Answers.Body: <p>There is no advice because it depends on what you want to do :-) We have projects with our customers ranging from 5000 euro to 250,000 euro, depending on their needs.</p>
  
  <p>As you probably noticed the software itself is free, that means you do not have to pay license costs nor yearly maitenance costs. However, there are other costs that you have to take into account:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>hosting your website. The costs depends on what your needs are. There is a list of CiviCRM specialized hosting <a href="https://civicrm.org/hosting-providers" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.
  
  <ul>
  <li>any customization required? If so, you need to pay for the development of those customizations. To find out if you need any, it is probably a good idea to talk to a CiviCRM partner. You can find a list of experts <a href="https://civicrm.org/partners-contributors" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. You can elect to do it yourself, that would mean you need to install CiviCRM in a CMS and then prototype the processed you want to be supported.</li>
  <li>migration of data? Do you have data in old systems that need to be transferred?</li>
  </ul></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>As you can probably understand, no one will be able to give you the costs without having a clear understanding of what you want to do and what your needs are.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-09-12T09:34:55.827Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-09-12T09:34:55.827Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: ErikH - CiviCooP
Answers.Body: <p>My go to answer is "how long is a piece of string?". Beside erik's suggestion, you can install and maintain the software by the persons in your organisation. If your needs are already covered by the existing features, it's "simply" a matter of installing and configuring. </p>
  
  <p>However, you will be faced with several ways of managing your contacts, for instance the simple question of how to segment them? Do you use group, tags, contact subtypes, custom fields... Lots of options, and without knowing what your organisation does and the pros and cons of each option, it might be more time consuming and complicated. They are several workshops and training, if you don't go the consultant path, I would suggest you to attend one, to get you faster in the right direction and know what features would serve you best.</p>
  
  <p>Good luck!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-09-12T13:48:56.980Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-09-12T13:48:56.980Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Xavier
Body: <p>I want to know how much it costs.  Why is there no mention on your website of how much it costs to get staRTED.  Advice, please.</p>
  
Tags: <evaluating-civicrm>
Title: How much does it cost?
ThreadText: # How much does it cost?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-12)
  
  I want to know how much it costs. Why is there no mention on your website of how much it costs to get staRTED. Advice, please.
  
  **Tags:** evaluating-civicrm
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-09-12. Score: 3
  
  There is no advice because it depends on what you want to do :-) We have projects with our customers ranging from 5000 euro to 250,000 euro, depending on their needs.
  
  As you probably noticed the software itself is free, that means you do not have to pay license costs nor yearly maitenance costs. However, there are other costs that you have to take into account:
  
  * hosting your website. The costs depends on what your needs are. There is a list of CiviCRM specialized hosting [here](https://civicrm.org/hosting-providers).
    + any customization required? If so, you need to pay for the development of those customizations. To find out if you need any, it is probably a good idea to talk to a CiviCRM partner. You can find a list of experts [here](https://civicrm.org/partners-contributors). You can elect to do it yourself, that would mean you need to install CiviCRM in a CMS and then prototype the processed you want to be supported.
    + migration of data? Do you have data in old systems that need to be transferred?
  
  As you can probably understand, no one will be able to give you the costs without having a clear understanding of what you want to do and what your needs are.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2017-09-12. Score: 2
  
  My go to answer is "how long is a piece of string?". Beside erik's suggestion, you can install and maintain the software by the persons in your organisation. If your needs are already covered by the existing features, it's "simply" a matter of installing and configuring.
  
  However, you will be faced with several ways of managing your contacts, for instance the simple question of how to segment them? Do you use group, tags, contact subtypes, custom fields... Lots of options, and without knowing what your organisation does and the pros and cons of each option, it might be more time consuming and complicated. They are several workshops and training, if you don't go the consultant path, I would suggest you to attend one, to get you faster in the right direction and know what features would serve you best.
  
  Good luck!
  
  
  ---
  
  