How much does a custom client portal cost?
A custom client or customer portal typically runs from around £20k–£50k for a focused single-role portal to £100k+ for a multi-role platform with logins, documents, payments and integrations. It's one of the most-commissioned builds for service businesses — the place clients self-serve instead of emailing you.
Bands follow general custom-software pricing (2026 market pricing guides).
What a portal costs.
- Focused portal — ~£20k–£50k: secure login, documents, status, messaging.
- Multi-role platform — £100k+: payments, workflows, integrations, several user types.
- What moves it — roles, integrations, payments, and data sensitivity.
- Plus maintenance — ~15–20% of build/year.
What a portal removes.
A good portal takes the repetitive client back-and-forth off your team — the 'where's my document', 'what's the status', 'can you resend that' emails — and gives clients a single, secure place to self-serve. For a service business, that's both a better experience and real hours returned.
Common questions.
How much does it cost to build a custom client portal?
Typically £20k–£50k for a focused single-role portal and £100k+ for a multi-role platform with payments and integrations. Maintenance adds about 15–20% of the build per year.
What drives the cost of a client portal?
The number of user roles, integrations with your other systems, whether it handles payments, and how sensitive the data is. More roles and integrations raise the band.
Why do service businesses build client portals?
To take repetitive client emails — status, documents, resends — off the team and give clients a secure place to self-serve. It improves the client experience and returns staff hours.
Can a portal integrate with my existing systems?
Yes — a portal usually pulls from your CRM, finance or project systems so clients see live information without your team re-keying it.
Is a custom portal better than an off-the-shelf one?
It's worth building when your client workflow is specific, when you need particular integrations, or when generic portals don't fit how you serve clients. For simple needs, an off-the-shelf option may suffice.
Will the portal be secure?
Yes — security and, where relevant, GDPR compliance are built in, since portals handle client data and logins. See our security and GDPR page.
Keep reading
Related questions
Give clients a place to self-serve.
Book a call — describe the client back-and-forth and we'll size a portal that removes it.