The honest answer: anywhere from $6,000 to $500,000+, which is why "it depends" answers dominate this topic. But the reasons it depends are knowable, and once you understand them you can predict your own number within a sensible range.
This guide breaks down 2026 pricing the way an engineer scopes a build: by project type, team model, and the multipliers that actually move the quote.
Cost by project type (2026 benchmarks)
These are typical full-production ranges quoted by US/EU agencies, based on Clutch/GoodFirms-style pricing data:
| Project type | US/EU agency range | Solo senior engineer |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page + backend | $8k–25k | $4k–10k |
| MVP (auth, payments, core flow) | $30k–70k | $12k–28k |
| Full SaaS product | $60k–150k+ | $25k–60k |
| Marketplace (two-sided) | $80k–200k+ | $35k–80k |
| Internal tool / dashboard | $15k–50k | $7k–20k |
Two things explain the spread between columns:
- Overhead. An agency quote carries project managers, account managers, office costs, and margin. Often 40–60% of the invoice never touches code.
- Geography. A senior engineer in Berlin or Austin bills $100–150/hr. An equally senior engineer in Dhaka or Warsaw bills $45–60/hr for the same stack and the same architecture rigor. That's cost of living, not skill difference.
The five factors that actually move your price
1. Feature scope: the big one
Auth, payments, admin panels, notifications, file uploads, third-party integrations: each is days-to-weeks of work. The difference between a $12k MVP and a $28k MVP is almost always the feature list, not the idea. Cut scope before you cut quality. A smaller product built properly beats a bigger one built badly, and you can always add features to a solid foundation.
2. Complexity class
A CRUD app over a database is simple. Real-time collaboration, heavy data pipelines, 3D rendering, or ML inference are complex. They multiply both cost and calendar. Most founders overestimate their complexity class: the majority of successful SaaS products are, architecturally, well-executed CRUD.
3. Who builds it
- Agency: highest cost, most process. Good when you need a large parallel team and contractual shields.
- Freelancer marketplace: cheapest hourly rate, highest variance. The $25/hr quote that takes 4× the hours isn't cheap.
- Solo senior engineer: one accountable person, no coordination overhead. The sweet spot for MVPs and products up to a few hundred thousand users, which is further than most products ever get.
4. Fixed price vs. time and materials
Fixed price transfers risk to the builder, which only works when scope is locked in writing before the quote. Time and materials is fairer for genuinely exploratory work but requires trust and weekly demos. Beware fixed-price quotes given without a scope document: one party is about to be unhappy.
5. What "done" includes
Deployment, monitoring, documentation, and post-launch support are part of shipping software, not extras. A quote that excludes them isn't lower. It's incomplete. Ask every bidder: what happens in the 30 days after launch?
Rules of thumb that hold up
- The build is ~60% of year-one cost. Hosting, maintenance, and iteration typically add 40–70% of the initial build cost over the first year.
- Rewrites cost more than builds. Rescuing a badly-built codebase routinely exceeds the cost of having built it properly. If your current build feels wrong, an architecture audit before more feature spend usually pays for itself.
- Speed comes from scope, not headcount. Adding developers to a small product slows it down (coordination cost). A 4–6 week MVP is realistic for one senior engineer with a locked scope. That is the usual shape of an MVP build.
So what will your project cost?
Start from the row in the table that matches your project type, then adjust for the five factors above: feature scope moves the number most, complexity class second, everything else at the margins. Write the scope down before you ask anyone to price it. A quote against a vague brief is a guess, whoever gives it.
If you want a second opinion on a scope or an estimate you have already been given, get in touch.