Why monthly instead of an upfront project fee?

Three reasons. First, software isn't a project that ends at launch — it needs security patches, content updates, performance monitoring, and the occasional rebuild as the business changes. Pricing as a one-time project hides this and pushes the real cost back to you when something breaks. Second, monthly costs match how SMBs and early-stage startups actually budget. Third, it aligns our incentives with yours — we make money by keeping your system fast, working, and current, not by selling a one-time deliverable and disappearing.

While you're an active client, you have a perpetual royalty-free license to run the system for your business — we host it, we maintain it, you use it. The source itself stays under our copyright. If you ever want full ownership — to take it in-house, hand it to another shop, or sell the business with the IP attached — there's a posted buyout: 24× your current monthly fee, paid once. That's two years of retainer up front, no negotiation theater. At that point the repository transfers to your name and we hand over every credential. We don't lock you in — but we don't give away $5,000 of engineering work for one month of fees either.

Why a 12-month minimum?

Because there's no upfront build fee. A typical Starter site is 20-40 hours of custom engineering work that has to be amortized across the year — without a minimum, the math doesn't work for either side, and we'd be forced to charge a real upfront fee like everyone else does. The 12 months is the trade: you get a custom build with zero cash down, we get enough runway to recover the labor. After month 12, cancel any time with 30 days' notice.

What happens if I need to leave inside the first year?

Two paths. (1) Pause and resume: settle for the prorated remainder of the 12-month term — never more, never an inflated buyout. If you're at month 7 of a $299/month Starter, that's 5 months × $299 = $1,495 to close out, the system goes dark, and we part as professionals. (2) Take the code with you: exercise the 24× buyout (e.g. $7,176 on Starter) and walk with full ownership of the repository and credentials. Either way, no negotiation theater.

Can I switch tiers as my needs change?

Yes — up or down, with one month's notice. If you launch a new product line and need more dev hours, move to Pro or Scale. If a project goes into maintenance mode and you need less, move down. We don't gate switching behind a contract renegotiation.

What's the difference between Scale and Enterprise?

Scale is for serious web apps and AI-enabled products that one engineer can keep ahead of — typically 8-20 hours of dev a month. Enterprise is for systems where the build itself is bespoke and ongoing — manufacturers' DSD ordering, ERP integrations, multi-tenant SaaS, regulated industries — and where downtime has real operational consequence. Enterprise engagements include a fixed-fee scoping phase upfront so we both know what we're committing to before the retainer starts.

What if we're high-traffic, regulated, or need enterprise SSO?

The posted numbers assume workloads that fit standard Pro-tier hosting — roughly up to a few thousand monthly active users, no HIPAA or SOC 2 obligation, no SAML SSO requirement. Past that, the underlying vendor bills change shape and we pass them through honestly, never with markup. HIPAA practical floor is about $1,200–$1,800/mo (Vercel BAA + Supabase Team + HIPAA add-on) on top of our posted +$399/mo HIPAA stack module for the agency-side configuration. SOC 2 Type II is a one-time scoped engagement, typically $25K–$80K all-in year one — listed in the catalog above as a Scoped item. High-traffic apps eventually need dedicated compute, read replicas, or sharding — also catalog items, scoped after a load-pattern review. Enterprise SSO (SAML, Okta, Azure AD) we quote on the call once we know which IdP and how many seats. The mechanism is always the same: we tell you the number before anything starts.

Why are you cheaper than a NYC agency? Why are you more expensive than Wix?

We're a solo operation with a senior engineering background, no PMs and no overhead, which keeps prices below typical NYC agency retainers ($800-$4,000/month for comparable maintenance work). We're more expensive than Wix or Squarespace because we write real custom code on a modern stack — Next.js, TypeScript, Supabase — that's measurably faster, more secure, and more flexible than templates. The difference shows up in Core Web Vitals, in conversion rates, and in what's possible to build six months from now.

Do you ever take equity instead of cash?

Selectively, yes. For early-stage founders with a credible product thesis and no cash to burn on engineering, we'll consider an equity-only or reduced-cash-plus-equity partnership in lieu of a monthly retainer. This isn't a default — it requires conviction in the founder, the market, and the wedge — but if you'd rather have a founding engineer than a vendor, ask. We'll be honest about whether we think the bet is worth taking.

Posted pricing. No surprises.

Flat monthly retainer, no upfront build fee. The numbers below are the numbers.

№ 00 — Base

Base — Landing Page

$200/month

High performance, SEO/GEO optimized, for less than a dinner reservation.

Start with the base →

Modern high performance site, regular updates
Hosting + domain management
Email contact form
On-page SEO setup, schema, sitemap, robots
Core Web Vitals optimized — built to score 95+
Mobile-responsive, accessibility-conscious
In-person visits on premise
Uptime + error monitoring
On-call Support

A la carte — add what you needStack any

Pages & content

CMS for staff editing
Your team edits menus, services, and content without calling the agency.
+$100/mo
Insights / blog surface
Long-form content under your own domain — SEO surface, not a third-party blog host.
+$50/mo
Photography sessionOne-time
On-site shoot for product, interior, or team. Priced by location and shot count.
$500-$1,500 one-time

Commerce & payments

Online ordering / reservations
Stripe / Square / Resy / OpenTable integration. A real revenue path without a separate vendor.
+$100/mo
E-commerce store
Custom Stripe Checkout or product catalog. Processor fees at cost — never marked up.
+$300/mo
Headless Shopify integration
Custom storefront on Shopify backend. Shopify Plus license passes through if required.
+$300/mo
Gift cards & deposits
Capture deposits on appointments, sell gift cards, hold cards on file for no-shows.
+$200/mo
Marketplace / Stripe Connect
Multi-party payouts, split payments, vendor onboarding for two-sided platforms.
+$200/mo

Booking & scheduling

Booking (Acuity / Square)
Lightweight appointment booking when you don't need a full vertical SaaS.
+$100/mo
Salon / spa booking integration
Vagaro, Mindbody, or Boulevard plugged into your custom site. Their SaaS passes through at cost.
+$100/mo
Resource-level scheduling
Stylist-, trainer-, or provider-level booking with filters, deposits, and cancellation rules.
+$100/mo
Reservations (Resy / OpenTable)
Reservation flow that owns the customer — or integrates without locking you in.
+$100/mo

Users & access

Auth & user accounts
Supabase Auth — sessions, password reset, OAuth providers, role-based access.
+$100/mo
RBAC / internal staff roles
Owner, manager, staff, contractor — different views, different permissions, one app.
+$100/mo
Multi-tenant (sub-accounts / orgs)
Real organization isolation with RLS — one app, many tenants, clean data boundaries.
+$500/mo
Member / customer portal
Logged-in portal for clients, patients, or members — orders, history, documents, messages.
+$200/mo
Designer-trade / B2B login tier
Wholesale or trade-pricing tier hidden behind auth. Different prices, different catalog.
+$150/mo

Integrations

3rd party integration
CRM, Klaviyo, Zapier, custom API. One integration per add — stack as many as needed.
+$100/mo each
POS integration
Real two-way sync between your site and the POS — inventory, orders, customer records.
Toast / Square / Clover
+$200/mo
EHR integration
Booking, intake, and patient-record sync with your clinical system of record.
SimplePractice / TherapyNotes / Jane / ModMed — build $10K-$40K. Requires HIPAA module.
+$300/mo
ERP integration
Inventory, work-orders, customer portal — the spreadsheet finally connected to the website.
NetSuite / Fishbowl / Odoo / E2 — typical build $15K-$60K + $249/mo+ once live
Scoped
MLS / IDX feed
Listing search and detail pages tied to a real licensed feed, not screen-scraped data.
RLS / RESO Web API — feed access fees pass through, typical $100-$500/mo
+$300/mo
SIS / school-system handoff
Blackbaud, Veracross, FACTS, Brightwheel — admissions and parent portal wired in cleanly.
+$200/mo

AI & automation

AI chatbot / assistant
Chatbot, menu assistant, or guided support. OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini. Fair-use inference included.
+$300/mo
AI agent — RAG + vector search
Retrieval-augmented assistant grounded in your own content. LLM usage passes through at cost.
+$300/mo
Workflow automation
Self-hosted n8n — form → CRM, order → Slack, intake → email — without the per-task Zapier tax.
+$200/mo
Job queue / scheduled jobs
Background work, retries, and cron — nightly imports, scheduled reports, batch processing.
+$129/mo

Communications

Notification hooks
Email / SMS / Slack triggers from any form, order, or backend event.
+$100/mo
SMS messagingPass-through
Twilio / Telnyx integration. Per-message cost passes through (Twilio 10DLC ~$0.008/segment).
+$100/mo
Marketing email / Klaviyo
Lifecycle campaigns, segment lists, abandoned-cart flows. Klaviyo subscription passes through.
+$200/mo

Analytics & dashboards

Analytics + monthly report
PostHog wired up plus a written monthly performance report — what's working, what isn't.
+$100/mo
Custom dashboard / admin app
Auth, RLS, multi-user views — your own internal tool instead of another spreadsheet.
+$300/mo

Operations & SLA

Dev hour pack — 5 hrs
Engineering capacity for whatever's next. Stack as many packs as needed.
+$600/mo
Priority support / 4-hr SLA
Same-day response, dedicated Slack channel, weekend cover.
+$500/mo
24/7 on-call
Real after-hours pager for systems where downtime has operational consequence.
+$500/mo
SEO content & link building
Real ongoing content and outreach work. Not a checkbox in a settings page.
+$500/mo

Compliance & security

HIPAA stack (agency config)
BAA paperwork, audit logging, PHI-aware encryption, and the configuration to back it up.
Vercel BAA $350/mo + Supabase HIPAA from $799/mo pass through at cost
+$1000/mo
Accessibility — WCAG 2.2 AA
Ongoing accessibility monitoring with a real audit, not just an overlay widget.
Audit $1,250-$2,750 one-time. Remediation typical 1.5-3× audit cost.
+$100/mo
Penetration testOne-time
Third-party tester scopes the surface, finds the gaps, hands you a remediation list.
$3K-$15K one-time for a small SaaS web-app pen test
Scoped
SOC 2 Type II readiness
Controls, evidence, auditor handoff. Required for enterprise sales contracts.
$25K-$80K year one all-in + Vanta / Drata pass through
Scoped
Enhanced 3-2-1 backups
Cloudflare R2 / Backblaze B2 offsite nightly dumps on top of Postgres managed backups.
+$300/mo
Air-gapped offsite backup
Separate cloud, separate credentials, separate region. For systems that can't lose data.
+$1000/mo

Infrastructure scale

Dedicated compute upgrade
When PgBouncer queue waits show up. Bigger Postgres, longer PITR, SOC 2 report access.
Pass-through at cost
Scoped
Cloudflare Images / Stream
Image and video pipeline that doesn't choke at scale. Delivery passes through at cost.
+$50/mo
Read replicas / sharding
For apps past ~5,000 concurrent active users. Quoted after a load-pattern review.
Scoped

Need managed IT or hardware?Per-user retainers, on-site hours, hardware procurement, on-prem backup — same modular structure, separate catalog.

See managed IT pricing →

For complex engagements

Startup Partnership

Scoped Per Engagement

Custom Pricing

A fractional founding engineer for the months before you can hire one.

Modern AI stack: AI SDK, Durable Workflows, OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini
Vector search, RAG, agentic workflows, eval pipelines
Direct Slack channel, same-day SLA
Equity-friendly: reduced cash + equity considered for credible theses
10+ dev hours per month
Weekly strategy call

Talk to an engineer →

Enterprise Engagement

scoped per engagement

Custom Pricing

Bespoke systems where downtime has real operational consequence.

Legacy modernization: ERP, POS, logistics, custom internal tools
ERP integrations: SAP, NetSuite, Dynamics, custom
Multi-tenant SaaS architecture, DSD ordering, mobile companion apps
Fixed-fee scoping & discovery phase before retainer kicks in
24/7 incident SLA available
Dedicated founding-engineer engagement

Scope an engagement →

Vertical kits

Or start with a vertical kit.

Curated bundles of modules from the à-la-carte catalog above — tuned to what a med spa, a fabrication shop, or a yoga studio actually needs. Not tiers; just a sensible starting point you can add to or trim. Pricing is the sum of the modules.

healthcare

Dental & med-spa kit

Online booking, provider bios, and a real before/after gallery — the things a new patient checks at nine PM before deciding which practice to call tomorrow.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

Salon / spa booking integration
Gift cards & deposits
CMS for staff editing
Photography session
Analytics + monthly report

Typical pass-throughs

· Vagaro / Mindbody / Boulevard SaaS
· Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30

≈ $750–$1,100 / mo software + pass-throughs

Scope this kit →

healthcare

Mental health / HIPAA-aware kit

Therapist directory, structured intake, telehealth handoff — built so the privacy and consent flows are first-class UX, not a footer link.

Starts with

Base + member portal + HIPAA stack

Recommended modules

Auth & user accounts
Member / customer portal
EHR integration
HIPAA stack (agency config)
Notification hooks

Typical pass-throughs

· Vercel HIPAA BAA $350/mo
· Supabase HIPAA from $799/mo
· SimplePractice / TherapyNotes / Jane SaaS

≈ $1,500–$2,200 / mo software + ~$1,200+ pass-throughs

Scope this kit →

professional

Boutique law / CPA kit

Practice-area pages organized by the client's problem, secure intake with conflict-check fields, and a blog surface for thought-leadership SEO.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

CMS for staff editing
Insights / blog surface
Notification hooks
Analytics + monthly report
SEO content & link building

Typical pass-throughs

· TaxDome / SmartVault / Canopy (CPAs)
· Clio / MyCase (law)

≈ $900–$1,400 / mo software

Scope this kit →

manufacturing

Fabrication shop kit

RFQ intake with STEP / drawing upload, a real job-status portal, and shop-floor handhelds wired to the ERP — the buyer stops calling for updates.

Starts with

Base + dashboard

Recommended modules

Auth & user accounts
RBAC / internal staff roles
Custom dashboard / admin app
ERP integration
Job queue / scheduled jobs
Notification hooks

Typical pass-throughs

· NetSuite / Fishbowl / Odoo licensing
· Handheld + label printer hardware (cost + 15%)

Scoped — typical $2,500–$5,000 / mo + integration build

Scope this kit →

food

Restaurant kit

Reservations that you own (or integrate with Resy without locking in), a live menu the kitchen updates, and a private-events funnel that actually fills the back room.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

Reservations (Resy / OpenTable)
CMS for staff editing
Marketing email / Klaviyo
Photography session
Analytics + monthly report

Typical pass-throughs

· Resy / OpenTable subscription
· Klaviyo for marketing email

≈ $700–$1,100 / mo software + pass-throughs

Scope this kit →

food

Café & bakery kit

Order-ahead tied to your POS, a catering inquiry form that hits the kitchen's calendar, and a daily-menu surface staff can update in thirty seconds.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

Online ordering / reservations
POS integration
CMS for staff editing
Marketing email / Klaviyo
Photography session

Typical pass-throughs

· Toast / Square subscription
· Stripe at 2.6% + $0.10 in-person

≈ $850–$1,300 / mo software + pass-throughs

Scope this kit →

retail

Boutique retail kit

Owner-curated storytelling, real product photography, and a checkout that doesn't bury the lookbook behind default Shopify chrome.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

Headless Shopify integration
Designer-trade / B2B login tier
Marketing email / Klaviyo
SMS messaging
Photography session

Typical pass-throughs

· Shopify Basic / Plus subscription
· Klaviyo for marketing email/SMS

≈ $900–$1,500 / mo software + Shopify

Scope this kit →

beauty

Salon & barber kit

Stylist-level booking with skill filters, real deposits to cut no-shows, and stylist portfolios that double as recruiting collateral.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

Resource-level scheduling
Gift cards & deposits
Marketing email / Klaviyo
Photography session
Analytics + monthly report

Typical pass-throughs

· Vagaro / Boulevard SaaS
· Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30 for deposits

≈ $800–$1,200 / mo software + pass-throughs

Scope this kit →

fitness

Yoga / specialty fitness kit

Live class schedule pulled from Mindbody, intro-pack purchase that actually converts first-timers, and retention email tied to the eight-week drop-off window.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

Salon / spa booking integration
Marketing email / Klaviyo
SMS messaging
CMS for staff editing
Analytics + monthly report

Typical pass-throughs

· Mindbody / Mariana / Pike13 subscription
· Twilio SMS at ~$0.008/segment

≈ $700–$1,100 / mo software + pass-throughs

Scope this kit →

creative

Gallery kit

High-res, color-accurate inventory rendering, viewing-room pages with proper sequencing, and a collector inquiry path that reads like a conversation.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

CMS for staff editing
Cloudflare Images / Stream
Auth & user accounts
Member / customer portal
Photography session

Typical pass-throughs

· Cloudflare Images / Stream delivery

≈ $850–$1,250 / mo software

Scope this kit →

education

School & early-childhood kit

Admissions flow with tour booking, parent portal handoff to the SIS, and tuition / financial aid clarity treated as first-class content — not buried.

Starts with

Base + member portal

Recommended modules

Auth & user accounts
Member / customer portal
SIS / school-system handoff
CMS for staff editing
Notification hooks
Photography session

Typical pass-throughs

· Blackbaud / Veracross / FACTS / Brightwheel SaaS

≈ $1,200–$1,800 / mo software + SIS pass-through

Scope this kit →

civic

Non-profit & civic kit

Donations with recurring giving and tribute options, volunteer signup tied to the CRM, and an annual-report surface worth reading — without the standard non-profit-tech tax.

Starts with

Base

Recommended modules

E-commerce store
CMS for staff editing
Auth & user accounts
Marketing email / Klaviyo
Accessibility — WCAG 2.2 AA

Typical pass-throughs

· Stripe at 2.2% + $0.30 (non-profit rate)
· Mailchimp / Klaviyo subscription

≈ $700–$1,100 / mo software

Scope this kit →

Estimated bands assume the modules listed and standard usage. The final monthly is the actual sum of the modules you pick — no mystery line items.

Terms

Plain-English contract terms.

The fine print is short on purpose. The relationship works because the system stays good, not because the contract makes leaving painful.

No upfront build fee. Design, build, hosting, and ongoing maintenance are bundled into the monthly retainer. Enterprise engagements include a fixed-fee scoping phase before the retainer begins.
12-month minimum, then month-to-month. The minimum exists so the build labor — typically 20-60 hours of engineering with no upfront fee — amortizes across the first year. After month 12, cancel any time with 30 days' notice. If you need to leave earlier, we settle for the prorated remainder of the term — never more.
Code is licensed during the retainer. While you're an active client, you have a perpetual, royalty-free license to run the system for your business. We host it, we maintain it, you use it. The source itself stays under our copyright until buyout — which keeps the recurring model honest and prevents the obvious arbitrage of paying one month and walking with $5,000 of engineering work.
Buyout option, posted price. If you ever want full ownership of the source — to take it in-house, hand it to another shop, or sell the business with the IP attached — the buyout is 24× your current monthly fee. That's two years of retainer paid up front, no negotiation theater. At that point we transfer the repository, deploy to a hosting account in your name, and hand over every credential. The price is the price.
Switch tiers any time. Up or down with one month's notice. Needs grow, needs shrink — pricing follows.
Flat monthly number. No mystery line items, no surprise overage bills. If a request would push us above the tier, we tell you before we start.
Equity partnerships, selectively. For early-stage founders with a credible thesis and no cash to burn, we'll consider equity-only or reduced-cash-plus-equity engagements in lieu of a monthly retainer. Not the default — but if you'd rather have a founding engineer than a vendor, ask.

FAQ

Pricing questions.

Why monthly instead of an upfront project fee?: Three reasons. First, software isn't a project that ends at launch — it needs security patches, content updates, performance monitoring, and the occasional rebuild as the business changes. Pricing as a one-time project hides this and pushes the real cost back to you when something breaks. Second, monthly costs match how SMBs and early-stage startups actually budget. Third, it aligns our incentives with yours — we make money by keeping your system fast, working, and current, not by selling a one-time deliverable and disappearing.
Do I own the code?: While you're an active client, you have a perpetual royalty-free license to run the system for your business — we host it, we maintain it, you use it. The source itself stays under our copyright. If you ever want full ownership — to take it in-house, hand it to another shop, or sell the business with the IP attached — there's a posted buyout: 24× your current monthly fee, paid once. That's two years of retainer up front, no negotiation theater. At that point the repository transfers to your name and we hand over every credential. We don't lock you in — but we don't give away $5,000 of engineering work for one month of fees either.
Why a 12-month minimum?: Because there's no upfront build fee. A typical Starter site is 20-40 hours of custom engineering work that has to be amortized across the year — without a minimum, the math doesn't work for either side, and we'd be forced to charge a real upfront fee like everyone else does. The 12 months is the trade: you get a custom build with zero cash down, we get enough runway to recover the labor. After month 12, cancel any time with 30 days' notice.
What happens if I need to leave inside the first year?: Two paths. (1) Pause and resume: settle for the prorated remainder of the 12-month term — never more, never an inflated buyout. If you're at month 7 of a $299/month Starter, that's 5 months × $299 = $1,495 to close out, the system goes dark, and we part as professionals. (2) Take the code with you: exercise the 24× buyout (e.g. $7,176 on Starter) and walk with full ownership of the repository and credentials. Either way, no negotiation theater.
Can I switch tiers as my needs change?: Yes — up or down, with one month's notice. If you launch a new product line and need more dev hours, move to Pro or Scale. If a project goes into maintenance mode and you need less, move down. We don't gate switching behind a contract renegotiation.
What's the difference between Scale and Enterprise?: Scale is for serious web apps and AI-enabled products that one engineer can keep ahead of — typically 8-20 hours of dev a month. Enterprise is for systems where the build itself is bespoke and ongoing — manufacturers' DSD ordering, ERP integrations, multi-tenant SaaS, regulated industries — and where downtime has real operational consequence. Enterprise engagements include a fixed-fee scoping phase upfront so we both know what we're committing to before the retainer starts.
What if we're high-traffic, regulated, or need enterprise SSO?: The posted numbers assume workloads that fit standard Pro-tier hosting — roughly up to a few thousand monthly active users, no HIPAA or SOC 2 obligation, no SAML SSO requirement. Past that, the underlying vendor bills change shape and we pass them through honestly, never with markup. HIPAA practical floor is about $1,200–$1,800/mo (Vercel BAA + Supabase Team + HIPAA add-on) on top of our posted +$399/mo HIPAA stack module for the agency-side configuration. SOC 2 Type II is a one-time scoped engagement, typically $25K–$80K all-in year one — listed in the catalog above as a Scoped item. High-traffic apps eventually need dedicated compute, read replicas, or sharding — also catalog items, scoped after a load-pattern review. Enterprise SSO (SAML, Okta, Azure AD) we quote on the call once we know which IdP and how many seats. The mechanism is always the same: we tell you the number before anything starts.
Why are you cheaper than a NYC agency? Why are you more expensive than Wix?: We're a solo operation with a senior engineering background, no PMs and no overhead, which keeps prices below typical NYC agency retainers ($800-$4,000/month for comparable maintenance work). We're more expensive than Wix or Squarespace because we write real custom code on a modern stack — Next.js, TypeScript, Supabase — that's measurably faster, more secure, and more flexible than templates. The difference shows up in Core Web Vitals, in conversion rates, and in what's possible to build six months from now.
Do you ever take equity instead of cash?: Selectively, yes. For early-stage founders with a credible product thesis and no cash to burn on engineering, we'll consider an equity-only or reduced-cash-plus-equity partnership in lieu of a monthly retainer. This isn't a default — it requires conviction in the founder, the market, and the wedge — but if you'd rather have a founding engineer than a vendor, ask. We'll be honest about whether we think the bet is worth taking.

Tell us what you're building.

A founding engineer reads every intake. We'll quote a flat monthly number after a free 30-minute scoping call — or tell you honestly that we're not the right fit.

Get in touch →