Software proposal
- Project price
- $9,177
- Build hours
- 84
- Build
- $7,980
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. Scopedly publishes no market rates and quotes no survey: the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
A software proposal from a freelance developer or a small dev agency is a promise about something that does not yet exist, priced before it is built, for a client who often cannot tell a page template from an integration. That is why it fails when it is priced as a single figure for the whole thing. This page sets out how a small studio writes a software proposal a client can accept: scope broken into things that can be counted, priced at hours and a rate, with the integrations named, the testing allowed for and the care after launch stated up front.
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Count what can be counted
Screens or page templates, integrations with third parties, data migrations, user roles: these are countable and each has a cost in hours. The web development proposal tool on this site prices a build that way, from templates and integrations at hours each, so that the proposal shows the client what the price is made of without showing your margin.
Name the third parties
Every integration has a system you do not control and a documentation page that is out of date. Naming each one in the proposal, with the hours allowed, is what lets you say what the fourth one costs when it appears in week three, and what protects the client from a quote that was cheap because it assumed none of them would be difficult.
Price the year, not the launch
Software needs updating, hosting, monitoring and small changes from the day it goes live. A monthly care plan stated in the proposal, with the year one total shown next to the build price, sets the expectation before launch and gives the studio the recurring revenue that makes small-client work sustainable.
Will it do what you need for Software proposal?
Tell us what your studio needs and we will tell you straight whether Scopedly Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.
Software proposal: common questions
What should a software proposal include?
The problem in the client's words, the scope broken into countable parts, the integrations by name, what the client provides, the revision and acceptance process, the timeline with the client's dependencies marked, the price with its payment schedule, ownership of code and data, and the support arrangement after launch. The web build tool on this site works the money lines.
How do I price a software project as a freelancer?
From hours and a rate, per countable part, with an allowance for testing and launch on top, never from what the client's budget seems to be. If the total is above the budget, remove scope in the proposal and say what was removed; a client who sees what they are not getting can choose to fund it later.
Fixed price or time and materials for a software proposal?
Fixed price for a scope both sides can describe, time and materials for discovery and for work the client wants to steer week by week. Many small studios do a fixed-price discovery phase first, then propose the build from what it found. Either way the payment schedule, with a deposit and milestones, belongs in the proposal.