Custom Software Development Cost in 2024?

1. Software Size

As the number of screens or pages increases, so does the amount of work required in the development process. The total cost of development will increase along with that additional work.

Generally, you would count anything that the user sees when they first come to your application. The total number also includes each unique screen behind every button click, link click, or menu click. For example, a screen to view client information and a screen to edit client information are two different screens. That’s true, even though they show the same information.

2. Software Complexity

Complicated logic means more time for coding and testing. Will your application perform a lot of heavy analysis, scoring, or number crunching? Does your company’s secret sauce have a lot of nuances and permutations? Software requires advanced features, sophisticated algorithms, or extensive customization, development and maintenance efforts escalate.

Software complexity often goes hand-in-hand with the quantity of code. While smaller applications consist of a few thousand lines of code, larger software often requires tens of thousands of lines of code to function, with some enterprise-scale software requiring upwards of 100,000 lines of code.

3. Creative Design

When you select your fonts, color palettes, and images as well as have custom illustrations and animations for your application, it influence cost. There are nice options, extravagant options, and a range in between. While not directly tied to software performance, creative design allows for a more pleasant user experience, whether it’s for employees or clients. A budget of about $15,000 – $30,000 can cover design planning and a few iterations of feedback and re-design. If you need more design time or have a lot of custom artwork that needs to be created, then the cost of the project will go up.

4. Integration With Other Systems

Integrating with external software introduces a lot of unknown variables into the equation. You don’t know how well the other system lets information in or out, and what hoops you have to jump through to make these integrations reliable. Sometimes, the integrations are effortless. In other cases, they are extremely difficult. Typical integrations like payment providers, such as PayPal or Authorize.Net, are extremely easy to perform. The same goes for credit check services from Equifax or Experian. However, older and lesser-known systems may pose a challenge and increase the project cost.

5. Migration of Existing Data

Do you have data in an existing system that needs to go into your new application? Assuming it is more than you can feasibly type in by hand, then you will need migration. Data migration is nothing more than custom scripts that take data out of your old system, dust it off, and reshape it so it can fit into your new system. The steps of the process are fairly straightforward. However, there are a lot of questions and decisions that need to be made as the two systems will store the data differently. Most migration efforts are run a few times after the software is finished to make sure everything is getting translated correctly and the new system is using the data as desired. The effort of figuring out the translation rules, writing the scripts, and performing a series of tests and adjustments will add time and cost to the project.

6. Who’s Making Your Software

The primary cost of your software solution depends on software engineers, developers, and designers who are creating your software from scratch. That’s why the average cost of custom software can vary, the location of the software developers you’ve hired can influence the cost. After all, hourly cost will differ based on the country, and even the city within the country, where the workers are located. For example, in the United States, hourly rates of software developers tend to be at the upper end of the spectrum. You can expect anywhere from $80 to $250 per hour per developer. If you’re building on a budget, it may be tempting to look outside of the United States for assistance. 

7. Designing to Budget

Software can be designed to fit a certain budget. You may want a butler’s pantry and a finished basement as part of a new home. However, if those luxuries don’t align with your available funds, then it makes sense to exclude them from the design first. The same goes for building custom software. A good software development team can take your ideas and create a design with a target budget in mind.

Once the initial design and cost estimate are complete, certain features can be added or removed to hit your target number. It is definitely worthwhile to put a reasonable number to your target budget when you start a project. You can always come back to have new features added when you allocate the budget for them or as the need arises.