How to read a software development quote in Nepal

A founder sends three quotes for the same booking app and asks which one is right. The lowest is a third of the highest. All three agencies are real, all three have shipped apps, and none of them is lying.

They are quoting different things. One includes the admin panel, the other two assume it. One prices hosting for a year, one leaves it out, one bundles it forever "at no extra cost" (which means it is in the price somewhere). One says "minor changes included" and never defines minor.

To compare software development quotes in Nepal, first make them describe the same project. Line them up on scope, change requests, VAT, recurring costs, third-party fees and ownership. Compare the totals only after that. The cheapest quote is often the one that leaves the most out.

Scope: count the screens and the people

A quote is only as precise as its scope document. If a quote fits on one page, the agency is guessing, and so are you.

Ask each agency for the same thing: a list of screens or pages, and a list of who uses the system. "A booking app" might mean one customer app. It might also mean a customer app, a staff app, an admin dashboard and an owner's report screen. Each extra user type is roughly another product inside the product. Most quote gaps we see come from one agency counting the admin side and another assuming the client will "just use the database".

Change requests decide the real price

Every project changes. The question is what happens when it does.

A fixed price with no written rule for changes is the most expensive kind of quote, because the argument about what counts as a change happens halfway through the project, when you have the least bargaining power. Look for three things in writing: how a change is requested, how it is estimated before work starts, and who approves it.

We would rather quote a slightly higher fixed price with a clear change process than a low one that depends on goodwill. Ours has three steps: you ask for the change in writing, we estimate the time and cost before anyone starts, and nothing gets built until you approve that estimate.

VAT: is it in the number or on top of it?

Two quotes that look equal can be far apart if one includes VAT and the other adds it when the invoice arrives. Ask each agency, in writing, whether its total includes VAT.

Then ask what kind of invoice you will get. Your accountant will care whether it is a VAT invoice or not, and it is easier to find out before you sign than when the first bill lands. If you are unsure what you can claim, ask your accountant before comparing totals, not after.

The costs that recur

A website or app keeps costing money after launch, and many quotes stop at launch day.

Domain renewal is yearly. Hosting is monthly or yearly, and the cheapest shared plan that works on launch day may not work once you have real traffic. An app needs a developer account on each store (Apple charges 99 USD a year; Google Play charges a one-time US$25 registration). Then there is maintenance: operating system updates break things, libraries need patching, and someone has to watch the server.

Ask each agency to list every recurring cost for the first two years, including the ones you'll pay to someone else. If you want to see how we price hosting ourselves, our EK Cloud pricing is public.

Third-party fees nobody mentions

Some costs scale with use and sit outside any agency's quote. OTP and notification SMS are charged per message. Payment gateways take a cut of each transaction. Maps, address search and some AI features bill per request once you pass a free tier.

None of these are the agency's fault, but a good quote names them, so you are not surprised by your first SMS bill. A quote that says "SMS login" without saying who pays per SMS is incomplete.

Ownership is part of the price

The last line to check doesn't have a number on it. When the project ends, who owns the source code, the domain, the hosting account, the database and, for an app, the store listing?

A quote that is cheap because the agency keeps the code is cheap in the way a rented flat is cheap. That can be a fair deal, if you know it is the deal. We wrote a separate post on the ownership questions to ask a mobile app company, because for apps it gets complicated.

Make them quote the same project

The practical move: take the most detailed quote you received, turn its scope into a one-page list, and send that list back to every agency. Ask them to requote against it, with VAT, recurring costs and third-party fees broken out. The gap between quotes usually shrinks. Whatever gap is left is the real difference in price, and now you can ask what it buys.

If you want us to be one of the quotes, send the list to us through the contact page. We build web applications and mobile apps, and we'll tell you which lines we think are missing from your list.