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Clear cost estimates, key positions, and strategies for budgeting the development of a custom SaaS in 2025, with concrete examples and comparisons between cloud solutions, teams, and maintenance models.
Initial costs to develop a custom SaaS in 2025
Launching a custom SaaS begins with a realistic estimate of initial costs, which determines the project's feasibility and product trajectory. Initial expenses include the discovery phase, UX/UI design, initial development (back-end and front-end), initial API integrations, and deployment on a cloud platform.
In practice, an MVP (minimum viable product) for a B2B SaaS can range from €40,000 to €150,000, depending on the business complexity and the level of integration required. For a complete SaaS platform targeting the Enterprise segment, budgets can exceed €300,000 by integrating security, conormity and scalability.
- Discovery phase: 3 to 15 % of the total budget.
- UX/UI Design: 5 to 15 %.
- Development (MVP): 40 to 60 %.
- Tests and QA: 5 to 12 %.
- Cloud deployment and first licenses: 2 to 10 %.
Concrete example: a fictitious SME, “AtelierTech,” decides to launch a SaaS construction site management system. The discovery phase includes workshops with future users, definition of KPIs, and mockups. AtelierTech allocates €8,000 to €12,000 for this stage, then plans €60,000 for the development of an MVP integrating authentication, a bord dashboard, task management, and a payment API.
| Position | Typical fork (€) | Impact on the calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Study and discovery | 3 000 – 25 000 | 2-6 weeks |
| UX/UI Design | 3 000 – 30 000 | 3-8 weeks |
| MVP Development | 30 000 – 150 000 | 3-9 months |
| Tests & QA | 5 000 – 30 000 | 2-6 weeks |
The budget breakdown varies significantly depending on the technology chosen. For example, an implementation requiring AI and real-time data processing will incur significantly higher costs than a standard platform. Comparisons by firms and market research firms publish similar ranges: a small SaaS often starts around €40,000, while a complete solution for the professional market can reach several hundred thousand euros.
List of items to validate before budgeting:
- Business objectives and primary KPIs.
- List of critical features for the MVP.
- Regulatory constraints (GDPR, sectorielles).
- Need for third-party integrations (ERP, CRM, payment gateways).
- Initial hosting capacity and scalability forecasts.
Insight: The initial budget should reflect not only development but also the ability to iterate quickly after launch, as user feedback often dictates the major changes.
Key positions and budget distribution of a SaaS project
To budget accurately, it's essential to break down each item. Salary costs (or agency fees) make up the largest portion, followed by cloud infrastructure, third-party licenses, security, and testing. Specialized agencies, like DualMedia, offer packaged offers and support methods to manage these items.
Detailed elements by position:
- Product management and discovery: framing, user stories, roadmap.
- UX/UI design: prototypes, user testing, design system.
- Back-end development: architecture, APIs, storage.
- Front-end development: bord board, reusable components.
- Mobile (if necessary): native or multiplatform applications.
- QA testing and automation.
- Security and Conformity.
- DevOps and CI/CD.
| Position | Role | Estimated horaire / cost |
|---|---|---|
| Project manager / Product owner | Coordination and priorization | 50-100 €/h or 3,000-8,000 €/month |
| Back-end developer | APIs, database | 40-120 €/h |
| Front-end developer | UI, components | 35-110 €/h |
| DevOps | CI/CD, monitoring | 45-130 €/h |
Costs also vary depending on whether the team is in-house or outsourced. Outsourcing to a local agency like DualMedia often guarantees better functional proximity, while off-site agency reduces the horaire bill at the cost of stricter product management. For a guide on choosing between a local agency and an off-site agency, it's helpful to consult practical resources, for example, a local agency vs. off-site agency analysis.
- Internalization: better functional control, recurring salary costs.
- Local outsourcing: business expertise and simplified management.
- Offshore: lower unit costs, requires strict specifications.
Use case: A fintech startup outsourced its initial build to a local agency to ensure compliance and security, then internalized the application support to reduce long-term costs. Feedback shows that the initial investment helped achieve regulatory compliance faster.
Useful resources and feedback: DualMedia regularly publishes articles on the hidden costs and common mistakes of app creation; these readings help anticipate pitfalls.
Insight: Budget allocation should be thought of as an investment plan where each item contributes to scalability, security, and product responsiveness.
Hosting, scalability and cloud choices: what impact on the cost of SaaS?
Choosing a cloud provider significantly influences TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). Major options include Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and European alternatives like OVHcloud. Selection criteria include pricing, proximity to data centers, managed offerings (databases, containers), and conormity requirements.
Quick comparison:
- Amazon Web Services: large ecosystem, forte granularity of services, potentially high cost without optimization.
- Microsoft Azure: forte integration with Microsoft tools, benefit for companies using Microsoft 365/Active Directory.
- Google Cloud Platform: Performance for data/ML and managed services for analytics.
- OVHcloud: Competitive European option for localized data and predictable pricing.
| Supplier | Asset | Indicative cost |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | Complete ecosystem, managed services | Variable, optimization required |
| Microsoft Azure | Enterprise integration | Similar to AWS |
| Google Cloud Platform orm | ML, data processing | Competitive for analytics |
| OVHcloud | Local, price predictability | Often cheaper for standard instances |
Typical hosting costs for an initial SaaS: cloud instances (€50-2,000/month), managed databases (€30-1,000/month), CDN and storage (€10-500/month). For scaling, consider autoscaling and monitoring mechanisms that increase costs but avoid downtime.
- Plan for load peaks and choose appropriate scaling mechanisms.
- Use reserved instances or multi-year commitments to reduce the bill.
- Set up cost tracking and budget alerts.
Expert integration and major integrators: For critical projects, working with players like Capgemini, Sopra Steria, Atos, SQLI, Inetum, or Dev-ID can secure the architecture and compliance, but this has an impact on the budget. These partners provide expertise in distributed architecture, enhanced security, and cloud migrations.
Optimization example: AtelierTech started on OVHcloud and then migrated analytics modules to Google Cloud Platform orm to benefit from managed ML services. This hybridization initially cost more but reduced the development time for advanced features.
Insight: Cloud choice must balance cost, performance, and confidence, and include a continuous optimization strategy to control TCO.
Technical approaches, team and location: outsourcing vs. insourcing
Team composition directly impacts quality and cost. A typical team includes a product manager, architect, back-end, front-end, mobile, DevOps, and QA developers. Geographic location determines communication rates and the ease of communication.
Key differences:
- Western Europe (France, UK): higher rates, forte business proximity.
- Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Poland): good cost/quality compromise.
- Asia (India, Southeast Asia): low unit costs, requires robust management processes.
| Region | Average horaire rate (€) | Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| France | 60-140 | Proximity, conformity, less friction |
| Eastern Europe | 30-80 | Technical quality, controlled costs |
| India / Asia | 20-45 | Low cost, large pool of skills |
As an illustration, a SaaS project with a 12-month roadmap might adopt the following strategies:
- Internalize product and security functions, outsource development.
- Outsource cloud integration to a partner (e.g. Dev-ID, SQLI).
- Opt for a mix: internal core team and remote squads for features.
DualMedia often recommends a hybrid approach: keeping product ownership in-house and entrusting technical execution to an expert agency to accelerate time-to-market. For sensitive projects, integrators like Capgemini or Sopra Steria intervene on architecture and confidentiality missions, but at higher costs.
Case study: A scale-up targeting Europe built a product team in France, outsourced front-end development to Poland, and entrusted Ops management to an Indian team. This organization reduced monthly burn while maintaining a high iteration rate.
List of good practices for governance:
- Establish a prioritized backlog reviewed each sprint.
- Define clear indicators (MTTR, deployment time, bugs in production).
- Document the architecture and centralize CI/CD pipelines.
Insight: Outsourcing can reduce initial costs but requires strict governance; insourcing increases costs but strengthens control over the roadmap and intellectual property.
Marketing costs, maintenance and expected ROI for a SaaS
Beyond development, marketing and maintenance weigh heavily on the overall budget. Marketing spend to acquire new customers (CAC) varies by segment: for a B2B SaaS in 2025, the average CAC can range between €273 and €728, with higher peaks for the Enterprise segment.
Recurring cost items:
- Support client and success: salaries and tools.
- Technical maintenance: corCorrections, patches, security updates.
- Marketing: inbound, paid ads, events (webinars, trade shows).
- Cloud infrastructure in production.
| Recurring item | % of the initial cost | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance | 15-40 % the first year | Plan SLA and scalable budget |
| Marketing & Acquisition | Variable | Measure CAC and LTV |
| Support and success | 10-25 % | Automate FAQ and onboarding |
Estimate ROI: The rule is to compare the cost of acquisition and service per customer (CAC + support) with the customer lifetime value (LTV). A healthy SaaS generally has an LTV/CAC greater than 3. To achieve this goal, it is crucial to work on retention and expansion (upsell).
Numerical example: if the CAC is €350 and the average subscription is €50/month per user with an annual churn of 20 %, the LTV (approximate) can be calculated and compared to the CAC to check viability.
- Calculate LTV: Average Monthly Revenue × Average Customer Lifespan.
- Compare LTV/CAC to validate the economic model.
- Optimize by prioritizing retention over raw acquisition.
Recommended resources: To better understand hidden costs and post-launch maintenance, read sector analyses and practical guides published by specialist agencies; DualMedia offers articles on hidden costs before launching. create an application and feedback on the mobile development in 2025.
Insight: The viability of a SaaS does not depend solely on initial development but on the ability to optimize CAC, improve LTV and control maintenance to support growth.
FAQ
What is the cost of developing a custom SaaS?
The cost of developing a custom SaaS represents all expenses incurred to design, develop, test, and deploy the platform. It also includes hosting, security, and initial maintenance. This cost varies depending on the complexity, integrations, and level of conformity required, and must be estimated via a breakdown by position (discovery, design, development, testing, cloud).
How to estimate the budget for developing a custom SaaS?
To estimate the budget for developing a custom SaaS, you need to detail the essential features, choose the architecture (monolithic vs. microservices), evaluate the cloud choice (AWS, Azure, GCP, OVHcloud), and calculate the hours required by role (PO, developers, DevOps, QA). The estimate should include discovery, MVP, and a buffer for post-launch iterations.
What are the main expenditure items for a custom SaaS?
The main cost areas for a custom SaaS include discovery and product management, UX/UI design, back-end and front-end development, cloud hosting, security, QA testing, and marketing. There are also recurring maintenance costs to consider, which can represent 15-40% of the initial cost in the first year.
What impact does choosing the cloud have on the cost of developing a custom SaaS?
The choice of cloud affects the cost of developing a custom SaaS in terms of instance prices, managed services, latency, and confidence. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform offer advanced services but require optimization; OVHcloud may be more competitive for local needs. The right choice depends on technical and regulatory requirements.
Outsource or insource the development of a custom SaaS: what to choose?
The choice to outsource or insource custom SaaS development depends on internal resources, the need for control, and budget. Outsourcing to an agency like DualMedia accelerates time-to-market and provides access to expertise, while insourcing enhances product ownership and confidentiality. A hybrid approach is often optimal.
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