Custom software development for European companies

When is custom development worth it?

Custom development pays off when your process is a competitive advantage, you expect more than 30 users, several systems need to be integrated, or the gaps in the boxed product cost you money daily. If your process is standard and the team is small, off-the-shelf is the cheaper route — and we say so on the first consultation.

In practice, six signs show most clearly that your company has outgrown boxed software:

Custom vs. boxed — the decision in numbers

With boxed systems, per-seat licence fees typically run EUR 130-520 per user per month — for 30 users over 5 years that is EUR 80-260k, with no ownership at the end. We walk through a source-referenced 5-year SAP Business One cost comparison on the SAP B1 alternative page.

And when is boxed better? If a 5-10 person team needs standard invoicing, accounting or a basic client register with no integration requirements, a ready-made SaaS is faster and cheaper. In that case we do not pitch development — we help you pick and connect the right product.

What do we build?

We specialise in seven areas: ERP, CRM, mobile applications, custom websites and web applications, WMS warehouse management, process automation and system integration. Each has its own service page with detailed pricing, modules and frequently asked questions — below is the essence of each in a sentence.

Industry experience

We work regularly in six industries: manufacturing, logistics, banking, healthcare, energy and the public sector. In each of them the regulatory environment (NIS2, DORA, IATF, EESZT) defines half of the software requirements — so each industry has its own page laying out what we deliver and with which compliance.

Technologies — what we build on

We build on modern, widely supported technologies — Next.js, TypeScript, Node.js, Go, PostgreSQL — so your system is still maintainable in 5 years, and not only by us. We justify the stack decision in writing in every project specification.

How does development run? 5 steps

A project runs in five steps: scoping, design and prototype, development in 2-week sprints, testing and go-live, then support. After the specification you get a fixed price, during the sprints a weekly demo — so it never turns out months before delivery that something else was needed.

1. 01

   Scoping and specification 1-2 weeks

   Interviews with key users, a process map, a priority list. The output is a written specification and a fixed quote — not an hourly estimate that can turn into anything.

2. 02

   Design and prototype 2-4 weeks

   Data model, system design and a clickable UX prototype. This is where misunderstandings surface cheaply — changing a prototype costs a fraction of changing finished code.

3. 03

   Development in 2-week sprints the bulk of the project

   Weekly demos and transparent progress: you always see where your project stands, and direction can still change at sprint boundaries. Every pull request goes through code review.

4. 04

   Testing, migration, go-live 2-6 weeks

   End-to-end tests, data migration from the old system, key-user training. We go live module by module, so operations never stop for a single day.

5. 05

   Support and further development ongoing

   Bug-fix warranty, maintenance package (15-25% per year), regulatory tracking. Further development when it makes business sense — on a monthly retainer or per project.

How much does custom software development cost?

Based on our own project data, prices fall into three bands: a smaller custom system EUR 8-21k, a mid-market system EUR 21-79k, an enterprise project above EUR 79k. The exact price depends on module count, integrations and user numbers — after scoping you get a fixed quote within 24 hours.

Invoicing in 3 instalments: 40% at kick-off, 40% at prototype sign-off, 20% at go-live — from a Hungarian Kft. with an EU VAT invoice. Maintenance is 15-25% of the project value per year. The full package-by-package price list lives on the pricing page, and for ERP you can calculate the 5-year total cost with the ERP TCO calculator.

Why AppForge?

We are a development team, not an agency: we work to move your numbers — more customers, lower operating costs, faster processes. We have 80+ shipped projects behind us, and every delivered system comes with documentation, tests and support.