SMB IT Budget Template (2026)
A free, fillable spreadsheet that turns your pile of IT invoices into a plan you can defend, in about 30 minutes. Built for Canadian businesses with 15 to 200+ users.
Free. No spam. A companion PDF guide is included.
Why most SMBs have a pile of invoices, not a budget
Most small and mid-sized Canadian businesses do not have an IT budget. They have a pile of invoices. That is how cybersecurity gets cut in a lean quarter, how a whole fleet of laptops dies in the same year, and how you end up paying for licences you do not use. This template turns that pile into a plan, measured the way it should be: as a percentage of revenue.
For 2026, treat revenue percentage as a starting point rather than a universal target. Fusion’s current planning range for Canadian SMBs is 4% to 7% of annual revenue, adjusted for headcount, industry, risk and project cycle. Being below or above the range is a prompt to investigate, not a diagnosis. The template calculates this for you the moment you enter your numbers.
What is inside the template
- The eight budget lines every SMB needs, from managed IT to cyber insurance to hardware refresh
- Per-user planning benchmarks drawn from what Fusion runs for Canadian businesses
- Live formulas: total budget, spend per employee, and spend as a percentage of revenue
- A 12% contingency line so surprises do not blow the plan
- A companion PDF guide covering how to read the numbers and the three mistakes we see every quarter
- Pair it with our IT procurement best practices guide for how to buy the hardware and software lines well
Want it emailed to you?
Enter your details and we will send the template and the guide, plus a short note on what good looks like for a business your size.
IT budget FAQ
How much should a small business spend on IT?
For most Canadian SMBs, Fusion’s current planning range is 4% to 7% of annual revenue, adjusted for headcount, industry, risk and project cycle. A 25-person firm doing $4M would typically land in the 4% to 7% band, roughly $160,000 to $280,000 a year, most of it recurring. Confirm against your own headcount, industry and project cycle. Sitting below the range is a prompt to check security controls, backup, software overlap and project spend rather than an automatic diagnosis.
What should be in an IT budget?
Eight lines: managed IT or MSP fees, Microsoft 365 and software, cybersecurity, cyber insurance, hardware and endpoint refresh, servers and cloud, network and connectivity, and one-time projects, plus a contingency. The template breaks each one out with a benchmark.
Is the template really free?
Yes. Download it directly above, or have it emailed with the companion guide. No cost and no obligation.
Want us to pressure-test your numbers?
Fill the template, then book a free 30-minute planning call. We will compare your numbers to what we run for similar Canadian businesses and flag any coverage gaps, at no cost.
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