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What Does It Cost To Build Your Software?

Most quotes start with "it depends," which helps nobody. Pick what you are building below and get an honest ballpark in a few clicks, based on real 2026 solo-developer rates. No email, no sales call to see the number.
What are you building?
What does it need? (pick any)
How polished?
Timeline
Design
Ballpark

$5,300 to $7,400

Roughly 1 to 3 weeks of build time.
MVP / first version$5,000
User accounts and auth$1,200
This is an honest ballpark from a transparent formula, not a quote. The real number comes after we talk through what you actually need, and I will tell you if something is cheaper or simpler than you think.Your selections come with you. No email needed to see the number.

The Short Answer

A solo full-stack developer in 2026 builds most MVPs for $4,000 to $15,000, full SaaS apps for $12,000 to $40,000, and standalone AI features or automations for $2,000 to $12,000. The price is driven by how many features you keep, whether you need payments and accounts, how polished it has to be, and how fast you need it. A solo builder is cheaper than an agency on the same scope because there are no handoff layers to pay for.

What Actually Moves The Price

Five things decide most of the number. Everything else is detail.

Scope

Every feature you add is more to build and more to keep working. The cheapest projects do one thing well. The expensive ones try to do ten.

Payments And Accounts

The moment you charge money and store users, you need auth, billing, and the security that goes with both. It is worth it when you are selling, and skippable when you are still testing.

AI And Real-Time

AI features and live updates are powerful and not free. They add infrastructure, cost-control work, and the plumbing that keeps them reliable under real traffic.

Polish

A rough prototype to test an idea costs less than a production app people pay for, which costs less than a system built to handle real scale from day one.

Speed

A flexible timeline is the cheapest. A hard deadline costs more, because hitting it means reshuffling everything else to get there.

What These Ranges Are Based On

These are honest 2026 ballparks for a single experienced full-stack developer who works with AI tooling, not agency sticker prices. Use them as a sanity check before anyone quotes you.
MVP or first versionOne or two core features built properly, live on a real domain.
$4,000 to $15,000
Full web app or SaaSAccounts, payments, an admin side, and the backend to run it.
$12,000 to $40,000
AI feature in an existing productLLM features, search, or generation wired into what you already have.
$3,000 to $12,000
AI agent or automationA system that handles repetitive work without a person in the loop.
$2,000 to $10,000
Marketing site or landing pageFast, clean, and built to sell one thing well.
$1,500 to $6,000

Common Questions

How much does it cost to build an MVP in 2026?

A solo-developer MVP usually lands between $4,000 and $15,000. The range depends on how many core features you keep, whether you need payments and accounts from day one, and how polished it has to feel. Stripping the scope to the one thing that proves the idea is the single biggest lever on the price.

Why is a solo developer cheaper than an agency for the same build?

An agency spreads one project across a salesperson, a project manager, a designer, and a developer, and you pay for all four plus the overhead of coordinating them. One engineer who owns the whole stack removes the handoff layers, so more of your budget goes into the actual product and the timeline gets shorter.

What makes a software project more expensive?

Payments and subscriptions, AI features, real-time updates, admin dashboards, and a separate mobile app are the heaviest line items. Built-to-scale infrastructure and a rushed timeline also push the number up. A clean template instead of custom design is the easiest place to save money early.

How accurate is the estimate from this tool?

It is an honest ballpark from a transparent formula, not a quote. It is good enough to know whether a project fits your budget before you reach out. The real number comes after a short call where we scope what you actually need, and I will tell you if something is simpler or cheaper than you assumed.

Does the estimate include design?

It can. The tool lets you pick a clean template, which costs nothing extra, or custom design, which adds to the total. Most early products are better served by a sharp template so the budget goes into the product working, with custom design coming later once the idea is proven.

What happens after I get an estimate?

You book a thirty-minute call and your selections come with you, so we start from a shared picture instead of a blank page. We talk through the scope, I quote a fixed number against it, and if we are a fit we start. If a pipeline or a build is not the right answer, I will tell you that too.

Got A Number You Can Live With?

Run your project through the tool, then book a call and your scope comes with you. See what I have shipped on my work page, or read how I work on the services page.
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Software Project Cost Estimator (MVP, SaaS, AI) | Kevin Gabeci