How much custom business software costs: phases and items

"How much does custom business software cost" is the first question we get. The honest answer is that it depends on what it has to do, and put that way it helps nobody. It is more useful to know how the price is built: which phases there are, what you pay for in each, what makes it go up. With this you can read a quote and compare two. If you already have a process to fix, write to us: the first analysis is free.

How the price is built

The cost of custom software is almost all working time: analysis, screen design, development, testing, installation. Third-party licences and servers weigh little in comparison.

That is why a serious quote shows the days or hours for each part of the work. If you receive a single price with no breakdown, ask how it was calculated. If the supplier cannot answer, it was a guess. You pay the difference later, in change requests and delays.

Phase 1: analysis

Before writing code you need to understand how the company works. Who enters the data, who checks it, who decides, which documents come out of the process. It is done by talking with the people who will use the software, not only with the owner.

The result is a document with features, priorities and timing. The phased quote comes from there. We do the first analysis for free, on a video call. A large project needs a longer analysis, quoted separately.

This phase saves money. A feature clarified during analysis costs less than a feature fixed after delivery.

Phase 2: the first version

The first version contains the two or three features that waste the most time today. Your team uses it in daily work. With us it arrives in 6 to 10 weeks on average.

The cost items in this phase:

• system foundation: logins, roles and permissions, data structure. You don't see it, and it holds everything else up;
• screens and features for the chosen process, for example orders, shifts or customer records;
• data import from Excel or the old system. If the files are messy, this item grows;
• testing on a separate environment, where the team tries the features before using them at work;
• installation on the server and training for the people who will use it.

Later phases: the software grows

After a few weeks of use it becomes clear what to add. Each phase has its own cost and date, and you decide on it when the previous one works. You don't pay up front for features you may never use.

The items that push the bill up are almost always these:

• integrations with e-invoicing, warehouse, CRM, payments or external services. Each system has its own rules and APIs;
• a phone app, if the software is used by people working outside the office;
• several sites or companies in the same system, with separate data and a dashboard for management;
• generated documents: contracts, reports, printouts in the format an authority requires;
• artificial intelligence on your data, when there is a precise question it must answer.

Costs after delivery

Business software has costs after it is finished too. Budget for them from the start.

The first is the server. We can install the software on servers in European data centres managed by us, with automatic backups, or on a server at your premises. In the first case there is a yearly cost. In the second you buy the machine and look after its maintenance. The second cost is software maintenance: security updates, fixes, changes when a regulation or a supplier changes. It is covered by a separate maintenance contract.

One item is missing: per-user licences. Once the balance is paid, the rights to use the software are yours. If next year your team grows from 8 to 15 people, the software cost stays the same.

Licence or custom: how to do the maths

With licensed software the sum is: fee per user, times users, times months, plus modules and customisations. An example with made-up numbers: 10 users at €30 a month each is €3,600 a year, €18,000 over five years, before any extra module.

With custom software the sum is: the cost of the phases, plus server and maintenance over the same five years. Compare over the same period and on the features you use every day. If a product on the market covers your process well, it costs less, and we will tell you. We wrote about it in custom or licensed business software.

An example of scope: CareCloud

CareCloud is the management system we built for care homes and day centres. It brings sites, patient records, staff shifts and documents into a single dashboard. Before, that information sat in registers, Excel sheets and binders. A chat answers management's questions by reading the facility's data.

CareCloud contains many items from the list: several sites, different roles, documents, analytics and artificial intelligence. Software to manage orders for a company with one warehouse has a much smaller scope, and costs accordingly. That is why the price comes after the analysis.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a price before the analysis?

After the first call you can get a rough indication. The fixed price comes when the features of the first phase are written down. Whoever gives a fixed price without knowing your processes corrects it later, with change requests.

Can the quote change during the work?

The price of a phase stays as agreed. If you ask for a new feature during the work, it goes into a later phase with its own cost, or it replaces a feature already planned.

Is the software mine?

Yes. Once the balance is paid the usage rights are yours and you pay no licences. The code is documented and the data can be exported, so another supplier can take it over.

Ask for a phased quote

We build custom business software from our offices in Nicosia, Sicily, and Gżira, Malta. If your company is in Malta, see cases and method on our software house in Malta page. Write to us on WhatsApp at +39 389 591 6034 or through the contact form, with two lines on the process you want to fix. We reply within one working day and set up a free call. At the end of the call you know what we would build, in what order, and what the first phase costs.