Custom Software

SaaS development company in the UK

Building SaaS means building two products: the one your customers use, and the machinery behind it that handles accounts, billing, onboarding and support. We plan for both.

Discuss Your Project

Most SaaS ideas don’t fail because the code was bad. They fail because nobody would pay, or because it took eighteen months to find that out. So we encourage founders to launch a narrow first version aimed at one type of customer and one painful problem. Our guide on how to build a SaaS application goes through the process in more detail.

That said, some early decisions are very expensive to change later, and these deserve thought from the start. How is one customer’s data kept separate from another’s? How do you model teams, roles and permissions? Can billing handle plan changes, trials, annual invoicing and VAT? How do you handle a large customer who wants single sign-on? We get these foundations right, and keep everything else as simple as possible.

Choosing how to separate tenants

The main options are a shared database with a tenant ID on every row, a separate schema per customer, or a separate database per customer. Shared tables are the cheapest to run and simplest to update, but one missed filter can expose another customer’s data, so we enforce it at a framework level with automated tests. Separate databases offer stronger isolation, which enterprise buyers sometimes ask for, at a higher operational cost. The right answer depends on who you’re selling to.

SaaS decisions that are hard to undo

Tenant isolation

Getting data separation wrong is a serious privacy incident waiting to happen, and retrofitting it is painful.

Billing complexity

Upgrades, proration, failed payments, VAT and annual contracts turn out to be far more involved than a “Subscribe” button.

Enterprise requirements

SSO, audit logs and data residency can arrive suddenly, in the shape of your biggest prospect’s security questionnaire.

What we build for SaaS products

Multi-tenant architecture

A data model and permissions system designed to keep customers properly separated.

Subscription billing

Stripe or Paddle integration for plans, trials, invoices, dunning and tax.

Onboarding

Sign-up, team invitations and first-run journeys that get customers to value quickly.

Admin and support tools

Internal tooling to manage accounts, view usage and help customers safely.

Public API and webhooks

Versioned APIs and documentation, so customers can integrate with you.

Enterprise features

SAML SSO, audit logs and role-based access for when larger customers arrive.

Where it fits

  • Founders validating a B2B software idea
  • Companies productising an internal tool
  • Existing products being rebuilt for multi-tenancy

Technology

  • Laravel
  • Laravel Cashier
  • Stripe
  • Paddle
  • React
  • Vue
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • AWS
  • Sentry

Sectors we think about here

SaaS questions

How much does it cost to build a SaaS product?
It depends mostly on the scope of the first version. A focused release usually costs far less than the feature list you started with, which is one reason to keep it narrow. We’d estimate against an agreed scope.
Should we use Stripe or Paddle?
Stripe gives you more control, but you handle tax compliance with its tooling. Paddle acts as merchant of record and handles global sales tax for a higher fee. Your target markets and team size will generally decide.
Do you work with early-stage founders?
Yes, and we’ll push you to cut scope before you spend money. Having an idea of how you’ll reach your first customers helps a lot.

Related services

Further reading

Interested in SaaS Development?

Outline what you need, and we will reply by email with questions or next steps.

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