andrew.starkey@mybusiness.uk.com

What is your Sage 200 server actually costing you?

UK business electricity sits at 22–30p per kilowatt-hour in 2026. That's before cooling, hardware refresh, IT support, licences, and the bits nobody itemises. Most finance directors I ask can't put a number on the total. This calculator does.

This calculator is calibrated for Sage 200 environments. If you're running a different ERP, get in touch directly — we may still be able to help. andrew.starkey@mybusiness.uk.com

1. Your server

If you don't know exact figures, defaults are UK averages for a typical mid-market Sage 200 setup. Edit any cell with better information.

Default 500W (typical mid-market). Range 300W (small) to 800W (larger).
watts
Count everyone who needs to log in to Sage 200, even occasionally. This is what Microsoft licensing (Windows CALs, SQL CALs) scales with — usually higher than your Sage 200 concurrent licence count, because multiple staff often share Sage licences but each needs their own Windows login.
users
Approximate. Default £20,000 reflects UK mid-market average.
£
Industry-standard server life is 5 years. Some run longer with rising failure risk.
years

2. Energy

Servers run 24/7/365. Cooling typically adds 30–50% on top of server load.

UK business average 2026 is 27p/kWh. Range 22–30p depending on supplier and region.
p / kWh
40% typical. Higher in poorly insulated server rooms.
%

3. Operating costs

Annual costs of keeping the server running, separate from the hardware itself.

Standing monthly fee paid to your IT company for general support, monitoring, patching. Typical SME range: £200–£500/month. Set to 0 if you genuinely have no contract and only pay per call.
£per month
Callouts & escalations on Sage-specific issues, billed on top of the monthly retainer.
hours
RMM tools used by your IT provider to monitor server health and patch automatically (Datto, Atera, Connectwise, etc.). Typically £20–£40 per server per month. Set to 0 if this is bundled into your IT retainer to avoid double-counting.
£per year
Typical local IT company rate. Default £100/hr.
£per hour
Veeam or similar plus offsite. Default £450 covers typical SME.
£per year
Switch, firewall, router. £1,500 over 5 years = £300/year.
£per year
Hardware (~£600 over 5 years) plus battery replacements every 3–4 years. Most on-prem server rooms have at least one UPS to handle short power outages and enable graceful shutdown. Default £150/year.
£per year
Server cabinet, cabling, console monitor and miscellaneous server-room hardware. Annualised over 5 years. Default £100/year.
£per year
Antivirus / endpoint protection per device. Default £40/user/year reflects typical SME spend on basic protection. mybusiness cloud bundles MDR, EDR, managed firewall, DNS filtering and compulsory MFA — the equivalent procured separately would typically run £200–400/user/year.
£per user / year
Annual cost for Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certification. Often required for B2B contracts, insurance, or government work. Typical SME range: £400–£1,500/year. Set to 0 if you don’t pursue formal certification. mybusiness cloud is Cyber Essentials accredited — customers inherit this status for their hosted Sage environment.
£per year

4. Software licences

Annualised over the refresh cycle.

Windows Server 2025 Standard ~£1,100 over 5 years (16-core base + VAT). Newer version, modest uplift over 2022.
£per year
~£40 per user over 5 years.
£per user / year
SQL Server 2025 Standard ~£1,000 over 5 years. Sage 200 Professional typically requires Standard (Express has data-size limits).
£per year
~£200 per CAL over 5 years.
£per user / year

5. mybusiness cloud comparison

Based on the user count you entered above, here is your indicative mybusiness cloud monthly fee. The exact quote varies by configuration — this is the calculator's reference point, not a formal quote.

Fill in the figures above to see your comparison
Monthly Annual
Current IT infrastructure — —
mybusiness cloud — —
Your saving — —
mybusiness cloud monthly figure includes the £950 one-off setup fee, amortised over the 12-month minimum contract. After year one, the monthly cost reduces by about £79.

This includes everything required to run your Sage 200 securely and reliably:

  • Dedicated Azure environment hosted in the UK South region
  • Daily geo-redundant backups, regularly tested
  • Managed Detection and Response (MDR) with a 24/7 Security Operations Centre
  • Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) on every VM
  • Managed firewall and DNS web filtering
  • Compulsory multi-factor authentication
  • All Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server licensing
  • Patching, monitoring, and platform updates
  • Cyber Essentials accreditation inherited for your hosted environment
  • UK-based support

The numbers

Fill in the boxes above to see your comparison.
Cost lineYour currentmybusiness cloudDifference
TOTAL annual cost———

These numbers don't include three things that often tip the case toward hosted: risk transfer (someone else's phone rings on Friday night), security posture (MDR with a 24/7 SOC, EDR on every VM, managed firewall, DNS filtering, compulsory MFA — included), and compliance footing (UK Azure South region, Cyber Essentials, daily-tested geo-redundant backups). Worth talking through if any of those matter to you.

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Andrew Starkey, Founder, mybusiness cloud

"I've spent over 30 years working with Sage. About ten years ago, my own business got hit by ransomware. That week is the reason mybusiness cloud exists. If your Sage server has started to worry you — for any reason — I'm happy to have an honest conversation. No commitment, no follow-up if you'd rather we left it there."