Why nobody wants to write this down
Because “it depends” is true, and because a single number in a title is how you get the wrong kind of enquiry. Still: buyers search this question, and vague answers waste everyone’s time. Here are bands we can stand behind for work done properly — design, build, test, deploy, handover — not a weekend prototype.
| What you are buying | Typical shape | Ballpark |
|---|---|---|
| Paid discovery / prototype | 2 to 4 weeks, written scope at the end | Small, fixed |
| Focused MVP or internal tool | 8 to 16 weeks, one main workflow | Medium |
| Business system replacing several spreadsheets | 4 to 9 months, integrations | Larger, often phased |
| Multi-module platform (ERP-shaped) | 9 months and up | Programme, not a project |
We are deliberately not printing a rupee figure that will be wrong for your integrations. If a vendor gives you a precise total before they have seen your data and your other systems, treat that as a marketing number. A serious estimate names assumptions.
What actually drives the price
- Integrations. Talking to Tally, a payment gateway, a legacy desktop app, or a supplier portal is often more work than the screens.
- Roles and permissions. Five roles that must not see each other’s records is a design problem, not a checkbox.
- Data quality. Migrating ten years of Excel with duplicate customers is a project of its own.
- How finished “done” is. A demo on a laptop is not the same as hosted, backed up, with a handover and someone who can change a rate without calling you.
Build versus buy, in cost terms
Off-the-shelf looks cheaper until you add licences, modules you do not need, and the consultant who customises it until it is a unique system you still do not own. Custom looks expensive until you add the years of workarounds you are already paying for in staff time. The comparison belongs on custom software versus off-the-shelf, not in a single cell of a spreadsheet.
How to keep the number honest
Start with an MVP: one workflow, real users, a written definition of done. Time and materials with a cap, or a fixed phase with a change process, both work. What does not work is a fixed price on an unfixed problem.
What we actually see on quotes in India
A focused internal tool — one login, one workflow, hosted, handed over — is often in the low-to-mid lakhs if the integrations are few and the data is clean. A system that replaces several spreadsheets and talks to Tally, a website and a branch is a multiple of that, usually phased. A “whole ERP by December” quoted as a single fixed number before anyone has seen the data is not a quote. It is a wish.
We will not print a rupee figure that will be wrong for your weighing scale, your dealer portal, or your GST exceptions. What we will say: if two vendors differ by 3× on the same one-page brief, one of them has not priced the integrations, the migration, or the handover. Ask them to show which.
Line items that disappear from the first email
- Discovery that produces a written scope you can argue with.
- Test accounts and a week of the real users clicking, not the vendor demoing.
- Hosting, backups, SSL, and who gets the bill when the site is live.
- Thirty or ninety days of support after handover, named in writing.
- Training that is not “we will send a PDF”.
A cheaper build that omits those is not cheaper. You will buy them later, in a hurry.
How we price so the number can move without a fight
A short paid discovery, then a fixed first slice with a change log. Extra work is written down and priced before it is done, or it is refused. Time and materials with a cap works when the problem is still being understood. What we will not do is lock a twelve-module system to a date and a rupee figure on a first call.
Hours you will spend, even if you hire well
Someone from the business sits with the build every week. They answer “what happens when the supplier is new?” They look at the first real data. They introduce the people who will click it on Tuesday. If that person does not exist, the quote is not low enough to save you. You will pay the hours later, in rework.
Plan for a day a week from an operations lead on an MVP, more on a system that replaces several spreadsheets. That is not the vendor being difficult. That is how you avoid encoding a guess about GST or branch stock.
How to read two quotes that are not the same job
Put them in a table: discovery included or not; first slice defined or “the system”; Tally / payments / mail named or “integrations TBC”; handover of source and hosting; support window after go-live; your hours per week. Price is the last column. A low number with empty cells is how you fund a change request in week six that was the actual project.
If you only have a one-line brief, both quotes are fiction. Write the brief. Then the 3× gap usually collapses, or it becomes obvious who left out migration. That is the only useful meaning of “competitive tender” on custom work.
What “medium” and “larger” actually contain
A medium MVP is one login, one workflow, hosted, tested with real users, handed over with source and a way to change a rate. It is not twelve screens of wireframe. A larger programme is the same thing, repeated: each phase has its own definition of done, its own parallel run if it touches money or stock, and a stop rule. Treating the programme as one fixed price is how you get a number that moves in week six.
India quotes often hide the difference by listing modules. Count workflows, integrations, and who will sit with the build. Three modules with one integration and a clean data set is still medium. One “module” that talks to Tally, a weighbridge, and three branches is not. If you cannot tell which you were quoted, ask them to redraw the quote as slices. The rupee figure then has a place to sit.
What you keep paying after go-live
Hosting, backups, SSL, a way to change a rate, and a named window of support. A cheaper build that omits those shows up as an emergency in month two. Budget a change allowance — small stories you will only see once staff use the thing. A system with zero change budget is a system that starts rotting while the spreadsheet next to it grows.
If you are still choosing who to trust with the estimate, use how to choose a software development company. For .NET-shaped systems, the work itself sits under .NET development.