Guides · Budgeting
How software cost actually works.
Nobody publishes real numbers, so buyers negotiate blind. This guide will not give you a magic figure either - but it will show you what drives every honest quote, so you can compare vendors on substance instead of confidence.
The four real cost drivers
- Workflow count, not feature count. Ten buttons on one workflow is cheap; three workflows with three user roles is not. This is why our estimator asks about scope shape, not feature lists.
- Surfaces. Web only, or web + mobile? Every surface multiplies design, testing and release work - one backend serving all of them is how the multiple stays small.
- Integration and data reality. Clean greenfield is the cheap case. Existing systems, messy data migration and third-party APIs are where estimates - honest ones - carry ranges.
- Certainty itself. A fixed price on a vague scope is not generosity; it is a risk premium you are paying invisibly, or rework you will pay later. Sharper scope is the only real discount.
The three pricing models and their incentives
- Fixed price - best for well-defined scopes (our MVP Sprint works this way); the vendor absorbs risk, so expect scope discipline in return.
- Time & materials / monthly - best for evolving products (Product Engineering, Dedicated Team); the honest question to ask is what evidence of progress you see weekly. Ours: a working demo.
- Hourly bodies - you become the project manager; cheap rates routinely produce expensive outcomes. Compare accountability, not rates.
Budget the lifecycle, not the launch
The build is the entry price. Real budgets include cloud run-costs (modelled before launch - we do this up front), maintenance and dependency updates, and iteration after real users arrive - the reason validation-first scoping protects budgets better than any negotiation.
Comparing quotes honestly
Send every vendor the same one-paragraph problem and ask: what would you cut to hit 6 weeks? what do you need from us? what is not included? The quotes that answer precisely are the ones you can trust; the vendor guide has the full question list.
Want a real range for your project?
Run the estimator, send the result with one paragraph, and get an honest range within 24 hours - the way pricing should work.
Related: Validate an MVP · Choosing a vendor · Pricing FAQ