White Label AI for MSPs: What the Research Says
- MSPs say AI is driving growth but many are not ready for it. 92% of 1,019 providers report AI driven growth, while only about half feel prepared to guide small business customers 3.
- Winning customers is the top worry. 43% of MSPs name acquiring new customers as a top concern, ahead of revenue growth and profitability 1,2.
- There is room to grow recurring revenue. Monthly recurring service is 37% of reported MSP revenue, with the rest from break-fix, projects and consulting 1.
- How many clients use AI depends on who asks. The Census Bureau found 19.8% of US businesses used AI in May 2026, while the US Chamber found 58% of small businesses use generative AI. The questions differ 5,6.
- Every MSP survey here was run by a vendor that sells to MSPs, and we found no independent measure of what providers earn from reselling AI agents.
Managed service providers say AI is driving their growth, but only about half feel ready to guide clients on it, and the share of small businesses actually using AI depends heavily on who is asking and how. This page collects the surveys on MSP economics, MSP AI readiness and client AI adoption, and states the source, sample and weakness of every number.
· 7 sources · Published by Convocore, which sells white label AI agents. See method and limits.
The market MSPs operate in
The broadest MSP survey we found is Datto's State of the MSP report, which surveyed more than 1,000 MSPs worldwide in 2024. 78% of respondents were in North America, 11% in EMEA, 7% in Asia-Pacific and 4% in Latin America. 64% reported revenue increases in the past year and 67% expected further growth over the next three years. 91% said profitability is at least a moderate priority for the next 12 months 1.
Customer acquisition is the main worry. 43% of MSPs named acquiring new customers as a top concern, 37% revenue growth and 36% profitability, and when asked to pick a single most pressing issue, acquiring new customers was the top answer at 16% 1,2. The survey is run by a vendor that sells to MSPs, respondents could select several concerns, and the sample skews to North America 1.
Revenue mix matters for anyone adding a recurring service. Respondents reported that 37% of revenue came from monthly recurring services, 22% from break-fix work, 21% from projects and 20% from consulting 1. Smaller providers earn much less: the average revenue reported was $337,360 for MSPs with one to four employees and $24,237,360 for those with 250 or more 1.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| MSPs reporting revenue increases in the past year | 64% |
| MSPs expecting further growth over three years | 67% |
| MSPs for whom profitability is at least a moderate priority | 91% |
| Top concern: acquiring new customers | 43% |
| Revenue from monthly recurring service | 37% |
| Revenue from break-fix work | 22% |
| Revenue from projects | 21% |
| Revenue from consulting | 20% |
| Average revenue, 1 to 4 employees | $337,360 |
| Average revenue, 25 to 49 employees | $8,326,580 |
| Average revenue, 250+ employees | $24,237,360 |
Why small businesses use an MSP
Datto asked MSPs why businesses choose to work with them. 61% said clients need more technology expertise than they have in house, 56% said they need help managing hybrid or remote workforces and 44% pointed to increasing concern about cybersecurity risks 1. These are MSPs' opinions of their clients, not a survey of the clients themselves.
OpenText's survey adds a client side signal. Among 1,019 MSP managers and executives it found that AI expertise had become the third most important attribute of an MSP for small and mid sized businesses, after threat prevention and 24/7 support. Referrals were the leading source of new SMB customers at 32%, followed by online search and digital ads at 29% and technology marketplaces at 25% 3. Again, this is how MSPs describe their customers.
How ready are MSPs to offer AI?
OpenText's third annual Global Managed Security Survey, run in September 2025 among 1,019 managers, executives, security professionals and customer relationship managers at MSPs in the US, UK and Canada with 1 to 500 employees, found that 92% were experiencing growth driven by AI interest and 96% expected that to continue. Only about half felt prepared to guide small and mid sized customers in adopting AI tools, which OpenText describes as a sharp decline from 90% the year before. Less than half had built or deployed AI cybersecurity agents for customers 3.
Providers also use AI on themselves first. In the same survey 67% used it for customer support, 66% for technical support and ticket triage and 58% for threat detection and response 3.
A smaller Lansweeper survey of 195 MSPs in North America and Europe, run in December 2024, found that 90% saw AI as very important (63.6%) or somewhat important (26.2%) to their growth strategy. Even so, only 41.5% said AI was integrated into 26% to 50% of their solutions, platforms and services. IT monitoring (66.7%) and ticketing and incident management (54.4%) were the processes they automated most 4.
The same Lansweeper respondents ranked their expected new AI revenue streams as AI powered cybersecurity (56.4%), automated client support solutions (55.4%) and predictive analytics (51.3%), and 76.4% believed AI driven services would contribute between 11% and 50% of their revenue in the coming years 4. Those are expectations, not results. Both OpenText and Lansweeper sell to MSPs, which is a reason to read their optimism with care.
| Measure | Result | Source, date and sample |
|---|---|---|
| MSPs reporting growth driven by AI interest | 92% | OpenText, Sep 2025, 1,019 MSPs 3 |
| MSPs feeling prepared to guide SMBs on AI | About half (90% a year earlier) | OpenText, Sep 2025 3 |
| MSPs that have built or deployed AI security agents for customers | Less than half | OpenText, Sep 2025 3 |
| MSPs using AI internally for customer support | 67% | OpenText, Sep 2025 3 |
| MSPs that call AI very or somewhat important to growth | 90% | Lansweeper, Dec 2024, 195 MSPs 4 |
| MSPs with AI integrated into 26% to 50% of their offerings | 41.5% | Lansweeper, Dec 2024 4 |
| MSPs listing automated client support as a new AI revenue stream | 55.4% | Lansweeper, Dec 2024 4 |
What their clients are doing with AI
Two credible US sources give very different answers because they ask different questions. The US Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey, a biweekly, nationally representative survey, found that between 17% and 20% of businesses used AI from December 2025 to May 2026, with 19.8% on 3 May 2026. 20% to 23% expected to use it within six months. Less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees used it, against 32% of firms with 100 to 249 employees and 37% of those with 250 or more. Use rose among firms with at least 20 employees but did not change significantly for those under 20 5.
The US Chamber of Commerce's 2025 Empowering Small Business report, produced with Teneo Research and published on 18 August 2025, found that 58% of small businesses say they use generative AI, up from 40% in 2024 and 23% in 2023. It does not state the sample size or fieldwork dates on its report page, and the Chamber is an advocacy body 6.
The gap is largely definitional. Census asks whether a business used AI in the past two weeks in any business function, and changed its wording in November 2025 from use in producing goods or services, which breaks comparison with earlier data 5. The Chamber asks owners whether they use generative AI tools 6. For an MSP, the practical reading is that most very small clients are still early, and that the answer for any one client has to come from asking that client.
| Measure | Result | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| All US businesses using AI, 3 May 2026 | 19.8% | Census BTOS 5 |
| Firms with 4 or fewer employees using AI | Less than 20% | Census BTOS, Dec 2025 to May 2026 5 |
| Firms with 250+ employees using AI | 37% | Census BTOS 5 |
| Businesses expecting to use AI within six months | 20% to 23% | Census BTOS 5 |
| Small businesses using generative AI | 58% (40% in 2024, 23% in 2023) | US Chamber and Teneo, Aug 2025 6 |
What AI changes: the evidence
The strongest independent evidence is not about MSPs. A National Bureau of Economic Research study of 5,179 customer support agents found that agents using a generative AI assistant resolved 14% more issues per hour on average and 34% more if they were novice or low skilled, with minimal effect for experienced workers. The assistant supported human agents 7.
We found no independent study of what an MSP earns from reselling AI agents to clients, or of how many clients renew them. The revenue figures that exist are MSP expectations in vendor surveys 3,4.
What the evidence does not show
- Every MSP survey here was run by a vendor that sells to MSPs: Datto and Kaseya, OpenText and Lansweeper. Respondents were reached through the vendors' own audiences, so they are not random samples of all providers 1,3,4.
- The Datto survey was fielded in 2024 and is skewed to North America, so it may not reflect providers today. Respondents could select several concerns, so shares do not sum to 100% 1.
- The AI revenue expectations are opinions about the future, not measured results 4.
- What MSPs say about their clients is not a survey of the clients. The Census and Chamber figures are the nearest client side data, and they disagree because they ask different questions 5,6.
- The Chamber report does not state its sample size or fieldwork dates on the page we read 6.
- We found no independent measure of MSP revenue, margin or churn from reselling AI agents, and no independent study of AI phone or chat agents for small business customers.
- Efficiency and cost savings figures that appear in vendor papers, such as claims attributed to IDC in the Lansweeper report, were not traced to their originals and are not used here.
Applying this as an MSP
The evidence suggests three checks before adding AI agents to a managed services catalogue. First, ask each client whether it uses AI today and for what, because the aggregate numbers disagree and small firms are the least likely to be users 5,6. Second, start with the use case clients already feel, such as calls, tickets and website enquiries, rather than a broad AI offer, since MSPs report that clients value AI expertise but a large share of providers say they are not yet ready to guide them 3. Third, price it as recurring service. Recurring monthly work is only about 37% of reported MSP revenue, which suggests room to grow it 1.
On Convocore an MSP can run AI voice and chat agents for each client in a separate sub-account on the MSP's own domain and branding. The White Label plan is $199 a month for up to 20 client sub-accounts. We found no independent measure of what MSPs earn from this, so work it out from your own client count and price.
Method and limits
- Every number on this page comes from a source we opened and read on 9 October 2026, except where a source note below says we could only read a search summary.
- Sources are labelled primary (read at the original publisher), commissioned (paid for by a party with a commercial interest in the result), secondary (a report of the original) or forecast.
- Where sources disagreed or a figure could not be traced to an original, we left it out. Sample sizes and dates are given wherever the source gave them.
- Convocore sells white label AI agents to providers including MSPs and has a commercial interest in this market. We have tried to report the evidence as it is, including where it is weak. If you find an error, write to support@convocore.ai and we will correct it.
Sources
- State of the MSP Industry 2025 Look Ahead: Trends, Growth and Strategies for SuccessCommissioned researchDatto (a Kaseya company). Survey of 1,000+ MSPs in 2024; report published January 2025.We read the full PDF. A vendor survey of MSPs: 78% North America, 11% EMEA, 7% APAC, 4% LatAm. Multiple selection questions. The report does not describe how respondents were recruited.
- Kaseya's State of MSP Shows What Makes a Top Performing MSPCommissioned researchKaseya. 7 January 2025.Press release on the same 2025 State of the MSP survey. The page gives no sample size. Used to confirm the 43%, 37% and 36% concern figures and the 64% and 67% revenue figures.
- OpenText Cybersecurity Finds 92% of Managed Service Providers See AI-Driven Growth, But Readiness Gap WidensCommissioned researchOpenText (press release via PR Newswire). 24 September 2025.We read the full release. 1,019 MSP managers, executives, security professionals and customer relationship managers in the US, UK and Canada, September 2025, MSPs of 1 to 500 employees. OpenText sells security products to MSPs.
- AI Adoption in Managed Services: Boosting MSP Revenue and Profits with AI and Data MasteryCommissioned researchLansweeper. Survey December 2024; report 2025.We read the full PDF. 195 MSPs in North America and Europe, a 20 question online questionnaire. Lansweeper sells IT asset discovery software. Industry statistics it cites from other firms were not traced and are not used.
- Large Firms With at Least 20 Employees Biggest AI UsersPrimary sourceUS Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey. Published 26 May 2026; data 14 December 2025 to 3 May 2026.We read the article. BTOS is a biweekly, nationally representative survey. The question wording changed in November 2025 to AI use in any business function, which breaks comparison with earlier data. The AI supplement on why businesses do not use AI is described as experimental.
- 2025 Empowering Small Business ReportCommissioned researchUS Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center, with Teneo Research. 18 August 2025.We read the report page. It does not state the sample size or fieldwork dates on the page. The Chamber is an advocacy organization, and its generative AI question differs from the Census question.
- National Bureau of Economic Research. April 2023, revised November 2023.We read the paper's abstract page. 5,179 customer support agents; a working paper rather than a final journal article, about text based support, not voice, and not about MSPs.
Questions
How many MSPs are offering AI?
OpenText's September 2025 survey of 1,019 MSPs in the US, UK and Canada found 92% were experiencing growth driven by AI interest, but only about half felt prepared to guide SMB customers in adopting AI, down from 90% the year before. Less than half had built or deployed AI security agents for customers. OpenText sells to MSPs.
What is the biggest concern for MSPs?
In Datto's survey of more than 1,000 MSPs, 43% named acquiring new customers as a top concern, ahead of revenue growth (37%) and profitability (36%). Respondents could choose several answers.
How many small businesses use AI?
It depends on the survey. The US Census Bureau found 19.8% of US businesses used AI on 3 May 2026 and less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees. The US Chamber of Commerce reported in August 2025 that 58% of small businesses say they use generative AI. The questions differ.
How much of MSP revenue is recurring?
In Datto's survey, 37% of respondents' revenue came on a monthly recurring basis, 22% from break-fix, 21% from projects and 20% from consulting.
What does the platform cost?
White Label is $199 per month for 20 client sub-accounts and White Label Elite is $349 per month for unlimited clients and seats. Usage is billed in credits, and voice adds per-minute provider costs.