How much does it cost to start a B2B SaaS?
About $241,000 all in for a small one, opened by one founder in an American city: $106,000 to open the doors and $135,000 to keep going for the 2 years it typically takes to pay its way. Below, every item at low, typical and high with where it comes from — and your own quote, for your country, your town, how you start and the money you have.
To open: $106,000
MVP build (contracted): $80,000 ($30,000–$150,000). Clutch Software Development Pricing Guide (2026): average project $132,480; most common project $10,000-$49,999; US firms $50-$99/hour; average 13 months; i.e. 600-1,500 hours at US agency rates
Product design (UX/UI): $8,000 ($3,000–$20,000). Our estimate: 60-160 hours of a contract product designer at $50-$125/hour
Marketing website: $5,000 ($2,000–$10,000). SparkTower header note: a small business website $2,000-$10,000 by a freelancer (Clutch/UpCity surveys)
Terms, privacy policy and customer contract: $3,000 ($1,000–$8,000). Our estimate: startup lawyer flat fees for SaaS terms, DPA and MSA templates (formation excluded)
Laptop and monitor: $1,500 ($0–$3,000). Our estimate: a developer laptop (MacBook Pro class $1,600-$2,500) plus monitor and software seats
Launch marketing: $8,000 ($2,000–$20,000). Our estimate: current SparkTower figure $10,000 (content, ads, launch sites)
Forming the company: $800 ($150–$2,500). An LLC's state filing is $50–$500 (state fee schedules), plus an EIN (free) and a registered agent; the World Bank measured the procedures at about 1% of income per capita, about $850 (Doing Business 2020); a lawyer's formation package $500–$2,000.
To keep going until it pays its way: $135,000
Running costs while sales build: $49,700 ($9,960–$221,000). Cloud hosting, Developer and business tools, Contractor maintenance retainer, Tech E&O and cyber insurance, Marketing and sales tools, until it breaks even; sales are taken to grow evenly to cover them, so about half is needed. Break-even: SaaS break-even guides (mean.ceo SaaS time-to-profitability 2026; dojobusiness): 12-18 months typical, 24-36 months for bootstrapped companies; payproglobal: bootstrapped SaaS aim for 12-18 months
Your own living costs until it can pay you: $85,400 ($42,700–$128,000). A one-person household spends about $3,560 a month in America (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2021–22); nothing is paid to you until the business breaks even.
All in: $241,000
About $241,000 all in ($90,800–$563,000): $106,000 to open and $135,000 to keep going for the 2 years it typically takes to pay its way.
With $10,000 of your own you are $231,000 short: borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, about $5,030 a month.
The trade's published range, before the months it takes to pay its way: $25,000–$150,000. Current SparkTower figure: a contractor-built B2B SaaS MVP $50k-$150k (Clutch); Clutch Software Development Pricing Guide (2026): average project $132,480; most common project $10,000-$49,999; US firms $50-$99/hour; average 13 months (low end is the most common Clutch project band)
How much does it cost to start a B2B SaaS?
About $241,000 all in ($90,800–$563,000) for a small one, from home, in an American city. To open: MVP build (contracted) $80,000; Product design (UX/UI) $8,000; Marketing website $5,000; Terms, privacy policy and customer contract $3,000; Laptop and monitor $1,500; Launch marketing $8,000; Forming the company $800 — $106,000. To keep going for the 2 years it typically takes to break even: running costs while sales build $49,700; your own living costs until it can pay you $85,400 — $135,000. The trade's published startup range is $25,000–$150,000 (Current SparkTower figure: a contractor-built B2B SaaS MVP $50k-$150k (Clutch); Clutch Software Development Pricing Guide (2026): average project $132,480; most common project $10,000-$49,999; US firms $50-$99/hour; average 13 months (low end is the most common Clutch project band)), which leaves the months before it pays its way out.
What does SparkTower's simulator pay to open it?
The simulator pays the one-off opening costs before the first customer — the running costs and the founder's living it plays month by month: MVP build (contractors) $80,000; Design and brand $5,000; Tools and hosting, first year $3,000; Incorporation and legal $5,500; Launch marketing $10,000. A B2B SaaS MVP built by contractors: $50k–$150k (Clutch software-development cost survey); a Delaware C-corp through Stripe Atlas $500 plus counsel.
How much of that do you keep?
None of it is kept as an asset: a build is spent, and what it made shows in the product, not on the books.
What if my own money doesn't cover it?
With $10,000 of your own you would be about $231,000 short. Borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, that is about $5,030 a month. Most founders borrow the rest. A small-business term loan runs about 11% a year over 5 years (SBA 7(a) loans are the prime rate plus 3 to 6.5 points), repaid every month from the start — before the business has found its customers. In SparkTower's B2B SaaS simulator the founder starts with $25,000 of their own money; the launch costs come out of it and leave $22,500 to trade on, with nothing borrowed.
Can you start a B2B SaaS with no money?
Not in full: lenders want the owner to put in about 20% (the SBA's own floor for a start-up is 10%), and lend against the kit, fit-out and stock a launch buys, not its marketing or a software build. What a founder with nothing does is open smaller — a first version the founder builds — on about $2,500 of essentials (tools and hosting, first year $1,500; incorporation (Stripe Atlas) $500; domain and design templates $500), borrowed as a microloan (the SBA's are up to $50,000, at 8–13%) or, for a few thousand dollars, on a card at about 22%. The rest is bought once the business can afford it. Technical founders build the first version themselves (Y Combinator startup advice); Stripe Atlas $500; hosting and tools $50–$200 a month.
Will it earn the money back?
That depends on what you charge, how many customers you win and what your rivals do. The free B2B SaaS simulator pays these costs before it opens, borrows what the founder's cash doesn't cover, and plays the business forward against real rivals, so you can see whether it earns them back before you spend them.
What it costs to start others like it