What Custom Software Actually Costs
Real starting prices, published. Audits from $299, build packages from $699, platforms up to $75,000 — and exactly what moves the number.
How much does custom software cost?
JLM Solutions publishes its starting prices instead of hiding them behind a form. A fixed-fee Website-to-Software Audit costs $299. Build packages start at $699, and the published ranges run up to $75,000 for a full business operating system.
Focused builds — a landing page, a smart quote form, an AI lead assistant — land between $699 and $5,000. A custom web app with user accounts and a real data model is quoted at {{appRange}}. A multi-tenant SaaS platform serving several separate businesses starts at $15,000.
These are starting prices, not quotes. What moves the number is scope, integrations, data migration, and timeline. Every project is priced as a fixed scope agreed before work begins — the AI Lead Assistant and ongoing development partnerships are the only engagements with a recurring monthly component.
Starting Prices by Package
The same figures the Smart Quote estimator computes from. Nothing here is a placeholder.
| Package | Starts at | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
Website-to-Software Audit A review of your site, forms, and workflows with a short action plan — no build required. | $299 | Fixed fee |
Smart Quote Form A guided intake form that scores the request and produces a quote-ready summary for you. | $699 | $699–$2,500 |
AI Lead Assistant A chat assistant trained on your business that answers questions, qualifies visitors, and hands off to you. | $799 | $799–$2,500 |
Website / Landing Page One mobile-first page or small site built for search, AI answers, and lead capture. | $999 | $999–$2,500 |
Workflow Automation Starter One repetitive workflow mapped and automated end to end — intake, summary, notification, handoff. | $1,500 | $1,500–$5,000 |
Mini Admin Dashboard A private dashboard for leads, statuses, notes, filters, and CSV export. | $2,500 | $2,500–$7,500 |
Custom Web App A purpose-built application with accounts, a real data model, and an admin view behind it. | $5,000 | $5,000–$15,000 |
SaaS Platform A product built to be sold: user accounts, subscription-ready architecture, admin. | $10,000 | $10,000–$35,000 |
Multi-Tenant SaaS Tenant isolation, per-tenant branding and domains, role-based access, and a superadmin control plane. | $15,000 | $15,000–$50,000 |
Full Business Operating System Intake, catalog and pricing, quoting, scheduling, fulfillment, invoicing, and an operator admin in one system. | $20,000 | $20,000–$75,000 |
A range means the same package can be a small job or a substantial one. Where a project lands inside it depends on the drivers below. A build that needs more than the top of a range is quoted as the next package up rather than stretched to fit.
What Actually Moves the Number
A handful of decisions account for most of the distance between the bottom and the top of a range. None of them are surprises — they are all settled before anyone writes code.
Scope — how many jobs it does
One workflow done properly is a different project from five workflows sharing a database. Each job you add brings its own screens, data model, tests, and admin surface. Cutting scope is the fastest way to cut price.
Integrations
Every outside system it has to talk to — payments, calendars, spreadsheets, PDF generation, an AI model — is its own build with its own failure modes to handle. Two integrations is normal. Six is a different quote.
Data migration
Moving years of spreadsheets into a real database is rarely a copy and paste. Inconsistent columns, duplicates, and rows that only made sense to the person who typed them all need cleaning first. Clean, consistent data is one of the biggest discounts available.
Accounts, roles, and permissions
An admin-only tool is simple. Customer accounts add a second surface to design and secure. Multiple roles — or separate tenants that must never see each other's data — change the architecture itself, which is why multi-tenant work starts where it does.
AI depth
A scoped assistant answering questions from your own content is a package. Recommendations, document generation, or AI wired into live business data is engineering: prompts, guardrails, evaluation, and a sensible fallback for when the model is wrong.
Timeline
A flexible date costs less than a fixed one. Compressing a ten-week build into six does not remove work, it removes slack — and the price reflects the risk of carrying none.
The features the estimator counts as cost
These are the capabilities that push a project up a complexity level. If your build needs several of them, expect the upper half of a range.
- Collect payments
- Provide AI recommendations
- Generate PDFs / documents
- Manage inventory
- Schedule appointments / events
- Manage customers
- Create user accounts
- Support multiple businesses
- Import spreadsheet data
What Every Build Includes
These are not add-ons. If a quote does not cover them, it is not quoting finished work.
- ✓A fixed scope and a fixed price, both agreed in writing before work starts.
- ✓Production deployment on infrastructure you own, with the accounts in your name.
- ✓Source code you keep — no licence, no lock-in, no per-seat fee to use what you paid for.
- ✓A mobile-first interface, because most of the people using it will never open a laptop.
- ✓An admin view, so you can see and change your own data without asking anyone.
- ✓A handover: how it works, how to run it, and what breaks first if it is left alone.
How Long a Build Takes
Delivery time tracks complexity rather than price. These are the same estimates the Smart Quote returns.
| Complexity | Typical delivery | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 3–4 weeks | Single sprint |
| Focused | 4–6 weeks | Single sprint |
| Medium | 6–10 weeks | Single sprint |
| Advanced | 10–14 weeks | Phased rollout |
| Platform | 3–4 month phased build | Phased rollout |
Phased means the first usable version ships early and the rest follows in stages, so you are not waiting three months to see anything. The clock starts when scope is signed off, not at the first conversation.
Ways to Work Together
Packages describe what gets built. These describe how the work runs and who carries it after launch.
MVP Build
For founders or businesses that need a focused working product quickly.
Best for: Founders validating an idea or replacing a critical workflow.
- Focused scope
- Working MVP
- Clean foundation to grow on
Custom Platform Build
For businesses that need a full website plus software system.
Best for: Operators ready to go beyond a brochure site.
- Public site
- Admin dashboard
- Customer-facing tools
- Workflow automation
Multi-Tenant SaaS Build
For turning one working platform into a repeatable SaaS product.
Best for: Founders productizing an internal tool.
- Tenant accounts
- Custom domains
- Branding
- Admin / superadmin
Ongoing Development Partner
For continuous product development, support, and improvement.
Best for: Teams shipping features every month.
- Roadmap planning
- Feature builds
- Support
- Iteration
Not Ready to Talk? Take the Scoping Brief.
A one-page template covering the ten things every accurate quote depends on, including the cost drivers above. Fill it in and any developer can price your project properly — this one included.
Pricing Questions
Get a number for your own project
A few questions, a few minutes, and a real range with the reasoning behind it. No call required.