Free tools
Free tools for planning a software build
46 calculators and checklists for software and AI costs, build-or-buy decisions and compliance. They run in your browser with no sign-up, and every number they use is shown with its source or reasoning.
4 tools
Cost calculators
What a build, an MVP, its upkeep or an LLM bill is likely to cost, from inputs you control.
- Software development costPick the features and platform, check the rates, and get a cost and timeline range you can take to any vendor.
- MVP costStart from a lean MVP feature set, then see what each feature adds and what cutting it would save.
- Software maintenance costSee what a product costs to keep running each year after launch, and which line grows fastest.
- LLM API costEnter your monthly tokens and the input, cached and output mix, and compare what each model would cost.
10 tools
AI cost and planning
Tokens, RAG, agents, chatbots, voice agents and caching priced from official pages, plus guidance on models, fine-tuning and readiness.
- Token counterPaste any text to estimate how many tokens it is, and what it would cost to send to each model.
- RAG costWork out the one-off and monthly cost of a retrieval-augmented (RAG) app, and what each question costs.
- Embedding costEnter the size of your documents and compare what embedding them costs on each model, now and each month.
- AI agent costEstimate what an AI agent costs per task and per month, including the context it re-sends on every step.
- AI chatbot costWork out what an AI chatbot costs to run each month on each model, and roughly what it costs to build.
- Voice agent costPrice an AI phone or voice agent per minute and per month: speech-to-text, the model and the voice.
- Prompt caching savingsSee how much prompt caching would save on each model, and the hit rate you need before it pays off.
- LLM model pickerDescribe the job and get a shortlist of models, with the reasons behind each score and the trade-off to the runner-up.
- Fine-tuning vs RAGAnswer eight questions about your use case to see whether retrieval, fine-tuning, both or a good prompt fits best.
- AI readiness assessmentAnswer 17 questions across data, process, team and risk to see how ready you are for an AI project, and what to fix first.
11 tools
Health, fintech and business software
Build costs for EHR integrations, patient portals, telehealth, fintech and HR apps, plus KYC, card fees, SaaS pricing, CRM, ERP and core banking TCO.
- EHR integration costPick the integration work (FHIR, SMART on FHIR, HL7 v2, patient matching) and get a cost and timeline range.
- Patient portal costChoose the portal features and platforms and get a cost and timeline range, with what cutting each feature would save.
- Telehealth app costPick the telehealth features and platforms and get a cost and timeline range, with what each feature adds.
- Core banking TCOPut a licensed core banking platform next to a custom-built core and see the cost each year and over ten years.
- Fintech app costPick the money features and platforms and get a cost and timeline range, with what cutting each feature would save.
- KYC cost per checkEnter how many customers you verify each month and compare published KYC plans, minimums and the cost per customer you actually onboard.
- Payment processing feesEnter your monthly card payments and compare what each processor's published US rate would cost, and what to charge to receive a set amount.
- CRM build vs buyCompare CRM seats with a custom build year by year, and answer six questions on the reasons that are not about cost.
- ERP TCOPut an ERP subscription and implementation next to custom software for the same processes, and see the cost each year.
- HR software costPick the HR features and get a cost and timeline range for a custom build, with what cutting each feature would save.
- SaaS pricing calculatorEnter your plans, customers and cost to serve, and see MRR, ARR, margin and the lowest price that hits your target.
10 tools
Run the project
Rates, team size, timelines, velocity, contract models and the documents a project needs: brief, SOW and change requests.
- App store launch checklistCheck the current store rules and launch habits for iOS and Android before you submit, and export what is still open.
- Change request templateDescribe the change and its impact on effort, cost and dates, and get a change request ready to approve.
- Developer rate comparisonEnter the hours and the quotes you have, and compare what the same work costs at each rate.
- Fixed vs time and materialsAnswer six questions about your project and see which contract model fits, what drove it and what it might cost.
- Offshore vs onshore costCompare hiring in-house, an onshore agency and an offshore partner for the same people and months.
- Project brief templateAnswer a short form and get a one-page project brief to align your team before you ask anyone for a quote.
- Project timeline estimatorGive best, likely and worst-case weeks for each phase and get an expected finish date and a safer one to promise.
- SOW templateFill in a guided form and get a statement of work draft with deliverables, milestones, acceptance and payment terms.
- Sprint velocity calculatorEnter the points finished in recent sprints and see the average velocity and how many sprints the backlog will take.
- Team size calculatorEnter the hours of work and the weeks you have, and see the smallest team that fits, allowing for coordination.
5 tools
Plan and decide
Payback on automation and internal tools, build versus buy, and a requirements document to send to vendors.
- AI automation ROIPut in one task your team does by hand and see the monthly saving, the payback period and the net result over three years.
- Build vs buyCompare SaaS seats with a custom build year by year, find the break-even point, and check the reasons that are not about cost.
- Software RFP templateAnswer a short guided form and copy or download a requirements document you can send to any vendor.
- Internal tool ROIEnter who will use the tool and how much time it saves them each day, and see the payback period and the net result.
- Workflow automation ROIEnter how often a workflow runs, how long it takes and how often it goes wrong, and see the payback of automating it.
6 tools
Compliance checklists
HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI DSS, the EU AI Act and EU MDR turned into engineering tasks. Guidance, not legal advice.
- HIPAA checklistWork through every Security Rule safeguard with its citation and what it means for your code, then export your progress.
- SOC 2 checklistTurn the SOC 2 criteria into engineering tasks, pick the categories in scope, and track what is still open.
- EU AI Act risk checkerAnswer a few questions about your AI system to see its likely risk tier, what you would have to do, and from when.
- HIPAA risk assessmentWork through a HIPAA security risk analysis in 17 steps, from scoping ePHI to the fix plan, and export your progress.
- MDR software classifierCheck whether your software may be a medical device in the EU and which class Rule 11 would likely give it.
- PCI DSS SAQ pickerSay how you take card payments and see which PCI DSS self-assessment questionnaire likely fits, and why.
