Disclosure: I am Simon Dziak, founder of App369 and Workspace369. App369 builds custom CRMs and Workspace369 is a CRM, so I benefit from two of the three paths below. Every outside price and timeline links to its source, read on October 25, 2026.
Key takeaways
- Buy a CRM when your process looks like everyone else's. It is the cheapest and fastest path: a monthly plan and a few days of setup.
- Build it yourself with an AI coding agent when you are comfortable owning the code. The tools cost $20 to $30 a month to start, but the backend, the data and the fixes are yours to run.
- Hire a developer when the CRM is part of your product, or your process really doesn't fit. Agencies that publish prices quote about $25,000 to $70,000 for a first version and 8 to 16 weeks.
- Whichever you pick, write down your stages, fields and roles first. Every path goes faster with that written down.
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Buy a CRM if your sales process looks like most businesses'. Build one yourself with an AI coding agent if you're happy to own the code. Hire a developer when the CRM is part of your product, or your process really doesn't fit anything you can buy. The prices and timelines below come from each vendor's own published pages, read on October 25, 2026.
The three paths side by side
| Buy a CRM | Build it with AI yourself | Hire a developer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | A monthly plan per seat. Workspace369 starts at $29/month for 1 seat | Your AI tool (Claude Pro $20/month, Cursor Premium $30/month) plus a backend and hosting | About $25,000 to $70,000 for a first version, as published by agencies |
| How long | Days of setup | Your own time; no timing we trust yet | 8 to 16 weeks for a first version, as published by agencies |
| Who fixes it | The vendor | You | The developer, then you or a retainer |
| Best when | Your stages and fields are close to standard | You can read code and want full control | The CRM is part of your product, or nothing fits |
Buy one when your process is ordinary
Most freelancers, consultants and small agencies sell the same way: a lead comes in, you send a proposal, they sign, you invoice, they pay. Any decent CRM covers that. You're live in days, the vendor fixes the bugs, and your cost is a monthly plan.
That's the path I'd pick for most service businesses. Workspace369 is my own product, so weigh that, but it covers clients, pipeline stages, proposals with e-sign, invoices and payments on one plan, from $29/month for one seat (pricing).
The sign you've outgrown buying: your team keeps a spreadsheet next to the CRM because the CRM can't hold what they need.
Build it yourself when you're happy to own the code
AI coding agents made this path real. Claude Pro, which includes Claude Code, is $20 a month, and Cursor Premium is $30 a month, with some third-party models billed by usage on top (Claude pricing, Cursor pricing). An agent can get a pipeline screen, a client list and a lead form running fast.
The screens aren't the hard part. The backend is: sign-in, who can see which client, data that stays correct when two people edit it, and the proposals, contracts and invoices that hang off every deal. That is where most self-built CRMs break once real users arrive.
Two ways to make it easier:
- Use a backend that already exists. Workspace369 can be the backend your AI-built CRM reads and writes over MCP, with clients, stages, proposals, e-sign and invoices already there. The build guide has a prompt to copy and a starter repo.
- Get it checked before customers rely on it. If it already broke, the AI-Built App Rescue starts with a $450 Launch Check.
We haven't timed a full AI-built CRM end to end yet, so this post gives no "build a CRM in an afternoon" number. Anyone who does give you one should show you the run.
Hire a developer when the CRM is the product, or nothing fits
Hire when the CRM is part of what you sell (a portal for your clients, a tool your customers log in to), when your data has to live in your own cloud, or when the gaps in every CRM you've tried cost you real money every week.
What agencies publish:
| Source | First version | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| RaftLabs | $30,000 to $70,000 | 12 to 16 weeks |
| Space-O Technologies | $25,000 to $50,000 (entry-level) | 3 to 4 months |
| Softomate | £15,000 to £35,000 (focused, 10 users) | 8 to 14 weeks |
These are each company's own figures, not independent research. Portals, deep integrations and enterprise systems run much higher on all three pages.
App369 builds custom CRMs too, and doesn't publish a build price yet. The Custom CRM Build starts with a $450 written scoping in 3 business days. It picks the path (on the Workspace369 backend, or fully custom), writes down your stages, fields and screens, and ends in a fixed quote. You can take that scope to any developer.
Write this down before you pick
Whichever path you take, these five answers save weeks:
- Your pipeline stages, in order, and what moves a deal from one to the next
- The fields you actually fill in, and which ones you report on
- Who uses it and what each person should see
- The tools it must talk to: email, calendar, Stripe, accounting
- What a client should see, if anything
If those answers fit on one page and look like everyone else's, buy. If they don't, build or hire.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does a custom CRM cost in 2026?
- Agencies that publish prices quote about $25,000 to $70,000 for a first version. RaftLabs says $30,000 to $70,000 in 12 to 16 weeks, Space-O says $25,000 to $50,000 for an entry-level CRM in three to four months, and Softomate says £15,000 to £35,000 for a focused 10-user CRM in 8 to 14 weeks. Those are their own published figures.
- Can I build my own CRM with Claude Code or Cursor?
- Yes, if you are comfortable reading and owning the code. Claude Pro, which includes Claude Code, is $20 a month. The hard part is the backend: sign-in, permissions, data that stays correct, and the proposals, contracts and invoices around the pipeline. Using a ready backend such as Workspace369 over MCP removes most of that work.
- Should I build my own CRM or buy one?
- Buy one if a ready-made CRM's stages and fields are close enough to how you sell. Build or hire when the gaps cost you real money every week, or when the CRM is part of a product you sell. Most freelancers and small agencies should buy.
- How long does it take to build a CRM?
- Agencies quote 8 to 16 weeks for a first working version of a focused CRM, and longer for portals and deep integrations. A self-built CRM with an AI agent depends on you; we have not timed one end to end yet, so we won't give you a number.
- What should I do if my AI-built CRM breaks?
- Fix the data and sign-in problems first, because those lose customers. App369's AI-Built App Rescue starts with a $450 Launch Check that ranks the problems, then fixes the worst of them at a fixed price.
Sources
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