You sign a contract for $100K.
You think that's the price.
It's not even close.
Here's what nobody tells you about Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):
The build is just the entry fee.
Once your software is live, the bills keep coming:
→ Hosting: $100-2,000/month depending on traffic and complexity → SSL certificates: $50-300/year (or free with Let's Encrypt) → Domain renewals: $10-50/year → Email services: $6-50/month (Google Workspace, SendGrid, etc.) → Third-party API fees: Stripe, Twilio, Google Maps, AWS — these add up fast → Monitoring tools: Sentry, New Relic, LogRocket — $50-500/month → Maintenance hours: 15-20% of the original build cost annually → Security patches: Ongoing, non-negotiable → Eventual upgrades: Frameworks and dependencies don't last forever
Let's do the math on a $100K build:
Year 1: → Build: $100K → Hosting + services: $3,600 → Maintenance: $15K → Total: $118,600
Year 2: → Hosting + services: $3,600 → Maintenance: $15K → API cost increases: $2,000 → Total: $20,600
Year 3: → Hosting + services: $3,600 → Maintenance: $15K → Major framework upgrade: $8,000 → Total: $26,600
3-year TCO: $165,800
That's 65% more than the original build cost.
And if your agency didn't explain this upfront, they weren't being transparent — they were being strategic.
At ScopeForged, we break down TCO in the assessment phase.
Because you deserve to know what you're actually signing up for.
What hidden cost surprised you the most after launch?
#SoftwareDevelopment #TCO #TechLeadership #StartupCosts #Budgeting
→ scopeforged.com
Philip Rehberger Founder, ScopeForged scopeforged.com
