How does Draftbit compare with hiring a developer or agency?

Draftbit gives a team a working project structure, a visual editor, AI agents, a preview, service connections, and publishing tools. That shortens the setup phase and lets a founder or designer change the app without waiting for every code edit. A developer or agency can choose any stack, build system, native API, hosting setup, and architecture. That control matters for unusual products, strict company infrastructure, or deep platform work. It usually costs more engineering time and needs a clearer handoff process.

What Draftbit gives you on day one

A Mobile project is React Native with Expo and TypeScript, and it runs on iOS, Android, and in the browser as a progressive web app from one codebase. Web projects are Vite and websites are Astro. Claude Code and OpenAI Codex edit the project, and you can use your own OpenAI, Anthropic, or OpenRouter key or a ChatGPT or Claude subscription on any plan. The visual editor reads the component tree from the source and writes changes back to the same files. The builder publishes to the web on every plan and to iOS and Android on Standard or higher, and Apple and Google still control review.

Cost and speed

Draftbit is inexpensive to test. The Free plan includes 5,000 one-time credits and web publishing on a draftbit.dev address. Standard costs 15 USD per month, and you can add a Draftbit credit package from 25 USD per month when you want Draftbit to fund the AI. A custom team costs more at the start but may avoid a later migration when the requirements sit outside what the builder does well.

Do not compare only the monthly platform price with an agency quote. Include backend work, design, QA, developer accounts, maintenance, security review, and the hours your own team spends.

Ownership and maintenance

You own the code Draftbit generates, and Draftbit does not use it to train models. Standard adds code editing, ZIP export, and a tunnel that opens the sandbox in VS Code, Cursor, or Windsurf. Pro adds export to a GitHub repository. A developer can take over inside Draftbit, through GitHub, or entirely outside the platform, and you can import a public GitHub repository for an Expo, Vite, or Astro project back into Draftbit. On Free you can view a selected component’s code from the Code tab, but the full code editor and saved edits need Standard or higher.

Custom development quality depends on the people and the process. Ask for repository access, tests, setup notes, service account ownership, release credentials, and a maintenance plan before work starts.

A middle path

Draftbit’s Expert Services sit between self-serve and an outside agency. The team is salaried Draftbit staff rather than freelancers. Monthly retainers run from Bronze at 2,000 USD per month to Platinum at 12,000 USD per month and up. Fixed-scope packages include a Starter Backend for 2,500 USD, an MVP for 6,499 USD in an estimated 4 to 8 weeks, and a v1 release with backend, QA, and store submission for 12,999 USD in 8 to 12 weeks. Advisory costs 150 USD per week or 500 USD per month and gives you code review and architecture guidance while you keep building. The services page has current prices.

A common path is to use Draftbit for the first production version and add a developer as complexity grows. Another is to keep Draftbit for visual work while a technical team handles custom code and backend systems.