What are the monthly operational expenses to budget for a software application project?
This article provides a prospective operational expense budget for your project in 2024. We’ll break down essential and optional items, explaining the reasons for their inclusion. Understanding your web development costs will help avoid surprises and ensure a seamless experience for end-users. Addressing this upfront allows you to start your project with the right expectations and make informed decisions from the beginning of your development journey.
1. Support
Whenever an application is live in production, a dedicated support process is recommended. WorkingMouse offers Level 2 support. There are different ways to provide support, and our approach is straightforward.
WorkingMouse provides an online service desk portal and a support number available during business hours. Each reported issue is logged as a ‘ticket,’ and you can submit as many tickets as necessary. The support team will triage each issue for a 2-hour time-box at no charge. If they can resolve it within that time, they will; otherwise, they provide an estimate of the time required to fix it. Additionally, WorkingMouse offers skilled resources to deliver small enhancements on a time and materials basis at a fixed hourly rate.
The service desk support with WorkingMouse starts at $500 AUD excl. GST per month. This includes the managed transition of project artefacts from the development to the support team, ensuring project knowledge retention. Beyond the initial 2-hour triage, resolution is charged at an hourly rate. As software ecosystems constantly evolve, budgeting 10-20% of the total development cost annually for maintenance is recommended.
Monthly Support Budget
• Service Desk: $500 AUD excl. GST (Essential)
• Support Budget: 10-20% of total development cost divided by 12 (Optional)
2. Hosting
To provide access to the software, it must be hosted on a server. Cloud-based storage services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure are more reliable and easier to manage than traditional local storage. WorkingMouse’s preferred cloud provider is AWS, offering a resilient, load-balanced, and scalable instance. The average cost for hosting in 2024 ranges between $400 - $700 AUD excl. GST. For budgeting purposes, it’s reasonable to allocate $600 AUD excl. GST per month.
Monthly Hosting Budget
• Cloud Hosting (AWS or Azure): $600 AUD excl. GST (Essential)
3. Domain and SSL Certificates
Domains typically cost $10 - $20 AUD per year, and most businesses already have one. Each deployed subdomain requires an SSL certificate for security, which averages around $50 AUD per annum. For budgeting in 2024, the monthly domain hosting is about $2 AUD excl. GST and SSL certificates are approximately $5 AUD excl. GST.
Monthly Domain and Certificate Budget
• Domain Hosting: $2 AUD excl. GST (Essential)
• SSL Certificates: $5 AUD excl. GST (Essential)
4. Email
Typically included with your domain, business email servers cost approximately $8 - $12 AUD per user per month in 2024. The estimate of $10 AUD excl. GST per month remains appropriate.
Monthly Mail Server Budget
• Mail Server: $10 AUD excl. GST (Essential, but often included in domain hosting)
5. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
APIs add significant value to an application, usually charging per request or based on the service’s value. The primary cost is integration time. For a small application, the updated estimate for 2024 would be around $100 - $150 AUD per month for two APIs.
Monthly API Budget
• API Budget (2 APIs): $150 AUD excl. GST (Optional)
6. Membership Fees
For mobile apps, the Google Play Store registration is a one-off fee of $25 USD, and the Apple Developer Program requires an annual fee of $99 USD. Due to exchange rate fluctuations, this could slightly impact the monthly cost in AUD for 2024:
• Google Play Store: Approximately $3 AUD incl. GST per month.
• Apple Developer Account: Approximately $13 AUD incl. GST per month.
Monthly Membership Budget
• Google Play Store: $3 AUD incl. GST (Optional)
• Apple Developer Account: $13 AUD incl. GST (Optional)
7. Technology Platforms
Many development platforms can accelerate development, improve quality, and facilitate application management. Codebots is one such tool, costing about $80 - $100 AUD per user per month. When developing with WorkingMouse, this platform cost is included in the service engagement.
Monthly Technology Platform Budget
• Codebots Single Application: $80 - $100 AUD per user, per month (Optional, included within service engagement)
Total Monthly Budget (Essential Costs)
• Service Desk: $500 AUD excl. GST
• Cloud Hosting: $600 AUD excl. GST
• Mail Server: $10 AUD excl. GST
• Domain: $2 AUD excl. GST
• SSL Certificates: $5 AUD excl. GST
• Total Essential Monthly Budget: $1,117 AUD (approx.)
Updated Optional Costs
• API Budget (2 APIs): $150 AUD excl. GST
• Google Play Store: $3 AUD incl. GST
• Apple Developer Account: $13 AUD incl. GST
• Codebots Single Application: $80 - $100 AUD per user per month
All prices are provided as a guide and may vary depending on providers. For exact pricing, consult the respective services directly.
Conclusion
There’s much to consider when planning your operational budget for 2024. Some costs, such as domains, emails, and SSL certificates, are essential. Optional expenses can be deferred until necessary. Use this guide to structure your budget. Remember, building and owning a bespoke software solution incurs higher upfront costs than licensed alternatives, but the long-term benefits often outweigh the initial investment. If you have questions or want to discuss further, please contact us.
