krafter | studio dev

Budget simulator

How much does your custom software cost?

A 30-second quote is a lie. An honest range can be computed: 8 questions, our real grid, and an estimate that tightens as you answer. Like in scoping, precision is earned.

The full grid is published further down this page. Nothing to guess, nothing to download.

Low end

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High end

01234567890123456789,012345678901234567890123456789 €

Tightened by 0 %

Question 1 / 8

Where does your project stand today?

Pick one answer, by clicking or typing its letter.

Your pre-brief

Every answer writes a line, live.

Answer the first question: the first line appears.

The grid, in the open

The same grid we quote in meetings.

A simulator that hides its formula produces a magic number. Ours applies the grid we actually practice, published here in full. What the simulator adds: your answers rule out the scenarios that do not apply to you, and the range tightens accordingly.

Project typeBudget (excl. VAT)Indicative timeline
Simple internal tool (a few screens, one workflow)€6,000 to €15,0003 to 5 weeks
Sellable SaaS MVP€6,000 to €30,0004 to 8 weeks
Mobile MVP (iOS and Android, one codebase)€6,000 to €25,0004 to 8 weeks of development, 8 to 12 to the stores
Full business application, multiple integrations€20,000 to €60,0008 to 14 weeks
Full SaaS platform (subscription, API, multi-tenant)€40,000 to €80,00010 to 16 weeks
Integration with existing software€2,000 to €5,000 (simple), €5,000 to €15,000 (complex)1 to 4 weeks

Five modifiers then apply. The starting point first: an already laid-out need (processes, business rules, screens) goes straight to development, an idea still to be formalised adds €3,000 to €6,000 of scoping, a spreadsheet to replace or software to take over €1,500 to €5,000. Then external users add 10 to 15% (customer-facing experience takes more work than an internal screen), each connection to existing software adds the price of an integration, online payments add €2,000 to €5,000 for one-off charges and €4,000 to €10,000 for subscription billing (plans, invoices, retries), and a companion mobile app adds the price of a mobile MVP. Nothing else. If a quote you receive strays far from these orders of magnitude, the question to ask is not “why so expensive” but “what does it cover more of, or less of”.

The range covers the project up to production launch. The software’s running costs (hosting, maintenance, evolutions) are budgeted separately: that is the territory of application maintenance. To see how scoping turns this range into a firm commitment, everything is in our method.

Straight questions

30 minutes on a call with a founder beat any simulator.

Let’s talk about your project

What this simulator can do, and what it cannot.

Because an exact price before scoping is fiction. The real budget depends on decisions that have not been made yet: the exact V1 scope, the quality of what already exists, how stable your business rules are. An honest range, tightened by your answers, beats a falsely precise number.

From our actual grid, the one we quote in meetings: internal tool from €6,000 to €15,000, SaaS MVP from €6,000 to €30,000, full business application from €20,000 to €60,000, integration from €2,000 to €15,000 depending on complexity. The grid is published on this page, nobody has to guess it.

Everything from scoping to production launch: discovery, design, development, tests, launch and steering, excluding VAT. Scoping only counts when the need is still to be formalised: a project whose processes, business rules and screens are already laid out goes straight to development. It does not cover the software’s running costs after launch (hosting, maintenance, evolutions), which are budgeted separately.

One of the two founders reads it and replies within 24 to 48h with an honest take: range confirmed, adjusted, or the questions to settle before quoting. No automated email sequence, no salesperson, no commitment. The pre-brief feeds the first conversation, nothing more.

Some projects exceed any grid: heavy compliance (health, finance), high-load real time, ecosystems of more than three integrations. The simulator says so rather than producing a wrong number: those projects are phased, and the first phase almost always fits the standard grid.

A range is a start. → Let’s scope it.

Pre-brief in hand: 30 minutes on a call with a founder to turn the range into a firm scope, priced and dated.

Talk about your project Book a callor see our method