How do you estimate an app idea before talking to a developer?
This question kept coming up while we were working on product ideas.
You have an idea, maybe even a list of features, but you still have no clue if it’s a $5k project or a $50k project.
Of course, the real answer is always “it depends.” 😅
But I thought there should at least be a way to get a rough starting point.
So I built EstiMatey — a small tool that asks a few simple questions about your product, features, platform, users, and build level, then gives you a rough estimate for cost and development time.
It’s not meant to replace an actual developer estimate. The goal is just to help you understand what you might be getting into before that conversation.
Check it out: https://estimate.yoimarulab.com/
Would love some honest feedback:
What information would you need to see before you’d trust a rough software estimate like this?
One thing I’ve found useful is separating “can this be built?” from “is this worth building?”
The first can often be estimated from features and technical constraints, but the second needs assumptions about users, acquisition, willingness to pay, and what the smallest useful version actually looks like.
I’d probably estimate an idea in layers: problem validation → MVP scope → technical complexity → operating cost → distribution.
Otherwise it’s easy to spend a lot of time getting an accurate estimate for something nobody actually needs.