How much does a dashboard cost for a small business?

Start with the decision, not the charts

Before counting charts, write down who will open the dashboard and what they will decide with it. An owner who checks margin by location every Monday needs different definitions, filters and detail than a team that only wants total sales for the month.

Also separate a dashboard from a recurring report. If what you really need is the same Excel report built and emailed every week, report automation is usually cheaper. A dashboard makes sense when people need to compare periods, filter by product or salesperson and click back to where a number came from.

Your data sources drive the price more than the design

One spreadsheet with stable columns is a small job. Several files that change format every month, or a CRM and QuickBooks that use different customer names, take longer. Someone has to check access, export schedules, dates, duplicates and missing fields, and agree on how records match.

Definitions matter too. A sales total may need rules for refunds, sales tax, discounts or canceled orders. If two people calculate gross margin differently, that has to be settled before the number goes on a screen. A serious proposal says which cleanup is included and how the totals will be checked against your own systems.

Views, refresh and access change the scope

The number of views matters, and so does what each one does. A summary page, a detail page by location and a trends page each need their own filters and testing. Start with the views that answer questions you already ask every week.

Refresh depends on each source and its permissions: a reviewed manual upload, a scheduled daily refresh and a near real-time connection are different amounts of work. Also say how many people will use it and whether they need different access by location or role, because setting up and testing permissions is part of the job.

Training and support after delivery

A finished dashboard should make sense without its builder in the room. Ask for a short definitions sheet, an explanation of the filters and a walkthrough for the people who will use it.

Products, CRM fields and questions change after launch. Ask which changes are included in the project and which need ongoing support. The cost of keeping a dashboard useful depends on how often your sources and rules change.

Our published prices as a reference

The 14-Day Dashboard Pilot is US$750: I connect two of your sources, for example QuickBooks and your sales spreadsheet, and build a working dashboard with up to eight of your numbers. If it is not useful to you, you do not pay, and if you continue within 30 days the US$750 comes off the next project. Executive Cockpit is a fixed US$3,900 and takes 4 to 6 weeks: up to four sources, up to three dashboards and one report that builds and sends itself every week. Control Room starts at US$15,000 and takes 10 to 14 weeks when several systems need to be integrated. Projects are paid 50% to start and 50% on delivery.

Monthly support is US$450, US$900 or US$1,800, with no hour counting and cancel any month; paying the year upfront gives two months free. These are Sagepoint prices, not market averages or an automatic quote for your project. The free call takes 30 to 45 minutes: we look at a sample of your data and the decision you want to improve, then tell you which option fits and what is left out.

Software licenses are separate

Power BI, Looker Studio or Google Workspace licenses are not part of our price and stay in your own accounts. We work inside your accounts with the access you approve, so the files, the data model and the logins stay yours.

Before you accept any proposal, confirm who manages access, where the files and data model will live, and who can view or edit them.

How to ask for a quote you can compare

Bring a sample export from each source and a copy of the report you use today. List the numbers you track, how you calculate them, and the questions you still cannot answer. Say who will use the dashboard, how often the data should update and who signs off on the numbers.

Ask every provider to list sources, cleanup, views, refresh frequency, checks, training, documentation, timeline, revisions and support in writing, with licenses quoted separately. Then you are comparing the same thing.

Checklist

Before you ask for a proposal

• Gather a sample export from each source and a copy of your current report.
• Write down your numbers, who will use them, their access and how often data should update.
• Ask for deliverables, checks, training, separate licenses and support in writing.

To see what the build looks like, read about small business dashboards →.