Revenue Share vs Subscription vs Outright Purchase: Which Engagement Model Fits

Most custom dev shops offer one pricing model: a one-time fee. That works for some customers and not others. We offer three engagement models — outright purchase, hosted subscription, and revenue share — because real businesses have different cash flow situations, different risk tolerances, and different views on what they want to own.

Here's how to pick the right one.

Outright purchase

You pay a one-time build fee. We deliver the source code, deployment scripts, and full ownership. You host it, run it, modify it, sell it on if you want — anywhere, anytime, forever.

Choose this when:

You have capital available for the build

You expect to use the software for 3+ years

You want long-term cost predictability (year 1 is the only big bill)

The software touches data or workflows you don't want a vendor near long-term

You have or plan to add internal capacity to maintain it

Don't choose this when:

Cash flow makes capex hard (operating expense is meaningfully easier)

You're unsure if the business model will work and want to limit downside

You don't have anyone to maintain the software internally

Typical pricing: $15–200k+ depending on scope. See our cost calculator for a transparent range.

Hosted subscription

You pay a monthly fee. We host, maintain, update, monitor, and support. Roughly equivalent to 1/24th of the outright-purchase cost per month — so a $60k build becomes about $2,500/month with everything included.

Choose this when:

You prefer opex over capex

You don't want infrastructure responsibility (hosting, security patches, uptime monitoring)

You want a predictable monthly cost with no surprise capex year

Your team is small and you'd rather pay us than hire a part-time devops person

You want the option to cancel without losing your money

Don't choose this when:

The total over 24 months would exceed the build cost meaningfully (long-term, outright is cheaper)

You have strong infrastructure capacity already and self-hosting is essentially free for you

You want to modify the code arbitrarily on your own schedule

Cancel anytime — the software stops, you export your data and configuration. If you want to keep running it, you can buy out the remaining build cost at any point and switch to outright ownership.

Revenue share

We build, host, and operate the software with $0 upfront cost from you. We take a percentage of revenue the software generates (typically 8–20%), capped at a multiple of the build cost (typically 3–5x).

Choose this when:

The software is directly revenue-generating (marketplace, SaaS platform, e-commerce, lead-gen tool)

You have product/business clarity but limited capital

You want strong incentive alignment with your dev partner

The success of the software is reasonably forecastable

Don't choose this when:

The software is operational (CRM, ERP, internal tools) — there's no direct revenue to share

You're certain of success and want to capture all the upside yourself

You can't tolerate ongoing revenue share even if the software succeeds

Revenue share is unusual in custom dev — it requires us to do due diligence on your business model before signing. Not every project is a fit. When it is, the alignment is powerful.

Hybrid models

Most engagements over $100k use some hybrid:

Lower upfront fee + small ongoing maintenance retainer

Outright purchase + first-year hosted on us as a launch incentive

Revenue share for year 1, convert to subscription year 2+

We're flexible. The goal is matching how you actually do business, not making you fit our pricing template.

How clients typically evolve

Common patterns we see:

Start with revenue share to validate. Once revenue is steady, convert to subscription for predictability, or buy out for ownership.

Start with subscription to get going. Once the software is critical, buy out for long-term cost control.

Start with outright because you have capital and want full ownership from day one.

There's no "right" model — only the right model for your specific situation, today. If you'd like to talk through which fits, contact us or browse the cost calculator — the calculator lets you toggle between engagement models so you can see how the math changes.