How much does an IT health check cost?
Almost nobody publishes a price. Many IT providers advertise a free health check, others quote per job, and formal audits run into the thousands. Here's how pricing usually works, what a free check tends to include, and the questions to ask so you can compare offers fairly.
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The short answer
In Australia, many IT providers offer a free health check as a sales lead, often a one-hour meeting or a few hours on-site. Paid checks are usually quoted as a fixed price based on staff numbers, devices and sites. Formal audits and Essential Eight gap assessments cost more because they take weeks. Businesses with 19 or fewer staff can get a free government-funded cyber health check through IDCARE.
Free versus paid
A free IT health check is a marketing offer. It's often genuinely useful, but its job is to find work for the provider, so it tends to be short and focused on what they sell. Some advertise a "value" of several hundred to over a thousand dollars. A paid check costs money because someone spends real time inside your systems, tests things like a backup restore, and writes a report you own. Neither is wrong. Just know which one you're getting.
What changes the price
Number of people and devices
Ten staff on laptops takes far less time than 40 staff plus servers, printers and phones.
Number of sites
Every extra office or shop adds travel and another network to look at.
Depth
A look at the settings is quicker than testing restores, scanning every device and drawing a network diagram.
The report
A one-page traffic-light summary costs less than a full pack of registers, evidence and a costed roadmap.
A named standard
Measuring against the Essential Eight or another framework, with evidence for each control, turns a health check into an audit.
How tidy things are
If nothing is documented and nobody knows the admin passwords, finding things out takes longer.
Who this is for
- Owners comparing free and paid health check offers.
- Businesses budgeting for an IT review this financial year.
- Very small businesses looking for a free starting point.
Questions to ask before you book
- What exactly will you check? Ask for the list. Backups, logins, updates, email, devices, network and documentation should all be on it.
- Will you test anything, or just ask questions? A real check looks inside your systems and tries a restore. A questionnaire alone only tells you what people believe.
- What do I get at the end? A written report you keep, with findings ranked by risk, is the minimum.
- Am I obliged to use you for the fixes? The answer should be no. A good report works for whoever does the work.
How WaTo prices a health check
- Our IT health check starts from $990 (ex GST) for a typical small office of up to about 10 staff, a network health check from $540, and a full documented IT audit from $3,500.
- Every business is different, so call us first. We'll work out the scope with you and confirm a fixed price before we start.
- You get a written traffic-light report and a walkthrough, and the report is yours to keep.
- There's no obligation to use us for the fixes.
Cost questions
Is there a free cyber health check from the government?
Yes. IDCARE's Small Business Cyber Resilience Service is government funded and includes a cyber health check and a plan, for businesses with 19 or fewer full-time-equivalent staff (not counting the owner) and an active ABN.
What does an Essential Eight assessment cost?
More than a health check, because it's a formal, evidence-based review. Prices depend heavily on the size of the business and the maturity level being assessed, so get a fixed quote based on your scope.
Why does an IT audit cost so much more?
An audit is several times the work. On top of the health check, it records every device, licence and account, draws the network, attaches evidence to each finding and measures everything against a standard like the Essential Eight. That write-up is what insurers, buyers and boards rely on, and it's where most of the time goes.
Is a free health check worth it?
It can be. Treat it as a first opinion and ask what it covers. If it's a one-hour chat, it won't have found the backup that doesn't restore.
Can I do it myself for free?
You can get a long way with our IT health check checklist. It won't test your systems, but it shows you where the gaps probably are.
How WaTo can help with this
Guides on this topic
- IT health check checklist: 24 questions for small business owners
- IT health check, IT audit or penetration test: which do you need?
- How much does IT support cost? WaTo's actual rates
Sources & references
WaTo Consulting. Last reviewed 2026-10-24. Review yearly, or when the IDCARE service changes.
Want a fixed price for your business?
Tell us how many people, devices and sites you have and we'll quote a health check up front.
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