01
A working tool
Built to the plan you approved, tested on your real process.
Built to the plan you approved, tested on your real process.
Pricing
Other agencies charge thousands just to plan it. We do that part free.
Ask a software firm what a project costs and you get a range, a discovery call, and an invoice for the planning phase before anyone writes a line of code. That phase commonly runs $5,000 to $15,000 across the industry. We do it for nothing, you keep the plan either way, and the build price is printed right here.
The written planFree
Builds start at$4,999
Billed by the hourNever
The offer
Plan it free. Build it for an investment you saw first.
Every project runs the same way, whether it is a brand new product or a rebuild of something you already use: we agree exactly what the software does, then we build it, then you own it.
Step one · The written plan
Free
We map the workflow and write down what the tool will do, feature by feature, with the delivery date. You keep the plan whatever you decide.
Step two · The build
From $4,999
Your first working software, usually in about three weeks. What that covers is named feature by feature in the plan. Half books the dates, half is due on delivery.
Larger systems
Quoted
A full platform is built in stages that each stand on their own and each get a written price from the plan. This is how Breaker Tools Pro grew into ten connected tools. You always see the number first.
A feature is one thing the software does: produce a quote, take a payment, turn a form into a record, send the right email at the right moment. Your plan names every feature and its price before you pay. There is no version of this where the number changes after you agree to it.
What the money buys
Everything needed to actually use the thing.
A tool that works in a demo and fails on a Tuesday afternoon is not finished. The price covers the unglamorous parts as well as the screens.
02
The connections named in the plan
Linked to the systems your workflow already touches.
Linked to the systems your workflow already touches.
03
Full handover
Code, database, hosting, accounts, training and written notes.
Code, database, hosting, accounts, training and written notes.
30
Days of fixes
Anything broken in the agreed tool is fixed at no cost, for a full month after launch.
Anything broken in the agreed tool is fixed at no cost, for a full month after launch.
The boring parts, built
Empty screens, bad input, who can see what, failed connections, and the odd cases your team hits in month two. These are inside the price, not extra.
The plan itself, free
We map the process and write down what the tool will do before any money changes hands. If we think a build is the wrong move, you keep the plan and owe nothing.
Training for real people
A walkthrough video and plain notes, written for the team that has to use this on a busy day, not for a developer.
Ownership, in writing
Your agreement names you as the owner of the code and the accounts. That is the point of buying instead of renting.
Straight about the rest
What the price does not cover.
Every honest price has an edge. Here is exactly where ours is.
Costs paid to other companies
- Hosting and domains, usually a few dollars a month
- Paid services the tool connects to, such as an email sender or a payment processor
- Usage based AI costs, when the tool uses AI at all
Every one of these is listed in the plan with an expected monthly cost before you pay us anything. They go to those companies directly, not through us.
Work that is a second project
- Features added after the plan was approved
- A different workflow than the one we mapped
- Ongoing changes months later
None of this is refused. It is quoted as its own build, in writing, so the first project still lands on its date.
Why one fixed price
Hourly billing pays your developer more for being slow.
That is not an accusation. It is just what the deal says. When a firm bills by the hour, a difficult week is a good week for the invoice. Every honest hourly shop has to work against its own pricing to serve you well, and most of them genuinely do. But you are still the one paying for every surprise.
A fixed price flips that. We wrote the estimate, so the cost of being wrong about it lands on us. If a build takes four weeks instead of three, that is our problem, and your price does not move.
The trade is that the scope has to be agreed before we start. That is why the written plan exists, and why we do it for free. A fixed price is only honest when both sides know exactly what is being bought.
The strongest argument against us
Big firms say a fixed price locks you into a bad plan. They are right, for their projects.
The most respected software firms in the country advise against fixed price work, and their reasoning is fair: on a project that runs a year or more, nobody knows in month one what month nine will teach them. Locking the plan up front means locking in everything you have not learned yet. On their projects, that is true.
It does not apply here, for two plain reasons. First, our projects run about three weeks, not eighteen months. There is no month nine to be wrong about. Second, and more important, we set the price after the learning, not before it. The free written plan is where we study your workflow, ask the awkward questions, and find the surprises. Only then does a number get attached. Their model prices the unknown. Ours prices a plan both sides have already read.
And when something does come up mid-build, the answer is already written into the deal: if it belongs to the agreed tool, we build it, because our estimate should have caught it. If it is genuinely new work, it gets named and quoted in writing, never quietly swallowed. Nothing inflates the bill in silence.
The honest comparison
The quality of a custom software shop, without the enterprise bill.
A United States software agency bills a team of project managers, designers and developers by the hour. The work is real. So is the invoice, and so is the wait.
A typical U.S. software agency
- $5,000 to $15,000 for the discovery and planning phase alone
- $25,000 to $100,000+ for the build
- Three to eighteen months from start to launch
- Billed $125 to $250 an hour, plus change orders
- You work through account managers, not the builder
- Scope and final price can move as the project runs
On The Map
- The plan is free, and yours to keep either way
- Builds start at $4,999, agreed in writing first
- About three weeks to working software in your hands
- No hourly billing and no surprise charges
- You work directly with Evan, from plan to handoff
- The scope and price are written down before you pay
Agency figures are typical 2026 U.S. market ranges for small-business custom software, not a specific competitor quote. On The Map builds complete software in stages that each stand on their own. Larger systems get their own written quote from the plan.
The number that actually matters is not ours.
The useful question is not what the tool costs. It is what the current process costs you every year while it stays the way it is. Three sliders on the home page will give you that figure in about fifteen seconds, and it needs no email address.
That calculator is an estimate built from your own numbers. It assumes the whole process goes away, and a real tool often improves only part of it. We do not promise savings or a return.
Money questions
The eight we get asked most.
How much does custom software cost?
It depends entirely on size, and most answers dodge that by giving you a range that spans a factor of ten. A full company platform from a U.S. agency commonly runs from $25,000 to well past $100,000 and takes three to eighteen months. On The Map does not build those. We build one complete tool for one workflow, and that has a published price: an investment starting at $4,999, agreed in writing first.
What exactly does $4,999 buy?
One working tool for one workflow your business already runs, with up to five features. A feature is one thing the tool does, such as producing a quote, taking a payment, or turning a form into a record. The written plan lists your features by name before you pay, along with everything the tool connects to, so both sides can point at the same page later.
Why is your price so far under what agencies charge?
Three reasons, and none of them is that the work is worse. The scope is one workflow rather than a whole platform. There is one builder rather than a team of managers, designers and developers, so you are not paying for the meetings between them. And modern tools genuinely remove work that used to take weeks. This is not a discount version of a large agency project. It is a smaller, clearly defined piece of work priced for what it is.
Are there hidden costs?
Our fee has none. No hourly charges, no change orders, no discovery fee. You may still owe money to other companies for hosting, a domain, or a paid service the tool connects to. Every one of those is listed in the written plan before you pay, with the expected monthly cost, and you pay those companies directly rather than through us.
What if my project needs more than five features?
Then it is more than one build, and you find out before you pay anything, which is the whole point of doing the plan first. Usually the work splits cleanly: the first build stands on its own and earns its keep, and the rest gets its own written quote. We do not squeeze a big project into a small price and hand you something thin.
When do I pay?
Half books your build dates and half is due when we deliver the tool described in the approved plan. If we miss the delivery date, the final payment waits and we keep working at no extra cost until it is done.
Why do you not bill by the hour?
Because hourly billing pays the builder more when the work takes longer, and that is the wrong deal to put between us. With a fixed price, a slow week is our problem, not your bill. We wrote the estimate, so the cost of being wrong about it belongs to us. The trade is that the scope has to be agreed before we start, which is why the written plan matters so much.
What do I actually own when it is finished?
Everything. Code, database, hosting and project accounts are handed to you at the end along with training and written notes. Any reusable part we bring is licensed to you permanently for that project. Walking away from On The Map never costs you your software.
Send us the process. Get the plan and the price in writing.
Evan Atha reads every request, usually the same business day. You will get a straight answer about what to build, what to leave out, and whether one build is the right move at all.