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- AI-Powered Tool to Estimate Your Product Development Budget
AI-Powered Tool to Estimate Your Product Development Budget
30 Years of Project Data
Real-Time Budget Estimates
Timelines to Get to Market
Try the Free AI Product Development Budget Tool
After 30 years in product development, I’ve seen even experienced innovators struggle to estimate the true costs of bringing a product to market. That’s why we built the free AI Product Development Budget Tool.
Using data from hundreds of projects, this tool gives you a reliable ballpark estimate of what it takes to go from an idea for a real world physical product to a fully engineered and tested product ready for manufacture and production.
What the Tool Provides:
Whether you’re a startup or an established company adding to your product line, the tool helps you plan with confidence, avoid costly surprises, and make informed decisions early. It’s practical, data-driven, and built on hundreds of similar products, from decades of real-world experience.
Based on our testing to date, even a simplified description of a product idea will get you within 10% of an actual required effort 7 times out of 10. That’s pretty amazing.
The Design 1st AI driven Product Development Budget Tool starts with a simple idea description and provides a range of hours (effort) that would be required. After the first AI summary, we encourage you to enter further specifics on the electronics complexity, software needs, unique features, and technical expertise, if any, that you know could be part of the idea development.
The tool will use further details to provide a more accurate estimate of the effort and will provide more content on the highest risks and estimated schedule. Enter your idea summary and get immediate feedback, enter additional information and get more specifics and refined effort.
How to Use the Tool
Using the Free AI Product Development Budget Tool is straightforward, and the more detail you provide, the more accurate your estimate will be.
Here are the steps to starting using the tool now:
Step 1: Access the Tool by visiting :https://budget.design1st.com/
Step 2: Enter your product idea
Enter as much detail as possible. Be specific about features like electronics, software, sensors, or connectivity. The more precise you are, the better the tool can estimate your development effort.
For example:
- A smart kitchen appliance that has electronics, sensors, mobile app integration, and Wi-Fi connectivity for remote control.
- A wearable fitness tracker that has electronics, embedded sensors, GPS, and Bluetooth connectivity for syncing with smartphones.
- An outdoor sports camera with electronics, it is rugged and waterproof and equipped with advanced stabilization software and 4K video capabilities.
- A reusable coffee cup with a simple temperature control feature and an integrated digital display (no electronics or software needed).
- A connected home device with electronics, AI voice control, cloud integration, and real-time sensor data processing.
Step 3: Refine your estimate.
Once you have your initial budget, you can adjust based on additional details. For example, if you add custom firmware development, require specific compliance certifications, or change material selections, the tool will update your budget accordingly. Ask questions like, “What if my product needs continuous software updates?” or “How does adding more sensors impact my budget?”
By providing detailed input early on, you’ll get a more tailored budget estimate that reflects the actual complexity of your product, helping you plan with confidence.
Next Steps:
The Free AI Product Development Budget Tool is just the first step. It’s built to give you a clear, reliable estimate to start planning, but we know there’s always more we can do. This is version one, and our goal is to take it further—eventually turning it into a fully customized tool that fits your exact needs.
We want to hear from you. Your feedback will help us improve and shape the future of this tool. Let us know what works, what doesn’t, and where we can make it better, so we can keep pushing forward and make this the go-to resource for product innovators.
If you’d like to explore your project further, talk to a product development expert, and discuss your project budget, click here.
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Ready to get your product development budget?
Try the free AI-Powered product development budget tool today.



