In the UK, a custom database can cost anywhere from a few hundred pounds a month for a ready-made subscription to five figures for a fully bespoke build. As a real example, not a guess: our own TenureBook starts at £295 a month for a standard plan, and the range runs up to a fully bespoke build at £7,000 plus £100 a month.
The honest short answer
"Custom database" covers a lot of ground, from a ready-made product you can subscribe to today, through to a bespoke system built from scratch around your exact workflows. The price depends on which end of that spectrum you need. Rather than leave it at "it depends", here is what we actually charge for TenureBook, our own ready-made database product for property portfolios, so you have a real reference point.
Real prices: what we charge for a custom database
| Tier | Price | Users included | Extra users |
|---|---|---|---|
| TenureBook — Standard | £295/month (about £3,540/year) | 3 | £250/year each (about £20.83/month) |
| TenureBook — Branded (best value) | £425/month | 7 | £250/year each (about £20.83/month) |
| TenureBook — Custom | £595/month | 20 | £250/year each (about £20.83/month) |
| Proprietary Database (bespoke build) | £7,000 to build + £100/month | Your whole team | Quoted with the build |
We call Branded "best value" rather than "most popular" because a popularity claim would not be honest for a young product. It genuinely is good value on the numbers: Standard plus four extra seats comes to £378.33 a month for seven people, so Branded at £425 a month for seven seats, plus your own branding across every pack and report, is about £47 more. Standard and Branded are buy-online-today; you are live within a minute of checkout. A fully bespoke build is quoted after a call, because it depends on what you actually need.
What makes a custom database cost more or less
- How many people use it. Standard includes 3 users, Branded 7, Custom 20 — every tier can add more at £250/user/year (about £20.83/user/month).
- Ready-made vs bespoke. Standard and Branded are the same underlying product, tailored to your fields and branding. A Proprietary Database means a new database built around your specific workflows, or extra features on top.
- Where the data comes from. Reading from one spreadsheet is easy. Pulling from several tools, or migrating years of existing data, adds work — mainly relevant to Custom.
- Integrations. Connecting to accounting software, email, a calendar or a payment provider takes extra time, and is quoted as part of a Custom build.
- Branding and tailoring. A standard interface is included from £295/month. Your own logo across every board pack and report starts at Branded, £425/month.
Why our bespoke builds look lower than the £20,000–£50,000 you will see elsewhere
Search for custom software or database costs in the UK and you will find agencies quoting anywhere from £20,000 to well over £100,000. Those numbers are real — for large teams building enterprise software, with account managers, sales teams and offices to pay for. Our bespoke builds start at £7,000, then £100 a month, because we are a small UK studio and that overhead is not in our price. Three things keep the cost down without cutting corners:
- Fixed, tight scope. We agree exactly what the build does and price it up front, so there is no open-ended day rate.
- An AI-assisted workflow, checked by people. Modern tools speed up the repetitive parts of building and testing, and a person reviews and approves everything. You get the speed without the guesswork.
- No layers. You talk to the person building the database, not an account manager relaying messages.
Custom database or off-the-shelf? When we tell people not to build
Custom is not always the right answer, and we will say so. If an existing tool like Airtable, Notion or a well-fitting piece of industry software already does what you need, that is usually cheaper and faster than building from scratch. A custom database is worth it when:
- you are paying for lots of features you do not use, or stitching several tools together by hand;
- your business does something specific that off-the-shelf software cannot quite fit;
- the "system" is really a pile of spreadsheets, WhatsApp messages and email that only works because someone remembers how;
- you want it to work the way your business actually runs, and to own the data rather than rent it forever.
If off-the-shelf fits, we will point you to it. TenureBook sits in between: a ready-made product built specifically for property portfolios, that you can subscribe to today from £295/month, without paying to build one from scratch.
How to think about the return
The simplest way to judge whether a custom database pays for itself: estimate the hours it saves each week tracking things by hand, multiply by what that time is worth, and compare it to the annual cost. A database that saves one person a day a week usually pays for itself within months, before you count the mistakes avoided (a missed break clause or rent review date can cost far more than a year of the subscription) and the more professional impression it gives clients. We are happy to talk that through honestly on a call, before you commit to anything.
What you get for the money
- TenureBook Standard, £295/month: your own private workspace, 3 seats included, live within a minute of checkout.
- TenureBook Branded, £425/month: your logo across every board pack and report, an onboarding call, 7 seats included.
- Proprietary Database, £7,000 to build then £100/month: a new database built around your exact workflows, hosted, supported and yours.
- Extra users on any tier: £250/year each (about £20.83/month), added any time after you sign up — ask on the billing page and we add them to your invoice.
You can see the full breakdown and buy Standard or Branded directly on the TenureBook page. For a bespoke build, or if you want a straight answer for your own situation, book a short call or send us the details and we will come back with a fixed quote.