# How Much Does It Cost to Hire Zerocrat?

Source: https://www.yegor256.com/2019/03/28/cost-of-zerocrat.html

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It is a very popular question I hear when I explain what [Zerocracy](https://www.zerocracy.com)
is doing and how it [turns]({% pst 2019/mar/2019-03-26-sales-kit %})
traditional software development upside down to
increase quality, motivation, and so on. "OK, but what is the financial gain," they ask?
"What is my return on investment? How much will I pay and why it will
be cheaper than what I spend now? Give me the price list!"
It's a fair question, which is rather difficult to answer. There is a price
list, of course, but it's impossible to compare it with what you are
used to see in a traditional software development.


First of all, in Zerocracy you pay by result. You don't pay monthly salaries
to programmers, you don't pay for their time, and you don't pay a fixed price
for the entire scope either! You pay for their microtasks,
[incrementally](https://www.yegor256.com/2014/10/21/incremental-billing.html).
When you start a project there is a vague prediction of how many microtasks
it will take, but, of course, there is no guarantee.

Each microtask has a microbudget, which you pay. It is fixed and can't vary.
In other words, each microtask is a small fixed-cost project. A typical
modification to the code will involve two microtasks: implementation
and code review. The overall cost of a single modification will cost you
approximately that much (exact numbers you can find in our
[Policy](https://www.zerocracy.com/how-it-works)):

{% highlight text %}
Creating a ticket:    15 minutes
Programming:          30 minutes
Code review:          15 minutes
Two QA reviews:        8 minutes
Architect review:     10 minutes
Zerocracy fee, twice: $8
{% endhighlight %}

It's all in minutes, because different programmers have different rates, which
can vary from $16 up to $150 or more. An average good, say, Java programmer
may charge $40-50 per hour (at the time of writing). Thus, the total cost of a single functionality
change or a bug fix will cost, approximately:

{% highlight text %}
Creating a ticket:      $12.50
Programming:            $25.00
Code review:            $12.50
Two QA reviews:          $4.00
Architect review:       $10.00
Zerocracy fee:           $8.00
--
Total:                  $72.00
{% endhighlight %}

How much do you currently pay per each feature modification or a bug fix
in your project? I don't know, you tell me.
Pay attention, that with Zerocracy you don't pay for anything else,
like the time they spend on learnings, meetings, coffee breaks, vacations, etc.
You just pay for the functionality they deliver.

You fund your Zerocracy account with your credit card via Stripe. You
can also fund it with our [Zold](https://www.zold.io) cryptocurrency.
We distribute payouts to programmers through Zold, which they can convert
to PayPal and Bitcoin at our [WTS](https://wts.zold.io) platform. The conversion
fees are paid by them.

There are no long-term contracts in Zerocracy. You just fund your account with
a down payment and spend that money as you go. Once your project runs out
of cash, we re-charge your credit card. When you decide to stop the project,
we refund you the residual balance.

So, what do you think, this $72 is more than you pay now or less?

I think you pay at least 5 times more, if you are a small startup.
If you have more than 100 people in your company, you pay 20+ times more.