The question we get most: "I want an ERP — how much?" The honest answer is that it's like asking "I want a building — how much?" Size, finish and number of floors decide. Let me break the equation down with numbers instead of generalities.
ERP isn't a product — it's a set of modules
An ERP isn't one thing you buy. It's modules assembled around your business: inventory, purchasing, sales, accounting, HR, manufacturing, CRM, reporting. Each has its own build cost, and your final price is the sum of the modules you actually need plus the integration between them.
The common mistake is requesting every module on day one "to get it over with." The result: a project that slips for months, a budget that doubles, and 60% of the screens nobody ever opens.
What actually drives cost
1. Analysis and process mapping (10–15%). Before any code, we sit with every department and map the current workflow. This stage is the difference between a system that serves your business and a system you have to reshape your business around. Skipping it costs several times its price later.
2. Database design (5–10%). This is the foundation. A table designed wrong in month one becomes a nightmare in year two when you add a branch or a second currency.
3. Building the modules (50–60%). The actual work. A simple inventory module is far cheaper than a manufacturing module with production stages and variable costing.
4. Permissions and reporting (10–15%). Who sees what and who edits what. This line item gets forgotten in quotes and shows up at the end as a "surprise."
5. Migration and training (10%). Moving your old data from Excel or a previous system, and training the team. An excellent system with a team that can't use it is a failed system.
Realistic price ranges in the Egyptian market
- Basic (inventory + sales + simple accounting, one branch, 5–10 users): EGP 80k–180k, 2–4 months. - Mid-range (adds purchasing, HR, advanced permissions, multi-branch): EGP 200k–450k, 4–7 months. - Advanced (manufacturing, external integrations, mobile app, analytics): EGP 500k and up, 8–14 months.
These are for a system built with clean code and owned entirely by you — not a monthly subscription or a pirated copy.
When off-the-shelf is smarter
If your operations are standard with no real differentiation — an ordinary retail shop, a small office — off-the-shelf (Odoo or similar) saves you time and money. Custom earns its price when you have a unique process that is itself your competitive advantage, or when packaged systems force you into a way of working that hurts you.
Practical rule: if you can name 3 things in your business no packaged system does correctly, start considering custom.
How to protect yourself from a slipping project
Ask for phased delivery. Each phase has defined modules, a date and a price. You build the phase, accept it, run it for a month in real work, then pay and start the next. That way a bad vendor costs you one phase, not the whole project.
And the most important clause: the code is yours. Get it in writing, with a database copy and API documentation. Without it you're tied to that vendor forever.
Bottom line
ERP pays for itself when it's built on a real understanding of your business. Start with the modules that hurt today, deliver in phases, and own your code. Want a rough estimate for your case? Talk to us and describe your operation — we'll tell you honestly if custom isn't the right answer for you.