What custom software costs

It is the first question almost every client asks, and the honest answer starts with another one: what exactly does it have to do? Custom software has no catalogue price, because no two projects are the same. What can be explained is what the price depends on, so you know what you are paying for and can compare proposals.

What drives the price

The cost of a project is, above all, working time. And a handful of things decide that time:

• How many different things it has to do. A form that stores orders is not the same as a system that receives them, splits them between warehouses and tells the customer.
• Which other systems it talks to. Every connection to your ERP, your online shop or an outside provider has to be built, tested and planned for the day the other side fails.
• Who uses it, and with which permissions. A single kind of user is simple; five, each with what they can see and do, less so.
• The data you already have. Moving ten years of spreadsheets into a new system, cleaning them on the way, can be a project of its own.
• What must not fail. An internal tool used by three people does not need what a system your invoicing depends on does.

How long it takes

It depends on the same things. As a guide, a landing page takes weeks; a web application or custom software, months. What should be clear from the start is the timeline, in writing, and a rhythm of deliveries: with us, one every one or two weeks, so you see the progress and can change course before it gets expensive.

Two ways to price it

In phases. We start with a first minimum product, what the trade calls an MVP: the smallest part that already solves your main problem. On top of it we grow in short cycles, and in each cycle you decide what comes next. You pay for what you have already seen working, not for what you pictured six months ago.

Fixed. We set everything that will be built, and its price, from the start. It gives you certainty about the cost, in exchange for deciding long before you see it working; a change halfway through is quoted separately.

Neither is better in general. If the problem is clear and will not change, a fixed price works well. If you are discovering what you need while you build it, phases waste less.

What also costs, even if it is not in the quote

Building it is not the only expense. Always ask about:

• Hosting, which is small in many projects, but is paid every month.
• Licences for third-party services: email, maps, payments.
• Maintenance: security updates, adjustments and small improvements, as a monthly fee or on request.
• The warranty: what happens if something fails after delivery. Ours covers six months of fixes at no cost.

How to ask for a quote you can compare

Before writing to anyone, prepare three things: the problem you want to solve (not the solution), who will use it and which systems you already have. With that, any serious team will come back with specific questions instead of a number pulled out of the air.

And when proposals arrive, compare them by what they include, not only by the total: what is in and what is out, how many deliveries there will be, who owns the code at the end and what happens afterwards. A cheap proposal that says nothing about any of this usually turns out expensive.