Custom software pricing in 2026: realistic ranges

Custom software from us usually costs between €8,000 for a well-defined tool and €75,000 or more for a full platform. The price depends almost entirely on what goes into it: the number of screens, the complexity of the rules and the number of connections to other systems. Anyone who quotes you a price without knowing your process is guessing. This article sets out the realistic ranges and explains where the money goes.

What does custom software cost on average?

Most projects fall into three price brackets. The ranges below are what you can realistically expect in the Belgian market and from us.

Those figures are a starting point, not a quote. A customer portal with five screens simply costs less than a scheduling platform that thirty people work in at the same time. What really sets the price is below.

What determines the price of custom software?

Four things explain most of the difference:

1. The number of unique screens and user roles. A manager, a planner and a customer who each see something different means designing three times instead of once.
2. The complexity of the logic. Filling in a form is simple. Calculating prices automatically, tracking stock live or processing payments is not.
3. The number of integrations. Every connection to your accounting system, your webshop or an external API is a separate piece of work, with its own testing on top.
4. The pace. Going live sooner means more people on your project at once, and that costs more than spreading the same work over a longer period.

What usually does not explain the price is the number of "features" on a wishlist. Half of them fall away as soon as we look together at what is really needed to go live. Cutting those is exactly where a good partner earns its money.

Why a fixed price protects you better than an hourly rate

An hourly rate looks cheap until the hours start adding up. The problem is that you end up carrying the risk of an estimate someone else made. That is why we work with a fixed price: after a first conversation we lock down the scope and you get a price with a date within 24 hours. If the build runs over, that is our problem.

That does not mean everything is settled in detail up front. We build in weekly cycles, with a new version on a test link every week, so you can steer while changing things is still cheap. The price is fixed and the direction stays flexible.

Does custom software pay for itself?

Usually it does, and the sum is simpler than it looks. The gain rarely sits in spectacular new revenue and almost always in time that leaks away today. Think of the hours your team spends every week retyping between systems, exporting to Excel, comparing versions and correcting mistakes. In our article on replacing Excel we call that the detour tax: a cost that shows up on no invoice and that you pay every month anyway.

A simple rule of thumb: if a process costs your team five to ten hours a week, the payback time of a custom tool is often shorter than a year. Always ask for that calculation before you sign. If a supplier cannot produce it, they are selling you a feeling instead of an investment.

Is custom software eligible for the kmo-portefeuille?

No, the development itself is not eligible. Since the reform of 1 February 2026, the kmo-portefeuille, the Flemish SME subsidy scheme, only covers training (30% for small and 20% for medium-sized companies, with a ceiling of €7,500 per year) and cybersecurity advice. IT development projects are explicitly on the exclusion list. If you hear otherwise somewhere, those are the old rules. What does work: having your team trained with subsidy while you fund the build yourself. We set out the current rules in our article on the kmo-portefeuille.

Custom software or an off-the-shelf package?

Before you compare prices, the first question is whether you need custom software at all. Often an existing package is enough, and then that is simply the better choice. When custom pays off and when a package wins, we explain in custom software or an off-the-shelf package.

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Want a concrete price indication for your idea? Describe on the contact page how you work today, and we will get you a realistic scope and price within 24 hours. Sometimes the honest conclusion is that an existing package is enough, and you will hear that from us too.