Ask five agencies what a web application costs and you'll get five different numbers, because they're each assuming a different project. A login form with a dashboard is a different job from a multi-tenant platform with billing and permissions. Before any number means anything, it needs a scope attached to it, whether you're asking how much it costs to build a web app for ten users or ten thousand.
What actually drives the price
Four things move the number more than anything else. How many distinct user roles the app needs to support, how much of the work is custom logic versus off-the-shelf patterns, how many outside systems it has to talk to, and how much design work is involved before a line of code gets written.
These figures reflect our own pricing for a fixed-scope, fixed-price engagement, not an hourly estimate. They assume a US-based client, standard integrations (payments, auth, email), and a scope that's been through one real conversation, not a guess from a one-line brief.
Cost by project size
We size projects into three tiers based on how much distinct functionality they need, not how many pages they have. Here's roughly where each one lands.
| Tier | What it typically includes | Timeline | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focused | Single user role, one or two core workflows, standard integrations | ~2 weeks | From $3,000 |
| Standard | Multiple roles, a handful of workflows, a couple of third-party integrations | ~3 weeks | From $5,000 |
| Substantial | Complex permissions, several integrations, custom reporting or admin tooling | ~5 weeks | From $9,000 |
Those numbers will look low next to a traditional agency quote for the same scope, and that's intentional rather than a discount. A comparable traditional build (same scope, same review bar) typically runs six to nine times longer and costs roughly ten times as much, because the delivery model itself is different, not just the price on top of the same process.
What changes the number
A few things reliably push a project into a higher tier or add to the base price.
- Compliance requirements. HIPAA, SOC 2 or similar constraints add process and review overhead beyond the build itself.
- Custom design work. A fully bespoke interface costs more than building on an established design system.
- Data migration. Moving existing data into a new system is its own project, not a line item.
- Real-time features. Live collaboration, chat or streaming data add architectural complexity a standard CRUD app doesn't have.
How we actually price a project
We don't quote from a one-line brief. A thirty-minute scope call gets us enough detail to give you a fixed number before any work starts, not a range that grows once you're already committed. What you agree to is what you pay.
Want a number specific to what you're building, not a general estimate?
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