Key facts
- Freelancers often know your set-up personally and can be very responsive when available
- A single freelancer is a single point of failure for holidays, illness or retirement
- Managed providers usually include monitoring, patching and backups as standard
- Check who owns the admin accounts, domain and documentation whichever you choose
- dijitul is a UK limited company trading since 2006, based in Mansfield
- dijitul plans £25, £50 or £99 a month + VAT; ad-hoc £45 an hour + VAT
The short answer
A good freelancer is a great option for a very small business with simple needs and a relaxed attitude to downtime. A managed service provider, or MSP, is usually the safer choice once your business depends on its website, email and systems every day, because it adds process, tools and cover that one person cannot provide alone.
Neither is automatically better. Plenty of MSPs are impersonal and plenty of freelancers are excellent. What matters is availability, documentation, security habits and who owns your accounts.
It also helps to be clear about what you are buying. A freelancer usually sells time. An MSP usually sells an outcome: systems kept updated, backed up and monitored, with time for fixes on top.
Side-by-side comparison
| Factor | Freelance IT person | Managed service provider |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship | Very personal, one contact | Business relationship, shared knowledge |
| Availability | Depends on one person's diary | Provider covers holidays and illness |
| Monitoring and backups | Sometimes, depends on the person | Usually built into plans |
| Documentation | Often in their head | Usually recorded in a system |
| Range of skills | One person's strengths | Wider range across websites, IT and security |
| Pricing | Often hourly, sometimes cheaper | Monthly plans plus hourly or quoted work |
| Business continuity | Risk if they stop trading | Company continues if a person leaves |
| Insurance and contracts | Varies | Usually formal terms |
The single point of failure problem
The biggest risk with a freelancer is not their skill. It is what happens when they are unavailable. If your website goes down while they are on holiday, or they retire and nobody else has the admin passwords, you can be locked out of your own systems.
We regularly take over websites and Microsoft 365 tenants where the only admin account belonged to a freelancer who can no longer be reached. Recovering access is possible but slow. Whoever supports you, insist that admin accounts, domain registrar logins and hosting accounts are in your business's name, with your own break-glass access. See abandoned website support and domain and DNS support.
What to ask either option
- Who has admin access to our systems, and do we have our own admin account?
- Where is our set-up documented, and can we have a copy?
- How are updates applied and checked, and how often?
- Where are our backups, and when was a restore last tested?
- Who covers when you are unavailable?
- Do you use MFA on your own accounts that can access ours?
- What happens to our data and access if we stop working together?
Good answers to these questions matter more than whether the provider is one person or a company.
Security habits matter more than size
Whoever supports you holds the keys to your business. A freelancer or provider with access to your Microsoft 365 admin, hosting and domain is an attractive target for criminals, because one compromised support account can open many client systems. Ask how they protect their own accounts: MFA on everything, a password manager rather than spreadsheets, separate admin accounts for each client, and access removed when the work ends.
According to the UK Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026, only 15% of UK businesses review the cyber security risks posed by their immediate suppliers. Your IT support provider is the supplier most worth checking. See security audit.
Where dijitul fits
dijitul is a UK limited company, DIJITUL LTD, trading since 2006 and based in Mansfield. Our plans include the managed basics: updates applied and checked, daily backups, uptime monitoring and security monitoring, from £25 a month + VAT. Business at £50 a month + VAT adds an hour of fixes and priority support, and Complete at £99 a month + VAT adds 3 hours a month and an IT and Microsoft 365 helpdesk.
If you just need a one-off job, ad-hoc work is £45 an hour + VAT. See managed IT services or our pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Is a freelance IT person cheaper than an MSP?
Sometimes, per hour. But compare what is included: monitoring, backups, update checks and holiday cover often cost extra or are missing with a freelancer. dijitul's plans include those from £25 a month + VAT, with ad-hoc work at £45 an hour + VAT.
Our freelancer has disappeared. Can you take over?
Yes. dijitul regularly takes over websites, domains and Microsoft 365 tenants from unreachable freelancers. We work with registrars, hosts and Microsoft to recover admin access, then document everything in your business's name.
What is a managed service provider?
A managed service provider, or MSP, looks after your IT for a monthly fee, usually including monitoring, updates, backups and helpdesk support, rather than only fixing things when they break. dijitul's plans work this way from £25 a month + VAT.
Should we keep our own admin passwords?
Yes, always. Whoever supports you, your business should own its domain, hosting and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin accounts, with MFA and recovery details you control. dijitul sets clients up this way as standard.
How long has dijitul been trading?
dijitul has been trading since 2006. It is a UK limited company, DIJITUL LTD, based at The Bungalow, 11 St John St, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and supports businesses across the UK, mostly remotely.
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Hand it over and stop worrying
Updates, backups, monitoring and fixes from £25 a month + VAT. Real UK people on the phone.