Calculating the True Cost ofSalesforce vs Custom.
Calculate the true 5-year cost of Salesforce licensing vs building a custom CRM. Mid-market companies with 50+ users pay $90K–$180K/year in per-seat fees alone.
Why Companies Outgrow Salesforce
Per-seat fees scale linearly with headcount — hiring 10 people costs $18K–$36K more per year
Apex developer rates average $175–$250/hr for customization work
Data is locked inside Salesforce ecosystem with expensive export fees
Lightning Experience migration requires re-training entire workforce
Feature Matrix: Custom vs Salesforce
Per-Seat Licensing
Data Ownership
Customization Depth
Implementation Speed
Ecosystem & Integrations
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Salesforce cost per year for a mid-market company?
For a mid-market company with 50 users on the Enterprise plan ($150–$300/user/month), Salesforce costs between $90,000 and $180,000 per year in licensing fees alone. This does not include implementation, customization (Apex developers average $200/hr), data storage overages, or add-on products like CPQ or Marketing Cloud.
Is it cheaper to build a custom CRM than to pay for Salesforce?
Yes, for most mid-market companies. A custom CRM built by Slickrock.dev typically costs $85,000 for the initial build with $5,000/year maintenance. Over 5 years, that totals $110,000 versus $450,000–$900,000 for Salesforce. The break-even point is typically 2.1 months after launch.
What is the SaaS Tax on Salesforce?
The SaaS Tax is the compounding cost of per-seat licensing that penalizes company growth. Every new hire at a Salesforce-dependent company costs $1,800–$3,600/year in additional CRM fees before they generate any revenue. Custom software eliminates this tax entirely — you pay once to build, and it scales with zero incremental licensing cost.
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