Explore Backify

Total cost comparison

Backify or build it yourself?
Run the numbers with your assumptions.

You can build an application platform on Azure yourself: Container Apps, a registry, Key Vault, PostgreSQL, identity, CI, previews and release controls. This calculator compares the engineering time that takes with a Backify subscription. Every effort figure is an assumption you should replace with your own.

Open the calculator

Prices before tax. An estimate, not a quote.

Your setup

Compare year one and every year after.

Start with your apps, builders and hosting. Then adjust the effort assumptions below to match your team. Results update as you type.

People who create, change, deploy or publish apps. Viewers, approvers and auditors are free.

Hosting in your own Azure is available on Business. You pay Microsoft directly for those resources.

Your effort assumptions

Our defaults are illustrative, not measured. Replace them with your own estimates.

Salary, employer costs, tools and overhead for one engineer day, in the selected currency.

Building it yourself on Azure

Landing zone, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, identity and secrets, preview and production environments, monitoring.

Wiring sign-in, database, storage, jobs, secrets and a deployment pipeline for each app.

Patching, dependency and runtime upgrades, access reviews, incident handling, audit evidence.

With Backify

Creating the app, connecting GitHub, choosing hosting and assigning roles. Customer Azure needs an administrator once.

Reviewing releases, access and costs. Your own application code still needs maintenance either way.

Year one

Backify
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Building it yourself
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Difference
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Every year after

Backify
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Building it yourself
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Difference
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How the totals add up Days are multiplied by your engineer cost per day

Backify

Subscription, per year
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App setup, year one
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App upkeep, per year
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Building it yourself

Platform foundation, year one
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App setup, year one
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App upkeep, per year
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Azure resource costs are not included on either side.

Start building

This is an estimate, not a quote or a payment commitment. Applicable tax is excluded. Your subscription and contract govern invoices.

Method and assumptions

What the calculator counts, and what it leaves out.

We show the arithmetic so you can check it, change it or rebuild it in a spreadsheet.

Backify subscription
Calculated with the same plan rules as the pricing page: plan base, builders and apps above those included. Monthly billing is multiplied by 12. Starter allows one builder and up to two apps; hosting in your own Azure requires Business.
Year one
Backify: subscription + (setup days per app × apps) + (upkeep days per app per month × apps × 12), with days priced at your engineer cost. Building it yourself: foundation days + (setup days per app × apps) + (upkeep days per app per month × apps × 12).
Every year after
Year one without the one-time setup: the subscription plus upkeep for Backify, and upkeep alone for building it yourself. We assume a full year of upkeep from the start for every app.
Default effort figures
Platform foundation 20 days; 5 days per app to set up and 2 days per app per month to run yourself. With Backify, 0.5 days per app to set up and 0.25 days per app per month. These are illustrative starting points, not measurements from customer projects. Replace them.
Azure resource costs
When apps run in your own Azure, you pay Microsoft for Container Apps, Container Registry, Storage, Key Vault and PostgreSQL in either case, so that bill cancels out and is left out. Backify never charges consumption for self-hosted apps.
Backify Cloud usage
On Backify Cloud, each app includes monthly usage allowances. Usage above them on Team and Business is billed monthly and is not included here. The DIY side's Azure bill is not included either. Use the pricing estimator for usage.
Building the app itself
Your builders write and maintain the application in both cases, with or without AI coding agents. That effort is the same on both sides and is excluded.
Not modelled
Hiring, on-call rotations, opportunity cost, discounts, tax, currency effects and the cost of moving between options. Add them if they matter to your decision.

A fair comparison

When building it yourself is the better choice.

You already run a mature internal platform

If your platform team already has a paved road for containers, identity, secrets and releases, the foundation and per-app setup costs are mostly paid. Set those days low and compare upkeep only.

You need full control of every component

Building it yourself gives you control of every layer with no vendor. With Backify, application resources can run in your Azure, but Backify's control plane, which handles authorization, policy, approvals, audit and deployment orchestration, stays with Backify.

You have one app that rarely changes

For a single, stable app, the one-time setup may be small and upkeep light. The difference narrows. The calculator shows this when you lower the app count and upkeep days.

Where does Backify save the most?

Where many apps share the same needs: sign-in, data, files, jobs, AI, previews, scoped roles, approvals and audit records. You set those up once in Backify instead of for each app.

Is the result a quote?

No. It is an estimate based on your inputs and our published plan prices before tax. For a quote, or for Enterprise pricing, contact hello@backify.dev.