A custom CRM built with us starts at $5,000 to $15,000 for a first release that takes 2 to 4 weeks. Anything bigger is priced by the hour, at $39 to $55. For scale: SmartBuilding, a construction CRM with site access control, documents and safety logs, took 2 months to build and cost 15 times less than a similar product its competitors had developed. Many businesses shouldn’t build at all, though. If your sales or order process looks like most companies’, a ready-made CRM with a few custom parts usually costs less.
So before you compare prices, decide whether you need custom code at all.
| Option | What you pay | Time | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set up a ready-made CRM | The CRM’s own subscription, plus setup at $39-55 an hour | Depends on how many tools it has to connect to | Your process looks like most companies’ sales or order flow |
| Ready-made CRM plus custom parts | The subscription, plus $39-55 an hour for integrations, bots and extra screens | Depends on the parts | The CRM covers most of the work, but a few links or screens are missing |
| Custom CRM, first release | $5,000-15,000 (minimum project $5,000) | 2-4 weeks | You need one workflow no CRM handles, and want to test it first |
| Custom CRM platform | $39-55 an hour, quoted before work starts | SmartBuilding took 2 months | The CRM is how your business runs, or you plan to sell it |
Answer these before you ask anyone for a quote.
If two or more answers point to building, get a quote for custom code. If most point to a ready-made CRM, start there and add custom parts only where it falls short. Rocketech is an official Bitrix24 Silver Partner, so we set up and extend ready-made CRMs as well as build custom ones.
The price of a custom CRM grows with five things. None of them shows up well on a feature list, so ask about each one before you accept a quote.
SmartBuilding gives users rights to view, manage or edit worker profiles, and the screens each person sees depend on their role. Every role adds screens, rules and tests.
Hays’ tool had to pull candidate data from LinkedIn and the region’s largest job site, and convert Word files. SmartBuilding works through an API, so clients can connect it to the systems they already run. Each outside system adds work, and some charge for access.
If your records live in paper logs, spreadsheets or an old system, someone has to move and clean them. Before SmartBuilding, the client tracked dozens of construction sites in paper journals and copied them into Google Docs by hand.
Reports look small in a spec. Hays’ tool added statistics for each recruiter, and those numbers later became the basis of the company’s bonus system.
Anything used on a building site, a warehouse floor or a delivery route has to work on a phone. SmartBuilding’s supervisors scan the QR code on a helmet to see a worker’s profile, briefings and violations. Cameras scan the same codes to catch people entering areas they shouldn’t.
Construction supervisors at SmartBuilding’s client tracked workers in paper journals. The goal was one digital workspace for everyone on a site, where a supervisor can pull up any worker’s data at any moment.
We built it from scratch in 2 months, working in Scrum. Workers request site access through electronic applications instead of paper forms. Each construction object has areas with their own access levels. The system shows whether a worker has attended the safety briefings an area requires, keeps a log of violations and sends a report to the employer when a new one is recorded.
An average object handles 500 to 800 workers and a few hundred guests a day. The build cost 15 times less than a similar product SmartBuilding’s competitors had developed, and several construction companies signed on while it was still an MVP. Read the SmartBuilding case study for the screens and the full feature list.
WTF runs a fund with $100M in assets for wealthy private investors. Off-the-shelf fund management systems lacked the flexibility and the integrations it needed, so we built its system from scratch.
Fund managers got a web panel where they track profit and loss, buy assets and manage wallets. Investors got an iOS and Android app that shows their returns, plus PDF reports that AI puts together for them. We built it in three steps: the custom design on placeholder data first, then a server that collects the data and reads PDF reports, then real data in the app.
The budget was tight, which limited the integrations. The plan included links to outside systems, but to save time and money the finished system takes PDF reports uploaded straight to the server. Decide early which integrations you need on day one and which can wait. The WTF case study has the full feature list.
Hays’ 200+ recruiters spent up to 2 hours formatting each CV. We started with a prototype to test the idea, then added job-site integrations, data imports, storage and statistics in separate iterations.
The project began on a fixed price and moved to a dedicated team as the tool grew. It cut CV formatting from up to 2 hours to 2 minutes and grew into a mini-ERP tied to recruiters’ KPIs and bonuses. A small first release followed by steady additions keeps each step small enough to price and check.
Once the CRM is live, you pay for hosting, backups, fixes and changes as your process changes. With us, that work usually runs in weekly sprints of about $3,000 to $4,500 for a small team, or a dedicated team at $6,000 to $9,000 per developer a month for bigger systems.
A ready-made CRM has running costs too. The subscription lasts as long as you use it, and custom add-ons may need changes when the vendor updates its product. Put both options on a three-year view before you decide.
If you have a workflow you want out of spreadsheets and paper, see our custom software and automation services.
A first release that covers one workflow costs $5,000 to $15,000 with us and takes 2 to 4 weeks. Larger systems are priced at $39 to $55 an hour. SmartBuilding, a construction CRM with access control and documents, took 2 months.
A focused first release takes 2 to 4 weeks. A full platform takes longer: SmartBuilding took 2 months. Setting up a ready-made CRM can be faster, since its screens and database already exist.
Often it is, if your process looks like a standard sales pipeline or order flow. Build when you need a workflow no CRM offers, when per-user fees outgrow the build, or when the CRM is part of a product you sell. WTF, a $100M fund, built its own because off-the-shelf fund software lacked the flexibility and integrations it needed.
The number of roles and access levels, integrations with other systems, moving old data in, reports and dashboards, and anything that has to work on a phone in the field. Ask a vendor to price each of these separately.
When the workflow is specific to your business, like SmartBuilding’s QR access control on construction sites, when many users would make subscriptions expensive, or when you plan to sell the CRM to other companies.
You pay for hosting, backups, fixes and changes. With us, ongoing work runs in weekly sprints of about $3,000 to $4,500, or $6,000 to $9,000 per developer a month for a dedicated team.
Describe the workflow you want to move into a CRM. Our AI estimate turns it into a scope, a budget range and a timeline in about four minutes, and it will tell you if a ready-made CRM would do.
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