What decides the price of an MVP
We publish our prices as ranges, and the first question is always: where in the range am I? The honest answer is that a handful of choices decide it, and most of them are made in the first conversation. Here they are.
The three bands
SprintHK$8k–15kA page or small site to test demand
Standard MVPHK$28k–48kSign-in, payments and one core flow
Deep buildHK$50k–90kMore roles, harder logic, AI or a custom engine
The exact number is fixed in writing after a scoping call, before any work starts.
Six things that move the price
- A custom calculation engineAnything that has to compute something no library already does: pricing rules, scheduling, scoring, charts. It needs its own tests and edge cases, so it's the single biggest driver.
- A second kind of userBuyers and sellers, students and tutors, staff and customers. Each side needs its own screens, permissions and emails, and a marketplace adds payouts between them.
- AI featuresNot the model itself but the work around it: grounding answers in your material, showing sources, handling failures, and setting spending limits so a busy day doesn't surprise you.
- Connecting to tools you already useA CRM, a booking system, an accounting package. Every outside system has its own quirks, and each connection needs testing against the real thing.
- Sign-in, payments and an admin viewThe core of a Standard MVP. Usually predictable, because the tools are mature, but each one still needs to be wired, tested and handed over.
- A second languageCheaper than people expect when it's planned from day one, more expensive when it's added later.
What barely changes it
The number of marketing pages, the colour scheme, and most visual polish. A clean design system makes these quick. What costs money is logic and moving parts, not how many screens there are.
How to keep a first version lean
- Start with one kind of user, even if you'll need two later
- Use a standard checkout instead of custom payment screens
- Launch in the language your first customers speak, unless they speak two
- Keep reports to the one number you named as your proof
- Write the “out” list before the “in” list
What isn't in the price
Third-party costs such as the domain, hosting, payment fees and AI usage. They're billed to your own accounts, so you can see them and they stay yours. Ops after launch is optional and quoted separately.