What drives the cost
Custom software is priced by engineering time, and engineering time is driven by four things:
- Workflow count, not screen count — a ten-screen app with two workflows is cheaper than a five-screen app with payroll logic.
- Roles and permissions — every extra role (owner, manager, staff, auditor) multiplies the testing surface.
- Integrations — payment gateways, WhatsApp, tally exports and government portals each add real work.
- Polish level — an internal tool and a customer-facing product have different design budgets, honestly so.
Typical ranges, honestly stated
Ranges vary by studio and city, but for a small Indian studio doing considered work: a marketing website with CMS lands in the low lakhs; a focused internal tool or operations dashboard in the mid lakhs; a full operations platform or custom CRM with mobile apps runs higher and is usually phased across releases. Anyone quoting a fixed price for a vague brief is guessing — and you will pay for the guess later in change requests.
The more useful question than "what does it cost" is "what does the first useful release cost." A good studio will scope a version one that earns its keep in weeks, then grow it.
Where budgets go wrong
Three patterns account for most blown budgets we get called in to rescue:
- Building everything at once instead of shipping the workflow that hurts most first.
- No maintenance line — software without an owner rots; budget 15–20% of build cost per year.
- Paying for features nobody asked the floor staff about — the people who will use the system daily were never in the room.
How we quote at Diorbit
We map your operation first — a real conversation about a real Tuesday — then quote a phased plan where each release does a full job. The first estimate is a range; it becomes a number when the scope becomes concrete. If you want that conversation, it costs thirty minutes and no obligation: start at our contact page.
Questions people also ask
How much does it cost to build an app in India?
A focused business app — one core workflow, a handful of roles — typically starts in the low-to-mid lakhs from a small Indian studio. The price climbs with workflow count, integrations like payments and WhatsApp, and offline support. Fixed quotes on vague briefs are guesses you pay for later in change requests.
Why is custom software more expensive than SaaS subscriptions?
It isn't, over the life of the system. SaaS looks cheap per seat but scales with team size and paid tiers forever; custom software is capital up front plus 15–20% yearly maintenance, and you own the result. Custom costs more only when you build features a template would have given you.
What makes software projects go over budget?
Three patterns cause most overruns: building everything at once instead of shipping the most painful workflow first, budgeting zero for maintenance so the system rots, and specifying features without asking the floor staff who will use them daily. Scope discipline fixes more budgets than cheaper rates do.
How should I budget for software maintenance?
Plan 15–20% of the original build cost per year. That covers security updates, small fixes, and the steady stream of real-world adjustments every live system needs. Software without a named owner and a maintenance line quietly becomes shelfware within a year or two.