NetSys vs. Electric
Electric turned IT support into a product you subscribe to. NetSys is the other model: a firm of engineers you hire. Both serve businesses across the country, and the right choice depends on which of those two things you are buying.
The short answer
Electric is an IT platform priced per user; NetSys is an engineering firm that quotes each business, month to month. If your needs stop at laptops and chat support, Electric fits. If they include servers, compliance, privileged access or custom builds, NetSys is the stronger alternative.
What Electric is
Electric started in New York in 2016 and grew fast on venture funding. The pitch is genuinely different from a traditional MSP: an IT platform with device management, onboarding and offboarding flows, procurement and chat-based support, priced per user and published on their site, which almost nobody else in the industry does. For a distributed company that wants IT to feel like software, the appeal is obvious.
A product versus a practice
Electric's center of gravity is the platform; people back it up. NetSys is the reverse. The center is the engineering team that has defended business networks since 1998, and the tooling serves them. When your problem fits the platform, a platform is efficient. When it does not fit, you want an engineer who owns the whole picture, knows your network, and answers the phone.
What the agreement covers
Our agreement bundles what platforms usually cannot: cybersecurity as the core, a helpdesk staffed by engineers, privileged access management, privileged identity management, disaster recovery planning with restores we run and time, and an in-house AI practice that builds automation and custom software. One month-to-month agreement, priced per user per month and quoted for your business, with no rate card.
Hands, when hands are needed
Remote-first is our default too. The difference is what happens when remote is not enough. We publish our on-site engineer coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, North Jersey and Fairfield County, CT. Everywhere else, on-site visits are arranged in advance and scoped in the proposal. The free assessment is a remote external penetration test, limited to the information available to NetSys and the external scope we agree with you.
What each of us publishes
Their column is quoted from pages on their site and links to each one. Ours states what we commit to elsewhere on this site. Nothing below is our opinion of their work.
| The NetSys Group | Electric | |
|---|---|---|
| Agreement | Month to month. Leave any time, no early-exit penalty. | Their current Master Services Agreement, listed on their MSA page as effective August 1, 2026, states that each Order Form automatically renews for a subsequent Subscription Term equal in duration to the previous one, at then-current market pricing, unless a party gives written cancellation notice at least thirty days before the end of the then-current Subscription Term; the agreement itself remains in effect until terminated, and either party may terminate on written notice when no Order Form is in effect. (electric.ai) |
| What the monthly fee covers | One agreement: AI services, cybersecurity, managed IT with help desk, PAM, PIM and disaster recovery planning. | Their pricing page itemizes the features in each plan: Free lists embedded hardware store, asset tracking and inventory, device assignment by employee, HR platform visibility, and availability in the payroll platform; Essentials adds full SaaS application management, cross-platform app provisioning, license utilization reporting, shadow IT detection, and app spend visibility; Pro adds Mobile Device Management, the Gigawatt automation engine, automated patch management, compliance policy enforcement, device health monitoring, and full app lifecycle management. (electric.ai) |
| Privileged access and credentials | PAM and PIM in the base agreement, each with a published service page describing the work. | Their identity management product page describes single sign-on best practices, user account provisioning and de-provisioning for onboarding and offboarding, password sprawl reduction, and identity profile configuration including password policy, account recovery and two-factor authentication. (electric.ai) |
| AI and automation | In-house practice led by Jamie Baum: readiness assessments, Copilot rollouts, custom agents and workflow automation. | Their August 25, 2026 platform announcement describes secure AI and vibe coding environments powered by OpenAI, and names ADP, Paychex, Paycor, UKG, Justworks, isolved and TriNet as payroll and HCM partners through which the platform is distributed. (electric.ai) |
| Disaster recovery | A written plan plus restores that are performed and timed. More than 30 ransomware incidents handled in three years, every one recovered. | Their Dropsuite technology-integration page describes a partner backup product covering email, website and database backup and recovery with unlimited storage and restore options, and states that Electric's team handles the rollout and ongoing management of Dropsuite. (electric.ai) |
| Who answers | A NetSys engineer, plus a named account manager who gives you a real cell number. | Their MSP Alternative page describes their IT support model as AI-powered support available to all employees 24/7, a product support team covering Electric and resold applications, and a dedicated customer success manager. (electric.ai) |
| Response commitments | Written into the agreement rather than implied on the website. | Their Master Services Agreement defines a "Support Policy" as a separate Electric Support Policy and Service Level Agreement made available in the Electric Legal Hub, and states that the level of support provided during a Subscription Term is the level set forth in the applicable Order Form. (electric.ai) |
| Proof before you commit | The free assessment is a remote external penetration test, limited to the information available to NetSys and the external scope we agree with you. | Their pricing page publishes a $0/user/mo Free tier described as "no cost, no friction," their MSP Alternative comparison lists a "Free customized IT and Security plan," and their pricing page Resources menu links an IT Cost Calculator. (electric.ai) |
| Where they are | One office, in Brooklyn. On-site across New York City, Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, North Jersey and Fairfield County, CT, with remote managed IT nationwide. | Their site footer publishes two office addresses: Electric Headquarters at 915 Broadway, Floor 11, Suite 1106, New York, NY 10010, and Electric Canada at 333 Bay Street, Suite 3400, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2S7. (electric.ai) |
Electric appears here because it came up in the search results for managed IT services when we checked in September 2026. Everything in their column is drawn from pages published on https://www.electric.ai/ and links to the source. Where we could not find something published we say so, which means we did not find it, not that it does not exist. We make no claim about the quality of their service. All trademarks belong to their owners and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Four more things worth knowing about Electric
Size and history
- Their August 2026 platform announcement states the company's inception was in 2017 and cites 55,000+ end users, 1,000+ companies worldwide, $200 million raised from investors, and two million IT tickets and customer interactions since inception. (electric.ai)
- Their About page dates the company's origin to August 2016 and publishes July 2022 figures of over 500 full-time employees, more than 1,000 customers and more than 47,000 end-users. (electric.ai)
NetSys: Independent since 1998. One office, in Brooklyn, and no private equity owner behind the name.
Industries they name
We could not find this published on their site.
NetSys: Twenty six industries with a page each, from healthcare and legal to hedge funds, auto dealers and government contractors.
Compliance work published
- Their security policy management page states they have experience across common regulatory frameworks and can help customers become and stay compliant, without naming particular frameworks; "Compliance policy enforcement" is listed as a Pro-plan feature on their pricing page. (electric.ai)
NetSys: Nine frameworks with a service page each: HIPAA, CMMC 2.0, SOC 2, NIST CSF 2.0, NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500, NY SHIELD, FTC Safeguards, PCI DSS and GLBA.
Rates on the website
- Their pricing page publishes three named plans with per-user list prices: Free at $0/user/mo, Essentials at $10/user/mo, and Pro at $25/user/mo, with "Volume pricing available" noted on the two paid tiers. (electric.ai)
NetSys: We do not publish rates. We price per user per month and quote each business after a call, because a thirty person firm with two servers and a thirty person firm with a regulator are not the same job.
What we looked for on their site and could not find
the industries they serve.
That means we did not find it published, not that it does not exist. Ask them directly, and ask us the same questions. If Electric publishes any of this and we missed it, write to info@netsysgroup.com and we will add it.
The honest fit: is NetSys the right Electric alternative?
When Electric is the better choice
Choose Electric if you run a distributed, laptop-centric company, you want procurement and device lifecycle handled through a console, and published per user pricing matters to how you buy. It is a real product with real strengths.
When NetSys is the better choice
Choose NetSys if you want a security-first engineering firm that treats your business as a client rather than a tenant: servers and networks included, compliance work included, custom builds possible, and the freedom to leave any month if we stop earning it.
NetSys and Electric: FAQs
Is NetSys a real alternative to Electric for a mid sized business?
Yes, with one honest caveat about model fit. Electric is a per user IT platform; NetSys is an engineering practice with a monthly agreement per business. Companies that need more than device management and chat support, meaning servers, compliance, privileged access controls, disaster recovery that gets tested, or custom software, are squarely what our practice is built for.
How does NetSys pricing differ from Electric's?
Electric publishes per user pricing on its site, and credit where due, that transparency is rare. We price per user per month too, but we publish no rate card: we quote each business after reviewing its environment, because a 30 person firm with two servers, HIPAA obligations and three locations is not the same buyer as a 30 person startup on laptops. What we publish instead is the structure: month to month terms, and a quote that states what the monthly fee includes versus what is billed separately.
Can NetSys take over from Electric without disruption?
Yes. Switching is a process we run deliberately: credentials and documentation handover, backup verification before anything is cut over, and a period of parallel monitoring. Device management platforms hand over cleanly when the offboarding is planned, and we plan it.
Every provider we have compared
Facts about Electric on this page come from their published materials and press coverage, checked September 2026. Electric is a trademark of its owner; no affiliation or endorsement is implied. If anything here is out of date, tell us at info@netsysgroup.com and we will correct it.
Compare the support scope your business needs.
Bring your user count, locations, current agreement and support requirements. We will discuss the NetSys scope and transition questions so you can compare providers on the same basis.