The verdict in three sentences
A serious B2B SaaS MVP in New York in 2026 costs between 40,000 and 100,000 EUR depending on domain complexity and how automated your billing is. On top of that comes a run cost of 500 to 2,000 EUR/month (infra, tools, monitoring) that starts on day one, long before your first revenue. Budget the build and the first 12 months of run and acquisition: a SaaS without an acquisition budget isn't a SaaS, it's a demo.
What an MVP SaaS actually covers
A B2B SaaS is not a landing page with a login. It carries four non-negotiable foundational blocks: multi-tenant authentication, recurring billing (usually Stripe Billing), roles and permissions, and the business feature that justifies the subscription. The classic trap is underestimating the cross-cutting blocks (auth, billing, GDPR, transactional emails) in favor of the visible feature.
| Build item | 2026 range (EUR) | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping & UX/UI design | 6,000 – 15,000 | Wireframes, design system, flows |
| Multi-tenant auth + roles | 5,000 – 12,000 | SSO, invitations, permissions |
| Core business feature | 15,000 – 40,000 | The value core |
| Recurring billing (Stripe) | 5,000 – 12,000 | Plans, quotas, webhooks, invoices |
| Back-office & admin | 4,000 – 10,000 | Support, account management |
| Tests, CI/CD, security | 5,000 – 11,000 | Quality + compliance |
| MVP total | 40,000 – 100,000 | 4 to 6 months |
Realistic time-to-market for this scope is 4 to 6 months with a lean team (2 to 3 people). Trying to ship everything in 6 weeks produces technical debt that costs more than the time saved.
The run: the cost nobody budgets
The build is a one-off; the run is a slow bleed if poorly managed. Here is a 2026 order of magnitude for an early-stage SaaS (a few dozen customers).
| Run item | Monthly cost 2026 (EUR) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting + managed database | 150 – 700 | Depending on load and redundancy |
| Stripe (fees) | 1.5% + 0.25/txn | Volume-dependent |
| Transactional emails | 20 – 120 | Postmark, Resend, SES |
| Monitoring & logs | 50 – 300 | Observability |
| Team tools (CI, errors) | 80 – 250 | Sentry, GitHub, etc. |
| Backups & security | 40 – 150 | Backups, WAF |
| Total run | 500 – 2,000 / month | Excluding salaries |
On top of run comes acquisition: expect a CAC (customer acquisition cost) of 200 to 900 EUR in early-stage B2B. A SaaS at 49 EUR/month with a 600 EUR CAC only breaks even after 12 to 15 months of subscription: retention becomes your survival metric.
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Mini case study
Thomas, co-founder of an HR SaaS in New York, wants to launch an annual-review tracking tool. Approved quote: 68,000 EUR build over 5 months, run estimated at 1,100 EUR/month. He targets 40 customers at 79 EUR/month in year 1, i.e. 37,920 EUR ARR. With 68,000 EUR build + 13,200 EUR annual run + 24,000 EUR acquisition (40 customers x 600 EUR CAC), his year-1 investment reaches 105,200 EUR for 37,920 EUR of revenue. Break-even lands in year 2-3, provided he keeps churn under 3%/month. Verdict: viable, but only if he secures 24 months of cash runway.
FAQ
Can you build a SaaS MVP for under 40,000 EUR? Yes, by drastically narrowing scope to a single feature and minimal billing you can reach 25,000–35,000 EUR. Below that you ship a prototype, not a sellable B2B product.
Should you code billing yourself? No. Stripe Billing covers 90% of needs (plans, quotas, proration, invoices, tax) for a 5,000–12,000 EUR integration. Rebuilding a billing engine costs 3 to 5 times more and adds compliance risk.
How long until the first paying customer? With an MVP shipped in 4-6 months and a 6-8 week beta phase, expect 6 to 8 months between kickoff and the first real recurring payment.
Does the 2,000 EUR/month run scale up fast? It grows in steps, not linearly. Well architected (multi-tenant on a shared database), a SaaS goes from 30 to 300 customers with a run that merely doubles, not tenfolds.
What total budget for a comfortable first year? Count build (40,000–100,000 EUR) + 12 months of run (6,000–24,000 EUR) + acquisition (20,000–40,000 EUR), i.e. a realistic envelope of 80,000 to 160,000 EUR for a credible launch.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your core business feature, indicative budget and launch deadline, and we'll frame the MVP scope and target run. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
