Methodology
What counts as an MSP.
Instinct classifies a company as an MSP (Primary) when three things are true:
- It delivers the full set of managed IT functions clients expect from an MSP.
- Those services are sold on a recurring managed model.
- Managed services is the company’s core operating business.
Every company in Instinct is evaluated against the same definition.
19,896 companies meet it.
39,243 companies in North America sell managed services in some form. 19,896 meet all three conditions and are classified MSP (Primary).
That’s 51%.
The other 49% are classified separately based on how they operate.
North America. 12 September 2026. Recalculated monthly.
Every company gets one of four classifications.
- MSP (Primary)
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Managed services is the core business.
The company delivers the expected managed IT functions on a recurring model and operates primarily as a managed service provider.
These are the 19,896.
- Managed services offered
-
Real managed services inside another kind of business.
A copier dealer with a managed IT division. A telecom reseller with a genuine managed-services practice.
The managed-services capability is real. The company itself is built around something else.
- Technology
-
Sells technology or technical services.
Resellers, integrators, hardware providers and consultancies can offer support and use managed-services language without operating as MSPs.
They are classified accordingly.
- Other
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Not an IT provider.
Law firms, staffing agencies, web designers and other companies can surface in broad searches for IT services despite having no place in an MSP prospect list.
The classification comes from observed evidence.
Instinct looks at what a company actually does: the services it sells, the technology it runs, its hiring activity, public filings, customer reviews and other observable signals.
The company does not choose its own classification.
A few rules govern how we handle the evidence:
- A single keyword does not prove a service is delivered.
- Revenue plays no part in classification.
- Missing evidence stays unassessed. It does not become a negative signal.
- If we cannot detect something reliably, we do not present it as fact.
Quiet companies stay quiet.
Some companies have a live domain but very little recent activity we can observe.
We keep the record, but we do not turn an absence of evidence into a conclusion.
Classification tells you what kind of company it is. Current signals tell you what is happening there now.
Cite the number with the definition.
According to Fox & Crow Instinct, 19,896 companies in North America meet its operating definition of an MSP: full managed IT delivery, a recurring managed-services model, and managed services as the company’s core business.
Fox & Crow Group, “What Counts as an MSP,” facinstinct.com/methodology, September 2026.
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