A client has asked me to build a production-grade SaaS platform for events such as weddings, christenings, birthdays, and corporate gatherings. I would be developing it solo for the EU market, where comparable agency rates are around €35–45 per hour.
The host dashboard would include a website builder with themes, colors, fonts, event details, cover images, galleries, public event URLs, QR codes, preview mode, one-off publishing payments, and three pricing tiers. It would also need guest and RSVP management, CSV import/export, real-time dashboard and email notifications, optional SMS notifications, a drag-and-drop seating chart, and a gift or cash fund using Stripe Connect with host KYC onboarding, card payments, commissions, and payouts.
Other requested features include AI photo enhancement through Gemini, maps and directions, calendar integration, hotel and taxi links, background music, save-the-date mode, analytics, and VAT invoicing for corporate customers.
Guests would use a mobile-first page without accounts to view the event, RSVP through a form or WhatsApp, contribute to the gift fund, and upload photos. The client also expects fast public pages, GDPR compliance, reliable payment and RSVP processing with retries and queues, and several polished themes at launch.
They have also asked me to suggest hosting and operating costs for roughly 50–200 active event sites. What would be a realistic hour and price estimate? Should I first ask about their budget or propose a paid discovery and phased MVP instead?
3 Answers
I would avoid giving them a single reassuring number right now. Explain that the requirements describe a product with ongoing hosting, compliance, payment, and support obligations, then ask what business outcome and launch date they have in mind. Offer a paid technical and product discovery stage that produces user flows, architecture, a prioritized backlog, risk assessment, and a milestone quote. You can then price the build by phase and charge separately for infrastructure and maintenance rather than absorbing those costs into the development estimate.
This is much closer to building a complete event business than making a website. I would not quote the entire feature list as one fixed-price project without first turning it into a formal scope. Start with a paid discovery phase, define the smallest launchable MVP, and separate later features into milestones. The MVP might include event pages, themes, publishing payments, RSVP management, and basic administration. Seating plans, payouts, SMS, AI editing, guest uploads, analytics, and corporate billing can follow once the core workflow is proven.
A rough estimate of 200 hours is far too optimistic for the stated quality bar. Stripe Connect and host verification can take weeks once onboarding, failed payments, webhooks, refunds, payouts, and edge cases are included. The seating editor, reliable notification queues, GDPR requirements, responsive themes, guest uploads, and production testing all add significant effort. I would expect at least 350–450 hours for a constrained first release, and possibly 500+ hours for the full scope.
At €35–45 per hour, even 350–450 hours only comes to roughly €12,000–20,000, which is still a modest price for a multi-tenant SaaS with payments and operational responsibility. A full version could easily exceed that once design, QA, deployment, support, and revisions are counted.
It is also worth clarifying who handles legal terms, GDPR documentation, VAT rules, payment disputes, payout failures, customer support, and moderation of uploaded photos. Those responsibilities affect both the estimate and the ongoing operating cost.