Project Cost Estimator

👋 IH

Just launched Project Cost Estimator — a free calculator that estimates the realistic cost of any web project (WordPress, Shopify, Magento, custom) in under 2 minutes.

Why I built it:

After 14+ years building web projects, I kept seeing the same broken pattern — freelancers undercharge, clients have unrealistic expectations, and every "cost calculator" online is a lead-gen trap. I wanted something I could send clients to anchor expectations BEFORE the discovery call.

What's inside:

- 9 calculation engines (platform fit, pricing, complexity, risk, timeline, monthly costs, ROI, insights, quote gen)

- Calibrated against ~600 real project quotes across 5 markets (US, UK, Western EU, Eastern EU, Australia)

- Pricing data refreshes weekly from 8 sources (Upwork, Clutch, GoodFirms, etc.)

- Real-time updating sidebar — price counter changes as you toggle inputs

- Free forever, no signup, no email

Monetization (want this sustainable, not just a free tool):

- $8 one-time PDF report (white-label friendly)

- Affiliate links to recommended hosting (Cloudways, Kinsta, SiteGround, Shopify)

Stack:

Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind, Framer Motion, Zustand. Hosted on Vercel.

Numbers so far (8 days in):

- Just trickling traffic, ~0-5 daily users

- 44 GSC impressions across 12 keywords (avg position 60-87)

- 26 SEO blog posts published targeting longtail

- Just wired PostHog to actually measure conversion

- Launching on Product Hunt tomorrow 🚀

What I'd love feedback on:

1. Does the estimate match what you'd actually quote for similar scopes?

2. Is the wizard friction-free?

3. What's the most important missing feature?

Try it: https://projectcostestimator.com

Calculator direct: https://projectcostestimator.com/calculator

Happy to share implementation details, business model thinking, or whatever's useful 🙏

— Florin