What custom software actually costs in 2026
Why the price of an application varies so widely, and how to tell where the budget really goes.
Why there is no single price
The question we are asked most often is what an application costs. The honest answer is that the price depends on three things: how clearly defined the process is, how many external systems have to be integrated, and how many user roles the application has. Two apparently similar projects can differ threefold in budget for these reasons alone.
A sound estimate does not begin with a list of features; it begins with a simple question: what decision will you make better once you are using the application? Starting from the decision, you choose the screen, the calculation and the integration it needs.
Reference points in the market
At 7soft, a functional MVP starts at around €15,000, which is roughly 75,000 RON at the reference rate. A platform for a mid-sized company, with several roles and integrations, runs from €30,000 to €120,000 (about 150,000 to 600,000 RON). Enterprise applications, with high volumes and compliance requirements, exceed these figures.
Maintenance is charged on top, usually 15–25% of the initial cost per year. That is a real cost, covering security updates, monitoring and the corrections that follow launch.
Where the budget actually goes
Roughly half of the budget goes into understanding the problem and building the core flows. This part shows no spectacular gain in a demo, but it decides whether the application is still in use a month after launch.
The second part goes into integrations. Every external system adds an API, an authentication flow, error handling and a way to test it. An estimate that does not ask which systems the application must connect to is not a serious estimate.
How to reduce cost without cutting quality
The most effective saving is not a lower rate; it is less uncertainty. If you arrive with the process described in two pages and real examples of your data, the development team spends less time guessing and more of the budget goes into working software.
The second route is to start with a narrow version used by a real team, and extend only what proves useful. A small application used every day is worth more than a large one that nobody opens.
How a staged budget looks
A healthy project is not paid in full up front, but in stages that are delivered. The first stage covers discovery and a prototype, the second a working version for a single flow, and later stages extend the application as results appear. Every sum spent then has a visible justification, and you decide whether to continue based on what already works rather than on promises.
What a serious estimate answers
A useful estimate states explicitly what it includes and, just as importantly, what it does not. You should see the cost of discovery, development, integrations and first-year maintenance broken out separately. If the quote is a single figure with no breakdown, the risk is discovering later that a significant part of the work was never included.