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Bitrada: five-year software cost calculator

Free tool

Bitrada: the five-year cost of your next software decision

Know the full cost before you sign. Compare staying with a proprietary product against moving to open source, line by line, including the foreign currency each path needs.

Use your own numbers. The form starts with example figures for a mid-size Harare organisation, in US dollars, each with a note explaining it. They are reasonable starting points, not quotes. Replace any of them with your own invoices and quotes, or clear the form and start from scratch; the results update as you type. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is sent to us unless you choose to send it.

Your organisation
usersStaff who will use the system.
yearsFive years covers a full hardware and contract cycle.
%Applied to licences and subscriptions paid abroad. Check your recent renewal invoices.
Staff costs
$/monthHarare salary level for an experienced systems administrator.
$/monthHarare junior salaries are roughly $250–$400 a month.
%Pension, medical aid and statutory contributions on top of salary.
Path A: stay proprietary
On-premise adds an infrastructure section below.
$/user/monthA typical business cloud suite. Many organisations pay more; use your invoice. 100% foreign currency
$/user/yearServer, database and add-on licences, spread per user. 100% foreign currency
$/user/yearLocal reseller support contract.
$Zero for a straight renewal. Add any upgrade or migration cost. 15% foreign currency
people (FTE)Share of an experienced administrator's time. 0.5 means half their time.
people (FTE)Staff handling users, accounts and first-line support.
Path B: move to open source
Open source is not only self-hosted: many products are also sold as a hosted subscription. Self-hosted adds an infrastructure section below.
$/user/monthThe product company or an approved provider hosts it, e.g. Frappe Cloud for ERPNext, or hosted Nextcloud, Zammad or Mattermost. Some charge per site rather than per user: divide the monthly price by your users. 100% foreign currency
$/user/monthA local provider hosts and runs the systems, including backup.
$/user, one-offSet-up, configuration and data migration by a local partner. Less when the vendor hosts it. Complex ERP migrations can cost much more. 15% foreign currency
$/user, one-offAbout half a day of training per user, plus materials.
$/yearOptional subscriptions from the product companies, e.g. for critical servers or databases. Usually included in a SaaS plan. 100% foreign currency
$/dayA mid-range Harare rate for an experienced open source engineer.
days/monthRoutine support, patching and upgrades for about 100 users. Fewer days when someone else runs the servers.
people (FTE)Open source usually needs at least the same senior skill as today.
people (FTE)Self-hosting adds routine work: patching, backups, monitoring. Hosted options need fewer.
Infrastructure (for any path you host yourself)
$/user, every 5 yearsA pair of mid-range servers with storage, about $8,000 for 100 users. Imported, so counted as foreign currency. 100% foreign currency
$/monthBackup storage, off-site copies and restore testing.
$/monthShare of solar, UPS or generator capacity and fuel for the server room.
$/monthA recovery copy with a local provider, so systems can be restored after a failure.
$/monthSo staff and branches can reach self-hosted systems. Your normal internet connection is the same in both paths and excluded.

Want a second opinion on these numbers?

Send us your result. We'll email you a copy and offer a free 30-minute call to check what is missing. If a full assessment isn't worth doing, we'll say so.

Facing a renewal or a new system?

Bring a renewal notice, a vendor quote or your own spreadsheet. In a free 30-minute call we will tell you what is missing from the numbers and whether a full five-year assessment is worth doing. If it isn’t, we’ll say so.

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Milestonecraft Investments Pvt Ltd
61 Central Avenue, Harare · 0789355510 (WhatsApp) · info@milestonecraft.co.zw