In 2026, building a SaaS costs between €3,000 and over €150,000 depending on the method: €3,000 to €15,000 in no-code, €15,000 to €60,000 with a freelancer, €40,000 to €150,000 with a classic agency, or €15,000 as a fixed-price V1 package at Khufu. The real cost driver is not the daily rate, but the scope and the time lost before reaching the market.
The real price ranges in 2026
The price depends mostly on who builds it and how. Here are the four main options and what they really involve.
- No-code (Bubble, Webflow…): €3,000 – €15,000. Fast to start, but hits a ceiling as soon as the product gains users or needs advanced business logic.
- Freelancer: €300 – €700/day, i.e. €15,000 – €60,000 for a first version. Highly variable quality, strong dependence on a single person.
- Classic agency: €40,000 – €150,000, over 3 to 6 months. Heavy process, vague quotes, endless back-and-forth.
- Fixed-price V1 package (Khufu): €15,000, delivered in 7 days, source code yours.
What really drives the price
Three factors weigh far more than the daily rate. Scope first: the number of features truly needed at launch. Technical debt next: throwaway code costs twice, once to build it and once to rewrite it. Time-to-market last: every month of delay is a month without revenue or customer learning.
Why fixed price protects the founder
A fixed-price package shifts the risk from the client to the provider. You know exactly what you pay and what you receive, before you even start. The scope is defined and validated upfront, and the team is incentivized to ship fast and well — not to bill hours. On a time-and-materials basis, every delay inflates the invoice; with a fixed price, overruns are the provider's problem.
A throwaway MVP costs twice: once to build it, once to rewrite it when you need to scale.
How much to budget, concretely
For a classic B2B SaaS (authentication, dashboard, payment, one or two core features), count on €15,000 for a clean, production-ready V1 on a maintainable stack (Next.js, NestJS, Prisma, PostgreSQL). Then add a monthly maintenance budget from €1,490/month to grow it without accumulating debt. That way you know what you spend from day one to launch, with no bad surprises.