---
title: "Choose a plan"
description: "Which Outpost plan fits a home lab, a small business, an internal IT department, or a managed service provider, and when to move up."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/get-started/choose-a-plan/"
product: "platform"
type: "concept"
status: "draft"
ai_summary: "Decision guide for the four Outpost plans by reader. Home Lab for personal, non-commercial use (15 endpoints, 1 admin, own storage). Essentials for a small organization (50 endpoints, 3 console users). Enterprise for an IT department (service desk, unlimited users, relayed remote desktop, session recording). MSP for providers managing other organizations for pay. No prices."
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/get-started/choose-a-plan.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Choose a plan

Outpost has four plans: Home Lab, Essentials, Enterprise, and MSP. This page
helps you pick one by describing who each plan is for and the questions that
decide between them. Prices and the full feature table are on
[Plans and limits](/account/plans-and-limits/).

Every plan includes endpoint inventory and monitoring, remote desktop and
remote terminal, patching, software deployment, scripts, profiles, endpoint
backup, network discovery, documentation, and the audit log. The plans differ
in scale, team size, the service desk, and whether you manage more than one
organization.

## The questions that decide

1. **Do you provide managed IT services to other organizations for pay?** If
   yes, you need MSP. It is the only plan licensed for that use, and the only
   one with more than one client.
2. **Is this for commercial use at all?** If yes, Home Lab is not an option.
   It is for personal, non-commercial use only.
3. **Do you need the service desk?** Tickets, incidents, status pages, the
   knowledge base, and satisfaction surveys are on Enterprise and MSP.
4. **How many endpoints and console users?** Home Lab and Essentials have fixed
   limits. Enterprise and MSP have none.

## Home lab

Home Lab is for your own computers at home: learning, testing, and keeping a
personal lab in order. It is free and has no trial.

- Up to 15 managed endpoints and 10 unmanaged devices.
- One administrator account. Roles cannot be assigned.
- Backups and other files go to your own S3-compatible storage. Outpost Cloud
  Storage is not available.
- Remote desktop uses direct connections only.

If you use Outpost for anything commercial, choose a paid plan.

## Small business

Essentials is for a small organization managing its own computers, often with
one or two people looking after IT.

- Up to 50 managed endpoints.
- Up to 3 console users, with roles and permissions.
- Outpost Cloud Storage, or your own S3-compatible storage.
- Remote desktop uses direct connections only.

Move to Enterprise when you need a 51st endpoint or the service desk.

## Internal IT department

Enterprise is for an organization with its own IT department.

- No endpoint cap. You pay for active endpoints, and endpoints that stay
  offline for a billing period cost nothing for it. See
  [What counts as an active endpoint](/account/plans-and-limits/#active-endpoint).
- Unlimited console users, with roles and permissions.
- The service desk: tickets, live chat, incidents, status pages, the
  knowledge base, and satisfaction surveys.
- Remote desktop with direct and relayed connections, and session recording.
  See [Remote access](/remote-access/).

Enterprise manages one organization. If your department supports several
separate organizations as a paid service, choose MSP.

## Managed service provider

MSP is for a provider that manages computers for other organizations.

- Everything in Enterprise.
- A separate client for each organization you serve, each with its own data,
  managed from one console. See [MSP](/msp/).
- Sales, quotes, projects, client agreements, client invoices, and payment
  tracking.
- Included endpoints and Outpost Cloud Storage are pooled across your clients.
- Permission to use Outpost for paid managed services to third parties.

## Trials

Essentials, Enterprise, and MSP start with a 30-day free trial, with no credit
card. During a trial, Essentials allows up to 50 managed endpoints, and
Enterprise and MSP allow up to 100. See
[Plans and limits](/account/plans-and-limits/#free-trials).

## Related

- [Plans and limits](/account/plans-and-limits/)
- [Quickstart](/get-started/quickstart/)
- [What is Outpost](/get-started/)