Is $5,000 cheap for building a SaaS?

[toolforwhat]

@dillon1886 If it’s something not no-code - it’s impossible. That’s basically 1 month of work for full time developer. I’m not even speaking for company margin. Worst case you have to pay much more as you already would spend 5k. Best case - you get something that you can’t sell or charge for

 

[thaotran4]

@dillon1886 Without any context, the best answer you’re gonna get is: it depends

 

[annelie]

@dillon1886 How people supposed to answer that?

 

[kema1212]

@dillon1886 It depends. I've spent $100 on one and $100,000+ on another. Really, it depends..

 

[jackkoons]

@dillon1886 No, that's way too expensive. Like Salesforce.com was only like $3,000 to build. And I heard Workday was like $2,000. Hubspot was $500. Your getting ripped off.

 

[kushinator]

@jackkoons Sources?

 

[freyrtheslayerwolfe]

@dillon1886 $5,000 for building a SaaS plat form seems pretty low to me. From what I've seen on r/startups and other forums, most devs charge anywhere from $20K to $50k + for a decent MVP with a few core features. But maybe they quoted you the bargain rate if it's just basic app? You might want to clarify the full scope and make sure that $5K covers everything you need.

 

[andrewjacksonjihad]

@dillon1886 It depends on the scope, size etc. there are so many variables. I can’t understand how folks are giving out quotes without scoping.

 

[v8fieromatt]

@dillon1886 This is extremely low and I would be skeptical even if the person was living somewhere where cost of living is correspondingly low

 

[kristylang87]

@dillon1886 Its totally depends on the geographical location of the developer. If he is from India then 5k is a good amount and if he is from USA then it will be on the lower side.

And the price of the development depends on the features of the products..

 

[rrcangelx3]

@dillon1886 Yes it’s a low price and most of the “it depends” comes down to the person you hire and where they invest time and how they approach problem solving vs building foundational software. As you have seen in comments this is a low price and chances are depending on the developer they may have multiple gigs on the go at this price. It is unlikely you’ll have anything more than a mvp for this money.

As someone that has created mvps before my approach today is very simple. I try to avoid building from scratch and almost always use no code tools like bubble for the initial work. These tools help to focus on the USP they make features like registration and login easy and with ready made integrations you can go far with them. Hiring a developer for these platforms would also yield good value as most of the spend goes to the USP not building saas furniture etc.

$5000 is low and definitely not a SaaS level investment and potentially each additional 5k might be a start over point if you change direction.

If it’s for an MVP then it is fair. Who doesn’t love a MVP that gets to the point of the problem and solves it. Just my 2c.

 

[cat333]

@dillon1886 To me as a developer that price looks Ok, if the MVP (I bet you are talking about an mvp) can be built in 4-6 weeks by a solo dev like me.

 

[blijker]

@dillon1886 Depends on what you are trying to build.

 

[torie]

@dillon1886 Totally depends. Could be expensive or very cheap. Depends on what the app does.

 

[creditech]

@dillon1886 Be prepared to spend around 100K+ if you want to maintain it unless you can code yourself

 

[sofienne]

@dillon1886 Yeah its very cheap.

 

[ladydickens]

@dillon1886 Interesting question. In fact you should not spend anything more than $5000 for building your SaaS. Let me tell you why.

Let’s say you spend 20-30K to build your SaaS, launch it and then realise that no one’s buying it. All of your money will go waste.

You should rather spend 2-5K in building a prototype or a mock product, test it in the market first. If it works, go on building more features. If it doesn’t work, you spent on a little, got to understand whether it’ll work or not and saved tens of thousands of dollars. That’s how smart founders build.

Happy to help if you’d like to build in this lean approach.

 

[hospitality7777]

@dillon1886 Depends upon product

 

[honeymoon]

@dillon1886 How long is a rope?

 

[sevilodorf]

@dillon1886 What are u building.. what features etc?

Impossible to say...

Here's the question for you.. is 5k too much for you to spend on your idea.?
Have you validated it and know you can sell it and recover your money in x days?