{"id":45416,"date":"2025-06-24T03:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/?p=45416"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:52:08","slug":"software-development-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/software-development-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Software [Pricing Guide 2026]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"did-you-know-wrap\">\n<summary> \ud83d\udca1 QUICK ANSWER <\/summary>\n<ul>\n      <li>Custom software development costs between $5,000 and $250,000 for most projects.<\/li>\n      <li>The biggest cost drivers are team type, project complexity and platform.<\/li>\n      <li>About two-thirds of software projects exceed their original budgets due to the poor scoping in the planning phase.<\/li>\n    <\/ul> \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>What you will find in this guide<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Typical cost ranges by project type, platform and company size<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How costs break down across each phase of development<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A comparison of team models (in-house, freelance, offshore)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Practical strategies to control costs without cutting quality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Part_1_Cost_Overview\"><\/span>Part 1: Cost Overview<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_does_software_development_cost\"><\/span>What does software development cost?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Custom software development typically costs between $5,000 and $250,000. The average project costs approximately $35,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enterprise-grade systems with complex integrations, compliance requirements or large user bases regularly exceed $500,000 to $1,000,000 or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These ranges are wide because \u201csoftware development\u201d covers everything from a simple booking tool to a full-scale ERP system. The sections below break the number down by the factors that matter most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"did-you-know-wrap\">\n<summary> Why Budgets Overrun<\/summary>\n<p>Approximately two-thirds of software projects exceed their original budget. The most common cause is inadequate scoping at the start of requirements that expand after development begins. A structured discovery phase (typically 10% of budget) reduces this risk significantly.<\/p> \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cost_by_project_complexity\"><\/span>Cost by project complexity<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Project type<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Typical cost range<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Timeline<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Simple tool or MVP<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$5,000 \u2013 $25,000<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">4 \u2013 8 weeks<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Standard business app<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$25,000 \u2013 $80,000<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">3 \u2013 6 months<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Complex platform or SaaS<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$80,000 \u2013 $250,000<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">6 \u2013 18 months<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Enterprise system<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$250,000 \u2013 $1,000,000+<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">12 \u2013 36 months<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cost_by_platform\"><\/span>Cost by platform<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most businesses target multiple platforms. Each adds cost because of separate codebases, testing requirements and platform specific rules. <em><strong>Based on a blended rate of $50 per hour<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Platform<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Development hours<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Estimated cost<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Web application<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">300 \u2013 900 hours<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$15,000 \u2013 $45,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>iOS app<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">400 \u2013 1,200 hours<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$20,000 \u2013 $60,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Android app<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">400 \u2013 1,200 hours<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$20,000 \u2013 $60,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Cross-platform mobile<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">500 \u2013 1,400 hours<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$25,000 \u2013 $70,000<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note: <\/strong>Hourly rates vary significantly by team type and location. <strong>See Part 3 for a full team model comparison<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cost_by_industry\"><\/span>Cost by industry<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Regulated industries cost more because of compliance requirements (HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC 2), mandatory security features and more rigorous testing protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Industry<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Typical cost range<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Key cost driver<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>E-commerce<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$15,000 \u2013 $80,000<\/td><td>Payment integration, inventory<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Healthcare (HIPAA)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$50,000 \u2013 $200,000+<\/td><td>Compliance, data security<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Fintech (PCI-DSS)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$60,000 \u2013 $250,000+<\/td><td>Audit trails, encryption<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Education \/ EdTech<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$20,000 \u2013 $100,000<\/td><td>Content delivery, scaling<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Logistics \/ supply chain<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$40,000 \u2013 $150,000<\/td><td>Real-time tracking, APIs<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Part_2_How_Software_Development_Costs_Break_Down_within_a_Project\"><\/span>Part 2: How Software Development Costs Break Down within a Project<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The budget for any software project is not evenly distributed. Here is how costs typically allocate across the five phases of development:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Phase<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>% of total budget<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>What it covers<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Project planning &amp; scoping<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">~10%<\/td><td>Requirements, roadmap, risk analysis<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Design (UX\/UI)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">~15%<\/td><td>Wireframes, prototypes, visual design<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Software development (coding)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">~60%<\/td><td>Frontend, backend, database, APIs<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Testing &amp; QA<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">~15%<\/td><td>Functional, security, performance testing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Deployment<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Variable<\/td><td>Infrastructure setup, go-live, training<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ongoing maintenance<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">~20% annually<\/td><td>Updates, bug fixes, support<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Phase_1_Planning_and_scoping_10\"><\/span>Phase 1: Planning and scoping (10%)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Planning defines the project scope, timeline and resource requirements. Skipping or rushing this phase is the most common reason projects exceed budget. A clear specification document prevents scope creep during development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"did-you-know-wrap\">\n<summary> \ud83d\udca1 COST TIP<\/summary>\n<p>Investing in a formal discovery phase before signing a development contract can reduce total project cost by 15\u201325% by identifying unclear requirements early.<\/p> \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Phase_2_Development_60\"><\/span>Phase 2: Development (60%)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Coding is the largest single cost. Developers translate design specifications into functional software using languages such as Python, JavaScript, Java and SQL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cost here is primarily driven by developer hourly rates and the number of features in scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reducing development cost<\/strong>: automation tools and low-code platforms can accelerate development for standard features such as authentication, dashboards, and notifications which freeing developer time for custom logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Phase_3_Testing_and_QA_15\"><\/span>Phase 3: Testing and QA (15%)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing validates that the software works correctly under real conditions. It covers functional testing, security testing, load testing and device compatibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shift-left testing<\/strong> means integrating quality checks earlier in the development cycle rather than only at the end. This approach mostly reduces bug fixing costs by 30\u201340% because defects caught in development are significantly cheaper to fix than those found after release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Phase_4_Ongoing_maintenance_20_per_year\"><\/span>Phase 4: Ongoing maintenance (20% per year)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Maintenance is a ongoing cost equal to roughly 20% of the original development cost per year. It includes security patches, OS compatibility updates, performance improvements and user-reported bug fixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To reduce maintenance costs<\/strong>: audit and close unused cloud services regularly. AWS and Azure Reserved Instance pricing can reduce infrastructure costs by 30\u201360% compared to on-demand rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Part_3_Team_Model_Comparison\"><\/span>Part 3: Team Model Comparison<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>How you staff a software project has a bigger impact on cost than almost any other single decision. Here are the five main options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Model<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Hourly rate (approx.)<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Best for<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Watch out for<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>In-house team<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$80 \u2013 $150\/hr (all-in)<\/td><td>Long-term, ongoing products<\/td><td>High overhead, slow to hire<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Local agency<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$100 \u2013 $200\/hr<\/td><td>High-touch collaboration<\/td><td>Highest cost option<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Freelancers<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$30 \u2013 $120\/hr<\/td><td>Specific tasks, short projects<\/td><td>Coordination risk, availability<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dedicated remote devs<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$25 \u2013 $80\/hr<\/td><td>Scaling a core team<\/td><td>Requires active management<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Offshore dev company<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$20 \u2013 $60\/hr<\/td><td>Full-cycle builds on a budget<\/td><td>Time zone, communication setup<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"did-you-know-wrap\">\n<summary> \ud83d\udca1 Offshore Development <\/summary>\n<ul>\n      <li>Partnering with an offshore company in India, Eastern Europe or Latin America can reduce development costs by 40\u201370% compared to US or Western European rates.<\/li>\n      <li>The tradeoff is that you are usually working 1 to 2 hours of overlap each day and everything outside that window needs to be communicated through written specifications.<\/li>\n      <li>Quality varies significantly between vendors. So, need to evaluate portfolios, check references and run a paid pilot before committing.<\/li>\n    <\/ul> \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Part_4_How_to_Reduce_Software_Development_Costs\"><\/span>Part 4: How to Reduce Software Development Costs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Build_an_MVP_first\"><\/span>1. Build an MVP first<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a simplest version of your software that includes only the features needed to test your core assumption with real users. MVP development typically costs 30\u201360% less than full-featured builds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An MVP for a standard SaaS product costs between $15,000 and $50,000. A full-featured version of the same product would typically cost $80,000 to $200,000. The MVP will help you to validate demand before committing the full budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Prioritize_the_discovery_phase\"><\/span>2. Prioritize the discovery phase<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Discovery phase defines the project scope before development begins. It usually takes up around 8% to 12% of the total project budget and projects that skip this phase end up spending more than their original budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Use_dedicated_offshore_developers\"><\/span>3. Use dedicated offshore developers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Hiring dedicated developers through an offshore company (rather than a fixed-price project contract) gives you more flexibility and cost control. Dedicated developers work exclusively on your project under your direction probably at $25\u201360\/hour, compared to $80\u2013150\/hour for equivalent talent in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Audit_infrastructure_costs_regularly\"><\/span>4. Audit infrastructure costs regularly<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cloud infrastructure costs (AWS, GCP, Azure) are a common source of budget overrun for products that scale. Unused services, oversized instances and unoptimized storage can add 20\u201340% to annual infrastructure bills. Monthly cost reviews and reserved instance pricing are the two highest-impact interventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. How much does it cost to build an app like Spotify?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A basic streaming app with core features (user accounts, catalog browsing, audio playback, playlists) would cost approximately $80,000\u2013$150,000 for an MVP. A production-ready version with licensing infrastructure, recommendations and offline playback would cost $300,000\u2013$600,000+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. How much does it cost to build software for a startup?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most startups build an MVP first. Expect to budget $15,000\u2013$60,000 for a web-based MVP that would be depending on complexity. If you need both web and mobile add 40\u201360% to the estimate. Factor in 20% of that figure annually for maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. How much does software maintenance cost per year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Annual maintenance typically runs 15\u201325% of the original development cost. A $50,000 project should budget $7,500\u201312,500 per year for updates, security patches and bug fixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How much does it cost to build an app like Spotify?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"A basic streaming app with core features (user accounts, catalog browsing, audio playback, playlists) would cost approximately $80,000\u2013$150,000 for an MVP. A production-ready version with licensing infrastructure, recommendations and offline playback would cost $300,000\u2013$600,000+.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"How much does it cost to build software for a startup?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Most startups build an MVP first. 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About two-thirds of software projects exceed their original budgets due to the poor scoping in the planning phase. What you will find in this guide Part 1: Cost Overview What [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":45436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2028,2392],"tags":[2360,2361,2355,2357,2358,2359,2356],"class_list":["post-45416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engineering","category-new-feature","tag-cost-for-software-development","tag-cost-of-developing-software","tag-cost-to-develop-software","tag-how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-software","tag-how-much-does-it-cost-to-create-a-software","tag-how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-software","tag-software-development-cost"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45416"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50924,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45416\/revisions\/50924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}