What custom WordPress development usually looks like
You describe what you need to a developer or an agency. They come back with a quote for A$5,000 to A$30,000. The scope is vague. The timeline is in months. Half the functionality ends up in a "phase two" that never happens. You pay a retainer to keep it running after it is built.
Or you go to an AI coding tool. You describe it, it builds something, it is almost right, you spend thirty hours iterating, you discover the deployment is more complicated than the build, and what you end up with is something that works on your laptop but may or may not work anywhere else.
Neither of those things is a solved problem for a small business. Merebase is.
What Merebase delivers instead
You describe what you need. Plain language. No spec document required. A build architect reads it and comes back within 48 hours with a build scope: a written document showing exactly what you will get for A$499. What the app does. What it does not do. How your team uses it. What the data model looks like.
You read the scope. You agree to it. Nothing is built and no money changes hands until you do. The scope is the reference, not a memory of a conversation. If the build does not match the scope, it gets fixed. Two rounds of revision are included.
Build preview in 3 to 5 working days. The app installs on your WordPress site. If you do not have WordPress, setup takes about 20 minutes. A basic hosting plan runs A$5 to A$20 a month.
What a custom WordPress app from Merebase includes
A custom business app built to the scope you agreed to. Works on any device. Your team logs in with their existing WordPress credentials. Your data in your database on your server.
The source code, delivered as a WordPress plugin, licensed GPL. Yours to keep, modify, or give to another developer. No subscription fee. No per-user charges. No ongoing cost to Merebase.
You bring your own hosting. A basic plan runs A$5 to A$20 a month. That is the only ongoing cost.
The app does one job. Sometimes two or three. Not fifty. The scope conversation is how we establish exactly what that job is, so that what gets built is the actual thing, not a reasonable interpretation of it.
Examples of what has been built
These are the kinds of jobs a Merebase build covers. Each one replaces something a business was doing in a spreadsheet, a SaaS app, or not doing at all.
- Installation tracker for a signage company. Jobs logged, photos uploaded, sign off recorded. Replaced a shared Google Sheet that three people were editing simultaneously.
- CRM for a small professional services firm. Contacts, organisations, notes, follow-up tasks, and a view of what is in each pipeline stage. Replaced a combination of HubSpot and a notebook.
- Stock counter for a warehouse team. Products, locations, movement logs, low stock alerts. Replaced a spreadsheet with no access control and no audit trail.
- Invoice tracker for a sole trader. Create invoices, send by email, mark as paid, view what is outstanding. Replaced paying A$180 a month for a full accounting platform used for three features.
- Staff directory for a team of 40. Profiles, roles, contact details, document storage, emergency contacts. Replaced a shared folder that no one kept up to date.
If the core job is managing records, tracking status, or producing outputs like invoices, it fits within a A$499 scope. The describe form is the fastest way to find out if yours does.
The cost comparison
Custom development from an agency is not the only alternative. For most of the businesses that come to Merebase, the comparison is against a SaaS subscription they are already paying for and would stop paying after the build.
The SaaS eyebrow figure above names a typical A$200/month subscription for context only. Your actual comparison depends on what you are currently paying. The point is that custom development becomes competitive very quickly against a monthly subscription you never cancel.
Why build on WordPress specifically
WordPress runs 42% of the internet (W3Techs, 2026). Most businesses already have a WordPress site on standard hosting. Adding a Merebase app to an existing WordPress install costs nothing extra at the infrastructure level. One server. One database. One login system. One hosting bill.
If you do not have WordPress, the setup cost is close to zero. A one-click install on most hosting providers. A basic plan for A$5 to A$20 a month. That is the entire infrastructure cost for a custom business app that would cost A$5,000 to A$30,000 to build on bespoke infrastructure.
More importantly: WordPress is open source, licensed GPL. There is no vendor that can revoke your licence, change the terms, or shut it down. Your app runs on infrastructure that belongs to no one. It will not be acquired, enshittified, or deprecated.