What custom software actually costs in 2026
Pricing depends mostly on scope, not on the type of company you hire. Here are realistic 2026 ranges for production-grade work (tested, deployed, and owned by you):
| Project type | Typical price | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | $1,000 – $2,000 | 1–2 weeks | Launches, waitlists, ad campaigns |
| Business website | $3,000 – $5,000 | 3–4 weeks | Marketing sites that convert |
| SaaS MVP | $8,000 – $25,000 | 4–8 weeks | Turning an idea into a paying product |
| Full web application | $15,000+ | 8+ weeks | Complex, multi-feature platforms |
What drives the price up or down
- Scope & features. Every screen, role, and workflow adds time. A focused V1 almost always beats a sprawling first release.
- Integrations. Payments (Stripe), authentication, email, and third-party APIs each add real engineering.
- Design. A polished, custom UI costs more than an off-the-shelf template — but it's what makes a product feel trustworthy.
- Testing & quality. Production-grade software with an automated test suite costs more up front and far less over its lifetime.
- Who builds it. Senior engineers cost more per hour but ship faster and break less than junior or offshore teams.
Fixed price vs. hourly billing
Hourly billing pushes the risk of overruns onto you. Fixed pricing puts it on the builder: you know the total before work starts, which forces a clear scope and honest estimate. At Apex & Studio every project is fixed-price — landing pages from $1,000, business websites from $3,000, and SaaS MVPs from $8,000 — with a quote before we write a line of code.
What should be included
A fair quote includes design, development, production deployment, and a handover of the complete source code. Ours also includes 90 days of post-launch bug-fix support, and you own everything — code, design, and infrastructure — with no vendor lock-in.
How to keep costs reasonable
- Ship a focused MVP first, then iterate on real user feedback.
- Reuse battle-tested tech instead of chasing trends.
- Get a fixed-price quote so scope is explicit from day one.
Want a number for your specific project? Use our free instant estimator — it takes about 60 seconds.