How much does a custom business app cost?

The short answer: €2,500 to €9,000 excl. tax for setup, then €290 to €690 excl. tax per month. The useful answer means understanding what moves those numbers. From a distance, a €4,000 quote and a €40,000 quote can describe the same project.

The two line items in a custom budget#

A custom tool is always billed in two parts. Mixing them up is the number one source of unpleasant surprises.

Setup is paid once. It covers analyzing how you work, building the tool, migrating your existing data, and training your teams.

The subscription is monthly. It covers hosting, backups, fixes, and routine improvements. It's also what separates a tool that keeps evolving from a project that gets delivered and then abandoned.

Why the first module costs more than the ones after it#

The first setup covers everything that is only done once: accounts, permissions, data structure, migrating your history, going live. A second module is built on top of that foundation.

That's why serious pricing drops with each module you add. A vendor who charges the same amount five times for five features is selling you five projects, not one system.

What really drives up the bill#

Three things, and none of them is the number of screens.

1. Data migration. A clean export from common software can be imported in a few days. Fifteen years of history spread across spreadsheet files, with every client spelled three different ways, takes a cleanup effort that can cost more than the build itself.
2. The number of people involved. An owner who makes decisions alone moves fast. Five departments that have to agree on what counts as a “completed job site” add weeks before the first line of code.
3. Connections to your existing systems. Getting the tool to talk to your accounting, your payroll software, or an ERP is priced separately. It depends entirely on what access those systems allow.

What costs almost nothing, despite what most people think#

The number of users. We don't charge per seat: adding ten field workers to the app doesn't change the price. That's a major difference from off-the-shelf software, where going from 8 to 25 users often doubles the bill.

The same goes for mobile. The app opens in the browser and can be added to the home screen. There's no separate iPhone version and Android version to build.

When custom isn't the right answer#

An honest article should tell you when not to buy.

• Your business is standard. If you bill by the hour, with no inventory and no job sites, off-the-shelf software at €40 a month will do the job better and for less.
• Your team is under five people. Below that, the time lost juggling tools rarely costs more than the setup.
• You don't know yet how you work. Building a tool locks in the way you're organized. If yours changes every quarter, wait until it settles.

If off-the-shelf software does the job, go with it. We'll tell you so, and it does happen.

How to compare two quotes without getting it wrong#

Check a business app quote on four points. Price is only the fourth.

1. Is the scope in writing? Not “a tracking module,” but exactly what that module does, screen by screen.
2. Is the price fixed? A “starting at” quote, or time and materials with no cap, isn't a price. It's an intention.
3. Who owns the code? If you don't own it, your tool is a subscription in disguise, and switching vendors means starting over.
4. What happens if you stop? You should be able to export all of your data, at no cost and with no strings attached.

How we actually price it#

We do not quote over the phone. We first look at what you do by hand today, how many times a week, and by how many people — that count determines both the scope and whether the project is worth starting at all.

If the gain is not worth at least three times the invoice, we say so and we stop there. It happens, and it is the cheapest conversation you will have on the subject. The pricing simulator gives the order of magnitude module by module, and the build page describes what happens between signature and go-live.

How much does a custom business app cost? Key takeaways#

Plan on €2,500 excl. tax in setup for an initial scope, €1,200 excl. tax for each additional module, and a subscription of €290 to €600 excl. tax per month depending on how much it covers. Automations are billed monthly, with no setup fee.

What pushes a budget off track is data migration and the number of decision-makers, not the number of features. And if your business fits into off-the-shelf software, go with it. That's the comparison to make before anything else.