Book a call

SaaS MVP cost, feature by feature.

The short answer

A typical SaaS MVP cost is about $5,000 to $11,500 with a freelancer and $10,000 to $20,000 with an agency, by our rough estimates. Your features set the number: login is about 24 build hours, Stripe billing 32, AI features 48 and a mobile app 160. Bespoke Devs charges a fixed $4,997 when the scope fits a 15-day build.

Book a free callEstimate your cost

Reviewed by Anubhav Gupta, Bespoke Devs · Updated

What each feature adds to your SaaS MVP cost

These are typical build hours for a solid first version, priced at the rates in our cost calculator. Every dollar figure is our rough estimate, rounded to the nearest $100.

FeatureBuild hoursWith a freelancerWith an agency
App shell, core workflow and deployment80$1,300–$3,100$2,700–$5,400
UI and UX design, if you have no Figma file60$1,000–$2,300$2,000–$4,100
Marketing site with schema and sitemap24$400–$900$800–$1,600
User accounts and login24$400–$900$800–$1,600
Stripe subscriptions32$500–$1,200$1,100–$2,200
Admin dashboard40$700–$1,500$1,400–$2,700
Email notifications16$300–$600$500–$1,100
File uploads16$300–$600$500–$1,100
Each third-party API20$300–$800$700–$1,400
Multiple languages24$400–$900$800–$1,600
Teams and roles32$500–$1,200$1,100–$2,200
Analytics and reports32$500–$1,200$1,100–$2,200
AI features48$800–$1,800$1,600–$3,200
Real-time chat56$900–$2,200$1,900–$3,800
Marketplace payouts64$1,100–$2,500$2,200–$4,300
Mobile app for iOS and Android160$2,600–$6,200$5,400–$10,800

Our estimates use $15–$35 an hour with 10% overhead for a freelancer, and $26–$52 an hour with 30% overhead for an agency. Marketplace and AI products also take a complexity multiplier in the calculator, so they cost more than this table adds up to.

A worked example

Take a SaaS web app with login, Stripe billing, an admin dashboard, email and one third-party API, starting with no designs. Add up the table and you get 296 build hours.

  • Freelancer$5,000–$11,500
    10–14 weeks
  • Typical agency$10,000–$20,000
    7–12 weeks
  • Bespoke Devs full-scale MVP$4,997
    15 days

Freelancer and agency figures are our rough estimates from the calculator. The Bespoke Devs price is our published package for this scope.

Where the fixed price stops

Our calculator treats about 300 build hours as the most that fits a 15-day, $4,997 build. The example above is at 296, so there’s very little room left.

That makes the trade-offs easy to see. Adding teams and roles pushes it to 328 hours, which becomes a custom quote. Bringing your own Figma file removes 60 hours and makes space for that feature.

If you’re trying to bring the SaaS MVP development cost down, cut features before you cut quality. Our MVP features list shows which ones usually wait.

Costs people forget

The build is the biggest part of any SaaS MVP cost, but it isn’t the only bill.

  • Running costsHosting, database, email and any AI usage. Small at first, and they grow with customers. If your product uses a model, work out the LLM API cost before you set your prices.
  • Payment feesStripe or another provider takes a share of each sale. See Stripe vs Paddle vs LemonSqueezy.
  • Changes after launchYour first customers will ask for things. Our full-scale package includes 60 to 90 days of support, then it’s a $500 monthly retainer or project work.
  • Your own timeSomeone has to write the scope, answer questions and review the work. With a freelancer, that someone is usually you.

When our price isn’t the right comparison

We’re an agency, so weigh our view accordingly.

  • Your scope needs more than about 300 hours. You’ll need a custom quote from us too.
  • You’re still testing demand. A landing page or an AI builder costs far less than any of these numbers.
  • You have a developer you already trust. A good existing relationship can be worth more than a lower quote.

Common questions

  1. By our rough estimates, a typical MVP costs about $5,000 to $11,500 with a freelancer and $10,000 to $20,000 with an agency. A simple single-purpose tool costs less, and a marketplace or mobile app costs more.

  2. A mobile app, marketplace payouts, real-time chat and AI features add the most. Each one can take as long as several smaller features together.

  3. We use a fixed scope and one short build, and we don’t take on anything that doesn’t fit. If your scope is larger, the price goes up and the gap gets smaller.

  4. It’s good enough to compare options and plan a budget. A real quote depends on your details, so [run your own features through the calculator](/tools/mvp-cost-calculator) and treat the answer as a starting point.

Keep reading

Start a project

Tell us what you’re building.

Takes under a minute. We come back with a scope and a fixed price.

  • Reply within 24 hoursA real person reads every brief.
  • Fixed scope, fixed priceYou get a written proposal, no hourly billing.
  • You own the codeFull ownership of code and assets at launch.
What are you building?
When do you want to launch?
Budget
Prefer email? [email protected]