Discover how overlooked expenses — like unpredictable storage egress charges and time-consuming manual management — quietly erode your margins, and how an automated approach keeps profitability in your hands.
The Illusion of Low Sticker Prices
When evaluating backup solutions, most MSPs zero in on the obvious line items — the per-terabyte (TB) storage rates or the licensing cost per VM. And on the surface, these numbers look compelling. Lower upfront costs, higher margins — it’s a simple equation.
Or is it?
In reality, the true cost of delivering backup services extends far beyond the advertised price. From hidden storage egress fees that quietly drain profits, to the countless hours engineers spend managing backup environments manually — the impact on your bottom line is far greater than you might think.
Many MSPs initially gravitate to cloud storage options like AWS S3, Azure Blob, or Google Cloud. Their ultra-low per-terabyte rates make a compelling case on paper. But that’s only part of the story.
These hyperscale providers make up for razor-thin storage pricing with egress fees, API call charges, and retrieval costs that can skyrocket when data actually needs to be recovered — whether during routine testing or in the event of ransomware.
Example:
Recovering just 10TB of client data from AWS S3 could generate over $900 in egress fees alone — easily eclipsing an entire month’s storage bill.
It’s a hidden liability that can devastate profitability, particularly when multiple restores or full recovery tests are required. Worse still, many MSPs simply absorb these costs to protect client relationships, putting further strain on margins.
That’s why Wasabi’s model, with no egress fees, no API fees, and no complex tiering, is so critical. It allows MSPs to plan and bill predictably, safeguarding profits.
While hidden cloud costs take a direct swipe at your invoices, there’s another silent drain on profitability: your own engineering team.
When MSPs build backup offerings with standard Veeam deployments or manually stitched-together solutions, operational overhead piles up fast:
Hours spent deploying and configuring new environments
Each new customer means another round of Veeam setup, tuning, and ongoing patching.
Daily babysitting of backup jobs and troubleshooting failures
Manual checks, manual recoverability tests, manual reporting — all eating into valuable engineer time.
Training and certifications
Keeping your team certified and up to speed across every nuance of Veeam, Wasabi, and cloud recovery takes both time and money.
When you add it up, it’s not unusual for MSPs to dedicate significant hours each month to manual backup administration. That’s time that could be spent onboarding new clients, rolling out advanced security services, or simply delivering projects that drive more revenue.
When you add up the unpredictable expenses from egress charges and the steady drain of engineering hours, the true total cost of ownership (TCO) becomes clear — and it’s often far higher than it first appears.
| Scenario | Headline Cost | True Cost (after egress & labor) |
|---|---|---|
| DIY Veeam + AWS S3 | $310/month | ~$1,000+/month |
| Probax MSP Backup + Wasabi | $200/month | ~$200/month (all-inclusive) |
What looked cheaper up front often ends up costing 3–5 times more, once all hidden costs surface. To understand where these hidden costs come from, let’s break down a typical DIY scenario.
Headline Cost (What some MSPs focus on)
| Component | Qty | Rate | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veeam B&R Server licensing | 20 VMs | $5 | $100 |
| AWS S3 storage | 10 TB | $23/TB | $230 |
| Subtotal (expected) | $330 |
True Total Cost (Includes hidden costs)
| Component | Qty | Rate / Note | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline cost | $310 | ||
| Egress fees on restores/tests | 0.75TB/month | $90/TB | $67.50 |
| Frequent small API costs | - | $20/month typical | $20 |
| Engineer time on manual management | ~7 hours | $80/hr | $560 |
| Training/cert amortized | - | $40/month | $40 |
| True monthly cost | $997.50 |
In contrast, here’s how the numbers look with an all-in-one, automated approach.
Headline Cost (Which actually includes everything)
| Component | Qty | Rate / Notes | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Probax MSP Backup (all-in-one) | 10 VMs, 10 TB | $20 per VM, inclusive of Veeam licensing and 1TB Wasabi | $200 |
| Wasabi storage (no egress fees) | - | - | Included |
Because this covers the Veeam license, Wasabi storage, deployment automation, monitoring, recoverability testing, immutable storage, plus minimal engineering time (often under 30 min/month), the true cost stays around $200/month, with no surprise hidden fees.
This is exactly where Probax changes the game.
With Probax MSP Backup, you get a platform purpose-built to automate Veeam deployments, scaling, monitoring, and even advanced capabilities like ransomware-proof immutable backups. It’s designed so your team doesn’t have to spend hours inside Veeam consoles — or become experts in every possible scenario.
Paired with Wasabi’s flat, predictable pricing with no egress fees, you can confidently scope, price, and scale your services without fear of nasty billing surprises down the line.
The result? Lower operational overhead, more predictable gross margins, and a far more scalable business.
Sticker prices tell only part of the story. The real question is: what is your total cost to deliver reliable, secure backups — including all the engineering time and cloud retrieval fees?
With Probax MSP Backup and Wasabi, MSPs can protect more workloads, with less effort, fewer surprises, and higher profitability.
Let’s run a quick TCO assessment based on your current environment. Contact us today — and start protecting your margins.