About one-third of MSPs expect their AI-related revenue to increase by more than 20% in 2026 compared with 2025, according to Informa’s latest MSP 501 Survey.
The 2026 MSP 501 Survey Insights Report surveyed more than 600 MSPs, drawing on business inputs and aggregated financial and operating data.
MSP 501 finds AI revenue expectations rising
The report found that 57% of respondents expect AI to rank among their biggest revenue gainers over the next 12 months, a jump from 37% last year. AI was also ranked second to managed security.
“MSP 501 honorees and MSPs to Watch are on the front lines putting AI to work for their customers, whether they are deploying chatbots for customer experience, applying AI to protect company data, or automating business processes,” said Robert DeMarzo, co-author of the report and content leader for Informa Connect Channels.
Among other AI-related findings for the report are:
- Overall AI use continues to broaden: 91% of MSPs offer or use AI solutions – up from 79%.
- Custom AI solutions offerings: Rose to 36% from 21%.
- AI creating additional internal value: 54% of MSPs cite employee productivity as a key use, while 35% cite reducing repetitive work and 31% cite faster delivery times.
“The data tells us that the business opportunity around AI services is going to accelerate MSP growth and put the $650 billion managed services market on a trajectory to double in just a few years. Every eye is on the MSP and IT services channel as partners become the center of AI,” DeMarzo said.
Automation helps MSPs improve operating leverage
In terms of financial findings, the MSP 501 Survey found that organizations reported that customer accounts grew 12.73% while the workforce grew 6.9% – with operating leverage from automation, tooling, and process standardization being key factors.
Further, recurring revenue grew 11.9% amongst organizations, outpacing total revenue growth of 9.6%.
Additionally, 89% of surveyed MSPs reported EBITDA margins of at least 6%, including 42% with margins above 15%, and 67% anticipate double-digit revenue growth in 2026.
Customer AI demand continues to outpace revenue
The findings align with Kaseya’s 2026 State of the MSP Report, released earlier this year, which surveyed more than 1,000 MSPs worldwide and found that AI was ranked as the top client need.
Kaseya’s report found that 48% of MSPs ranked AI as the number one client need, but only 13% were generating meaningful revenue from AI and automation services.
Additionally, the Kaseya report found that 19% of MSPs reported difficulty quickly demonstrating value to prospective customers, nearly double the rate in 2025.
Taken together, the findings suggest that AI is becoming both a customer-facing growth opportunity and an internal efficiency lever for MSPs, but demand alone is not yet translating into significant revenue for every provider.
With AI adoption expanding while other industry research shows a gap between customer interest and meaningful monetization, the next challenge for MSPs will be turning experimentation into repeatable services with demonstrable business value.
At the same time, the MSP 501 data indicate that automation can improve internal operating leverage, giving providers another path to realize returns from AI even before customer-facing services reach scale.