How much does a custom application cost?

What makes the price vary?

You pay for an application by the time it takes to design, build and test it, then roll it out in your business, training and launch support included. That time depends less on the technology than on what the application has to do. The factors below explain most of the gaps between two quotes.

Integrations are often the unpleasant surprise. Connecting the application to accounting software that offers a documented API takes little time; working around closed software can take a lot. Ask for them to be checked before the price is set.

Rollout is the other cost people forget. A delivered application still has to be adopted: training users, answering their questions in the first weeks, adjusting what gets in the way. The more it changes the team’s habits, the more this level of training and support needs to be budgeted.

What price ranges are published?

There is no Canadian government survey of what custom software projects cost. Public benchmarks come from platforms that list vendors, mostly outside Canada, and quote prices in US dollars. They give an order of magnitude, not a price.

• Clutch, based on verified client reviews: custom software development projects typically cost US$10,000 to US$49,999. The same source gives an average cost of US$132,480 per project, pulled up by large projects. No sample size is published.
• GoodFirms, based on estimates from more than 100 web development companies in 2024: US$10,000 to US$100,000 for a simple to mid-complexity web application, US$10,000 to US$60,000 for a portal, and US$5,000 to more than US$35,000 for a minimum first version.

Both sources mix countries where labour costs are very different from Quebec’s, and one relies on what vendors advertise rather than on what clients paid. Use them to place a quote in context, never to judge it.

Hourly rate or fixed price?

To place the cost of labour in Quebec, the most solid source is the Government of Canada’s Job Bank. In the Montreal region, a salaried software developer and programmer earns from $29.00 an hour at the low end to $67.31 at the high end, with a median wage of $45.67 (2023-2024 period). Job Bank doesn’t break these wages down by experience, but from what we see, the low end mostly corresponds to junior programmers, often in their first job. And these are employee wages, not billed rates: a firm adds project management, design, testing, tools and overhead.

With an hourly rate, you also pay for the programmer’s learning. In almost every project, there comes a point where they have to learn something new: a technology, the API of one of your software tools, a rule specific to your trade. During that time, they move more slowly, and those less productive hours end up on your invoice. With a fixed price, that risk stays with the vendor.

At Kasvu, the price is set in the proposal, before work begins, based on a written scope. A usable first version is generally ready in about eight weeks; what comes next evolves with your priorities. It is the approach we recommend for a small business, with us or with another vendor: it lets you know what you are paying for.

Why start with a first version?

The most expensive project is the one that tries to do everything from the start. A first version limited to the workflow that costs the most time today (the quote, following up on a file, the order) is delivered faster, gets tested with real users and reveals what really matters for what comes next.

That is the approach taken for Pavar: an application focused on the workflow that took the most time, from the proposal approved online all the way to production. The tool has been in use for several years, and Pavar now wants a second version.

What does an application cost after launch?

The build price is not the total cost. A useful application evolves: new rules, new users, new integrations. It also has to be hosted, backed up, have its components updated and have whatever needs fixing fixed. No reliable public source gives an annual percentage that holds for every application; be wary of ready-made rules.

• Hosting: an account in your name, whose bill you can see.
• External services: email sending, database hosting, file storage, often billed monthly based on usage.
• Support: what is included, response times, the rate outside the agreement.
• Training: for new employees, and for the team with each major change.
• Changes: how they are estimated and approved before being made.
• Exit: the documentation and access that let another vendor take over.

The questions to ask before you sign

• What exactly is included: design, testing, data migration, going live, training, launch support?
• Have the integrations been checked, and what happens if one of them turns out to be impossible?
• How is a change in scope estimated and approved?
• Who owns the code, the data, the hosting accounts and the domain name at the end of the project?
• What will hosting, external services and support cost in the first year?
• Can I see a similar application you have already delivered, and talk to that client?

The ownership question deserves a guide of its own: see who owns the code of your application. Also check whether government support for digital transformation is available to your business; programs change often, and an advisor can tell you what applies.