"How much does custom software cost?" is the first question almost every business asks us, and the honest answer — "it depends" — is the most useless thing a developer can say. So this guide does the opposite. It gives you real numbers, the factors that move those numbers, and a way to estimate your own project before you talk to anyone.

We have been building custom software in Perth since 2013, for WA Government agencies, mining and resources, non-profits, recruitment firms, and construction. The price bands below are the ones we actually quote in 2026. They are in Australian dollars and exclude GST.

The short answer

Most custom software projects in Perth fall into three bands:

Band	Typical range	What you get	Timeline
Starter	$30,000 – $60,000	A focused MVP or internal tool. Single purpose, core data + authentication, clean handover.	6–10 weeks
Growth	$60,000 – $120,000	A multi-role platform with third-party integrations (CRM, ERP, accounting), dashboards, and post-launch support.	12–20 weeks
Enterprise	$120,000 – $1,000,000+	A mission-critical platform at scale: multi-tenant or multi-site, compliance (ISM, Essential Eight), and ongoing managed support.	20–40 weeks

If a project sounds like it should cost $8,000, it is almost certainly not custom software — it is a template, a no-code tool, or an off-the-shelf subscription. Those are legitimate options (more on that below), but they are a different category.

If a quote comes back at $300,000+ for what sounds like a Growth-band project, ask what is driving it. Sometimes the answer is good (genuine complexity, heavy compliance). Sometimes it is overhead you are paying for and shouldn't.

What actually drives the cost

Two projects with the same one-line description can differ by 5× in price. Here is what moves the number, roughly in order of impact.

1. Scope and number of distinct workflows

The single biggest driver is how many different things the software has to do. A tool that does one job well (say, generating compliance PDFs from a form) is cheap. A platform that handles intake, approvals, scheduling, reporting, and billing is five tools wearing a trench coat — and priced accordingly.

2. User roles and permissions

One user type is simple. The moment you have an admin, a manager, a field worker, and an external client all seeing different things with different permissions, you have multiplied the screens, the testing surface, and the security work. Role-based access control is one of the most underestimated cost lines in any quote.

3. Integrations

Every system you need to connect to — Xero, MYOB, a CRM, an ERP, a payment gateway, an SMS provider, a government API — adds cost. Some integrations are a day's work against a clean, documented API. Others are weeks of fighting an undocumented legacy system. The number and quality of integrations matters more than almost anything except scope.

4. Data complexity and volume

A handful of simple records is easy. Hierarchical data, time-series data, geospatial data, real-time synchronisation, or millions of rows that need to stay fast — those push the architecture (and the price) up. Our real-time geochemistry QA/QC platform for a WA mining client is a good example: the value was entirely in making complex data fast and interpretable, and that is where the engineering effort went.

5. Offline and mobile requirements

If your users are on a beach, down a mine, or in a paddock with no signal, the app has to work offline and sync later. Offline-first architecture is genuinely harder than a connected web app, and it adds to both build and testing cost. The SLSA Operations App — used by 1,000+ surf patrols every week across Australia — is built this way because beaches do not have reliable wi-fi.

6. Compliance and security

A standard business tool and a system that has to meet the ACSC Essential Eight, the Information Security Manual (ISM), or handle health and personal data are not the same project. Compliance adds documentation, hardening, audit trails, and testing — typically $20,000–$40,000 on top of an otherwise-comparable build.

7. Design and user experience

A clean, functional interface using a sensible design system is included in every band above. Bespoke, pixel-crafted UX with custom interactions, animation, and a design-led discovery phase is an add-on — worth it for customer-facing products, usually overkill for internal tools.

Web app, mobile app, or PWA — does it change the price?

Yes, but less than people expect, because of how we build.

Custom web applications sit squarely in the bands above.
Mobile apps (iOS, Android) built natively mean two separate codebases and roughly double the maintenance. We instead build with Vue, Quasar, and Capacitor, so one codebase produces iOS, Android, and web from a single development investment. That keeps app projects in the $35,000 (MVP) to $250,000 (enterprise) range rather than the $200,000+ a separate-native-codebases approach reaches.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are the cheapest way to reach mobile users when you do not need app-store distribution — from $15,000 for a focused PWA. The SECCA accessible education platform, which delivers 2,000+ educational illustrations free on any device, is a PWA for exactly this reason.

Real projects, real bands

We can't publish exact client figures, but here is roughly where real Nano projects land by type:

A single-purpose internal tool (e.g. a construction O&M manual workflow like Procom — template setup, progressive submission, approval tracking, PDF generation): Starter to lower Growth band.
An accessible content platform delivering thousands of assets to a national audience (SECCA): Growth band, with the accessibility and content-scale work being the main cost.
A field operations app used by thousands of users weekly, offline-first, safety-critical (SLSA Operations): Enterprise band.
A suite of integrated back-office systems — candidate management, timesheets, document sharing, all wired into a core platform, evolved over years (a recruitment client we've partnered with since 2015): Enterprise band, delivered in phases rather than one big bang.

The phasing point matters: most Enterprise-band work is not a single $1,000,000 cheque. It is a Growth-band first release that earns its keep, followed by funded increments.

WA Government and CUAICTS2021

If you are a WA Government agency or local council, you can engage us directly under the Common Use Arrangement CUAICTS2021 (Nano Solutions, Contractor #225) without running a full open tender for in-scope work. Panel engagement is faster, the rates are pre-arranged, and the procurement risk is lower for the agency. If that applies to you, our process page and the procurement guide (below) walk through exactly how it works.

The part most guides skip: fixed-price scoping

Here is the uncomfortable truth about software quotes — nobody can give you an accurate fixed price for a vague idea. The industry's two bad habits are (1) quoting a low number to win the job and then issuing change requests, or (2) padding the estimate heavily to cover the unknowns you are forced to absorb.

We do a third thing. Every project starts with a paid scoping phase (typically around $2,500 for a focused engagement) that produces a written, fixed-price proposal. You walk away owning that document — wireframes, a feature list, an architecture outline, and a fixed price — whether or not you build with us. It de-risks the big number by spending a small, defined amount to remove the guesswork first.

That is also why the calculator below gives you a range, not a price. A range is honest. A precise number before scoping is a sales tactic.

Estimate your project range

Answer six questions for an indicative range. This is a ballpark to set expectations — a real quote comes from a fixed-price scoping session, not a calculator.

What are you building? How many user roles? How many integrations? Offline / field use? Compliance requirements? Design level?

Indicative range

Book a fixed-price scoping session

What you'll pay after launch

The build is not the end of the spend, and any honest cost guide says so. Ongoing costs typically include:

Hosting and infrastructure: from a few hundred dollars a month for a small app to several thousand for a high-availability production estate.
Managed maintenance and support: our managed cloud and maintenance retainers run $1,500/month for a small footprint, $5,000/month for production workloads, and $10,000/month for multi-environment, mission-critical systems. This covers monitoring, patching, security updates, and incident response.
Iterative development: most successful software keeps evolving. Budget for the changes that come once real users start using it — that is a sign of success, not a failure of planning.

A useful rule of thumb: annual ongoing cost is often 15–25% of the original build cost. Software you never touch again is software slowly going stale.

How to spend less (without getting burned)

Start with an MVP. Build the smallest version that delivers real value, ship it, and let usage tell you what to build next. This is the single biggest lever on cost.
Phase the work. A funded Growth-band release that pays for itself beats an unfunded Enterprise wishlist.
Be honest about off-the-shelf. If a $50/month SaaS tool does 90% of what you need, use it. Custom software earns its cost when the software is your competitive advantage or your existing tools actively cost you money.
Bring clean requirements. The clearer you are about what you need, the less you pay for discovery — and the more accurate the fixed price.
Avoid the cheapest quote. A quote dramatically below the others usually means the vendor has misunderstood the scope, and the gap will come back as change requests. The total cost of the cheap quote is rarely the cheapest.

Frequently asked questions

Is custom software cheaper than a SaaS subscription over time? Sometimes. A $300/user/month SaaS tool across 40 users is $144,000 a year — at that scale, custom software you own can pay for itself in 2–3 years. Below ~10 users, off-the-shelf is almost always cheaper. Run the maths on your specific situation.

Do you offer fixed-price projects? Yes, for well-defined work. The fixed price comes out of the paid scoping phase. For genuinely exploratory work, a time-and-materials or retainer arrangement is more honest than a fixed price built on guesses.

How long does a typical project take? Starter band 6–10 weeks, Growth band 12–20 weeks, Enterprise band 20–40 weeks. We work in two-week sprints with a working build you can see at the end of each.

Will I own the code? Yes. You own the source code and all IP. No lock-in, no per-seat licensing on your own software.

What does the scoping phase actually produce? A written proposal you keep: wireframes, a prioritised feature list, an architecture outline, and a fixed price — typically for around $2,500, regardless of whether you build with us.

The honest summary

Custom software in Perth costs $30,000 to $1,000,000+, and where you land depends mostly on scope, roles, integrations, and compliance. The number is knowable — it just requires a small, defined scoping investment to know it accurately instead of guessing.

If you want that number for your project, book a discovery call or read how we work first. And if you are buying on behalf of a WA Government agency, the procurement path under CUAICTS2021 is open to you directly.