Free small-business checklist

How to compare app development quotes.

Two app proposals can show very different totals while describing different work. Before you compare prices, give each builder the same first-version goal and ask the same practical questions about scope, ownership, outside costs, testing, and support.

Use the Checklist Try Know Before Yes

This guide provides general educational information. SHG does not certify or rank builders, verify a quote, choose a vendor, provide professional advice, or guarantee a price, schedule, or result.

Before requesting proposals

Write down the first version in plain language.

A builder cannot quote the same job as another builder if each person is imagining a different product. A useful starting brief does not need technical jargon. It should identify the business result, the main user, the smallest useful first version, and the decisions that are still open.

Name the business result

State what the app should help the business or its customers do. Avoid starting with a long feature list before the goal is clear.

Describe the main user

Explain who uses the first version and the main steps that person should be able to complete.

Separate must-haves from later ideas

Mark the features required for the first useful release and keep optional ideas in a separate later list.

List what is undecided

Identify open choices about devices, accounts, payments, data, integrations, ownership, timing, and ongoing support.

Proposal-by-proposal review

Eight areas to compare before the total price.

Record the answer from each proposal in the same place. If an item is not addressed, mark it as an open question rather than assuming it is included.

  1. 01Scope: Which first-version screens, pages, features, platforms, and user paths are included or excluded?
  2. 02Deliverables: Will you receive working software, design files, source code, setup documentation, store materials, or something else?
  3. 03Ownership and access: Who controls the code repository, domain, hosting, store accounts, design files, and third-party accounts during and after the work?
  4. 04Outside costs: Which hosting, platform, store, subscription, transaction, messaging, map, or other provider charges are separate from the quoted total?
  5. 05Data and privacy: What information will the product handle, where will it be processed or stored, and which privacy or security work is included?
  6. 06Schedule and decisions: What milestones, customer inputs, review windows, dependencies, and unresolved choices affect the schedule?
  7. 07Testing and acceptance: Which devices, browsers, journeys, accessibility checks, and correction rounds are included, and how will completion be evaluated?
  8. 08After launch: What support, maintenance, monitoring, updates, backups, ownership transfer, and change-request process is included or offered separately?

Questions worth resolving

Pause when important responsibilities are unclear.

Are all proposals pricing the same first version?

Compare the included screens, features, platforms, integrations, content, and launch work. A lower total may simply describe less work.

What must the business provide?

Ask who supplies copy, images, policies, account access, product decisions, testing feedback, and approvals—and when each item is due.

Which costs continue after delivery?

Separate one-time build work from hosting, provider, store, subscription, maintenance, transaction, and support costs.

Who controls the important accounts and files?

Clarify ownership and access for the repository, domain, hosting, store listings, design sources, credentials, and exported data.

How are changes handled?

Ask how the proposal treats a clarified requirement, a new idea, an external dependency, and work discovered after the scope is accepted.

What evidence will show that the work is complete?

Request a clear review and acceptance process tied to the agreed first-version journeys and deliverables rather than a vague finish line.

Free scenario-based preflight

Find missing decisions before saying yes.

Know Before Yes is a free educational tool that uses a bundled fictional offer or general, fixed-field categories to surface gaps and compare project paths. It does not inspect an uploaded quote, certify pricing, rank a vendor, or replace your own review.

Learn about Know Before Yes

Need a business-specific scope?

Start every proposal from one clear first-version plan.

SHG’s one-time $249 Website & App Blueprint is a separate, paid, human-reviewed planning service for one eligible U.S. business and one idea. State review and current availability apply.

Explore the $249 Blueprint Planning only. No agreement or payment is created by opening the service page.