-device platform fee and nothing else is a software resale, and MDM without configuration is a line on an invoice. For the general questions owners ask, see our mobile device management FAQ.
If you would rather hand the setup and upkeep to us, our MDM service for small business covers company laptops and personal phones, with privacy, support and offboarding rules agreed up front.
Frequently asked questions
How much does MDM cost per device?
If your business is on Microsoft 365 Business Premium or an enterprise suite, the MDM platform is Intune and it is already licensed; the cost is the labor to configure and run it, which NetSys quotes per business, month to month. On other plans, published list prices in October 2026 ran from $1.00 per device per month (Mosyle Business Premium, Apple devices only) to $8.00 per user per month (standalone Intune Plan 1), plus the same labor. Shared devices without an assigned user need a per-device license in either case.
What is included in mobile device management pricing?
A license price covers the platform itself: the console and the enrollment and policy engine. The service around it is priced separately. In a NetSys engagement that service covers sorting devices into company-owned, shared and personal, confirming licensing, zero-touch enrollment through Windows Autopilot and Apple Business, compliance rules tied to conditional access, app protection for personal phones, and the ongoing work of lost devices, new staff and departures. We add Jamf for Mac-heavy teams, and the service runs month to month.
What affects mobile device management cost?
The device count and how it splits between company-owned, shared and personal devices; the platforms in the fleet; whether Intune is already licensed in your Microsoft 365 plan; how many existing devices must be enrolled by hand or on site; the applications to package and deploy; and the offboarding and lost-device process you need. Minimum license counts and annual-only billing on some platforms also change the effective price for a small fleet. A Business Premium tenant with new devices bought through Autopilot and Apple Business costs less to bring under management than a mixed fleet with personal phones, shared tablets and no inventory.
How does MDM onboarding work?
We follow the same order for every business. An inventory first sorts every laptop, phone and tablet into company-owned, shared and personal. Then we confirm Intune in your Microsoft 365 plan and add device licenses for shared equipment, create the Apple push certificate under a company Apple ID, and set up zero-touch enrollment through Windows Autopilot and Apple Business. Compliance rules for encryption, passcode and OS version go in next, tied to conditional access in report-only mode first. A small pilot group enrolls after staff are told in writing what the company can see, and a retire and a selective wipe are tested on test devices before anyone relies on them.
Who handles support and escalations for managed devices?
NetSys engineers do. Under a managed agreement the help desk is staffed seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern, monitoring and emergency service run 24/7, and named contacts agreed during onboarding report lost devices and authorize wipes and other device actions. Every remote action is checked for completion, because a command sent to a device that is offline has not happened yet.
Is Microsoft Intune free?
No, but for many small businesses it is already paid for. Intune Plan 1 is bundled into Microsoft 365 Business Premium and the enterprise suites, and Microsoft sells it standalone at $8.00 per user per month (as of October 2026) for tenants on other licenses. What is never free is the configuration: a licensed but unconfigured Intune tenant manages nothing. Budget for the setup and the ongoing policy work rather than for the license.
Is Apple Business free for device management?
Yes. Since April 14, 2026, Apple Business has been a free service with built-in MDM, replacing Apple Business Manager, Apple Business Essentials and Apple Business Connect. Apple charges for extras such as additional iCloud storage, from $0.99 per user per month in the US, and AppleCare+ for Business, from $6.99 per month. It manages Apple devices only, so a fleet with Windows laptops or Android phones still needs Intune or another platform, linked to Apple Business for automated enrollment of the Macs and iPhones.
Do we need MDM for employees' personal phones?
If personal phones open company mail or files, yes, in some form. Intune's app protection policies can protect company data inside Outlook and Teams on a personal phone without enrolling the whole device or touching personal photos, and conditional access can require that protection before mail is allowed. Full enrollment of personal devices is a heavier step that many staff resist, and a written BYOD policy decides which approach applies.
Can MDM see personal data on a phone?
Not in the way people fear. On a personally owned device enrolled the standard way, or protected only at the app level, management sees device model, OS version, compliance state and the company apps it manages; it does not read personal messages, photos or browsing. On a company-owned device the organization has broader control because it owns the hardware. Tell staff plainly which case applies to them, in writing, before enrollment; it removes most of the resistance.
Managing devices with NetSys
NetSys builds device management on Microsoft Intune, enrolls every phone, laptop and tablet that touches company data, ties compliance to conditional access, and runs the ongoing work as part of a month-to-month agreement. See our Intune management page for the Microsoft side, and our mobile device management page for the full service across Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android.
Book a call to price your fleet: we count users and devices, check what your Microsoft 365 plan already includes and write down what the quote excludes.
Sources and further reading
- Microsoft Intune licensing plans and options, Microsoft Learn: which plans include Intune and what a device-only license supports. Accessed October 2026.
- Microsoft Intune plans and pricing, with list prices for Plan 1, Plan 2, the Suite and the add-ons. Accessed October 2026.
- Intune device and application management in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft Learn.
- Use Apple Business to enroll iOS and iPadOS devices in Intune, Microsoft Learn, including the Apple MDM push certificate prerequisite.
- Introducing Apple Business, Apple Newsroom, March 24, 2026.
- Link to an external device management service in Apple Business, Apple Business User Guide.
- Vendor pricing pages for Mosyle, Hexnode, Scalefusion and Jamf, read October 10, 2026.
Discuss mobile device management for your business.
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