What 240+ Custom Software Projects Taught Us About Pricing

Custom software pricing varies more than almost any other professional service. Quotes for the same project from different vendors can differ by 5–10x. After delivering 240+ projects across 34 industries, here's what we've learned about why the spread exists and what actually predicts cost.

1. Scope drives cost, not complexity

Most teams overestimate complexity and underestimate scope. A "simple CRM with 12 pages and 5 user roles" is bigger than a "complex AI-powered chatbot with one user type."

The most reliable predictor of build cost we've seen: count the screens × user roles × distinct workflows. That product alone explains ~70% of cost variance across our projects.

2. Integrations are usually under-estimated

Every team's initial scope says "Stripe integration." None of them mean just "accept payments." They mean Stripe + webhooks + refund logic + subscription management + dunning + reports. That's 5–10 days of work, not 1.

Multiply across the 5–15 integrations most modern apps need, and you've added 4–8 weeks that don't show up on initial whiteboard sketches.

3. The "out of scope" list is more valuable than the "in scope" list

The cheapest projects are the ones with the clearest "out of scope" boundaries. Knowing what you're NOT building keeps scope creep from adding 30–50% mid-build.

The 5 projects with the highest cost overruns in our history all had one thing in common: vague or missing out-of-scope lists.

4. Pre-built foundations save 30–40%

Auth, payments, dashboards, user management, audit logs, role-based permissions, email/SMS — these are not greenfield code on every project. Vendors who build from scratch every time charge 30–40% more for the same outcome.

This is the math behind our 6-week timelines: we adapt patterns from 240+ projects instead of inventing.

5. Maintenance is the real ongoing cost

Most teams budget the build and forget the maintenance. Reality: 15–25% of build cost per year is a reasonable maintenance budget for active software.

A $100k build → roughly $20k/year of maintenance for the first 3–5 years (bug fixes, dependency updates, feature additions, scaling). Skip this and your software degrades into a liability.

6. Pricing model matters more than price

A $50k outright purchase, a $2,200/month subscription, and a 12% revenue share on a $50k build are mathematically similar at scale — but they fit different businesses very differently. Our engagement models guide covers this.

The mistake to avoid: choosing pricing model based on which sounds cheapest in year 1.

7. Discovery is worth paying for

A free 60-minute discovery call is a sales call. A paid 1–3 day discovery engagement (often $3–8k) produces a fixed scope, fixed timeline, fixed price quote — and is usually credited back if you proceed.

Projects that start with paid discovery have ~30% lower cost overruns than projects that start from a sales call alone.

What 240+ projects look like in distribution

By scope:

Small (under $30k): 38% of projects

Mid-market ($30–150k): 47%

Enterprise ($150–500k+): 15%

By engagement model:

Outright purchase: 62%

Hosted subscription: 24%

Revenue share: 14%

By time-to-launch:

4–8 weeks: 54%

8–16 weeks: 31%

16+ weeks: 15%

The 4–8 week tier is where the median project lives. If you're being quoted 6+ months for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 scope, you're paying for someone else's inefficient process.

For a transparent cost estimate based on our 240+ project pricing data, our cost calculator takes 60 seconds.