Free tool
Software Cost Calculator (2026)
Answer a few questions and see what your project typically costs from a US agency, a Western European agency, an Eastern European or LATAM team, and a freelancer marketplace, plus a Tantito fixed price when your scope fits one of our packages.
No sign-up, no email, nothing sent anywhere. Every rate, hour estimate and rule is on this page under How we calculate this, so you can check it or change it for your own planning.
Tantito fixed prices at a glance
The same prices the calculator uses, from our pricing page. "From" means the price starts there and is confirmed in your written quote.
| Package | Tantito price | Delivery | Typical agency range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Site | $1,900 | 7 days | $5,000 to $15,000 |
| Automation | from $1,500 | 1 week | $5,000 to $20,000 |
| AI Agent or Chatbot, Single workflow | $2,400 | 1 to 3 weeks | $30,000 to $80,000 |
| AI Agent or Chatbot, Multi-tool agent | $6,500 | 1 to 3 weeks | $30,000 to $80,000 |
| App Rescue | $2,900 | 1 to 2 weeks | $10,000 to $50,000 |
| Internal Tool | from $4,500 | 2 to 3 weeks | $25,000 to $70,000 |
| Web App MVP, Core | $6,900 | 2 to 4 weeks | $25,000 to $150,000 |
| Web App MVP, Plus | $11,900 | 2 to 4 weeks | $25,000 to $150,000 |
| Mobile App MVP | $9,900 | 4 weeks | $40,000 to $150,000 |
Keep going
- Tantito pricing: every package, what is included, how payment works.
- Get a written fixed quote: price and date in writing.
- How much does it cost to build an app?
- MVP development cost
- AI agent development cost
How we calculate this
Updated 2026-11-06. Hours are Tantito estimates calibrated so that typical inputs land inside the agency price ranges published in the sources below. They are not measured time-tracking data.
The formula
- Build hours (low and high) = base hours for the project type + hours per screen or workflow × your count + hours for each feature you tick + hours per integration × your count.
- Multiply by the design factor (template-based 0.85, custom 1.0) and, for mobile apps, by the platform factor.
- For each builder: hours × overhead factor × hourly rate. The low cost uses low hours and the low rate. The high cost uses high hours and the high rate. That is why ranges are wide.
- Timeline in weeks = hours × overhead ÷ weekly capacity + startup weeks.
- Tantito price = the lowest tier in
pricing.jsonwhose scope covers your inputs, otherwise a custom quote. - Savings = 1 − Tantito price ÷ midpoint of the US agency range, never below zero. Ranges are rounded to the nearest $100 below $10,000 and the nearest $500 above.
Hourly rates and timelines by builder
| Builder | Rate used | Overhead | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| US agency | $100 to $150 /hr | ×1.2 | Bestarion lists $100 to $130 per hour for US onshore agencies. MVP cost guides cite agency rates of $80 to $200 per hour. We use $100 to $150. Hours are spread over about 50 billable hours per week (a small team shared across projects) plus 3 weeks for discovery, design review and kickoff. Agency guides quote 3 to 6 months for an MVP and 2 to 8 weeks for a marketing site. |
| Western Europe agency | $70 to $100 /hr | ×1.2 | Bestarion lists $70 to $100 per hour for Western Europe. Same team-capacity assumption as the US agency. |
| Eastern Europe or LATAM team | $35 to $60 /hr | ×1.15 | Eastern Europe is $40 to $60 per hour (Bestarion, Uvik). LATAM blended is $35 to $55 (Bestarion, Leanware); Mexico senior is $33 to $45 (Lemon.io). We use $35 to $60. Same team-capacity assumption as the agencies, with slightly less management overhead. |
| Freelancer marketplace | $25 to $70 /hr | ×1 | Marketplace rates are wide: Fiverr lists agent and automation builders from $20 to $125 per hour, Upwork beginner bids run $30 to $50, and Arc lists $82 to $130 for vetted US freelancers. We use $25 to $70 as a typical marketplace band. Quality and reliability vary much more than price does. One person at about 30 productive hours per week, plus 1 week to get started. No project manager or QA hours are added. |
Agencies and teams add project management, QA and communication on top of build hours. We assume 15 to 20 percent (an assumption, not a published figure). A solo freelancer is assumed to add none.
Base hours by project type
| Project type | Base hours | Per screen or workflow | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website | 20 to 40 | 4 to 8 | Calibrated so a 5 to 12 page site lands near the $5,000 to $15,000 boutique agency range (Levitate, Clutch figures cited there) at US rates. |
| Web app or MVP | 120 to 200 | 14 to 28 | Calibrated so a 6 to 12 screen MVP with a few features lands inside the $25,000 to $150,000 range that MVP cost guides report for agencies. |
| Mobile app | 160 to 260 | 16 to 32 | Calibrated to the $20,000 to $100,000 agency range for mobile MVPs (Dribbble hub and agency guides). |
| Internal tool | 80 to 140 | 10 to 20 | Calibrated to the $25,000 to $70,000 agency range for internal tools and admin dashboards (TechConcepts). |
| AI agent or chatbot | 60 to 120 | 30 to 60 | Calibrated to the $30,000 to $150,000 range reported for custom multi-step agents (Groovyweb), with a single simple workflow landing at the low end. |
| Workflow automation | 24 to 50 | 16 to 36 | Calibrated to the $2,500 to $15,000 agency setup range for n8n, Make and Zapier builds (Dev.to pricing review, BetonAI rate card). |
| Rescue of an existing app | 80 to 160 | 6 to 12 | Audit and hardening hours. Rescue specialists quote $40,000 and up (MetaCTO) while smaller audit and fix packages run lower (Aibrify), so this is the least certain type. |
Hours per feature, design and platform
| Input | Effect | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| User accounts and login | +24 to 48 hrs | Sign-up, login, password reset, roles. Tantito estimate. |
| Payments or subscriptions | +30 to 60 hrs | Checkout, subscriptions, webhooks, invoices. Tantito estimate. |
| Admin panel | +40 to 80 hrs | Back office for managing users and content. Tantito estimate. |
| AI features | +40 to 100 hrs | Model integration, prompts, evaluation and guardrails. Tantito estimate. |
| Real-time or chat | +40 to 90 hrs | Live updates, presence, messaging. Tantito estimate. |
| File uploads | +16 to 32 hrs | Storage, limits, previews, access control. Tantito estimate. |
| Multi-language | +20 to 50 hrs | Translation structure, locale routing, formatting. Tantito estimate. |
| Email, push or SMS notifications | +16 to 36 hrs | Templates, triggers, delivery tracking. Tantito estimate. |
| Each third-party integration | +16 to 40 hrs | Per integration: auth, mapping, error handling. Tantito estimate. |
| Design: Template-based | ×0.85 | Design and front-end work is commonly 15 to 20 percent of a build; starting from a template removes most of it. Assumption. |
| Design: Custom design | ×1 | Baseline. Hour ranges above assume custom design. |
| Mobile: iOS | ×1 | Baseline for one platform. |
| Mobile: Android | ×1 | Baseline for one platform. |
| Mobile: iOS and Android | ×1.3 | Assumes one cross-platform codebase (React Native or Flutter) with about 30 percent extra for platform-specific work and two store submissions. Two separate native apps would cost more. |
How the Tantito price is chosen
Tantito prices come only from pricing.json. The calculator picks the lowest tier whose included scope covers your size, features and integrations. If nothing covers it, the result is a custom fixed quote and no price is shown.
- Website: Launch Site (up to 8, 0 integrations), then Core (up to 6, 0 integrations), then Plus (up to 12, 2 integrations). Launch Site: up to 8 pages, contact form, analytics. No accounts, payments or integrations.
- Web app or MVP: Core (up to 6, 0 integrations), then Plus (up to 12, 2 integrations). Core: up to 6 screens, login, database, Stripe payments, admin panel.
- Mobile app: Mobile App MVP (up to 8, 0 integrations). Up to 8 screens, login, backend, push notifications. Priced the same for one or both platforms because it is one codebase.
- Internal tool: Internal Tool (up to 8, 3 integrations), then Plus (up to 12, 2 integrations). Up to 8 screens, roles, data connections, data import. The 3 integration limit is our assumption: pricing.json lists data connections without a cap.
- AI agent or chatbot: Single workflow (up to 1, 1 integrations), then Multi-tool agent (up to 3, 5 integrations). One workflow answering from your data. The 1 integration limit is our assumption for the single-workflow tier.
- Workflow automation: Automation (up to 1, 5 integrations). 1 workflow connecting up to 5 apps, with error alerts.
- Rescue of an existing app: App Rescue (up to 15, 10 integrations). Audit and fix of an existing app, so the feature list describes what the app already has. The 15 screen limit is our assumption: pricing.json states no size cap.
Tantito prices and delivery times are read from the same data as our pricing page. Where a limit is marked as our assumption, the written quote is the final word on scope.
What this does not include
Hosting, API and AI model usage, domain names, app store fees, content and copywriting, legal and compliance work, and ongoing maintenance. Enterprise-scale systems, regulated industries and heavy custom infrastructure will cost more than the high end shown.
Sources
- Bestarion, offshore vs nearshore outsourcing
- Arc.dev, freelance developer costs
- Uvik, software developer rates
- Lemon.io, Mexico developer rate calculator
- Leanware, nearshore outsourcing options
- Metizsoft, MVP development cost 2026
- Levitate, website design cost 2026
- Dribbble, app development agency costs
- TechConcepts, internal tool development cost
- Groovyweb, AI agent development cost 2026
- Dev.to, what AI automation services cost in 2026
- BetonAI, automation rate card 2026
- MetaCTO, vibe rescue
- Aibrify, cost to fix a vibe-coded app
- Fiverr, AI automation experts cost guide
- Empat, nearshore software development cost 2026
Most sources are vendor blogs with a commercial interest, so treat them as market anchors rather than audited data.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build software in 2026?
It depends mostly on type and size. Published 2026 agency guides put a marketing site at $5,000 to $15,000, a web app MVP at $25,000 to $150,000, a mobile app MVP at $20,000 to $100,000, and a custom AI agent at $30,000 to $150,000. The calculator above turns your scope into a range for each type of builder.
How accurate is this calculator?
It is a planning estimate, not a quote. The hourly rates come from published surveys. The hours per screen and per feature are our own estimates, tuned so typical inputs land inside the agency ranges those sources report. Real projects vary with unclear requirements, integrations and how much changes mid-build. Treat the range as the realistic spread, not a promise.
Why is the Tantito price so much lower than the agency ranges?
Tantito builds with AI agents and has a senior engineer verify the result, so there are far fewer billable hours. The agency columns assume human-written code at the hourly rates shown. The Tantito figure is the fixed price on our pricing page. It is not computed from hours, and the calculator only shows a fixed price when your scope fits a package.
What does the savings percentage mean?
It compares the Tantito fixed price with the midpoint of the US agency range on this page: 1 minus the Tantito price divided by that midpoint. If you pick a price that starts at 'from', the saving is calculated from that starting price. It is never shown for a custom quote.
What happens if my project is bigger than your packages?
The calculator says 'Custom fixed quote' and does not invent a price. We scope it with you and give you a fixed price and date in writing before you pay anything beyond a deposit.
Does the calculator store or send my inputs?
No. The calculation runs in your browser. The 'Get this as a written fixed quote' link carries only a package id and a price, never your inputs or any personal data.
Does the estimate include hosting, maintenance and third-party fees?
No. It covers the build. Budget extra for hosting, API and AI model usage, app store fees, and ongoing maintenance. Sources suggest 15 to 20 percent of build cost per year for maintenance. Our Care plan is $299 per month.