Indexing the meter
The cost figure on this site makes a claim, so it owes you its working. This note is the model written down: definitions, formula, sensitivities, and the things it deliberately leaves out on both sides of the argument.
§1Definitions
Everything is expressed in index units where 1.0 = the cost of one scoped build. Indexing is deliberate. Blinco builds are priced per scope, so painting dollar figures on the chart would be inventing a price for a system we have not scoped. The shape of the comparison survives the indexing; the fiction does not.
Inputs: seat price p = A$47 per user per month (a typical published field-service seat price, 2026); crew size c; build cost B, anchored at 14 months of a 10-seat bill (so B = 14 × 10 × p = A$6,580 equivalent) and held constant as c varies; hosting h = A$20 per month equivalent, the observed order of magnitude for systems of this class on commodity infrastructure.
§2The formula
build(m) = 1 + h·(m−2)/B for m ≥ 2
crossover: m* = B / (p·c)
The crossover month is inversely proportional to crew size, which is the whole story in one line: the subscription's price scales with your headcount and the build's does not. At c = 10, m* = 14. At c = 25, m* ≈ 5.6. At c = 2, m* = 70, beyond the five-year window, which is why the cost page tells two-person crews to keep their subscription.
§3What the model flatters, on each side
It flatters the subscription by excluding: price rises (seat prices have historically moved one direction), per-job and overage charges on volume-tiered plans, paid add-ons, integration middleware subscriptions, and the switching costs of being priced against your own growth.
It flatters the build by excluding: change requests after ship (real, though bounded by the scope discipline described in the process), optional ongoing support arrangements, and the owner's time spent on weekly demos during the build.
Our read is that the exclusions on the subscription side are the larger bucket, but the model does not need that judgement to make its point; the slope difference does the work on its own.
§4Use
The interactive figures now live on the home page (the meter) and the cost page (the calculator), in dollars against listed prices and Blinco's bands; this note remains the record of the indexed model. For a real decision, replace the index with your actual software line and a scoped price; we do that arithmetic in step two of the process, and we show it to you even when it says stay put.
Fig B · The reference case, c = 10 · cumulative cost over sixty months, indexed to the build · hover for month-by-month values