How much does it cost to develop a SaaS?
A SaaS is software sold by subscription and used in the browser. Beyond the feature that creates its value, it must handle accounts, subscriptions, separation of data between customers and permanent availability. This foundation has a cost that must be anticipated.
The foundation common to every SaaS
- sign-up, login, passwords, possibly two-factor authentication;
- organisations, users and roles;
- subscriptions, trials, invoices and recurring payments;
- strict separation of each customer’s data;
- transactional emails, logging, backups.
This foundation often accounts for a third of the budget of the first version.
Orders of magnitude
Excluding VAT, for professional development:
- First version (MVP) focused on one key feature: €25,000 to €60,000.
- Complete product with several modules, integrations and advanced administration: €60,000 to over €150,000.
Validate before you build
The main risk of a SaaS is not technical: it is building a product nobody pays for. Before developing, validate demand with real customers — even with a manual version or a prototype. The first version should then help you learn, not cover everything.
Recurring costs
- hosting and monitoring, which grow with the number of customers;
- maintenance, security and updates;
- customer support;
- improvements requested by users.
Which technology?
A robust framework such as Symfony or Laravel provides most of the foundation (security, queues, APIs) and lowers the cost. Above all, the choice must ensure maintainability over several years. See our SaaS development page.
Price your SaaS
Tell us the problem your product solves and your first target customers.