Instead of one more range, here are the ones French agencies, freelancers and platforms publish on their own pages, recorded the same day, with the medians by project size and the five-year cost. Mine is in the table.
Key figures
For each size, the median of the floor prices and the median of the ceiling prices published by the sources that price it. A median is not pulled up by the two or three most expensive agencies.
| Project size | What it covers | Published medians |
|---|---|---|
| Simple tool or MVP | One precise need: a schedule, a case tracker, an automation, a client portal. One kind of user, few integrations. | €5,000 to €12,50011 sources: from the lowest floor, €2,500, to the highest ceiling, €50,000 |
| Complete business application | Several roles, a dashboard, quotes or invoices, one or two integrations (accounting, payment, emails). Most tools of small businesses. | €13,500 to €50,00010 sources: from the lowest floor, €5,000, to the highest ceiling, €150,000 |
| Platform or SaaS | Client area, payments, scaling, multiple integrations, sometimes a mobile app. Delivered in stages. | €50,000 to €150,0008 sources: from the lowest floor, €20,000, to the highest ceiling, €300,000 |
One precise need: a schedule, a case tracker, an automation, a client portal. One kind of user, few integrations.
11 sources: from the lowest floor, €2,500, to the highest ceiling, €50,000
Several roles, a dashboard, quotes or invoices, one or two integrations (accounting, payment, emails). Most tools of small businesses.
10 sources: from the lowest floor, €5,000, to the highest ceiling, €150,000
Client area, payments, scaling, multiple integrations, sometimes a mobile app. Delivered in stages.
8 sources: from the lowest floor, €20,000, to the highest ceiling, €300,000
Why such a gap: a twenty-person Paris agency and an independent developer do not sell the same scope nor the same structure. La Fabrique du Net, which measures budgets actually committed, finds a median of €50,000 in the Paris region against €15,000 in the rest of France.
Medians computed on the sources that price the project size, Dibodev included.
The table
Each card repeats what the source itself publishes, without rounding, with the date of its page. Nothing was requested through a quote.
Directory · France entière
Simple tool €8,000 to €10,000 · Business application €10,000 to €50,000 · Platform €25,000 to €100,000. Medians of 184 real budgets (overall median €30,000, business application €20,000). Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-06.
Source: lafabriquedunet.frAgency · Nantes
Simple tool €15,000 to €50,000 · Business application €40,000 to €150,000 · Platform €80,000 to €250,000 · daily rate €500 to €700 · maintenance 15 to 25% per year. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-04-13.
Source: lonestone.ioAgency · Le Mans
Simple tool €5,000 to €15,000 · Business application €20,000 to €60,000 · Platform €50,000 to €150,000 · maintenance 15 to 25% per year. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026.
Source: akelio.comAgency · Hem (Lille)
Simple tool €3,000 to €8,000 · Business application €8,000 to €25,000 · Platform from €20,000. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-08-25.
Source: anetmo.comAgency · Paris, Lyon, Marseille
Simple tool €5,000 to €15,000 · Business application €20,000 to €50,000 · Platform €50,000 to €100,000 · maintenance 10 to 15% per year. No-code and low-code tools, maintenance €500 to €5,000 per month depending on size. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-04-21.
Source: nocodefactory.frAgency · Maisons-Alfort (Paris)
Simple tool €10,000 to €30,000 · Business application €30,000 to €80,000 · Platform €60,000 to €150,000 · maintenance 10 to 20% per year. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-09-03.
Source: fenxi.frMedia · France entière
Simple tool €3,000 to €10,000 · Business application €10,000 to €40,000 · Platform €30,000 to €300,000. Study by a media outlet with the prices of one agency, real cases from €3,100 to €36,000 excluding VAT. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-05-27.
Source: digitiz.frAgency · Marseille
Simple tool €9,000 to €15,000 · Business application €17,000 to €68,000 · Platform €69,000 to €128,000 · daily rate €800 to €1,000. Tiers given for applications, including mobile ones. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026.
Source: sokeo.frAgency · Rennes
Simple tool from €5,000. Per delivered module, hosting €30 to €150 per month on top. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-08-25.
Source: appminds.frFreelancer · Chartres
Simple tool €3,746 · Business application €7,766. Subscription: €890 then €119 per month over 24 months for the tool, €2,990 then €199 per month for the full software, converted to the 24-month total. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-09-29.
Source: velyria.frAgency · Lyon
Overall range €5,000 to €200,000. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026.
Source: aktislab.frPlatform · France entière
Overall range €500 to €5,000 · daily rate €190 to €275. Average hourly rates of €27 to €39 converted to 7-hour days. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2025.
Source: codeur.comPlatform · France entière
daily rate €317 to €672. Experienced developers active on Malt, from €317 (0 to 2 years) to €672 (15 years and more); €576 on average. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026.
Source: malt.frFreelancer · Rennes
Simple tool €2,500 to €5,000 · Business application €5,000 to €15,000 · daily rate €400. That is me: fixed prices published on this site, maintenance €100 to €300 per month. Recorded on October 11, 2026, page dated 2026-09-30.
Source: dibodev.frThe data is yours too: the full record can be downloaded under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Cite "Dibodev, 2026 barometer of custom software prices" with a link to this page.
A source is missing or has changed its prices? Write to me, I correct it and date the correction.
Over five years
A subscription always looks cheaper in the first year. Here is the five-year calculation for a business application, maintenance included.
| Criterion | Trade software subscription | Custom by Dibodev | Custom by an agency (medians) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Yes : €9 to €249 per month (2026 prices of the software on the four trade tests) | Partly : €5,000 to €15,000 at a fixed price | Partly : €13,500 to €50,000 (medians of the sources that price this tier) |
| Five-year cost | Yes : €540 to €14,940 | Partly : €11,000 to €33,000, maintenance of €100 to €300 per month included | No : €23,625 to €112,500, with maintenance at 15 to 25% per year |
| Your business rules | Partly : Those planned by the vendor | Yes : Designed around your organisation | Yes : Designed around your organisation |
| Your data and the code | Partly : At the vendor, export depending on the software | Yes : Yours, code included | Yes : Yours in most contracts, to be checked |
| Getting started | Yes : A few days | Partly : 5 to 20 weeks, in stages | Partly : 3 to 12 months according to La Fabrique du Net |
| When it makes sense | Yes : A standard need, a small team | Yes : A precise trade, rules of your own, 1 to 50 users | Partly : Several teams, an information system to connect |
What makes the price vary
The sources agree on these factors. What changes is their weight in each quote.
A tool that handles one thing costs far less than a platform linking quotes, invoicing, stock and customers. Every "and also" adds days.
A tool for three people is simple. As soon as there are roles, permissions and many people at the same time, the architecture weighs in: Nocode Factory counts 10 to 50% more beyond a hundred users.
Accounting, payment, external API: every connection is a project of its own, especially when the other system is temperamental. A simple integration is priced €2,000 to €5,000 by the agencies that detail it.
La Fabrique du Net measures the gap: a €25,000 median for pure development, €50,000 when tests are explicitly planned.
An independent developer has no salesperson nor project manager to fund: published daily rates go from €400 as a freelancer to €800 or €1,000 in an agency.
A €50,000 median in the Paris region against €15,000 elsewhere, according to La Fabrique du Net. Development happens remotely: nothing forces you to pay the Paris premium.
Method
It does not measure quotes, but what each provider dares to write publicly. That is its limit and its interest.
The ranges come from the providers’ price pages or price guides, all read on 11 October 2026, with a link to each. No quote requested, no negotiated price.
Each range is filed under a size (simple tool, business application, platform) from the source’s own description. A source that only gives one overall figure stays in the overall range and does not enter the medians.
For each size, the median of the published floors and the median of the published ceilings. Subscriptions are converted to the total over the commitment period, hourly rates to days.
Prices checked twice a year, edition redone every year. A provider that publishes its prices can ask to be added.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the project size and on who answers you. Across the 14 recorded sources, the published medians go from €5,000 to €12,500 for a simple tool, from €13,500 to €50,000 for a complete business application and from €50,000 to €150,000 for a platform. La Fabrique du Net, which measures budgets actually committed, finds a €30,000 median across all projects and €20,000 for a business application.
Because "custom software" covers a schedule for three people as well as a platform for ten thousand users, and because an independent developer and a twenty-person agency do not sell the same structure. The widest ranges come from agencies that also serve large accounts.
For the same scope, usually yes. Published daily rates go from €400 as a freelancer to €500 to €700 for an agency according to Lonestone, and up to €800 to €1,000 at Sokeo. A freelancer has no salesperson nor project manager to fund. In exchange, check that they have already delivered comparable projects and that the code will be handed over to you.
The agencies in the record announce 10 to 25% of the initial price per year, that is €5,000 to €12,500 per year for a €50,000 tool. I charge mine at a fixed price, €100 to €300 per month, hosting, backups and small changes included.
Over one year, almost always. Over five years, a subscription of €9 to €249 per month amounts to €540 to €14,940, against €11,000 to €33,000 for a custom business application with me, maintenance included. The real question lies elsewhere: if the off-the-shelf software fits the way you work, take it. My trade tests tell you in six questions.
Quotes, discounts and negotiated prices, which nobody publishes. Providers that give no public figure (KC Web or Scale-me, for example) were read but do not enter the medians. And prices outside France.
With the three-question estimator of the business software page, which gives a range for your project size. Then through a free thirty-minute call, to turn the range into a fixed-price quote.
Yes. The record can be downloaded as a CSV under a CC BY 4.0 licence: cite "Dibodev, 2026 barometer of custom software prices" with a link to this page. If you spot a mistake, write to me, I correct it and date the correction.
Blog
The articles that detail the price of a custom tool and the choice between off-the-shelf and custom software.
Published pricing from 14 French service providers, where I stand in comparison, and a five-year cost calculation versus a subscription model.
Overflowing Excel sheets, software that never quite fits your workflow: the full rundown on custom business applications, no jargon included.
Off-the-shelf SaaS or custom software? An honest comparison to help you decide, highlighting when ready-made solutions excel and when tailored development is essential.
Describe your activity and what the tool must do. I reply within 24 hours with an order of magnitude, then a fixed-price quote if you want to go further. And if off-the-shelf software is enough, I tell you.