Access database replacement · Cost · UK
Replacing a Microsoft Access database with a browser-based web app costs from £1,950 depending on the size of the job, with no VAT to add and no per-user fees. A repair costs a day or two of developer time. A full agency build commonly starts around £10,000.
Five routes are open to you and they are priced completely differently. This page lays out what each one costs and where it goes wrong, including the ones that are cheaper than hiring me. If you only want my number, it is from £1,950 with no VAT to add.
Send me what you are running now and I will put a price on your specific job, in writing, free.
The options
| Route | Typical cost | Where it falls down |
|---|---|---|
| Leave it alone | Nothing up front | The cost turns up as lost time and never lands on an invoice |
| Patch the Access file | A day or two of developer time | Multi-user corruption is how Access behaves, so it comes back |
| Per-seat software | Monthly, per user, indefinitely | The bill grows with headcount and you own nothing at the end |
| A developer by the day | Typically £250 to £600 a day | Open-ended scope on a job nobody specifies well up front |
| An agency build | Commonly £10,000 and up | Team overhead you pay for on a system four people use |
| ToolWright | From £1,950, one off | One person, so I take a few of these at a time |
Nothing up front, which is why most people pick it. The cost turns up as lost time: the file locking mid-morning, the rebuilt record after a crash, the version of the truth nobody trusts. It is real money but it never lands on an invoice, so it never gets compared against anything.
A day or two of a developer's time, or free if somebody in the office is handy. Genuinely the right answer sometimes and I will tell you when it is. The limit is that multi-user corruption on a shared drive is not a bug. It is how Access behaves in a setting it was not built for, so a repair buys time rather than fixing the cause.
Cheap to start and easy to sign up for. The price is per user, per month, so the bill climbs every time you take somebody on and it never stops. Over three or four years a small team can pay more in subscription than a bespoke build costs outright. At the end of it you still own nothing.
UK freelance day rates are typically quoted somewhere between £250 and £600. The work is usually good. The problem is that the meter runs on an open-ended scope, so the final figure depends on how well the job was specified before it started. A legacy Access database is exactly the kind of job nobody specifies well.
Full bespoke quotes from software houses commonly start around £10,000 and go up sharply. You get a team, a process and a project manager. For a system that four people use to track jobs, most of that is overhead you are paying for and will not feel the benefit of.
One person, one system, a fixed starting price and a written scope before you commit. Cheaper than an agency because there is no agency. More predictable than a day rate because the number is agreed before the work starts. Dearer than doing nothing, until the year you count what doing nothing cost.
The number
Starting priceFrom £1,950
£1,950 buys one system rebuilt properly and running in a browser. A job tracker, a candidate database, a stock or membership list, an inspection record. One database, one app, your fields, your rules, your data brought across.
Everything on this page applies just as much if what you are actually running is a spreadsheet rather than an Access file. The five routes, the failure modes and the starting price are the same, covered in full on the spreadsheet replacement page.
It says "from" because I am not going to pretend every job is the same size. What I will do is tell you your number before you spend anything. The blueprint is free and it is written, so the price is on paper in front of you rather than arrived at halfway through the work.
There is no VAT to add because I am a sole trader below the threshold. There is no per-user licence behind it, so the cost does not move when your team grows.
Scope
None of that is off the table. It is just more work, so it costs more and takes longer. You hear that at blueprint stage rather than at invoice stage.
After delivery
Software does not fail on day one. It fails in year two, when a rule changes and there is nobody left who knows how it works. So the running arrangement matters as much as the build price.
Anything that is not doing what we agreed gets fixed, at no cost. After that, cover is optional.
Covers hosting, automatic backups, security updates, someone who answers your email and up to two hours of small changes a month. Not cumulative. Anything bigger is quoted as its own job. Cancel any time and you keep the software, the code and the data.
Declining cover is a real option and some people do. The software carries on. You just do not have me on the end of an email. Hosting has to live somewhere else.
Honest limits
Questions
From £1,950 depending on the size of the job, half on start and half on delivery, no VAT to add. One database rebuilt as a browser-based app sits in that bracket. Several systems that have to talk to each other cost more. The blueprint says so before you commit.
No. I am a sole trader below the VAT threshold, so the price you are quoted is the price you pay.
No. The price covers the build rather than the headcount using it. Adding a user costs nothing, which is the main reason this works out cheaper than per-seat software over a few years.
You find that out before you pay anything. The blueprint is free, written and carries the price for your specific job. If the number is higher it says so at that point rather than halfway through the work.
In the short term, usually yes. If that is the right answer I will say so rather than sell you a build. The catch is that most of these failures are structural, so a repair buys time instead of fixing the cause.
Yes. The application files and a full export of your data are yours free on request, whenever you ask, whether or not you are paying for support. There is an optional £250 handover pack if you want it done thoroughly: the files, the export, a written guide covering deployment, backup and restore, plus an hour on a call with whoever takes it on.
Next step
Email me the database, or just describe what it does and what keeps going wrong. You get back a written blueprint covering what it would become, what it would cost and how long it would take. No call required. Nothing to sign.
Joe Thorp · ToolWright · Suite 708, 80A Ruskin Ave, Welling, DA16 3QQ
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