How much does a custom application cost?

Why there is no price list

A price list makes sense for a product that is the same for everyone. A custom application isn’t: for one company it covers a single process, for another five connected ones, and for a third it also has to talk to the existing accounting software. A published figure would be wrong in each of these cases — either too high, putting someone off unnecessarily, or too low, promising something that can’t be done at that scope.

That is why the quote is prepared after a conversation in which we look at what we would actually set up in your case. The conversation is free and carries no obligation; its purpose is to define the scope of work, not to sell.

What determines the price

Five things move the price one way or the other. Once you know them, you can estimate quite well whether your case will be at the lower or the upper end.

• How many processes are covered at once. One application for one process is a much smaller undertaking than a connected system in which orders, production and stock share data.
• How specific the process is. A work order that runs as it does in most companies is built quickly. One with rules, exceptions and step-by-step approvals that only your industry has takes more conversation and more testing.
• Whether it connects to existing systems. Connecting to accounting software, an online shop or machinery is a job in its own right — and depends on how open the other system is.
• How much of the work you take on. There are three ways of working together: you build it yourselves, we lay the groundwork and build the first applications, or we build everything. The difference between them is the largest single item in the price.
• Where production runs. We can provide the server, or the system can run on your existing infrastructure. If you already have it, that cost disappears.

What does not affect the price

This is where the difference from software subscriptions is greatest, and it’s worth knowing before you compare quotes.

• The number of users. The price is not tied to users. When the company hires ten people, the cost of the software doesn’t move — with per-user subscriptions, it rises by ten seats at that very moment.
• The number of applications. Your platform can hold as many as you like. A new need means new work, not a new subscription that runs forever.
• The amount of data at normal volumes. Records, documents and history are not charged by the row or by the gigabyte.

How to compare the price with what you pay today

The fairest comparison comes from adding up what currently goes out on software — all monthly subscriptions together, including those used by a single department. Add to that the hours your people spend copying the same data into two systems and putting monthly reports together by hand. That total is the real starting figure; any single subscription viewed on its own always looks cheap.

The second part of the comparison is what remains for that money. With a subscription, nothing remains once you stop paying except a data export. With a custom application you keep code that is your property and a system that can keep running even without the developer.

When it doesn’t pay off

If you need a single, simple tool that you can get on the market for a few euros a month, a subscription is the cheaper route — and we will tell you so. AI BF pays off when several needs add up and when your processes are too much your own to be covered by off-the-shelf software. For smaller needs and websites, Spletna Nit is the right address.