One of the things side gig devs struggle with is pricing their new projects.
You finally land a decent client enquiry… then the panic hits: “How much do I even ask for?” “Am I about to work for R200/hour again because I low-balled?” “What if they want it in half the time — do I just say yes and suffer?” “How do I explain why my quote is higher than the guy who said he’ll do it in two weeks for peanuts?”
Most of us have sent quotes that felt either too greedy or too cheap, and regretted it either way. After years of watching this cycle (and living it myself), I decided to build something that actually helps.
Meet DevQuote, a free, open-source pricing tool made specifically for developers who want to quote projects confidently, based on their real hourly rate + their real years of experience.
Live demo: https://devquote.vercel.app/
Repo (MIT, fork away): https://github.com/AyabongaQwabi/sa-dev-quote-tool
In 30 seconds:
Put in your hourly rate (ZAR default, shows USD/EUR too) + your years of experience Choose app/website type → relevant features appear (fintech, e-commerce, static sites, gig economy, etc.)
Tick the features you’ll actually build (or grab a recommended bundle)
Slide the desired delivery timeline up or down → price adjusts automatically:
Longer timeline → discount kicks in (but never below a sane floor)
Shorter/rush timeline → premium applied (because overtime + risk isn’t free)
Get a clean breakdown: your normal-pace price, adjusted price, days/hours per feature, total estimate
The experience multiplier is the part I’m most proud of:
Low years → time estimates go up realistically (you take longer → you should charge more to make it worthwhile)
High years → time shrinks (you’re faster → you can deliver quicker or charge the same while keeping margins healthy)
No black-box AI. Just transparent math you can tweak in the JSON files if you want.
Built with Next.js, Tailwind, Shadcn UI — deploys in minutes on Vercel/Netlify. Fully open-source so bootcamp grads, agencies, or anyone can fork it for their own niche.
If you’re a South African dev (or anywhere really) tired of second-guessing quotes, under-pricing good work, or watching solid gigs go to the cheapest bidder, give it a quick spin.
Would love honest feedback:
Does the experience adjustment feel right? Missing any common feature types? Would love PRs adding more bundles or currencies.
Star the repo, drop a comment, or just say hi if you’ve built/used similar tools before.
Link one more time: https://devquote.vercel.app/
https://github.com/AyabongaQwabi/sa-dev-quote-tool
Here’s to quoting what your work is actually worth, and actually getting paid for it 💪💰
#Freelance #WebDev #SideHustle #SouthAfricaTech #DeveloperTools #OpenSource #Pricing #IndieDev