How much does a web app or custom business software cost

A web app costs more than a website because it does not just show information: it manages it. There are users with different permissions, data to store and protect, rules to enforce, other software to exchange data with. The price depends on how much of this you need. Here you will find what makes up the price and how to keep it under control.

The price of your web app

A precise figure comes once I understand the process the web app has to follow. Below you will find what it depends on, so you know what to expect.

What drives the price

The processes

What counts is how many different flows the web app handles: a booking, an order, a request that passes from one person to another. Each flow has its own screens, checks and edge cases. More flows means more work.

Users and permissions

A single type of user is simple. Customers, staff and administrators who see different data need more design and more checks.

Data

What needs storing, for how long, who can change it. If data has to come over from spreadsheets or old software, moving it is work too.

Integrations

Payments, invoicing, CRM, email, calendars. Every connection to an external service has to be built, tested and kept up to date when the service changes.

Reports and documents

Exports, statistics, automatically generated PDFs: they are among the most common requests, and they should be planned from the start.

Security

Protected logins, backups, an activity log. A web app holds your customers' data: security is not an extra, it is part of the price.

Start with a first version

The safest way to spend well is to start small. You pick the process that wastes the most time today, build a first version that solves it and put it in the hands of the people who use it every day. Further features are decided from experience, not on paper.

That way the first investment is lower, the web app is in use sooner and you do not pay for features nobody will use.

Costs after launch

• Hosting and database, which grow with users and data.
• Pay-per-use external services, such as email and SMS, maps or artificial intelligence.
• Maintenance: security updates, fixes, changes when connected services change.
• New features, which come up once the web app is in use.

Ask for these costs to be written in the quote, separate from the development price.

Fixed price or time and materials

With a fixed price you know the cost from the start, but you need a clear scope: every change becomes a variation to agree on. With time and materials you pay for the hours worked and can change your mind along the way, but you need to review the hours regularly. For a well-defined first version a fixed price works well. For later development, time and materials is often better.

Questions to ask before you sign

1. What does the first version do, and what is left out?
2. Who owns the code and the data?
3. Where does the web app run, and in whose name are servers and services?
4. How and how often are backups made?
5. How much does maintenance cost, and what does it include?
6. What happens if one day you want to change developer?

To choose between custom software and an off-the-shelf product, read custom software or off-the-shelf. For automation with artificial intelligence, read automating office work with AI. How I work on web apps is explained on the web app development page.