SaaS application development: everything you need to know to build a successful product

What is a SaaS product

SaaS, also known as Software as a Service, is a cloud-based platform that can be accessed via the Internet from anywhere in the world. Common examples are office tools, online accounting platforms, CMSs, and video streaming services. Usually, the company licenses SaaS products to end users: businesses or individuals.

Users don’t need to install SaaS apps on their devices like traditional software. Instead, SaaS apps are hosted in a cloud and available in a web browser, mobile app, or locally on a company’s devices, also known as “on-premise” software.

SaaS is a convenient and cost-effective way for businesses to access tools that make their work easier. No need to manage complex and expensive infrastructure.

6 types of SaaS applications

SaaS solutions don’t have to be industry-specific to deserve the love of large crowds — users can take advantage of them regardless of their work focus or niche. Let’s look at 6 common types of SaaS applications that are used in our day-to-day life.

📝 Content management systems (CMS)

You’ve probably heard of either WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix. Such website builders are considered prime instances of CMSs. These SaaS applications provide user-friendly interfaces and a set of tools for individual users and businesses to build and manage their websites and digital content. Another example is social media management tools like Buffer or Sprout Social, which help users schedule social media content and track analytics.

Key features: content creation and editing, reporting, role-based administration, and security.

💸 Accounting platforms

Nowadays, tracking finances in spreadsheets is very old-school and inconvenient. There are plenty of modern SaaS platforms that can help streamline financial management for both businesses and individuals. User-friendly fintech solutions like QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks make it a breeze to monitor expenses, handle invoices, and maintain cash flow visibility regardless of volume.

Key features: billing, invoicing, tax management, analytics, and reports.

📢 HR platforms

To help startup owners and HR managers juggle between applications, job descriptions, multiple candidates, and onboarding tasks, the developers created SaaS platforms like BambooHR, Zoho People, and Workday.

This software usually has role-based administration for employees and HR or finance teams. The employee side provides self-service options like PTO or payroll requests, while HR managers can benefit from recruitment and onboarding tools. This software also helps businesses stay compliant with labor laws and security protocols.

Key features: application tracker, onboarding, payroll, and PTO requests.

📺 Streaming platforms

The question of whether platforms like Netflix or Spotify are considered SaaS is very valid. The consensus is that yes, these entertainment services are indeed SaaS products because they deliver online, subscription-driven digital content. They showcase a catalog of content (typically music or video) and offer users customized experiences based on their location, an opportunity to switch between languages, and the ability to adjust video quality in real time based on the device and bandwidth.

Key features: video or music content catalog, filters, parental control, pricing plans, and security.

👥 Customer relationship management (CRM)

CRM platforms are essentially a place where businesses store data about customers and prospective leads. Such products help manage customer data, track interactions and get insights on how to improve lead generation and customer retention.

Some of the examples include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk.

Key features: contact database, lead management, workflow automation, customization.

🔍 Project management tools

Asana, ClickUp, Trello, and Jira are all SaaS applications that save large teams from drowning in tasks and deadlines. Project management platforms provide tools to plan, supervise, and execute work projects in a cloud computing environment.

These platforms help colleagues collaborate, check the status of tasks, track progress in real time, leave comments, generate reports, and many others.

Key features: project overview, task cards, user profiles, schedule, and communication tools.

How to build a SaaS product: 8 main steps

Now, let’s talk about what the SaaS software development process entails. The answer to this can vary from team to team, but here are 8 main steps the Purrweb team takes to develop a product for our clients.

1. Validate the idea

The first and most important thing is to check if the idea is even feasible and worth putting your money into. Is there an audience for your product? What does the market look like? Who are the competitors? These are some of the questions you need to answer at this step.

Always check if your idea is worth investing money and effort in before actually making a commitment.

2. Select a monetization model

Identify how your SaaS platform can make money and decide which route you want to go with — sponsored content on your platform, ads, subscription fees, or something hybrid like a freemium model.

One of the helpful tips here is to look at the competitors and what monetization models they are using.

Some development teams offer project discovery as a separate service to help you explore the idea, research the market, project the profits, and find an optimal monetization model.

3. Define product features

If you start your SaaS development process with a minimum viable product (MVP), you will need to select the must-have features that the idea needs to function.

We recommend using prioritization models such as the MoSCoW method to split all features into must-haves, should-haves, could-haves, and wish-to-haves. From there, you can plan the development process, estimate the timeline, and think about scaling services up in the future.

4. Choose a tech stack

This step is mostly the responsibility of your SaaS development team. If they have some similar projects in their portfolio, they can select programming languages, the most appropriate frameworks, and libraries depending on the size and scale of your project.

The tech stack should be determined by your project scope, the purpose of your SaaS platform, and the industry you’re in.

Another factor that influences the choice of the stack is the size of the project. If you plan to launch an MVP first and test the idea, you should prioritize programming languages or frameworks that help you build your MVP the fastest.

We developed over 300 apps, and we use this as our main tech stack:

5. UX/UI design

In parallel with tech stack selection, the development team also works on the design for the product. At this step, UX/UI designers create a mindmap with main elements and pinpoints, build wireframes on Figma, then present them to the client. Also, they should put together a UI kit with the most important info about fonts, graphic elements, and colors of the design.

6. Code the SaaS application

Your development team will work on both the frontend and backend of the software. The frontend is a client-facing side that needs to be adequately displayed on any device and in any browser. At this step, developers work on the clickability and the correct loading of graphic elements.

The backend is the backstage of the app. A user doesn’t see it, but it’s what keeps the whole system running. Here, developers establish links between application components and external APIs, such as payment gateways and third-party integrations.

To coordinate frontend and backend development processes and ensure a cohesive end product, we use Agile project management based on collaboration and learning.

7. Ensure security and reliability

QA tests are a critical component of the development process. They ensure that no major bug will sneak into the final version and impact the user’s experience.

QA testing has 3 main objectives: 

Most teams prefer to conduct those tests as they code, check every iteration for bugs and weak spots, and minimize the chance of the scenario when they have to scrape off the whole code and write it again.

8. Launch and maintain

Ta-da! When it is time to release your product, you can exhale and enjoy the moment. But not for long — to keep your SaaS product relevant and up-to-date, it is important to maintain and update it after the release. For this step, you can use the OG team that developed your platform or bring and hire an in-house developer.

Post-launch support services include the ongoing assistance and maintenance of your SaaS platform, updates, releases, performance tests, and compliance checks.

Factors that can influence the cost of SaaS development 

The costs and timeline of SaaS development can depend on many factors: the payment model you choose, complexity level, functionality, and location of developers.

Before the development, you and your team will sit down to discuss the app idea and estimate the time and costs for development. This stage is normally free of charge.

Factors that might affect the cost of the SaaS development

Some of the factors that impact the final cost of SaaS application development include:

• • the size of the team,
  • tech stack and development platform,
  • key features,
  • design requests,
  • flexibility on timeline.

SaaS development cost at Purrweb

We want to provide you with some clarity — here is the average development cost for SaaS software built by our dedicated team.

🚨Disclaimer: This estimation of software development services is generated by Purrweb and can vary from team to team. We don’t guarantee that other companies will provide the same quotes and timeframes for similar projects.

4 benefits of SaaS platforms

Whether you are just toying with an idea of a SaaS platform or have already tipped your toes in SaaS development, it’s always beneficial to look into why audiences might choose cloud-based services.

Let’s take a look at 4 reasons why businesses might choose SaaS services over going with traditional software.

Lower costs to access software

Imagine an emerging logistics startup from Indonesia or a small accounting firm from rural Alabama. They probably wouldn’t have the budget to develop traditional software, like a CRM platform, from scratch. And why would they, if they could just pay a small subscription fee and use digital systems like Salesforce or Zendesk to track customer relations and develop their businesses much faster?

SaaS solutions equal lower upfront costs for clients because they only pay for the resources they actually use and need.

Room for flexibility

One of the biggest advantages of SaaS platforms that draws many customers is the opportunity to scale services up or down based on business needs. Whether the company is growing and needs more resources, or it is time to scale down the company and get rid of some of the extra services and accounts.

As an example, you can think about public-facing businesses such as coffee shops or nail salons that had to downsize when the pandemic started. If they used SaaS products for their operations, they could easily pause or switch plans until things cleared up.

Easy integration

Another significant advantage of SaaS platforms is their ability to seamlessly integrate with other tools and services. SaaS products are designed to let businesses effortlessly connect their software with other applications. This makes it easier to create a cohesive and efficient workflow without the need for extensive development work.

On the other hand, traditional software often doesn’t have any kind of integration at all. The reason for this is that adding these integrations after the development ends requires a lot more money and additional infrastructure, than if you developed your service with the possibility of integration in mind from the start. Sometimes, adding integration capabilities would require starting from scratch, which is not something a business would want to do.

Predictable costs

SaaS platforms offer predictable, manageable costs through their subscription-based monetization models. Businesses can plan their budgets more effectively, knowing exactly what their monthly or annual expenses will be. This financial predictability is particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses that need to carefully manage their cash flow.

Traditional software, on the other hand, often involves a large upfront investment for licenses or purchasing the software outright. Beyond this initial cost, there are often additional expenses for hardware, installation, and ongoing maintenance.

4 SaaS application development challenges

Without a doubt, SaaS products offer businesses a major opportunity to use convenient software without building and maintaining their own IT infrastructure. But here is a hook: it also presents SaaS providers with 4 major challenges that are not easy to overcome.

For the sake of full transparency, we’re sharing our thoughts about hurdles in the development process.

Data security and protection

Like all other applications, SaaS products are not protected from data leaks or malware attacks. As a software provider, you will have to deal with the consequences and help businesses solve them. To add the app to this list, many users don’t use complex passwords or 2FA which makes your SaaS platform even more susceptible to hackers.

Additionally, there are many data regulations and security laws that SaaS platforms have to comply with. GDPR and ISO standards are just some of the most common ones, but there are many-many more. If you don’t want to slog through the documentation — you can always contact a team of professionals who already knows what to do.

Updates

To stay ahead of the curve, you will need to release regular updates for your SaaS software. With updates, you can release new features, fix bugs, add compliance with new standards, or implement user feedback.

However, compared to traditional software, SaaS systems are hosted on the cloud, which makes the process of releasing updates easier and faster.

User subscription management

Most SaaS business models include free trial periods and discounted basic versions, which makes the sales cycle longer. It takes time to convert free users into regular paid subscribers, anywhere from several days to several months.

Most SaaS platforms are subscription-based, so once customers sign up, you will need to figure out how to keep them from going to the competition. If a user is unhappy with the service or customer support level, they can simply go to a competitor who offers a similar pricing structure but more features.

SaaS market oversaturation

The current situation in the market is tricky — there are about 17,000 SaaS companies in the United States. But the biggest share is still covered by 5 giants: Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, and Google. Unless you have a one-of-a-kind business idea and a unique niche in mind, it will be hard to compete with global corporations.

Despite the market situation, some new startups still manage to be successful by picking up innovative ideas, addressing underserved markets, or incorporating groundbreaking technologies. You can take a look here at some SaaS startups that were funded by YCombinator in 2024. Many newcomers also choose strategic partnerships and ultimate acquisition by a corporation as their main goal for a project.

5 popular SaaS examples: Figma, Slack, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Stripe

To give you a better understanding of what successful SaaS products look like, here are 5 popular examples of SaaS applications.

Figma 

Figma is a web-based design tool that allows team members to work collaboratively on graphics, animations, or design mock-ups. It was created in 2012 by two students at Brown University, Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, who couldn’t find any similar tools available online. They decided to create it themselves, and the first version was launched in 2016.

Figma is now available on desktops for macOS and Windows and smartphones for iOS and Android, but it offers limited features depending on the user’s device. On the platform, users can design, prototype, develop, collect feedback, and browse version history in real time.

Figma is hugely popular among development teams, graphic designers, and social media managers

Slack

Slack is a cloud-based corporate messenger that is meant to replace work emails. Instead of writing an email and waiting for a response, users can just check if their coworker is online, shoot a quick message, and get a response. Also, every message has an automatic read receipt, so users don’t have to wonder if their colleague has seen their message.

The very first test version of Slack was launched in 2012 by the CEO Daniel Stewart Butterfield. A decade later, Slack is a must-have for many remote teams across the world to stay connected and productive.

Slack lets users create channels — sort of public group chats

Google Workspace

Google Workspace (previously G Suite) is a comprehensive set of cloud-based tools for productivity-related tasks. Available globally, these tools include Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and others.

Google entered the SaaS development space as early as 2008 when the company made Google Docs and Spreadsheets for BlackBerry users to work with documents on the go. Last year, the number of paying businesses in Google Workspace surpassed 9 million.

Docs is one of the most popular apps in Google Workspace

Salesforce

Salesforce is one of the pioneers of software as a service (SaaS). The company has been in business for 25 years, from a small company in San Francisco to being on a Fortune 500 list.

Salesforce is essentially a CRM that brings customers and companies together. The app gives all departments, including marketing, sales, e-commerce, and customer service — information about sales and their sources, including an overview of every single customer profile.

Salesforce combines all the details the company needs to know about a customer to generate sales

Stripe

Stripe is SaaS software for sending and receiving online payments. The company offers programmable APIs that users can integrate into their platforms and marketplaces. This way, smaller companies can collect payments without creating their own payment gateways, while also staying compliant with financial regulations like FCC and IPR.

Users don’t need any coding experience to integrate Stripe’s APIs into their platforms

How to choose a development partner

Your choice will be instrumental in the success of SaaS application development. Think about this scenario: you hire a team without vetting them first, and mid-contract, you realize they have never developed SaaS software before.

It can go south in so many ways. You might end up with an app that won’t be relevant to users or get a hefty fine for non-compliance with standards. If our team is not experienced, you’re at risk.

Here are some tips on how to avoid these situations.

Choose companies over freelance developers

First of all, it is more convenient and time-efficient to get all services from a professional team with already-established communication. You don’t have to nudge them about deadlines and sit in sprint retrospectives.

Secondly, you get access to more specialists for a fraction of the cost. All of a sudden require a Kotlin developer to jump in? No problem, we have one on our team. Are you in desperate need of a marketing consultant for your idea? We got you!

Check reviews and portfolio

It is always better to be safe than sorry. We recommend putting a deceptive hat on and performing a true background check. First, study their website — for any IT development company, it should be spotless. Then, try to Google the name of the company and see what comes up. Pay attention to the websites that are not connected to the company.

Last but not least, check professional resources, such as Clutch, for previous projects and reviews. Look through their portfolio and see if the company’s experience matches your current needs and expectations.

Choose someone who works with the diverse tech stack

For a SaaS startup, money and time can be crucial. Diversity in the tech stack usually means quicker development and a momentary response to emerging opportunities. If you need to involve new technology amid development, you won’t have to hire a new person and onboard them — your team probably already has a specialist ready to enter the project.

About us

At Purrweb, we provide mobile and web software development services with user-centered and simple UI/UX to elevate interactions with our products. We help startups and existing companies build an MVP and test a business idea with real-world customers.

Our team has extensive experience with cloud-based apps, here are some examples.

• • E-signature service for our clients to sign contracts and other important documents digitally.
  • Real estate app that helps users find rooms to rent in London, which also gave our clients valuable insights into the London real-estate market. 
  • Healthcare app that helps users keep all their laboratory tests in one place and monitor their health.

Looking for a SaaS development company with great reviews and relevant experience? Get in touch with our team to receive a quote.