WHAT THINGS COST
How much does it cost to build a web app?
Where the line is between a website and an application, and what crossing it costs.
Short answer · updated
A first working version with a backend, a database, authentication, an admin surface and a deployment costs from $7,500 here. The line between a website and an application is whether something is stored and changed, and everything past that line is more expensive for real reasons.
The line is authentication
If a visitor only reads, it is a website. If a visitor creates, changes or logs in, it is an application. Authentication is usually the moment it crosses over, because from that point on the software has to know who somebody is, keep their data separate from everyone else's, and still be correct when two people do the same thing at once.
This is why a quote for "a site where users can upload things" is ten times a quote for "a site". It is not a bigger website.
The first version is the whole discipline
Most of the value in an application project is deciding what the first version does not do. Every feature deferred is money not spent and a decision not locked in before you have watched anyone use it.
The data model is the other place where the money is. Getting it wrong is the expensive mistake in software, because the cost of changing it grows with every week of data that already exists in the old shape. It is agreed before any code is written.
What $7,500 includes, and what it does not
Included: backend, database, authentication, an admin surface, and a deployment running in your own infrastructure with the code and the keys handed over. The interface is built against real data rather than mock-ups, which is why it still works when the data is not tidy.
Not included: payment processing, which depends on which provider you use and is quoted when that is known; ongoing maintenance and monitoring; native mobile apps; and the third-party service fees for hosting, database, email and storage, which you pay directly.
Why quotes for the same app differ tenfold
Usually scope, occasionally quality, sometimes both. A quote that omits authentication, the admin surface or the deployment is quoting a prototype, and a prototype is a demonstration rather than something a business can run on.
Ask what happens after launch, who holds the credentials, and whether the code can be picked up by another developer. An application you cannot leave is more expensive than the invoice suggests.
Worked example
| Package | Price | Delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Website | $3,500 | 3 weeks |
| Custom Web App | from $7,500 | Dated once the scope is agreed |
| Custom Web App over Website | $4,000 more at the starting price | Not comparable: one is dated once the scope is agreed |
Both prices are the published ones on the package pages.
Included and not included
What each package lists as included, and what its page lists as not included.
| Package | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Web Appfrom $7,500 |
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| Website$3,500 |
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What moves the number
- Pushes it up
- Payments, roles and permissions, integrations, real-time features, compliance requirements
- Pushes it down
- A smaller first version. This is the only lever that moves the number a lot
- Pay separately, forever
- Hosting, database, email and storage, paid to those providers directly
Frequently asked questions
Where is the line between a website and a web app?
If a visitor only reads, it is a website. If a visitor creates, changes or logs in, it is an application. Authentication is usually the moment it crosses over.
Who owns the code?
You do, once the final payment clears. Third-party libraries stay under their own licences, and we keep the right to describe the work in our portfolio without naming you.
Do you maintain it afterwards?
Not automatically. Tell us what you need and we will price it. We hand over a deployment any competent developer can pick up, so you are not trapped.
When do I pay?
Fixed-price work is paid in full before it starts. Monthly work is paid monthly in advance and can be stopped at the end of any paid month. Prices are in US dollars.
When does the delivery clock start?
A delivery time starts on the first working day after payment clears and the project brief is submitted, not on the day of payment. If we are waiting on content, access or feedback from you, the clock pauses for that time.
Can I get a refund?
Before work starts: Full refund, no questions asked. Ask any time before we begin and you get everything back. After work starts, before delivery: You are refunded the part of the project not yet done, assessed against the work completed at that point. If we have finished the design but not the build, you pay for the design and the rest comes back. After delivery: If the delivered work does not match what the package listed, tell us within 14 days. We fix it, and if we cannot, we refund you in full. Deliverables built exactly to the listed scope are not refundable simply because you changed your mind.
What happens after the work is delivered?
One-off projects carry thirty days of fixes at no charge from the day the work is handed over: anything that does not work, or that breaks by itself, is ours to put right. We watch the delivered work over that month rather than waiting to be told. Work you think of later is new work and is quoted separately. Monthly packages have no separate support window because the month you are paying for is the support.
The packages behind these numbers
Each one lists its full scope, what it excludes and how the work runs.
- Custom Web App A working product, not a prototype: auth, data, admin, deployment. from $7,500
- Website A site of up to 7 pages with a real information architecture. $3,500
The studio behind them: Web design & development.