What will it cost in total?
Review the whole selected period instead of estimating from one month or one subscription.
New product cost planning
Plan what a new product may cost before you build it.
Create a clear 1–24 month cost plan from subscriptions, hosting, APIs, developer tools, and one-time expenses—without turning the idea into a real product or changing the costs you already track.
Plans are saved on your Mac and included in local backups.
Direct answer
What is new product cost planning?
New product cost planning means listing the costs a product may need over a chosen period before creating the product. MarginDeck lets indie developers save multiple plans, combine existing cost shares with new planned expenses, and review estimated total and average monthly cost in your display currency while keeping original amounts visible.
Questions before launch
List the costs before committing to a plan.
A plan is useful when you need a cost boundary before committing to another SaaS product, app, newsletter, or digital project.
What is the average per month?
See an average for the plan period while keeping yearly and one-time costs in their recorded billing months.
Which costs make up the plan?
Review the cost list and distinguish reused costs from expenses created only for this plan.
How it works
Build the plan without touching your live records.
Keep several product ideas side by side, expand a plan when you need its key details, and revise the cost assumptions as the idea becomes clearer.
Choose the period
Name the plan, choose its start month, and set a duration from 1 to 24 complete months.
Reuse relevant costs
Include the share of an existing saved cost that the new product may use. The plan keeps independent billing and activity snapshots; later source changes are flagged without rewriting it.
Add expected costs
Add a monthly, yearly, or one-time expense that stays inside the plan and does not become a live Cost record.
Review the cost picture
Compare estimated total and average monthly cost in your display currency, then review original amounts and the detailed cost list.
Calculation rules
Costs follow the recorded schedule.
Monthly, yearly, and one-time costs follow their scheduled months.
What this plan does not do
Read the complete 12-month cost planning method →
It does not predict revenue, customers, ROI, demand, or a break-even date. The result is a cost estimate based on your own amounts and schedules—not a promise about future performance.
Monthly costs repeat by month
A monthly cost is counted in each applicable month inside the selected plan period.
Yearly costs count in their recorded billing month
A yearly charge is counted when it is scheduled, rather than being divided evenly across twelve months.
One-time costs are counted once
A one-time expense remains in its recorded month and is not repeated across the plan.
See converted and original amounts
Future planned costs use the latest cached ECB daily reference rates. Original amounts remain visible, and the estimate is not a live or transaction exchange rate.
Built for small portfolios
Useful when product costs overlap.
MarginDeck is designed for people who build and operate products, not for personal budgeting or bank-account tracking.
Indie developers
Estimate the cost of another app before adding hosting, domains, APIs, and developer subscriptions.
Solo founders
Compare several product ideas without mixing planning assumptions into the costs of the business you already run.
Small SaaS portfolios
Reuse the relevant share of common tools while keeping each new product plan clear and separate.
Questions and answers
New Product Planning, explained plainly.
What is new product cost planning?
New product cost planning means listing the costs a product may need over a chosen period before creating the product. MarginDeck lets you save multiple 1–24 month plans and review estimated total and average monthly cost in your display currency, original amounts, and the full cost list.
How can an indie developer estimate monthly SaaS costs before launch?
Choose a start month and a plan length, include a share of costs you already track, then add expected costs that belong only to the plan. MarginDeck estimates the planned total and average monthly cost in your display currency and keeps original amounts visible.
Can a plan reuse costs already saved in MarginDeck?
Yes. A plan can include a selected share of an existing cost. MarginDeck stores independent billing and activity snapshots for the plan. Later changes to the original cost produce a notice without silently rewriting the saved plan.
Does a plan change my saved products or costs?
No. A plan does not create a formal product, add a live cost, or change an existing cost. New planned costs stay inside that plan.
How does MarginDeck handle multiple currencies in a plan?
MarginDeck estimates one display-currency total using the latest cached ECB daily reference rates for future planned costs. Original amounts and the full cost list remain visible. The conversion is not a live or transaction rate.
How are yearly and one-time costs counted?
Yearly costs stay in their scheduled billing month, and one-time costs stay in their recorded month. MarginDeck does not spread either cost evenly across every month.
Does MarginDeck predict revenue, ROI, or a break-even date?
No. New Product Planning is a cost plan based on the amounts and schedules you enter. It does not predict revenue, return on investment, demand, or a break-even date.
Where are product plans stored?
Product plans are saved on your Mac and are included in MarginDeck local backups. They are not stored in a MarginDeck account.
Plan first, record later
Give the next product idea a cost boundary.
Use MarginDeck to plan possible costs before launch, then keep track of real product revenue, shared expenses, and estimated contribution profit when the product is ready.