What custom software actually costs
Ask most agencies and the answer is "it depends" — true, and useless when you're trying to budget. We don't publish a price list, and this page explains why that's the honest choice: here's what shapes projects come in, what actually moves the number, and how you get a specific figure — free, in writing, guaranteed to hold.
The shapes projects come in
Relative cost, not a price list — a number published before anyone has looked at your operation would be marketing, not engineering. Every build is fixed-price, and the estimate that sets it is free.
| PROJECT SHAPE | RELATIVE COST | WHAT'S INCLUDED | DURATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal tool or focused automation | €€ | One team's workflow — an admin panel, approval flow or pricing tool — built, integrated with the systems you already run and deployed with documentation. | 4–10 weeks |
| Operational platform v1 | €€€ | The system that replaces the spreadsheet layer: core workflows, integrations with your ERP or CRM, permissions and reporting — live with a pilot group first. | 2–3 months |
| Customer-facing product v1 | €€€€ | A portal, marketplace or SaaS product: design, onboarding, accounts and billing where needed — everything a first release into customers' hands requires. | 2–3 months to first release |
| AI deployment | €€–€€€€ | From feasibility sprint through production — evaluation against your real documents and data before the build, monitoring and guardrails after it. | Feasibility sprint first; the build sized by its findings |
| Single automated workflow | € | One manual process removed end to end — an integration, a document flow, a report that builds itself — often the fastest payback on this page. | Days to a few weeks |
What moves the number
Two projects with the same name can cost several times apart, because these six things vary — and they matter far more than lines of code.
Integration count
Every system the software must talk to — ERP, CRM, payment provider, carrier API — adds real engineering. Two integrations and ten are different projects.
Compliance and audit needs
Audit trails, retention rules and access controls are engineering, not paperwork. Regulated workflows sit at the top of a band; unregulated ones at the bottom.
Data migration
Clean data in one system imports in days. Years of inconsistent spreadsheets and half-retired tools can be a project of their own — we price it separately, up front.
Real-time requirements
An overnight refresh is cheap. Live dispatch boards, instant sync and concurrent editing push infrastructure and testing up a band.
Design surface
An internal tool needs clarity; a customer-facing product needs design, onboarding and polish on every screen a customer sees. That difference is most of the gap between the bands.
Ongoing operation
A documented handover to your team keeps the build price clean. If we operate the system for you, that's a monthly retainer agreed up front — never buried in the build number.
Where the money goes
Custom software costs what it costs for one reason: senior engineering time. Everything else on an invoice deserves scrutiny.
What you're paying for
What you shouldn't pay for
Three ways to pay
The estimate is the same in every model — the team, the process and the quality bar too. Only the commercial structure changes.
Fixed estimate, milestone billing — for bounded systems where you want the total known before committing.
Fixed pricingDedicated team →A senior squad at one fixed monthly rate — typically 40–60% of the fully loaded cost of hiring the same seniority in-house.
Equity · hybridPartnership →The build for equity, or a reduced price plus equity — for companies whose distribution outruns their budget.
How the free estimate works
Two free phases stand between this page and a specific, guaranteed price — usually a couple of weeks end to end.
Free diagnosis
Working sessions on your operations and numbers — we map the workflow, price the leaks and say plainly whether software is worth building. Roughly a third of the time, our advice is not to build.
Free estimate
The diagnosis becomes a scoped proposal: architecture, milestones, timeline and a specific number — not a band. One document underwrites all three ways to pay.
The number holds
If we under-scoped, the overrun is ours — never discovered on an invoice. Scope you add is priced and agreed before work continues. You pay per accepted milestone, first invoice after first delivery.
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a time straight into a partner's calendar →
Common questions
Why don't you publish prices?
Because any number published before someone has looked at your operation is a marketing device, not an engineering judgment. An operational platform with two integrations and one with nine share a name and cost very differently. That's why the diagnosis and the estimate are both free — getting your real number costs you nothing.
Is the estimate really free?
Yes — the diagnosis and the estimate both, with no obligation to continue. It's how we underwrite our own guarantee: an estimate we have to live with is a commitment, not a sales document. If the number doesn't work, you keep the full plan and walk away owing nothing.
What if our budget is small?
Then we scope to it. A single automated workflow is the least expensive thing on this page and often pays for itself within months — a better first step than stretching a small budget across a big system. And if nothing useful fits the budget, the diagnosis will say so in writing, free.
What are the ongoing costs after launch?
Hosting and third-party services, set up in your own accounts so you see every invoice — typically tens to a few hundred euros a month for the systems we build. Beyond that you choose: a documented handover to your team, or an operate retainer at a monthly rate agreed up front. Either way, a 90-day warranty covers defects free.
Why don't you bill hourly?
Hourly billing pays the vendor for slowness and hands you all the estimation risk. We quote a fixed estimate per milestone and carry the overrun if we got it wrong — so you pay for shipped software, not for time spent.
Your number, in writing — free.
A free diagnosis, then a specific estimate that holds — if we under-scoped, the overrun is ours.