Software product development services with one scope, one price, one date
Software product development services means we build your product and hand it over working. Discovery, architecture, design, code, QA, launch. We agree the scope, quote it once, and carry the delivery risk. You get a named team, a demo every week, and the source code and IP from the first commit.
Fixed price usually means fixed until week three
Six things we hear on the first call, from teams who have bought a build before and did not enjoy it.
The quote holds until week three. After that, every call adds something and the date moves.
Milestones get signed off on a demo instead of on acceptance criteria anyone wrote down.
You meet the senior engineers in the pitch. Different people show up for the build.
Progress arrives as a weekly status email. You cannot open the board and check for yourself.
Handover is a repository link and a goodbye. Your own team cannot extend what they were given.
Bugs found after launch come back priced as a new statement of work.
What software product development services actually cover
One team, from an empty repository to a product with users on it
We take a product from definition to launch and hand it over working. Discovery, architecture, interface design, the build, QA, release, and the first month after it goes live. One contract. One team. One delivery date.
Software product development is not the same as renting engineers. We own the outcome, so we own the estimate, the sequence and the risk in both. End to end software development here means nobody hands you a component and calls it finished.
Scope is written down before anyone opens an editor. Changes go through a change request with a price and a date attached, agreed by you in writing. That is the only way a fixed price stays honest past week three.
Product engineering services, in four stages
Every stage ends in something you can open and review. None of them ends in a status update.
Discovery and scoping
Workshops with the people who will use it. We turn the brief into acceptance criteria per milestone, then quote against those. If the scope is not quotable yet, we say so.
Architecture and platform
Data model, service boundaries, integrations, environments and the deployment path. Written down and signed off before the build starts, because this is the expensive thing to change later.
Interface and build
Software product engineering services in the ordinary sense. Screens, flows, the code behind them, and automated tests running on every commit. Shipped in milestones you sign off one at a time.
Launch and hardening
Load testing, monitoring, the rollback path and the runbook. Then thirty days of hypercare with the same engineers, so the first real week of traffic is not your problem alone.
What the fixed price actually buys
Written into the agreement, so neither side argues about it at milestone three.
In the price
All of it, at the number on the quote. Nothing here is billed per hour.
- Discovery, acceptance criteria and a line-item quote before you sign
- Architecture document and interface designs, signed off before the build
- A delivery lead as your single point of contact
- Engineers, QA and a product designer, sized to the scope
- Automated tests on every commit, and regression before every release
- A live demo every week and a board you can open any day
- Source code, IP assignment, architecture docs and a runbook at handover
- Thirty days of hypercare after launch, same engineers
Not in the price, and we say so before you sign
Some of these we do elsewhere. Some are yours to buy directly.
- Scope added after sign-off. It goes through a change request with its own price and date
- Cloud, licence and third-party API costs. You buy those in your own name
- Ongoing support past the hypercare window. That is software maintenance and support
- Engineers working inside your sprints on your backlog. That is IT staff augmentation
- Content, data migration and third-party contract negotiation, unless we scoped it in
Fixed price, time and materials, or one of each
Fixed price is not always the right answer. We will tell you when it is not.
Fixed price
The default here. Scope is locked, the number does not move, and we carry the estimate risk. It needs a scope you can describe in acceptance criteria, which is the part most briefs are missing on day one.
Time and materials
A monthly rate for an agreed team. Right when the scope will genuinely change and everyone knows it. You keep the priority call every sprint, and you carry the estimate risk instead of us.
Discovery, then fixed price
Two to three weeks of paid discovery, then a firm quote for the build. This is how most projects that look unquotable become quotable, and it is what we suggest more often than either of the above.
Buying it offshore rather than at home does not change the model above. Outsourced software product development runs on the same contract, the same board and the same demo schedule. Validating an idea before you commit to a build? Start with MVP development. Need engineers inside your own sprints instead of a team around the work? That is IT staff augmentation, and it is priced differently.
Us, a typical fixed-price vendor, or building it in-house
| Criterion | InApps | Typical fixed-price vendor | Build it in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the quote is based on | Acceptance criteria per milestone, written before the number | A feature list and an optimistic day rate | Your own estimate, and your own risk |
| When scope changes | A change request with a price and a date, agreed in writing first | A renegotiation, usually after the date has already slipped | The roadmap absorbs it and something else drops |
| Who you talk to | The engineers building it, directly | An account manager, then a project manager | Your own team |
| When you first see it working | Week three, then a live demo every week after | At the milestone demo, prepared in advance | Whenever your sprint says |
| What a sign-off means | QA passed the criteria you agreed, and you checked them | The demo looked right on the call | Whatever your definition of done says |
| Time to a running team | 4 to 6 weeks, scoped and staffed | Fast to sign, slower to staff | 3 to 6 months to hire, then ramp-up |
| Who owns the code | You do, from the first commit. It lands in your repository | You do on final payment, which is a different thing | You do |
| What you get at handover | Code, architecture docs, runbook, a walkthrough and 30 days of hypercare | A repository link and an invoice | Nothing to hand over. You already have it |
Who is actually on your project
Four roles, named before you sign. A product designer joins for interface-heavy work. The team is sized to the scope, not to a package.
Delivery lead
- Your single point of contact, on the weekly call
- Owns the milestone plan and the change requests
- Says no to scope creep in writing, not quietly
Software architect
- Data model, service boundaries and integrations
- Signs off the design before the build starts
- Stays on the project, not just the kickoff
Product engineers
- The build, in your repository from commit one
- Two to six people, sized to the agreed scope
- The same names for the whole engagement
QA engineer
- Tests the acceptance criteria, not the happy path
- Signs off each milestone before you are asked to
- Verifies the rollback, not only the release
From signed brief to a product with users on it
Nothing moves to the next stage without your sign-off. That is what makes the date real.
Scope and quote
Workshops with your stakeholders. We write acceptance criteria per milestone, then price against those. You get a line-item quote, not a single number.
Design and architecture
Interface designs and a technical architecture document. Both signed off before a line of production code exists, because this is the part that is expensive to change later.
Build in milestones
Two-week milestones, each ending in working software against its criteria. QA signs off before you are asked to. The board is open to you the whole time.
Launch and hypercare
Load test, monitoring, rollback path and runbook. Then thirty days with the same engineers on call while real traffic arrives, followed by a handover walkthrough with your team.
Boring technology, chosen so your team can take it over
We pick what you can hire for locally. A clever stack you cannot staff is a liability we would be handing you.
Web and mobile
React and Next.js with TypeScript for web. Flutter when one codebase should cover both stores, native when it genuinely should not.
Backend and data
Node.js, Python, Java, .NET or Go, matched to what you already run. PostgreSQL by default, MongoDB where the shape earns it, Redis and Kafka where load does.
Cloud and delivery
Docker and Kubernetes on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, in your accounts. GraphQL or REST at the edge, decided by your integration list rather than by fashion.
What moves the price
We scope before we quote. Anyone who prices this off a web form is guessing, and you will pay for the guess later.
| Driver | Why it moves the number |
|---|---|
| How precisely the scope is written | A brief with acceptance criteria prices in days. A brief with feature names prices in weeks, because someone has to turn it into criteria first and that someone is us. |
| How much design is still open | Existing designs and a design system are cheap to build against. Starting from a blank page adds a designer and two to three weeks before the build begins. |
| Integrations you do not control | Your own API is predictable. A partner's undocumented endpoint, a legacy database or a vendor with a two-week support queue is not, and fixed price has to carry that risk. |
| What done has to survive | An internal tool for fifty users is not the same build as a public product under load, with an audit trail and a compliance review. The code looks similar. The testing does not. |
| Who runs it after launch | If your team takes it over, we price the documentation and the walkthrough that makes that possible. If we keep running it, that is a separate agreement and a separate number. |
What clients say about working with us
Every quote below is from a verified review. None of them were written by us.
“Clear expectations, rules that actually hold, delivered on time. And the people are genuinely easy to work with, not just professionally, but as humans.”
When to call us, and when to call someone else
A good fit
- You know what has to be built and can commit to it for a quarter
- You need a price you can take to a board, not a running meter
- You want one team accountable for shipping, not four contractors and a coordinator
- Your own engineers are busy on something else and will stay that way
- You want the code, the docs and the IP at the end, in a state your team can extend
- You would rather hear an honest no in week one than a slipped date in month four
Not a fit
- You are still testing whether anyone wants this. Start with MVP development
- You want engineers inside your own sprints, on your backlog. That is IT staff augmentation
- You need a standing team for a product that is already live. That is software maintenance and support
- You are deciding whether to rewrite what you have. Start with a code audit
- The pipeline is the problem, not the product. That is DevOps consulting
- The scope genuinely cannot be described yet and you want to start Monday anyway. Fixed price will fail, and so will we
Answered without the hedging
Not sure this is what you need?
Send the brief, however rough. We will tell you whether it can be fixed-priced yet, and if it cannot, what it would take to get there.
Book a callWhat are software product development services?
Fixed price or time and materials, which should we choose?
What is actually in the software development contract?
What happens if requirements change mid-project?
How is this different from custom software development?
Who owns the code and the IP?
What happens after launch?
Where is the team, and how do the hours work?
Tell us what has to be built
Send the brief, the deadline and the constraint that worries you most. We come back with what we would build first, what it costs, and whether it can be fixed-priced yet. If it cannot, we will tell you what is missing instead of quoting anyway.