What You Get
The App & Software Cost Checklist is a three-page PDF for anyone putting a budget together for custom software, whether that is a client portal, an internal system or a mobile app. It lists what you pay once to build it, what you pay every month or year to keep it running, and the costs that tend to turn up after the contract is signed.
Ask “how much does an app cost?” and the only accurate answer is that it depends on the scope. That is true, but it doesn’t help you set a budget. The checklist breaks the scope into the parts developers price, so you can see where the money goes and which quotes have left parts out.
What Is Inside
- Thirteen one-off build costs, from discovery and design to data migration, testing and app store review
- Six running costs, including hosting, maintenance, the services the software depends on and retesting an app for each new iOS and Android release
- Six costs people forget, such as their own staff’s time and the contingency for requirements that appear mid-build
- A rough split of the budget across five phases, from discovery to changes after launch
- Nine questions to ask every developer, covering fixed price against hourly, scope changes and who owns the code at the end
- A worksheet that sets the yearly cost of the problem against the cost of owning the software, with room for two quotes
Who This Is For
Business owners, directors and managers who are about to commission software and have to agree a budget for it. You don’t need a technical background. If you are still deciding between a native app and a web app, the questions section covers what to ask, and the running costs show what each option commits you to after launch.
How to Use This
Start with the worksheet at the end. Work out roughly what the problem costs you now, in staff hours and in the subscriptions the software would replace. That figure tells you how much the software is worth before any developer gives you a number.
Then write down what the software has to do. The Software Requirements Template is built for that, and a developer can only price what is written down. When the quotes come in, go through the build and running costs line by line with each one. The phased budget split comes from our guide on how to budget for custom software, which explains each phase in more depth.
Why We Made This
Software projects often reach us with a budget figure before they have a scope, and the figure rarely includes hosting, maintenance or the client’s own time. This checklist puts those costs on paper early, while you can still plan for them. It works on any developer’s quote, including ours. Our approach to software development pricing is scope-based, and the custom software development page shows the work we take on.
Get the Checklist
Fill in the short form and the PDF opens straight away. We email you the link too. Everything else we have published is in the resource library.
