Free tool · CRM development
Custom CRM vs SaaS Cost Calculator
Per-seat CRM pricing looks cheap in month one and expensive in year four. This calculator puts both curves on the table: what Salesforce-style seat pricing totals over your horizon, what a one-time custom build totals, and the year the lines cross — if they cross at all.
Salesforce Sales Cloud Pro is ~$100/seat/mo; HubSpot Sales Pro ~$90.
SaaS list prices and forced tier upgrades typically compound 5–10%/yr.
Our focused custom CRM builds typically land between $30k and $80k.
Hosting, monitoring, and changes, as a share of the build cost per year.
Verdict
Stay on SaaS
At this seat count the subscription never catches a custom build within 5 years. Custom is the wrong buy at this size — keep paying per seat and spend nothing with us.
SaaS total over 5 years
$49,686
8 seats × $90/mo, with prices rising 7%/yr.
Custom total over 5 years
$78,750
$45,000 build plus $6,750/yr upkeep. No per-seat fees.
Crossover point
Not within 5 years
The subscription stays cheaper for this whole window.
SaaS saves, at the horizon
$29,064
Total kept by staying on the subscription for 5 years.
Named-vendor comparison
| Option | Year 1 | Year 3 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom build | $51,750 | $65,250 | $78,750 |
| HubSpot Sales Pro | $8,640 | $27,777 | $49,686 |
| Salesforce Sales Cloud Pro | $9,600 | $30,863 | $55,207 |
List prices, annual billing, before add-ons and forced tier upgrades — put your real invoice in the sliders above for your own curve.
How the math works
Two cost curves, no fine print.
The SaaS total is seats × per-seat price × 12 for each year, with the price compounding by your growth percentage annually — so year three costs (1 + growth)² times year one. The custom total is the one-time build cost plus upkeep — your chosen percentage of the build cost — every year. Custom assumes no per-seat fees at all, because you own the system. The crossover is the first year the custom running total drops below the SaaS running total.
The model deliberately ignores three things: migration effort (a real one-time cost on the custom side), SaaS add-on and API overage fees (which usually push the subscription total higher than shown here, favoring custom), and the opportunity cost of spending capital up front. Every number is a directional estimate you can recompute by hand — not a quote. The named-vendor table uses published list prices for HubSpot Sales Pro ($90/seat/mo) and Salesforce Sales Cloud Pro ($100/seat/mo) with the same annual growth assumption, so the FAQ prices and the table stay consistent.
What to do with the number
The calculator shows the cost. Fit is the other half.
The numbers favor custom?
We build focused CRMs shaped to one business — fixed price, never open-ended hourly. Read how we scope them and what they typically cost.
Custom CRM developmentSee a custom CRM in production
JNC Suite runs a real auto shop every day. The owner reports customer retention up 89% from the automated reminders alone — the kind of return no seat price captures.
The JNC Suite case studyNot sure you even need a CRM yet?
Some businesses genuinely run fine on a spreadsheet for years. We wrote an honest guide to the signals that say it's time — and the ones that don't.
When to invest in CRM softwareFrequently asked questions
Asked before the calculator, usually.
Are the default SaaS numbers realistic?
They match published list prices as of this writing: Salesforce Sales Cloud Pro runs about $100 per seat per month and HubSpot Sales Pro about $90, billed annually. The 7% default price growth reflects what most teams actually experience — list price increases plus the forced tier upgrade when a feature you need moves up a plan. Put your real invoice numbers in; the defaults are just a starting point.
Why does the custom side have no per-seat fee?
Because you own the software, seat eleven costs the same as seat two: nothing. The recurring cost is upkeep — hosting, monitoring, and the changes you ask for — which we model as a share of the build cost each year. That flat cost curve is the whole reason custom eventually crosses under per-seat pricing as teams grow.
What does this calculator leave out?
Three things, deliberately. It ignores migration effort — the weeks of moving data and retraining people, which is a real one-time cost on the custom side. It also ignores SaaS add-on fees and API overage charges, which usually push the SaaS total higher than this model shows. And it ignores the opportunity cost of paying $45,000 up front instead of spreading it monthly.
The crossover is early. Should I start a build?
Not from a calculator. The build cost you slid to is a guess until someone maps what the CRM actually has to do. Our 48-Hour Workflow Map is a fixed $250, documents the workflow end to end, and produces a fixed-price quote — and the $250 credits toward the build if you go ahead. Rerun this page with the real quote before deciding anything.
Go deeper: custom CRM vs Salesforce, argued in full, how much a custom CRM costs, our CRM integration guide, and all free tools.
Want a straight answer for your numbers?
Tell us your seat count and what you pay today. We'll tell you which side of the line you're on — even when the honest answer is stay on HubSpot and don't hire us.