Our flat fee covers designing and building your product. It does not cover the running cost of third-party services your product depends on.
If your idea needs an external API — maps, SMS, email at volume, payments, AI models, push notifications — that service runs on your own account, with your own keys, and bills you for usage. We wire it up; you own it.
We tell you exactly which ones you'll need at the brief stage, before you pay a deposit — so there are no surprises.
Common examples and where they come from:
| Need | Typical provider | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| Payments | Stripe | ~2.9% + 30¢ per charge, no monthly fee |
| Maps / location | Google Maps, Mapbox | Free tier, then per 1,000 requests |
| SMS / phone | Twilio | ~1–2¢ per SMS, pay as you go |
| Transactional email | Resend, Postmark | Free tier (~3k/mo), then per email |
| AI features | Anthropic, OpenAI | Per-token usage, cents per request |
| Push notifications | OneSignal, Expo | Free at small scale |
Most are free or near-free while you're starting out — you only pay as you grow. The important part: these are your accounts and your bills, set up in your name, so you own them from day one.
Not sure what your idea needs? Send the brief and we'll tell you straight, with costs, before anything is committed.