How much does a Web3 MVP cost?

A Web3 MVP at 137 ranges from €19,000 for a 4-week testnet prototype to €79,000 for an 8-week tokenized product with frontends and integrations. The industry average is €50,000 to €250,000 over three to five months.

How long does it take to build a Web3 MVP?

Four to eight weeks, depending on scope. Industry timelines for the same scope average sixteen weeks.

What is included in a fixed-price MVP?

Fixed-price MVPs include discovery, smart contracts, frontend, wallet and auth integration, tests, and deployment scripts. Audit coordination is included from 6-week scope and up. We absorb the cost of overruns.

Which blockchains do you build on?

We build on Ethereum, Solana, and major EVM and L2 networks including Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism. Chain choice is part of the discovery sprint.

Do you handle smart contract audits?

We write contracts audit-clean from day one and coordinate with external audit firms. AI audit tools catch only about forty percent of what a human audit finds, so independent human review is non-negotiable.

Why not just use AI to generate the code?

In 2026, ninety-two percent of AI-generated codebases ship with at least one critical vulnerability and forty-five percent of AI-written code contains security flaws. In a SaaS app a flaw is a bug. In a smart contract it can drain the entire treasury.

The vetting playbook

Twelve questions that filter the bullshit from a web3 agency.

Written from the founder side, with the answers a serious agency should give. If they cannot answer one of these in plain language, walk.

7 min read·Updated April 2026

Every web3 agency landing page looks identical. Polished, vague, decorated with chain logos, padded with project counts that do not specify what was actually shipped. Twenty listicle results, all interchangeable. The questions below cut through that. Each one exposes something the agency cannot fake.

Use them on the first call. The way they answer matters more than the answer itself.

About the team

Q1. Will any of this work be outsourced?

The right answer is a clean no, with the names of the engineers who will write the code and a link to their work. The wrong answer is "we have a global delivery model" or "we partner with vetted developers." That means yes. Our answer: No. Named senior engineers, all in-house, no offshore handoff.

Q2. Who is my day-to-day contact?

You want the engineer building your contract, not an account manager between you. Account managers exist to absorb friction so you do not see how the sausage is made. With a real agency you should be in a chat channel with the people writing your code. Our answer: The engineer on your build. Direct channel. No relay layer.

Q3. Show me a contract you shipped to mainnet that holds real value.

Not a screenshot. Not a press release. A contract address. Open it on Etherscan or Solscan. Look at the deploy history, the verified source, the actual TVL. Most "blockchain agencies" cannot point to a single such artifact.

Q4. What does your AI usage look like internally?

In 2026 the right answer is some version of "we use Claude/Cursor/Codex for boilerplate and acceleration; humans review and own everything that handles money." An agency that says "we do not use AI" is paying you for inefficiency. An agency that says "AI writes most of our code" is selling you a vibe-coded prototype with extra steps. Our answer: AI is leverage, not a deliverable. Senior engineers own every line that touches a contract.

About the work

Q5. What is your scoping process?

You want to hear: "One call, fixed scope written down, fixed price, fixed deadline, signed before any work starts." If they propose a paid discovery phase, a multi-week design sprint, or a 40-page Notion document, that is process for billing's sake. Our answer: 30–60 minute call. Either we agree on scope, price, and date, or we do not take the work.

Q6. How do I see progress during the build?

The right answer is concrete: "You get repo access from day one. Testnet links the day they exist. Weekly demoable milestones. Daily updates in chat." The wrong answer is "weekly status reports" or "dashboards." Reports are not products. Our answer: Repo from week one. Testnet by week two. Daily channel updates. Friday demos.

Q7. What happens if you go over scope?

This is the question every agency hates. The right answer is "we eat it." The wrong answer is "we issue a change order" or "we discuss." Change orders are how fixed-price contracts become hourly contracts in disguise. Our answer: If we underscoped, that is our problem, not yours. Fixed price means fixed price.

Q8. Who owns the code, deploy keys, and accounts after launch?

You. Always. If the answer involves licensing, escrow, or transition periods, the agency has built lock-in into the contract. Founders have discovered after launch that they had a perpetual license, not ownership. Our answer: Full handoff at mainnet. Repo ownership, deploy keys, all third-party accounts in your name. No license, no escrow, no transition fee.

About money and risk

Q9. What is your post-launch support model?

A vague "we are always available" means nothing and protects you against nothing. The right answer is specific: "30 days post-launch on anything we shipped, bugs ours, included in the price. After that, hourly or retainer at a stated rate." Our answer: 30-day support window included. After that, retainer at a published rate or we point you to an audit firm for ongoing review.

Q10. Do you handle the audit?

A serious agency does not claim to do its own audits. That is a conflict of interest. The right answer is: "We write contracts audit-clean from day one and coordinate with external audit firms. We can recommend three or work with yours." Our answer: We coordinate, we do not audit. AI tools catch about 40% of what a human audit finds; the rest requires independent human review.

Q11. What is your refund policy if you miss the deadline?

Fixed-price agencies should have one. If they balk, the deadline is decorative. The right answer covers two cases: a missed deadline due to agency execution (refund or fee reduction) and a missed deadline due to founder-side delay (clearly attributed, no penalty). Our answer: Pro-rated fee reduction for our delays. Founder-side delays documented and excluded.

Q12. Can I talk to a founder you shipped for in the last six months?

Two minutes on a call with one prior client tells you more than a website ever will. If the agency cannot or will not connect you with anyone recent, the work is either nonexistent, ongoing, or below the bar. Our answer: Yes, on request, with the founder's permission, the moment we agree on scope.

Red flags that should end the call

Padded credentials. "150 engineers, 8 countries" for an MVP build is not a feature. Vague pricing. "Depends on scope" after you have given them scope. Process for process's sake. Six-week design sprint before any code. Lock-in language. Anything about licensing, transition fees, or perpetual maintenance. Refusal to put names on the contract. If you do not know who is writing your code, you do not have an agency, you have a billing intermediary.

Run all twelve on us. We answer them the same on the call as we did on this page.

A scoping call is the test. If anything in our answers shifts when the questions are live, walk. If they hold, you have a build partner.

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