How much are you really paying for SaaS?

A subscription is priced per month because per month sounds small. Add your tools up, project them out, and put a one-time build next to the total to see which line you would rather be on. No email is required — the result is right here either way.

Total spent renting over 3 years

$108,000

Estimated one-time owned build

$24,000 – $48,000

What you'd keep

$60,000

A word on these numbers: they're illustrative, not a quote. The build range is a rough rule of thumb tied to how much software you're renting — real quotes are fixed only after a scoping call, once we know exactly what your tools do and what you actually use. And to be fair to the other side: some tools are genuinely worth keeping. The math above is for the ones that aren't. If you want a real number for your stack, get an estimate.

How to read the number

Renting software is not automatically the wrong call. For a tool you pay $40 a month for, it is obviously right — the calculator will tell you so, and the build never pays for itself. The math turns the other way when a per-seat price meets a growing team, because you pay more every time you add a person, for software that does not change.

The seat count is the part people miss. A per-seat price is not a one-off; it multiplies every month that follows, and every hire. That is why the rental total keeps climbing with your team while a build is a one-time cost. The build is flat because a build finishes.

What the comparison tells you is how long your current spend takes to add up to the cost of owning the thing outright. Past that point it stops being about savings and starts being about control: nobody can raise your price, sunset your plan, or make you pay for a seat you are not using.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is this?

The rental side is exactly as accurate as the numbers you type in — it is arithmetic on your tools, cost, seats, and time horizon. The build side is a published range, not a quote for your project, and it is honest about being a range. A real number comes from a 30-minute call and a written scope.

Do I own the code?

Yes. The repositories are transferred to you at handoff. There is no per-seat license for the custom software. Hosting, third-party usage, and maintenance still need a budget. If you want to move the project in-house or hand it to another developer later, you can.

Isn't the care plan just another subscription?

It is optional and cancel-anytime, and it is the part that makes the comparison on this page fair. If you want us handling hosting, updates, and small changes, there is a plan for that. If you would rather your own developer did it, or nothing needs doing for a while, cancel it. You own the code either way, so cancelling never takes the software away from you — which is exactly what cancelling a SaaS subscription does.

How long does a rebuild take?

One to six weeks depending on scope: simple builds in one to two weeks, medium in two to four, advanced in four to six. AI is the mechanism — it handles the volume work while we direct the architecture, which is why the timeline reads the way it does. You get a live staging link in the first week rather than waiting until the end to find out what you bought.

Now find out what yours would cost to build.

We have done this. A client's $30,000-a-year Kixie contract is now a power dialer they own outright, built for $10,000 — the full story is here. Get a range for your own tool in about 60 seconds.

Get your estimate (407) 937-8672