The key points at a glance
- Website: informs and wins enquiries. The right starting point for most SMEs.
- Web app: replaces spreadsheets, email ping-pong and paper forms. Worth it once a process happens often and is handled by several people.
- SaaS: a web app you sell to many customers on subscription. Also needs multi-tenancy, billing and support.
Three terms, three jobs
| Type | Job and typical features | Guide price |
|---|---|---|
| Website | Inform, build trust, win enquiries. Pages, blog, forms, CMS | from CHF 3,500 |
| Web app | Digitise processes. Login, customer area, roles, data, interfaces | from CHF 25,000 |
| SaaS product | Sell software on subscription. Tenants, payments, onboarding, support | from CHF 60,000 |
The lines blur. A company website with a small customer area is already a bit of a web app. And many successful SaaS products started out as an internal web app that worked so well, other people wanted it too.
When a web app pays off
A simple rule of thumb: work out how many hours a month a process costs you today. Then answer these questions:
- Does it happen often? A process that comes up daily pays back a web app faster than one that happens four times a year.
- Do several people work on it? As soon as information moves back and forth between the office, field staff and customers, errors and delays creep in.
- Is there off-the-shelf software? For accounting or email marketing, good ready-made solutions exist. Your own web app is worth it where your process is your competitive edge.
- Will you need the data later? A web app collects structured data that turns into reports, invoices or forecasts.
One example from our own work is stunden.ch: a platform that follows a shift from the schedule through time tracking to the paid invoice and payroll, instead of running five separate programs side by side.
Budget and timeline
Our pricing calculator estimates a web app with up to six screens at CHF 25,000 to 60,000. The biggest factors are:
- Roles and permissions: who sees what? Every role multiplies the test cases.
- Interfaces: CRM, ERP, accounting, payments. Each integration is its own small project.
- Data migration: cleanly taking over old spreadsheets is often more work than expected.
- Operations: hosting in Switzerland, backups, monitoring and ongoing development. Budget 15 to 20% of the development cost for this every year.
A first usable version (MVP) is realistic within three to four months if the scope is clear. A SaaS product with billing and self-registration usually needs six months or more.
Four phases to a product
- Workshop: we map out your current process, find the most expensive steps, and define what the first version must do, and what it doesn’t need to.
- Clickable prototype: you click through the key screens before a single line of code is written. Changes here cost minutes, not days.
- MVP: the first version goes live with real users. Not perfect, but useful.
- Ongoing development: what gets used, we build out. What nobody needs, gets dropped.
The most expensive feature is the one nobody uses. A small, good MVP beats any large requirements document.
What you can prepare
- A description of the current process, ideally as a sketch or with everyday examples.
- The spreadsheets, forms or emails currently in use.
- Who will use the web app: team, customers, partners, and on which devices.
- Which programs need to be connected, for example accounting or CRM.
- A rough budget range and a target date. Both help scope the project correctly.
Sharpen your idea in a conversation
In a free initial consultation, we work out whether a website, web app or SaaS is the right fit, and what a first version would cost. The pricing calculator gives you an initial estimate.
