Software Development Cost Calculator: Bands by Scope

Custom software built in the US costs $16,100–$32,200 for a simple MVP from a freelancer (median $23,000) and $27,600–$55,250 from an agency (median $39,450). A full product with dashboards and integrations runs $25,750–$51,500 freelance and $44,150–$88,350 agency. An enterprise build with real-time features or AI runs $36,300–$72,600 freelance and $62,300–$124,600 agency. Those are the Project Cost Estimator engine's web app rows.

The calculator above runs that engine. Pick a scope and a market, and it returns the freelancer and agency bands, the timeline and the monthly running cost.

Location moves the number as much as scope does. The same simple MVP from a South Asia freelancer has a median of $5,400; from an Eastern Europe freelancer, $8,950.

Every software estimate reduces to one formula:

cost = hours x hourly rate + running cost over the period you care about

1. 1. Hours. Break the product into features: sign-up and login, the core workflow, admin screens, reports, integrations, notifications. Each one has a design, build and test cost in hours.
2. Rate. The rate depends on who builds it (freelancer or agency) and where they are. The engine's custom-code rates run from a South Asia freelancer median of $31/h to a US agency median of $232/h.
3. Running cost. Hosting, databases, third-party services and monitoring. The engine puts this at $176/mo for MVP and full-product scopes and $236/mo for enterprise.

Worked example from the engine's US rows. The simple MVP freelancer median is $23,000. At the US custom-code freelancer median of $135/h that is $23,000 / $135 ≈ 170 hours. The agency median of $39,450 at $232/h is $39,450 / $232 ≈ 170 hours. Same hours, different rate.

That is the check to run on any quote: divide the total by the rate and see whether the hours make sense for the features listed.

Engine web app rows, US market. Weeks are the engine's build timeline.

MVP / simple CRUD is software that creates, reads, updates and deletes records behind a login: an internal tool, a booking system, a client portal. Full product adds dashboards, reporting, roles and permissions, and integrations with payment, email or accounting systems. Enterprise adds real-time features (live updates, chat), AI features, or heavier security and audit requirements.

Agencies finish faster because they run several people at once. They cost more because the team includes a project manager, a designer and QA.

Full product scope, engine medians by market.

Western Europe and Eastern Europe are one band each in the engine; South Asia covers India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Two things to notice. An Eastern Europe agency costs the same as a Western Europe freelancer: $28,650 at the median. And a US agency costs $63,100 / $8,550 ≈ 7.4 times a South Asia freelancer for the same scope. The hours are the same; the gap is the rate, plus what an agency adds in process.

Custom-code rows of the rate database.

A senior specialist sits at the top of each band; a generalist early in their career sits at the bottom. For more on rates by region, see the offshore development rates calculator.

Software keeps costing money after it ships. The engine's running figure covers hosting, database, monitoring and the services a typical app depends on:

1. 1. MVP or full product: $176/mo, which is $176 x 12 = $2,112 a year.
2. Enterprise: $236/mo, which is $236 x 12 = $2,832 a year.

First-year cost for a US full product from a freelancer at the median: $36,800 + $2,112 = $38,912.

Feature work, security updates and dependency upgrades are billed on top at the hourly rates above. A common pattern is a monthly retainer: 20 hours at the US custom-code freelancer median is 20 x $135 = $2,700 a month.

Number of user roles. Each role (admin, staff, customer, partner) needs its own screens and permission rules. Two roles is a different product from five.

Integrations. Every external system (payments, accounting, CRM, single sign-on) adds hours for the connection, error handling and testing. An integration with a poorly documented API can cost more than a whole feature.

Data migration. Moving records out of spreadsheets or an old system is often underestimated. Clean data imports in hours; messy data takes days.

Compliance. Health, finance and children's data carry legal requirements. The engine does not price compliance as a line item; describe your obligations in the brief so suppliers can.

Design depth. A functional interface built on a component library is far cheaper than a custom design system.

For web-based software in more detail, see the web app development cost page. If you are building a first version to test demand, the MVP cost calculator is a closer fit.

Estimating the total without the hours. A total with no hour breakdown cannot be checked. Ask for hours per feature.

Building the enterprise version first. The US agency median for enterprise is $89,000; for an MVP it is $39,450. Ship the smaller one, measure, then expand.

Forgetting the second year. Running cost and maintenance continue. Put at least a year of them in the budget.

Choosing on rate alone. A cheap team with no overlap in working hours, no tests and no written spec costs more in rework than it saves in rate.

Project bands, timelines, running cost and hourly rates: Project Cost Estimator engine, calibrated against 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks across 6 markets. All figures in USD.

• - Methodology: https://projectcostestimator.com/methodology
• Rate database: https://projectcostestimator.com/rate-database

Figures used, web app niche, US (freelancer / agency): MVP $16,100–$32,200 ($23,000) / $27,600–$55,250 ($39,450); full product $25,750–$51,500 ($36,800) / $44,150–$88,350 ($63,100); enterprise $36,300–$72,600 ($51,850) / $62,300–$124,600 ($89,000). MVP freelancer medians: South Asia $5,400, Eastern Europe $8,950. Full product by market: UK and Australia $22,900–$45,800 ($32,700) / $38,450–$76,950 ($54,950); Western Europe $20,050–$40,100 ($28,650) / $35,250–$70,500 ($50,350); Eastern Europe $10,000–$19,950 ($14,250) / $20,050–$40,100 ($28,650); South Asia $6,000–$11,950 ($8,550) / $12,100–$24,150 ($17,250). Custom-code hourly: US $88–$218 ($135) / $145–$385 ($232); UK $72–$190 ($120) / $130–$319 ($202); Australia $72–$190 ($120) / $130–$334 ($202); Western Europe $65–$168 ($105) / $116–$283 ($185); Eastern Europe $29–$95 ($52) / $65–$168 ($105); South Asia $16–$62 ($31) / $36–$109 ($63). Running $176/mo and $236/mo; $2,112 and $2,832 a year; first year $38,912; retainer $2,700.