If you're Googling "how much does it cost to build a SaaS," you've probably seen answers ranging from $5,000 to $500,000. The real answer depends on what you're building and who's building it.
We build SaaS products — both our own and for clients. Here's what things actually cost in 2026, based on real projects we've shipped.
SaaS MVP Cost: $8,000 - $25,000
An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) gets your core idea in front of users as fast as possible. This is what we recommend for 90% of founders. You don't need every feature on day one — you need to validate that people will pay for your solution.
What you get at the $8,000 tier:
- User authentication (sign up, login, password reset, email verification)
- Stripe billing integration (subscriptions, usage-based, or one-time payments)
- Core feature set (3-5 primary features that define your product)
- Admin dashboard for managing users and data
- Responsive design (works on mobile, tablet, desktop)
- Production deployment on cloud infrastructure
- SSL, backups, monitoring
At $15,000-$25,000, you add:
- API integrations (third-party services, webhooks)
- Advanced user roles and permissions
- Real-time features (WebSockets, live updates)
- Analytics dashboard
- Email automation (onboarding sequences, notifications)
- Multi-tenancy (if needed)
Why We Use Ruby on Rails
We build on Rails because it's the fastest framework for shipping production SaaS. Shopify, GitHub, Basecamp, and Airbnb all started on Rails. It has built-in solutions for authentication, database management, background jobs, email, and testing — so we spend time on your features, not reinventing infrastructure.
Timeline: 4-12 Weeks
Most MVPs ship in 4-8 weeks. More complex projects take 8-12 weeks. We work in weekly sprints with demos, so you see progress every week and can adjust direction based on what you learn.
What Happens After Launch?
After your MVP is live, we offer ongoing support packages starting at $2,000/month for bug fixes, feature additions, and scaling. Most clients start with monthly support and scale up as their revenue grows.
Ready to Get Started?
We build SaaS products that make money. Our own products generate revenue, and we bring that same focus to client work. Contact us for a free project estimate.