How We Price Software: Fixed Monthly Fees, Changes Approved First

The short version: we price software as fixed monthly fees — a platform fee and a per-login license fee — set in your written quote for the term of the agreement, with hosting, security updates, and fixes for our own bugs included. Changes and new features after launch are billed at $150 an hour, but only after you've approved the work in writing, and the hours are reported. Here's how each piece works, what's billed separately, and where the risk sits.

Where does the risk sit?

Every pricing model decides who pays when something takes longer than expected. On an hourly arrangement with no estimate and no approval step, that's you — and when something breaks (in software, something always breaks), you can end up paying the builder to debug their own mistakes.

We split it differently. Running and fixing the software is a fixed monthly cost, so our own bugs are our problem, not your invoice. New work is hourly, because nobody can scope on day one what you'll want in month six — but you see the work described and approve it before any of it is billed.

There's a quieter benefit too: email support is included, so asking a question doesn't start a meter. A confusing screen gets mentioned instead of tolerated, which is how software you use every day should get built.

What's fixed in your written quote

Before any work starts, you get a written quote with the numbers that will show up every month. Our standard rates, adjusted to each project:

• Platform fee: $650/month. The base fee for running your software.
• License fee: $49/month per staff login. A five-person shop works out to $895 a month; a two-person shop to $748.
• A one-time build fee, if the project needs one. Larger builds and new modules may carry one. When they do, it's quoted before work begins — as a fixed price, or hourly with an estimate — so you know which before you sign.

Together, the monthly fees cover hosting, monitoring, backups, security updates, bug fixes, and email support. They're set for the term of the agreement; at renewal, rates can change, with 30 days' written notice. If the software doesn't do what it was built to do, fixing it is our job and our cost. Our cost guide walks through what's included and what isn't.

What's billed by the hour, and how it stays honest

Changes and new features after launch are $150 an hour. We say that plainly, because hourly is the right tool for work nobody could have scoped on day one. It's time and materials, not capped unless your quote says so, which is why the process around it matters:

• Nothing starts without your written approval. You describe what you want, we describe the work, and you approve it in writing (email is fine) before a single hour is billed.
• Hours are tracked and reported. You see what the time went to, not just a total.
• Bugs aren't changes. Fixing something that should already work is covered by the monthly fees, not billed as new work.

What's billed separately

We'd rather you hear these now than on an invoice. Each is scoped and priced in your written quote, or quoted before the work starts:

• Text messaging (SMS) and other new third-party integrations — a POS, a bank feed, a service your software doesn't already connect to.
• Data migration and bulk imports — moving your history in from spreadsheets or an old system.
• Hands-on training, on-site work, and travel. Email support is included.
• Heavy third-party usage. Hosting, email, storage, and AI usage are included at ordinary levels. If your usage materially exceeds that — large-scale AI processing, for example — we tell you first, then either pass the extra through at cost or agree on new pricing in writing.

Why can we price it this way?

Fair question. Fixed pricing used to hurt builders. When builds were slow and unpredictable, agencies either padded quotes to cover the risk or quoted thin and cut corners when things dragged. Buyers paid for that uncertainty either way.

Two things changed. First, the build itself: AI-accelerated development made construction faster and — just as important — more predictable. A standard business app is now a matter of weeks (here's what those timelines look like). Second, we stay on the hook after launch. We own and maintain the software and license it to you while you're a client, so keeping it running is work we do every month for every client, and work we can predict well enough to put a fixed monthly number on.

How we make the quote honest

A quote is only as good as the scoping behind it. Ours has three parts:

• A discovery call. Free, no obligation. We dig into what the software needs to do — and what it doesn't — before any number exists. A quote given before this call is a guess wearing a suit.
• A written quote in plain English. What we're building, the monthly fees, any build fee, and what's included. The agreement you sign says the same things in contract language; you're welcome to have your own advisor read it.
• A change process you can see. New work gets described and approved in writing before it's built, at the hourly rate you already know. Change work never shows up as a line item you didn't approve.

When pure hourly makes sense

Honesty cuts both ways, so here's the other side. Hourly with no fixed scope is the right tool in one situation: true exploratory R&D. If nobody can define what "done" looks like — a research prototype, a genuine experiment — a fixed price would just be a padded guess. Hourly with regular check-ins and a budget you agree on is fairer to both sides.

Whoever you hire, ask two things. When something they built breaks, is the fix on them or on your invoice? And does any billable work start before you've approved it in writing? It tends to be a clarifying conversation.

Frequently asked questions