How much does a B2B ordering portal cost?

A B2B ordering portal lets wholesale customers sign in, see their own prices and stock, reorder from history and place orders that go straight into your ERP. You can rent one, add one to your ERP, or have one built. Here is what each tends to cost and when each makes sense.

Your three options

• A portal subscription. Hosted B2B portal products charge a monthly fee, often tied to users, order volume or revenue, plus setup. Fast to start; harder to bend to unusual pricing or approval rules.
• Your ERP’s own portal or an add-on. NetSuite, Acumatica and others offer portal modules, and Business Central has partner add-ons. They share the ERP’s data, but are licensed separately and follow the ERP’s idea of how ordering works.
• A custom portal. Built around how your customers order and connected to your ERP through its API. A one-time build plus hosting and support, with no per-user fees.

Typical custom build ranges

For a professional US team building software you own:

• $25,000 to $60,000: one ERP integration, customer-specific pricing, catalog, reorder from history, order status. Usually 6 to 10 weeks.
• $60,000 to $120,000: add approvals, multiple ship-tos and buyers per account, quotes, credit limits, EDI alongside the portal, or a mobile app for reps.
• Running it: hosting is usually $50 to $300 a month; maintenance and small changes commonly $500 to $2,000 a month.

What moves the price

• Pricing rules. Price levels and quantity breaks are straightforward. Contract prices, promotions and rules that live in someone’s head are the biggest source of cost. Write them down first.
• The ERP’s API. Modern APIs (NetSuite, Business Central, Acumatica, QuickBooks Online) are quicker to work with than older on-premise systems.
• Catalog size and data quality. Clean item data with images and units of measure saves weeks.
• Who orders. One buyer per account is simpler than buyers, approvers and multiple locations.

When custom pays off

Custom tends to win when per-user or revenue-based fees grow with every customer you add, when your pricing or approval rules do not fit a packaged portal, or when the ordering experience is part of how you win accounts. If a subscription fits your rules today, start there; you can always move later.

How to get a firm number

• List your ERP, how many accounts order regularly and how they order today.
• Describe your pricing rules, including the exceptions.
• Decide what the first release must do: usually pricing, catalog, reorder and status.

Our live B2B ordering portal demo shows what a focused first release looks like, on sample data with no sign-up. Send us your list and we will tell you which range you are in.

More guides: How much does a custom app cost? · NetSuite SuiteCommerce or a custom B2B portal? · ServiceTitan or custom dispatch software? · How much does an AI customer support assistant cost? · Custom software or off-the-shelf? How to decide · What to prepare before you hire an app developer · Adding AI to business software, safely · How to stop taking orders by email · A customer portal on top of NetSuite or QuickBooks · Shopify app or custom build? How to tell · How to forecast inventory for retail stores