Tactical RMM is free to self-host, but code-signed Windows agents, macOS and Linux agents and single sign-on need its Tier 1 sponsorship at $55 a month, and reporting needs Tier 2 at $80. The tiers run to $850 a month. Here is the full list, and what free leaves you to do yourself.
Written with respect. We ran an MSP on several of the products we compare, we rate them, and without them Helios would not exist. These pages are here because buyers deserve the numbers, not because we want a fight.
The short answer
- The software is free to self-host, source-available rather than open source (Tactical RMM docs, checked 28 September 2026).
- Code-signed Windows agents, macOS and Linux agents and single sign-on need Tier 1 at $55 a month.
- Reporting needs Tier 2 at $80 a month. Paid email support starts at Tier 3, $105 a month.
- Tiers run to $850 a month; paying yearly is about 10% less.
- You run the server: a public IP, a real domain, working certificates, on port 443.
- For comparison, Helios publishes its whole price list: £3 a device a month for 5 to 25 devices, then a flat £79, £159 or £319 a month for up to 50, 250 or unlimited devices. Billed monthly, cancel any time, 14-day trial with no card to start.
The sponsorship tiers
| Tier | Monthly | Yearly | Suggested for | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $55 | $600 | Under 200 agents | Signed Windows agents, macOS and Linux agents, SSO |
| 2 | $80 | Under 400 agents | Reporting | |
| 3 | $105 | Under 600 agents | Email support, 72-hour response | |
| 4 | $155 | Under 1,000 agents | Email support, 48-hour response | |
| 5 | $310 | Under 3,000 agents | Email support, 36-hour response | |
| 6 | $515 | Under 5,000 agents | Email support, 24-hour response | |
| 7 | $850 | $9,600 | Under 10,000 agents | Email support, 12-hour response |
Each tier includes everything below it. Support is business hours, Monday to Friday. Yearly prices for the middle tiers are not listed individually; Tactical says yearly is about 10% less than twelve months.
Why the free build is rarely enough for client work
- Unsigned agents. Without Tier 1, Windows agents are not code signed, so antivirus and SmartScreen treat them with suspicion on client machines. Signed agents are produced by Tactical's signing servers each time you build or update an agent.
- Windows only. macOS and Linux agents also need Tier 1.
- No reports. The reporting feature needs Tier 2.
What you run yourself
Tactical RMM is self-hosted. The standard install needs a server with a public IP, a real domain whose certificates validate during install, and port 443; other ports are not supported. The server is yours to patch, secure and back up, and if it goes down so does every client's agent connection.
The licence, in short
It is source-available, not an open-source licence. It allows monitoring and managing your own and your customers' networks, and forbids offering the software's functionality as a hosted service or other for-profit service without permission. Tactical asks anyone unsure about their use to open a ticket first.
What we could not verify
- Yearly prices for Tiers 2 to 6, beyond Tactical's own "about 10% less".
- How agent counts are enforced against the suggested tier sizes.
Why we built Helios
We ran an MSP on the platforms on these pages. The price moved at every renewal, and the features we needed kept turning up one tier higher. So we built our own.
Helios has one published price list: a £3/device Launch tier for 5 to 25 devices, then flat per-MSP plans at £79, £159 and £319 a month by fleet size (50 / 250 / unlimited). Every feature is on every plan, with nothing held back for a higher tier. Your price is locked for as long as you stay subscribed, and it is in our terms. Pay monthly and cancel any time, or yearly for 20% off. The plan finder on the pricing page does the comparison for your exact fleet.
The parts that rarely make a feature grid
Comparisons and price lists tend to stop at monitoring, patching and tickets. Helios has kept shipping, every feature lands on every plan, and this is the part that usually gets left out:
- Cyber Essentials readiness, with the fixes. Every Windows machine is checked each day against the Cyber Essentials technical controls (v3.3, April 2026), 13 checks a machine. Nine of them have a fix in Helios: one press for the firewall, incoming connections, the Guest account, auto-run, lockout, overdue updates and Microsoft Defender, and a yes first before it disables unused accounts or turns off automatic sign-in. Each client gets a readiness report under your name. It is a readiness check: only a Certification Body awards the certificate. How it works
- Client billing that closes the loop. Recurring contracts (flat, per-device or per-seat), an included-hours retainer that nets against logged time, and the finished invoice pushed into Xero or QuickBooks or exported as CSV.
- The kit that will never take an agent. Nominate a machine already running the agent as a site relay and act on the switches, firewalls, NAS boxes and printers around it over SSH. A target only appears if that relay is what discovered it, every command waits for a human, and the password is fetched at the moment it runs and written to the audit trail.
- Network discovery that names things. Agents map each client's network and identify what they find by vendor and type, so new hardware on a client site is flagged the day it appears.
- Replacement dates without a spreadsheet. Machines report their own age from the BIOS date, so Helios can tell you what is due for replacement against a service-life policy you set, per client.
- Reporting built for the review, not the dashboard. A custom report builder, SLA reporting, Microsoft 365 licence-cost reporting, and a day-one baseline per client that stores the numbers, so a quarterly review can prove what actually moved.
- Everything is addressable. A published REST API, a credential vault with an audit trail, custom fields on clients and devices, and standing rules that limit what Helio may do on its own: block an action or require a human to approve it, scoped to one client, a device group, a device type or a single machine, and to a class of action or one named fix.
Common questions
Is Tactical RMM free?
The software is free to self-host. Code-signed Windows agents, macOS and Linux agents and single sign-on need a sponsorship from $55 a month, and reporting from $80.
How much is a Tactical RMM sponsorship?
Seven tiers from $55 a month (Tier 1) to $850 a month (Tier 7), or about 10% less paid yearly: $600 a year for Tier 1 up to $9,600 for Tier 7.
Does Tactical RMM include support?
Tiers 1 and 2 rely on community support. Tiers 3 to 7 add email support in business hours, from a 72-hour response at $105 a month to 12 hours at $850.
Can an MSP use Tactical RMM for clients?
Its licence allows managing your own and your customers' networks, and forbids offering the software as a hosted or for-profit service without permission. Tactical asks you to open a ticket if you are unsure.
How does Tactical RMM compare with Helios on price?
Tactical is free software you host, plus a sponsorship for signed agents. Helios is hosted, with nothing to run: $5 a device on Launch, or $129 a month for 50 devices, with the service desk, patching, remote access and more included.
Sources
- Tactical RMM: Sponsor tiers
- Tactical RMM: FAQ
- Tactical RMM: Code signing
- Helios: Free and open-source RMM
Prices and terms were checked against these pages on 28 September 2026. If something has changed since, tell us and we will correct it.
Why MSPs choose Helios
One platform that does the work, at a price that stays put
Helio fixes, not just flags
When an alert fires, Helio, the AI technician built into Helios, investigates it, writes the fix and runs it once you approve. It keeps what works, so the next one is quicker.
Everything in one product
RMM, a service desk with SLAs, patching including third-party apps, remote access, Microsoft 365 and Defender checks, backup monitoring, a client portal and billing into Xero or QuickBooks.
Priced by fleet, not by people
£3 a device on Launch up to 25 devices, from £15 a month, then £79, £159 or £319 a month by fleet size, with any number of technicians and every feature on every plan.
A price that stays put
Your price is locked for as long as you stay subscribed, and that is written into our terms. Monthly billing, cancel any time.
Bring your clients across
Import your clients and machines from another RMM's CSV export, then roll the Helios agent out at your own pace, with a count of how many have arrived.
14 days free, no card to start
The full platform from the first minute, on your own machines. No sales call. Remote control asks for one card check, and nothing is charged.
Competitor details on this page were checked on 28 September 2026 from public pricing pages, legal documents and named third-party buyer data, and may have changed since. They are provided in good faith for comparison; always confirm current pricing and terms with the vendor. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. Spotted something out of date? Email hello@heliosmsp.io and we will fix it.
