How much does a custom system or mobile app cost in Malaysia?

“How much does a system cost?” is usually the first thing a business owner asks, and the honest answer, “it depends”, is no use when you are trying to set a budget. So here are the ranges Malaysian software companies publish, what moves a quote up or down, and the cost most budgets forget: keeping the system running after launch.

Typical price ranges in Malaysia

These ranges come from price guides that Malaysian software houses publish for their own services. There is no independent survey, so treat them as a rough map rather than a price list.

Mobile apps follow the same pattern. A simple app starts around RM15,000, and an app with accounts, payments and a back office behind it moves into the RM50,000 to RM150,000 band quickly.^⁠[4] That is because the app is often the smaller half of the work. The admin system, the database and the connections to your other systems sit behind it, and they cost as much to build.

Why quotes for the same system differ so much

Ask three companies to quote the same system and the numbers can be far apart. Usually nobody is lying. They are pricing different things.

What is written down. One quote prices the features you listed. Another prices what it thinks you will actually need, including the exceptions your staff deal with every day. Compare what each quote excludes, not only what it includes.

Who does the work. Malaysian developers on contract range from about RM300 a day for juniors to RM1,600 a day for seniors, and more for leads.^⁠[5] A quote that is a third of the others often assumes a more junior team, fewer hours, or both.

Connections to other systems. Every link to accounting software, an ERP such as SAP, a payment gateway or LHDN e-invoicing adds work, and it adds risk, because the other system has its own rules and its own people to deal with.

How changes are handled. A fixed quote assumes the requirements stay put. When they change, and they usually do once staff start using the system, each change is priced again. Research on software projects links changing requirements to cost and schedule overruns.^⁠[6] A low quote with expensive changes can end up costing more than a higher quote that planned for them.

What happens after go-live. Some quotes include a period of free bug fixes, hosting set-up and handover documents. Others stop at launch.

The cost after launch

A system that people use every day needs looking after: security updates, monitoring, backups, small fixes and the changes the business keeps asking for.

A common rule of thumb is to budget 15 to 25% of the build cost every year.^⁠[7] A quiet internal tool can sit below that; a system that is still growing, or connects to many others, often sits above it.^⁠[8] For a RM100,000 system, that is roughly RM15,000 to RM25,000 a year, or RM1,250 to RM2,100 a month. Hosting, software licences and app store accounts are usually extra.

If a budget only covers the build, the system starts ageing the day it goes live.

Fixed price or monthly?

Most Malaysian software companies quote a fixed price, paid in stages. That works well when the scope is written down, one person can sign it off, and the system won’t change much after launch.

It works badly when the requirements are still forming, because every change becomes a new negotiation. For that kind of work, paying monthly for a team that keeps releasing, one priority at a time, avoids pricing every change twice. Neither model is better in general. The question is how settled your scope really is. We wrote more about this in why software requirements keep changing.

How to compare the quotes you get

Before you choose, ask every company the same questions:

1. What is written down as not included?
2. How are changes priced once the work has started?
3. Who owns the code, the hosting and the admin accounts? (More in who should own your code, hosting and accounts.)
4. How long are bugs fixed for free after go-live?
5. What will it cost to run and change the system each year?

A quote that answers all five clearly is easier to trust than a cheaper one that answers none.

How we price it

We publish our prices, so you can check your budget before talking to us.

• A build with a fixed scope is a Custom Project, from RM30,000. We fix the price once the scope, milestones and acceptance checks are agreed, and genuine bugs are fixed free for 60 days after go-live.
• A build or system that will keep changing runs on Managed Delivery, from RM13,000 a month, with no lock-in.
• Quotes you can’t make sense of? A Review gives you an independent, written view on one decision for RM1,000.

If your budget is below RM30,000 for a fixed build, a smaller firm is likely a better fit, and we would rather say so now. Our own prices and what each one covers are on the pricing page, and how much business software work costs explains what sits inside and outside them.