TL;DR
DIY digital signage ($8/mo software) costs $1,450/year when you count your time.
Managed services ($35/mo all-in) cost $420/year.
Choose DIY if you have tech staff and 1-2 screens. Choose managed if time matters more than money.
TL;DR
DIY digital signage ($8/mo software) costs $1,450/year when you count your time.
Managed services ($35/mo all-in) cost $420/year.
Choose DIY if you have tech staff and 1-2 screens. Choose managed if time matters more than money.
In this guide
Yodeck Costs $8/Month. Spectrio Costs $200+. Why?
They're selling different things.
Yodeck sells software. You figure out the rest — hardware, installation, troubleshooting, updates. If your screen goes black at 2am, you Google the fix.
Spectrio sells a result. They show up, install everything, configure it, and pick up the phone when something breaks.
Same category. Completely different products. Let's break down exactly what each approach costs — and when each makes sense.
Market Overview
Software is cheap because labor is on you.
You pay more because their team does the work.
Market positioning based on public pricing data, January 2025
Cost Analysis
DIY looks cheap until you add up your time.
Calculator
Your time has a cost. Let's be conservative: $50/hour.
❌ DIY First Year (3 screens)
Self-Service Path
✓ Managed First Year (3 screens)
Full-Service Path
DIY costs 3x more when you count your time.
Managed services aren't "expensive." They're buying your time back.
A fitness chain across Eastern Europe and Monaco faced a classic scaling problem: 10-15 screens per club, 30 locations, and their previous solution made content delivery painfully slow.
After switching to managed services:
Result: They created a dedicated digital visual department. What started as a cost center became a profit center through advertising integrations.
Decision Guide
If all four are true, Yodeck at $8/month is a good deal
01
Technical Capability
Someone on staff knows media players, display settings, network configs.
02
Small Scale
1-2 screens. Single location. Content changes rarely.
03
Flexible Timeline
No deadline pressure. Learning curve is acceptable.
04
Budget Constrained
Under $500/year total. Every dollar matters more than time.
Decision Guide
Managed services exist because businesses value results over process
01
No IT Resources
No dedicated tech person. "Just make it work" is the mandate.
02
Multiple Locations
3+ sites. Need consistent experience everywhere.
03
Time is Money
Owner's time is better spent elsewhere. Downtime has real cost.
04
Outcome Over Process
Don't care how it works. Care that it works.
Due Diligence
What's actually included in the price?
Cheap becomes expensive when you add line items: hardware, installation, support, replacement.
Who's responsible for hardware?
Ask: "If the media player dies, what happens?" Good providers replace it. Bad ones blame the hardware.
What's the support SLA?
48-hour email support for a restaurant menu board = 48 hours of angry customers.
Is there a contract?
Month-to-month: flexibility. Annual: 10-20% discount. Multi-year: lock-in risk.
What's the exit strategy?
Vendors who make leaving hard are betting you'll stay out of friction, not satisfaction.
Framework
At SeenLabs, we've recommended DIY solutions when that was the right answer. We'd rather have you as a referral source than a mismatched customer.
Get a Free Consultation →Written by Vahagn Ter-Sarkisyan, Founder & CEO of SeenLabs.
15+ years in IT, helping businesses choose the right digital signage approach since 2015.
DIY digital signage looks cheap at $8/mo until you count your time. Compare true costs of Yodeck vs managed services. Calculator+decision framework...
Why **restaurant technology slows service** when implemented poorly—and how to fix the paradox.
Why **customer trust restaurant technology** is the new currency—and how to stop eroding it.