The verdict in three sentences
A custom BI dashboard costs €10,000 to €28,000 depending on the number of sources and data freshness. It replaces scattered Excel exports with a real-time single source of truth, speeding up decisions and avoiding around one steering meeting per week. Power BI/Metabase is enough for the standard; custom is justified once business rules or UX come first.
What are you paying for in a BI project?
A dashboard's cost is not just the final screen. Most of the budget goes into connecting sources and making the data reliable (ETL).
| Item | Share of budget | Cost (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Source connections (ERP, CRM, Excel) | 25% | 3,000 - 7,500 |
| ETL and data cleaning | 30% | 3,500 - 9,000 |
| KPI modelling and business rules | 20% | 2,000 - 6,000 |
| Dashboard design | 15% | 1,500 - 4,500 |
| Testing, training, acceptance | 10% | 1,000 - 3,000 |
Data quality is the first pitfall: a sloppy ETL produces wrong KPIs that destroy trust in the tool.
Custom or Power BI/Metabase?
The choice depends on business-rule complexity and the need for real time. Here are 2026 orders of magnitude.
| Solution | Project cost (€) | Licence/yr | Real time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metabase (open-source) | 8,000 - 15,000 | 0 - 3,000 | Batch | SMEs, tight budget |
| Power BI | 10,000 - 20,000 | €120/user | Semi | Microsoft ecosystem |
| Custom dashboard | 18,000 - 28,000 | Hosting | Yes | Complex rules, UX |
| Annual maintenance | — | 2,000 - 6,000 | — | All |
For a leader wanting real time and strict governance, custom offers the best control; for monthly reporting, Metabase is enough.
Mini case study
Bram, director of a 40-person trading SME in Amsterdam, still runs on 6 hand-updated Excel files. He invests €18,000 in a custom dashboard connecting his ERP, CRM and accounting, plus €3,500/year maintenance. Gain: he removes 1 weekly consolidation meeting (4 people x 1.5 h) and decides 2 days earlier on stock-outs. Value: around €13,000/year in time and preserved margin, ROI in 16 months.
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FAQ
How long to deliver a dashboard?
Allow 6 to 12 weeks depending on the number of sources. Data connection and ETL make up 55% of the timeline; the final design is quick once data is reliable.
Can you connect several systems?
Yes: ERP, CRM, accounting, e-commerce, spreadsheets. Each source adds €3,000 to €7,500 of connection and reliability work. Prioritise the 2 or 3 sources that carry key KPIs.
Is real time essential?
Rarely. Hourly or daily refresh covers 80% of needs and costs far less. True real time is justified for logistics or production.
Who guarantees the figures are reliable?
Data governance: shared KPI definitions, automated consistency checks, and a data owner. Without it, the tool loses team trust within weeks.
What ROI to expect?
Main gain: faster decisions and one steering meeting avoided per week, i.e. €10,000 to €15,000/year for a 40-person SME. Typical ROI between 14 and 20 months.
Let's scope your project. List your data sources and 5 priority KPIs: we'll quote a dashboard between €10,000 and €28,000. 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.
