I run a custom software agency — ZahrionTech — and this is the question I get asked most, usually in the first five minutes of a call. So here is the honest answer: it depends, but not as vaguely as people think. There are real, typical ranges, and once you know them you can spot a bad quote a mile away.
Everything below is approximate. Your actual price depends on scope, region, and who builds it. Treat these as planning numbers, not promises.
Typical ranges by project type
Landing page / marketing site: $2,000–$8,000
A polished multi-page site with a CMS, contact forms, and basic SEO setup. Goes up with custom design, animations, or multiple languages.
MVP web application: $25,000–$80,000
A working product with user accounts, a database, and a few core features — the classic startup MVP. The wide range is almost entirely scope: three features or twelve?
Custom CRM / ERP / internal tools: $50,000–$200,000+
Business systems live or die on workflow complexity and integrations. Connecting to your existing accounting software, warehouse system, or payment provider is where the hours go.
Mobile app (iOS + Android): $30,000–$150,000+
One shared codebase (React Native, Flutter) sits at the lower end; fully native apps with offline mode, push, and hardware features sit at the top.
What drives the cost up
- Vague requirements. "Build me something like Uber" is not a spec. Every ambiguity gets priced in as risk.
- Integrations. Each third-party system (payments, CRMs, legacy databases) adds design, testing, and maintenance surface.
- Custom design. Templates are cheap; bespoke UX with real user research is not — but it is often the difference between software people tolerate and software they love.
- Compliance. Healthcare, finance, and anything handling children's data adds security and audit work you cannot skip.
What drives the cost down
- A tight, written scope. The single biggest cost saver. If you can describe exactly what v1 does and does not include, quotes get sharper immediately.
- Starting with an MVP. Ship the smallest version that delivers value, learn from real users, then invest in v2.
- Off-the-shelf where it doesn't matter. Auth, payments, email delivery — solved problems. Custom code should go where your business is actually different.
Fixed-price vs. hourly
Fixed-price is comforting: you know the number upfront. It works when the scope is genuinely fixed — and punishes you when it is not, because every change becomes a renegotiation.
Hourly (or weekly sprints) fits projects where you are still discovering what to build. You pay for flexibility. The honest version of this model comes with demos every week or two so you can see exactly what your money bought.
Neither is a scam. The scam is a model that does not match your project's uncertainty.
Freelancer vs. agency vs. in-house
Who builds it changes the number as much as what gets built:
- Freelancers are the cheapest per hour, great for well-defined pieces of work. The risk is bandwidth — one person can get sick, disappear, or simply be fully booked when you need a fix.
- Agencies cost more but bring a team: design, development, QA, and project management under one roof. For anything you cannot fully spec yourself, that structure pays for itself.
- In-house looks expensive until you factor in year two and three. If software is your product, owning the team eventually wins. If software supports your business, outsourcing usually wins.
Most small and mid-size businesses I talk to land on an agency for the initial build and a light retainer afterward.
How to set your budget
Work backward from value, not forward from features. If the software saves your team 20 hours a week, price that time for a year — that is roughly what the project is worth to you. Then sanity-check it against the ranges above. If the value is $30k and the quotes are $80k, either descope to an MVP or reconsider whether custom software is the answer. An honest vendor will tell you when the answer is "don't build this."
Red flags in cheap quotes
- A quote far below everyone else's. It is not efficiency; it is missing scope. You will pay the difference in change orders — or in a rebuild.
- No questions about your business. If a vendor quotes without understanding what the software must achieve, they are quoting a guess.
- No mention of maintenance. Software needs hosting, updates, and fixes. A quote with no post-launch plan is a quote for abandonware.
- "We own the code" terms. You should own what you pay for. Full stop.
The cheapest software is the software you only pay for once. A realistic budget, a clear scope, and a partner who asks hard questions upfront will save you more than any discount ever will.
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