Solution Blueprint

Tell me what you're building. I'll show you what it actually takes.

What Building: What are you building?
Shape Aria: Project shape

Shapes

Booking system

Id: booking
Hint: Appointments, classes, rooms

Customer portal

Id: portal
Hint: Where your clients log in

Internal dashboard

Id: dashboard
Hint: Tools for your team

Online store

Id: ecommerce
Hint: Sell products

Marketing site + CMS

Id: marketing
Hint: Brand, blog, landing pages

Marketplace

Id: marketplace
Hint: Buyers and sellers

SaaS product (MVP)

Id: saas
Hint: Subscription software

Custom workflow

Id: workflow
Hint: Something else entirely
Needs Title: What does it need to do?
Needs Hint: Pre-filled from your pick. Adjust to taste.

Toggles

Take payments

Key: payments
Capability: Online payments and invoicing

Users log in

Key: accounts
Capability: Secure user accounts and login

Send emails

Key: emails
Capability: Automated email notifications

File uploads

Key: files
Capability: Secure file storage

Bookings or scheduling

Key: scheduling
Capability: Calendar and booking flow

Live updates

Key: realtime
Capability: Real-time notifications and sync

Searchable content

Key: search
Capability: Fast in-app search

Reports or stats

Key: reporting
Capability: Custom reporting and analytics
Users Title: Roughly how many users?
User Tier Aria: User tier
User Small: Small
User Small Hint: < 1,000
User Medium: Medium
User Medium Hint: 1k – 10k
User Large: Large
User Large Hint: 10k+
Blueprint: Your blueprint
Youll Have: What you'll have
Pick One: Pick at least one capability to see your blueprint.
Complexity: Build complexity
Complexity Small: Small
Complexity Medium: Medium
Complexity Large: Large
Est Timeline: Estimated timeline
Weeks: wk
Running Cost: Running cost
Per Mo: /mo
Running Cost Title: What's in the running cost

Running Items

Base: Managed hosting, database, backups, monitoring
Accounts: Authentication and account infrastructure
Emails: Transactional email delivery
Files: File storage and bandwidth
Realtime: Real-time messaging infrastructure
Search: Search indexing and queries
Reporting: Reporting and analytics
Payments: Payment infrastructure (excludes per-transaction fees)
Scheduling: Calendar and scheduling services
Want Built: Ready to ship what this blueprint describes?
Cta Title: Want a planning tool like this, or the full system it outlines, built for you and ready to use?
Talk: Let's talk
Disclaimer: Honest blueprint, not a quote. Running cost covers hosting and the services your project relies on once live. It excludes payment processing fees (typically 1.5–3% per transaction), one-time setup, and your domain (~€15/year).
About Title: What this web app planning tool actually does

About

Planning a custom web app or MVP usually starts with a vague brief and a lot of guessing. This free Solution Blueprint tool turns that brief into something concrete: which capabilities you actually need, how complex the build will be, how many weeks it takes, and what the monthly running cost looks like once it goes live. It runs entirely in your browser, with no sign-up and no email required.
Pick the shape of your project (booking system, customer portal, internal dashboard, online store, marketing site, marketplace, SaaS MVP, or a custom workflow) and the tool pre-fills sensible defaults. Then toggle the features your project really needs: payments, login, email, file uploads, scheduling, real-time updates, search, or reporting. Each toggle changes both the timeline and the monthly hosting cost in real time.
Use it as a starting point before talking to any developer or agency. Walk into your first call with a realistic timeline, a clear feature list, and a monthly running cost in your head, instead of nodding along to numbers you can't sanity-check. It's the same back-of-the-envelope math used when scoping new client projects.
Faq Title: Frequently asked questions

Faq

How accurate is this web app cost estimate?

It's a realistic ballpark, not a fixed quote. The numbers are based on real costs for custom web app projects: managed hosting, authentication, transactional email, search, real-time messaging, file storage, and analytics. Expect the actual price to land within ±25% of the range shown, depending on scope, design polish, and integrations.

What's the difference between an MVP and a production web app?

An MVP is the smallest version of your product that proves people will use it. A production web app adds the polish, edge cases, monitoring, and reliability needed to support paying customers at scale. Most projects benefit from launching as an MVP first, then investing in production-grade features once usage and revenue are clear.

How long does it take to build a custom web app?

Most custom web apps with login, payments, and a couple of dashboards take 6 to 12 weeks of focused development. A simple internal tool can be ready in 3 to 5 weeks. A full SaaS or marketplace MVP usually runs 10 to 16 weeks. The blueprint above gives a more specific range based on the features you toggle on.

What does the monthly running cost cover?

Hosting, the database, automated backups, monitoring, and the third-party services your app depends on once it's live: authentication providers, email delivery, file storage, search infrastructure, and analytics. It does not include payment processing fees (typically 1.5–3% per transaction), your domain name, or one-off setup costs.

Can I use this for a SaaS or marketplace MVP?

Yes. Pick 'SaaS product (MVP)' or 'Marketplace' as the project shape. The tool already adjusts complexity and timeline upward for those, because they almost always need accounts, payments, real-time updates, and reporting from day one.

No. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent to a server. You can refresh the page, change your inputs, or close the tab without leaving any data behind.

Using the interactive tool

Open the canonical HTML page to use the calculator or generator. This Markdown alternate provides its complete explanatory content, labels, options, results guidance, FAQs, and limitations.