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What custom software costs, with the prices on the page

Three builds, one scoping step and three care plans. Every price is one number, shown before the first call. Prices as of October 16, 2026.

Start a Blueprint
$4,950 Focused build
$9,850 Complete build
$22,500 Build + Extend

Three builds, one fixed price each

Half at signing, half when your acceptance checklist passes. Hosting and care are a separate monthly line, below.

Focused Build

One surface or one workflow, built to a written scope. A booking page, a portal view or a dashboard.

$4,950 one-time

  • One booking flow, portal view or dashboard, scoped in writing

  • Acceptance checklist, run with you before launch

  • Code, data and a handover runbook delivered to you

  • Not included: the staff or owner view behind it

Get a written quote

Complete Build

The full job for a typical owner-run business, quoted as itemised lines that add up to the price.

$9,850 one-time

  • A customer-facing surface plus the staff or owner view behind it

  • One integration with a tool you keep: payments, calendar, email or text

  • Every line of the price shown, nothing bundled into a lump

  • Not included: several integrations or a second customer surface

Get a written quote

Build + Extend

For systems that connect several tools or serve several groups of users.

$22,500 one-time

  • Everything in Complete, plus several integrations and a second customer surface

  • Admin tooling and an audit trail of who changed what

  • Staged, parallel-run migration with written rollback triggers

  • Native iOS apps and health-record systems are quoted separately

Get a written quote

Not sure yet? Start with a Blueprint.

A Blueprint is a paid scoping step for a project that is not yet clear.

You walk away with four things: a written scope, an acceptance checklist, a fixed quote with a ship date, and a clickable prototype. You own all four whether or not we build, and you can take them to another builder.

Focused Blueprint $500. Complete Blueprint $1,500. If you sign the build within 30 days of delivery, the fee is credited in full against your first payment.

The ledger: every other line

How you pay, what changes cost, what other vendors bill you for, and where our prices sit in the market.

How you pay

  • At signing
    50%
    Half of the build price, with the written scope and ship date.
  • At launch
    50%
    The other half, due when your acceptance checklist passes.

Changes after sign-off

  • Change order
    $175 / hour
    A written estimate you approve before work starts.
  • Changes before sign-off
    Included
    Part of the written proposal, no extra charge.

Billed to you by other vendors

  • Domain names
    Vendor rate
    Registered in your name.
  • Text-message and payment-processing fees
    Vendor rate
    Charged by the carrier or processor you choose.
  • App-store accounts
    Vendor rate
    Your own Apple developer account for an iOS app.

Where our prices sit

Published prices we read on 2026-10-15 and 2026-10-16. Scopes differ, so read these for scale.

  • Entry builds at ten fixed-price studios
    $6,750
    The median published entry price among national studios that post one. Benchford Focused: $4,950
  • Complete products at nine studios
    $13,000
    The median published price for a production-ready product. Benchford Complete: $9,850
  • Larger builds at seven studios
    $25,000
    The median published starting price for a scale-up build. Benchford Build + Extend: $22,500
  • Hourly rates at 43 Front Range firms
    $100 to $149
    The most common listed band on a public directory. 35% list $150 to $199. Benchford change orders: $175 an hour

Benchford prices as of October 16, 2026; care plans plus applicable tax. Market figures are medians of published prices; hourly figures come from a public directory's vendor-listed fields.

Fixed price, hourly shop or rented software?

Ranges from published prices we checked on 2026-10-15 and 2026-10-16. No firm is named.

Feature Front Range hourly shopRented subscriptionBenchford fixed price
The price you see before the first call Often a rate, or 'schedule a call' A monthly list price $4,950, $9,850 or $22,500
What it costs to start $10,000 or more at 72% of 46 listed firms $16 to $499 a month, often per location or user $4,950 to $22,500, once
How you are billed By the hour. $100 to $199 at 6 in 10 firms Every month, with no end date Half at signing, half when the checklist passes
When it ships Usually an estimate that moves with the hours Same day, but you set it up yourself A date written into the contract
Who owns it Depends on the contract The vendor. You rent access You own the custom code and your data
If something breaks Hourly, or a separate retainer The vendor's support queue Free fixes for 12 months, then care from $149
Who answers your email Depends on the shop A support queue The person who builds it

Care plans

Hosting, monitoring and upkeep, month to month. Cancel in one step and export everything.

What each plan covers
Essential $149 Hosting, monitoring, backups and fixes
Add to quote
Standard $299 Essential plus a faster response and tweak hours
Add to quote
Priority $499 Standard plus extended hours and a weekly note
Add to quote
Managed hosting
Monitoring of critical paths
Backups with a quarterly restore drill
Monthly plain-language health report
Fixes for defects
Response target Standard Faster Extended hours
Small tweaks each month A few hours More hours
Priority queue and weekly written note

Per month, plus applicable tax, billed as a separate line from your build. Response targets and tweak hours are set out in your care plan agreement. You do not need a care plan to receive what we build.

Sample monthly health report on the client portal: availability, incidents, backups, updates applied and next steps, with unmeasured figures marked Not measured

What the monthly report looks like

Every care plan includes a monthly health report in plain language. It is written for the owner, not for an engineer.

It says what ran and whether it stayed up, which backups were taken and how the quarterly restore drill went, what failed and what we fixed, and anything that needs a decision from you.

The launch guarantee

Written into every contract.

What we wrote down works

Every item on your signed checklist works as written on launch day. If we cannot get one passing within 30 days of launch, we refund the final 50 percent. Defects in what we built are fixed at no charge for 12 months.

  • Published price
  • Written ship date
  • 50 / 50 payment
  • 12-month warranty
  • You own it

We do not promise traffic, revenue or leads. We promise that what we wrote down works.

Is the price really fixed?

Yes, for the scope in your signed proposal. The price, what is included, what is not and the ship date are written down before you pay anything. If you ask for something outside that scope after sign-off, it is a written change order at $175 an hour. You approve the estimate before any work starts, so there are no surprise invoices.

What is the downside of a fixed price?

A fixed price trades flexibility for certainty. If you change direction halfway, that is a change order. An hourly contract lets you steer freely, but the total stays open until the end. We write the scope with you first, and the Blueprint exists for projects where that scope is not clear yet.

What is in a Blueprint, and is it credited?

A written scope, an acceptance checklist, a fixed quote and a clickable prototype. A Focused Blueprint is $500 and a Complete Blueprint is $1,500. If you sign the build within 30 days of delivery, the fee is credited in full against your first payment. You own all four documents whether or not we build.

When do I pay?

Half at signing and half when your acceptance checklist passes at launch. The care plan starts after launch and is a separate line.

What does the launch guarantee cover?

Every item on your signed checklist works as written on launch day. If we cannot get one passing within 30 days of launch, we refund the final 50 percent. We do not promise traffic, revenue or leads. We promise that what we wrote down works.

Who owns the code?

You do, for the custom code we write for you, and for your data. Both live in accounts in your name, with a runbook so another developer could take over. The platform components we license to you stay licensed, and your contract names each one.

What if you disappear?

You already hold the code and the data, in accounts in your name, with a handover runbook another developer can follow. Your contract names the licensed platform parts and says what happens to them if Benchford cannot continue. A care plan cancels in one step, with a full export.

Do you use AI?

Yes. We use AI-assisted development tools to write and test code, and an engineer reviews every change before it ships. Your contract has a short Tools and AI section that says so in plain words. It helps keep a build affordable and on a date. It is not what we sell. What we sell is software that works as written on your checklist.

Is sales tax added?

Prices on this page are shown before applicable tax. Care plans are billed as a separate line, plus applicable tax. Colorado and city tax rules for software depend on what is sold, so your quote states tax as its own line instead of guessing. Domains, text-message fees, payment-processing fees and app-store accounts are billed to you by those vendors.

Ready for a number?

Start with a Blueprint, or ask for a written quote. A person replies in writing.

Start a Blueprint Get a written quote
  • Fixed price before you sign
  • Ship date in the contract
  • Code and data in your name
  • 12-month defect warranty