SaaS stands for Software as a Service. Instead of selling software that customers install, you host it in the cloud and charge a monthly or annual subscription. Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Shopify — all SaaS.
Why SaaS is attractive as a business model
- Recurring revenue — Customers pay every month, creating predictable income
- Scalability — Adding a new customer costs almost nothing compared to the revenue they generate
- Compounding growth — Every customer retained adds to the base for next month
When does it make sense to build one?
Building a SaaS makes sense when you have a specific, repeatable problem that many businesses in a similar situation face. The best SaaS products come from founders who had the problem themselves.
It doesn\'t make sense when the problem is too unique, when the market is too small, or when an existing solution already solves it well enough.
What does it cost to build?
A basic but production-ready SaaS with user authentication, billing, and core features typically costs between $15,000 and $50,000 to build — depending on complexity. A full-featured platform can cost significantly more.
The more important question is time-to-market. At Proactify, we\'ve built SaaS products that went from concept to first paying customer in 6 to 10 weeks.
What technology do we use?
Our standard SaaS stack: Next.js for the frontend, PostgreSQL for the database, Stripe for billing, and Cloudflare for infrastructure. This stack is proven, scalable, and fast to build on.
If you have an idea for a SaaS product, let\'s talk. We can tell you quickly whether it\'s viable and what it would take to build it.