How Much Does It Cost to Start a Job Board in 2026? (The Complete Breakdown)

You've seen the numbers everywhere and none of them agree. A dev agency quotes $51,000 for a "Glassdoor-like" build. A SaaS platform says $29/month. A WordPress tutorial claims you can do it for free. Someone on X says they vibe coded one in a weekend with Lovable. Meanwhile, nobody mentions the email costs that hit $500/month once you have 50,000 subscribers, or the marketing time that quietly dwarfs your software budget in Year 1.

Most job board cost guides cover platform fees and stop there. That's like budgeting for a restaurant by pricing the lease and ignoring food, staff, and marketing. This guide breaks down the total cost of ownership for every approach, including the operational expenses that only surface after you've committed. You'll see what you're paying for, what others conveniently leave out, and the break-even math that makes the investment decision clear.

How much does job board software cost?

Job board software ranges from $0 to $649+/month for SaaS, $500 to $12,000+ for WordPress with plugins, and $50,000 to $300,000 for custom development. The year-one price tag only tells part of the story.

SaaS job board platforms ($0–$649+/month)

This is the fastest path from idea to live job board. No coding required. No server management. Launch in hours instead of months.

Cavuno runs $29/month. Kardow charges $17–$99/month. Jobboardly asks $40–$80/month. Artha offers a free plan. At this tier, you get a functional job board with a custom domain, SSL, and the core features employers expect.

Where the value proposition diverges: most budget platforms give you a job board shell and leave the rest to you. Cavuno's $29/month Starter plan includes AI job aggregation (populate your board from day one), AI auto-tagging (categorize by skills, seniority, and remote status), AI company enrichment (auto-fill employer profiles with logos and descriptions), and AI-powered hybrid search. It also includes programmatic SEO pages (auto-generated location and category pages for long-tail keywords), a built-in blog, monetization tools (charge for posts, sell bundles and subscriptions), job alerts for up to 1,000 subscribers, analytics, and Google for Jobs indexing.

For a detailed breakdown of every platform, see our best job board software comparison.

Year 1 total (budget SaaS): $204–$500 | Year 2+: $204–$500 | Setup time: hours | Technical skill: none

Website builders + databases ($50–$300/month)

Webflow, Framer, Bubble, and similar tools let you cobble together a job board from generic components. Pair Webflow with Airtable, or build on Bubble's no-code platform, and you'll get something functional.

The appeal is flexibility without writing code. The reality: you're building job board logic from tools that weren't designed for it. Airtable has row limits. Bubble performance degrades at scale. Webflow wasn't designed for transactional workflows like payment processing and employer dashboards. You'll spend weeks building features that dedicated platforms include by default, then more weeks working around limitations.

The ongoing cost sits at $50–$300/month for tool subscriptions (website builder + database + form tool + email service), plus significant time investment. And you're still responsible for maintenance, updates, and integrations. For most founders, this path costs more in time than it saves in money compared to purpose-built SaaS.

Year 1 total: $600–$3,600+ | Year 2+: $600–$3,600 | Setup time: 2–4 weeks | Technical skill: low to moderate

WordPress + job board plugins ($500–$12,000+)

WordPress gives you more control than SaaS and more structure than a website builder. But "more control" comes with more responsibility.

Start with WP Job Manager Premium ($159/year), the most popular job board plugin. Add managed WordPress hosting ($300–$1,200/year). Buy a job board theme ($50–$200). You're at $509–$1,559 before any customization.

Then reality hits. The theme needs modification. The plugin doesn't quite handle your monetization model. You want better search. You need job alerts but the free version is limited. Developer customization runs $500 for simple tweaks to $10,000+ for custom post types, payment integration, and employer dashboards.

The hidden cost is maintenance. Plugin conflicts break your site. Security patches require testing. That developer you hired for launch? You'll need them every few months. WordPress makes sense if you have existing WordPress expertise and need deep integration with an existing site. For a standalone job board, it's often the worst of both worlds: more expensive than SaaS, more limiting than custom code. See our guide to WordPress job board plugins for platform-specific comparisons.

Year 1 total: $500–$12,000+ | Year 2+: $470–$2,400+ | Setup time: 1–4 weeks | Technical skill: moderate

Vibe coding with AI tools ($0–$20,000)

AI coding tools have changed the equation. Replit, Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, Claude Code: a technical founder can scaffold a basic job board in a weekend. Non-technical founders can prompt their way to a working prototype faster than ever.

The tools are cheap or free. Replit and Lovable offer free tiers. Bolt generates full-stack apps from prompts. The real cost is time and the gap between "functional prototype" and "production-ready product."

AI tools are great at scaffolding CRUD interfaces, boilerplate code, basic UI, and authentication flows. They're less helpful with search relevance tuning, email deliverability, payment edge cases, spam prevention, Google for Jobs compliance, and aggregation quality. These aren't code problems; they're domain expertise problems that AI can't shortcut. As we covered in our build vs. buy analysis, a skilled developer with AI tools can build a functional MVP in 2–4 weeks, but "functional" and "competitive with dedicated job board software" are very different things.

If you hire a developer to build with AI tools, expect $5,000–$20,000 for an MVP. If you're technical and doing it yourself, the cost is your time. Either way, you're still responsible for hosting ($50–$500/month), ongoing maintenance, and every feature gap you discover after launch.

Year 1 total: $600–$26,000 | Year 2+: $600–$6,000 | Setup time: 1–4 weeks | Technical skill: moderate to high

Traditional custom development ($50,000–$300,000)

Hiring an agency or team to build from scratch means complete control. You define every feature and own the codebase. You're also responsible for everything that goes wrong.

A full-featured job board (job posting, search, applications, employer accounts, payments, analytics) costs $50,000–$200,000 through an agency. Mind Studios quotes $51,000 for a Glassdoor-like build with company profiles, reviews, and salary data. Enterprise builds can exceed $300,000.

The build cost is just the entry fee. Ongoing maintenance runs 15–20% of the original build cost annually. That $50,000 job board costs $7,500–$10,000/year to fix bugs, update dependencies, and patch security vulnerabilities. Hosting infrastructure adds $600–$6,000/year. Some founders explore open-source job board software as a middle path, but you still pay hosting, customization, and ongoing maintenance.

Traditional custom development makes sense when you need capabilities no existing platform supports (custom matching algorithms, proprietary search, or deep ATS integrations), or you have significant funding and a plan to compete directly with established players.

Year 1 total: $50,600–$306,000 | Year 2+: $8,100–$66,000 | Setup time: 3–12 months | Technical skill: high (or hired)

For most founders, the build vs. buy decision favors SaaS unless you have very specific requirements. You can always migrate to custom infrastructure after you've validated the business and built cash flow.

Side-by-side comparison

What do you need to budget for when starting a job board?

Beyond platform fees, you need to budget for a domain, hosting, email alerts, payment processing, job aggregation, legal setup, design, marketing, and your time. There are at least ten distinct cost categories, and the most expensive are often the ones people forget.

Platform or software

Your biggest recurring cost, covered in detail above. The short version: SaaS runs $0–$649+/month, WordPress plugins cost $0–$159/year (plus hosting), and custom development starts at $5,000 with AI tools.

Domain name

A standard .com costs $10–$15/year through registrars like Namecheap or Cloudflare. Premium domains (exact-match keywords like "HealthcareJobs.com") can run $500 to $50,000+.

A keyword-rich domain helps with job board SEO, but it's not a requirement. Plenty of successful niche boards use made-up brand names. If you're on a tight budget, skip the premium domain and invest in content instead.

Hosting and infrastructure

If you're using SaaS, this cost is zero. Cavuno includes hosting, automatic SSL, and CDN delivery at every tier. WordPress hosting runs $3–$80/month for shared or managed options. Custom builds need dedicated infrastructure at $50–$500/month.

Email service for job alerts

Job seekers expect email alerts when new jobs match their criteria. If your platform doesn't include this, you need a third-party service.

Substack is free for unlimited subscribers and works well for newsletter-style job alerts. For transactional email (automated per-user alerts), Mailgun starts at $15/month for 10,000 emails and $35/month for 50,000. SendGrid offers a free tier for up to 100 emails/day. At 10,000 subscribers receiving weekly alerts (~40,000 emails/month), expect $35–$75/month. At 50,000+ subscribers, you're at $150–$300/month. Cavuno includes job alerts at every tier, from 1,000 subscribers on Starter to 30,000 on Advanced, which eliminates this as a separate line item.

Payment processing

Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card transaction (international cards add 1.5%). On a $299 job posting, that's roughly $9 in fees. At $5,000/month in revenue, processing fees eat about $150/month. This is unavoidable regardless of platform.

Job aggregation and backfilling

The cold-start problem kills most boards: zero listings means zero traffic means zero employers. Job aggregation solves this by backfilling your board with listings from external feeds. Third-party feeds cost $0–$50/month. Some SaaS platforms, including Cavuno, include AI-powered aggregation as a core feature, plus options for job wrapping to pull listings via affiliate programs.

Legal and business setup

You don't need an LLC to start. Many founders operate as sole proprietors initially and formalize later once they're earning revenue. If you do form an LLC, it costs $50–$500 depending on state. A privacy policy and terms of service run $0 (generator tools) to $1,000+ (lawyer-drafted). GDPR compliance for EU visitors adds $0–$2,000. Business liability insurance runs $300–$1,000/year.

Design and branding

A logo costs $0 with AI tools. Cavuno includes a built-in AI logo generator that creates professional logos from your company name and brand colors. Other free options include Looka and Canva. Professional designers charge $500+, and full brand identity packages run $500–$5,000. SaaS platforms with no-code builders eliminate most design costs. Cavuno's drag-and-drop editor lets you customize layouts, colors, and typography without code or a designer.

Marketing and content

Marketing can cost $0 if you do it yourself. Content marketing and SEO are the primary growth channels for niche job boards, and both are free beyond your time. Plan on publishing at least 2–4 articles per month to compete in search. If you outsource content, expect $200–$1,000/month. Paid advertising (Google Ads, LinkedIn) is optional and adds $0–$1,000/month. SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush cost $0–$499/month, though many free alternatives exist. For a deeper dive, see job board marketing.

Time investment (opportunity cost)

If you value your time at $100/hour, 40 hours of WordPress or website builder setup costs $4,000 in opportunity cost. That's more than a full year of SaaS fees.

Realistic all-in year-one budgets

Hidden costs of starting a job board

The four biggest hidden costs are platform migration, email at scale ($420–$3,600/year), the 6–12 months of marketing time to reach critical mass, and the wasted effort of choosing the wrong platform. Here's what each looks like in practice.

Migration costs when you outgrow a platform

You may not stay on your first platform forever. When you outgrow it, migration complexity varies. Simple SaaS-to-SaaS moves with data export/import can be straightforward, especially if your new platform supports CSV imports and offers migration assistance.

The real cost is SEO. If your URL structure changes, you need proper 301 redirects for every URL to preserve search rankings. Some platforms make this easy; others don't. Choose a platform that can scale with you so migration stays optional, not inevitable. See our full guide on how to migrate your job board without losing traffic.

Email costs at scale

Job alerts are your retention engine. At launch, email costs are almost nothing. But they grow with your subscriber list.

At 10,000 subscribers receiving weekly alerts (~40,000 emails/month): $35–$75/month with providers like Mailgun or SendGrid. At 25,000 subscribers: $75–$200/month. At 50,000+: $150–$300/month. Over a year, that's $420–$3,600 in email costs. SaaS platforms that bundle email (Cavuno includes up to 30,000 subscribers on Advanced) can eliminate this line item entirely.

Marketing time to reach critical mass

You need 5,000–10,000 monthly visitors before you can reliably charge for job postings. Getting there organically takes 6–12 months of consistent content and SEO work.

The good news: content marketing and SEO are free beyond your time. Write blog posts targeting keywords in your niche, build links, and let programmatic SEO pages compound. If you want to accelerate, paid advertising costs $500–$2,000/month for 3–6 months ($3,000–$12,000 total). But many successful niche boards grew entirely on organic traffic and sweat equity.

Opportunity cost of choosing the wrong platform

Starting on the cheapest option and migrating later costs more than starting on the right platform from day one.

Real example: you launch with a free WordPress plugin. Six months later, you've outgrown it: search is slow, you can't customize the candidate experience, employers are complaining. You migrate to SaaS. Total cost: wasted setup time + migration expenses + lost momentum with employers who had a poor experience. The "free" option cost the most when you factor in time and switching costs.

This is why the build vs. buy decision matters so much upfront.

How much can a job board make?

Niche job boards make $2,300 to $39,000/month based on public revenue data from real operators. Profit margins range from 30–50% for established boards, with some hitting 99%. The US online recruitment market is worth roughly $18.8 billion in 2025 (IBISWorld), and the global market is projected to reach $43.39 billion by 2027 (Fortune Business Insights). You don't need to capture even a fraction of a percent to build a sustainable business.

Real revenue from real job boards

MoAIJobs, an AI-focused niche board, generates $2,300/month with 99% profit margins. Work With Indies hits $5,000/month. Remote Rocketship clears $6,000+/month. Ranch Work, serving an ultra-niche agricultural audience, makes $5,000/month.

At the higher end, RemoteOK generates roughly $39,000/month, run by one person. These come from public revenue dashboards, Indie Hackers posts, and founder interviews. For the full business case, see why start a job board.

What operators charge employers

Pricing varies by market positioning and audience quality. Budget and local boards charge $50–$100 per posting. Standard niche boards command $100–$299. Premium niche boards with engaged audiences charge $299–$600. Featured listings add $250–$550. Enterprise subscription models range from $199–$999/month. For a deep dive on job board monetization strategies including featured listings, employer subscriptions, and newsletter sponsorships, see our revenue model guide.

The pricing reflects the value employers receive. The US average cost per hire is roughly $4,700 (SHRM), so paying $299 to reach qualified candidates in a targeted niche represents strong ROI for hiring companies.

Profit margins by board type

Niche job boards typically operate at 30–50% profit margins. SaaS-based niche boards at scale can hit 60–70%. MoAIJobs' 99% margin demonstrates what's possible when platform costs are minimal and the niche is well-targeted. Large general platforms like Indeed (part of Recruit Holdings, which reports ~36% EBITDA margins) operate at lower margins due to the cost of competing at scale, while others like ZipRecruiter have struggled with profitability. The advantage of niche boards: lower competition, lower operating costs, and higher per-posting pricing power.

The break-even math

On Cavuno Starter at $29/month, sell one job posting at $299. After Stripe's processing fee (~$9) and taxes (varies, but assume ~20% effective rate on profit), you'd keep roughly $230. That covers about eight months of platform costs from a single sale. On a mid-tier SaaS at $200/month, you need one $299 posting per month to roughly break even after fees. On a $50,000 custom build, you'd need to sell hundreds of job postings at $299 just to recoup the initial investment, before counting hosting, maintenance, or operational expenses.

Realistic revenue timeline

Months 1–6: $0. You're building inventory, setting up your platform, creating content, and establishing initial employer relationships. Phil McParlane, founder of 4DayWeek.io, didn't make his first sale until six months after launching. This is normal.

Months 6–12: $500–$2,000/month. First paying employers come aboard. You're testing pricing, converting free-listing employers to paid, and building proof that your board delivers qualified candidates.

Years 2–3: $5,000–$15,000/month. Growing reputation, increasing traffic, repeat customers. Multiple revenue streams (job postings, featured listings, subscriptions) start compounding.

Year 4+: $20,000–$100,000+/month. Established brand with strong organic traffic and employer relationships. RemoteOK generates ~$39,000/month run by one person.

Not every board reaches these numbers. But the path is proven, and on a $29/month platform, a single $299 job posting covers eight months of software after fees and taxes.

Month-by-month job board launch budget

A realistic 6-month job board launch costs $186 to $1,150 all-in. Here's the month-by-month cash flow using Cavuno's $29/month Starter plan as the foundation.

Month 1: Setup ($41–$100)

Core expenses: Cavuno Starter plan ($29) and domain registration ($12). Generate a logo with Cavuno's built-in AI logo generator ($0). Time: 5–10 hours choosing your niche, setting up with the no-code builder, connecting your domain, and enabling AI job aggregation. By month's end, you have a live job board with 50–200 relevant listings already populated.

Month 2: Populate and launch ($29–$130)

Cavuno ($29) plus optional SEO research with free tools ($0). AI aggregation continues pulling relevant jobs automatically. You're curating listings for quality, writing 2–3 blog posts with the built-in blog, setting up programmatic SEO pages (auto-generated by Cavuno), and submitting to job board directories. Time: 5–8 hours/week.

Month 3: Build traffic ($29–$230)

Cavuno ($29) and optional Google Ads test budget ($0–$200). You're posting in niche communities, cold-emailing 10–20 employers offering free listings, and continuing content marketing. Time: 5–8 hours/week. Target: 500–1,000 monthly visitors.

Month 4: First employer outreach ($29–$230)

You're offering free listings to 10–20 employers: "Post for free, see the applications you get, then we'll talk about paid placement." Building relationships and collecting proof that your board delivers candidates. Setting up pricing tiers for when you're ready to charge. Time: 5–8 hours/week.

Month 5: Build proof of concept ($29–$230)

Reviewing analytics to see which job categories and locations drive traffic. Following up with free-listing employers: "Your posting got X views and Y applications last month." Reaching out to 20–30 more employers. Building the case studies you'll need to justify paid listings.

Month 6: Lay the groundwork for revenue ($29–$230)

If you've been consistent: 10–20 employers with free listings, 1,000–3,000 monthly visitors, a content library starting to rank for niche keywords. You're not expecting revenue yet, but you're building the traffic and employer relationships that make paid listings viable in months 6–12.

6-month totals:

• Minimum spend (platform + domain only): ~$186
• Realistic spend (platform + domain + modest marketing): ~$500–$1,150
• Revenue by month 6: $0 (this is normal)
• First revenue expected: months 6–12

You don't need $10,000 or venture capital to start a job board. You need $186, consistent weekly effort, and the patience to invest six months before your first sale.

What's the cheapest way to start a job board?

The cost data points to a clear pattern: for most new job board founders, starting with SaaS ($29–$139/month) is the right move. You launch in a weekend instead of weeks or months. You invest hundreds instead of tens of thousands. You validate demand before committing serious capital. If the niche doesn't work, you've lost a few hundred dollars, not $15,000.

Website builders (Webflow, Framer, Bubble) can work for simple prototypes, but you'll hit limitations quickly. You're better off using a purpose-built platform. WordPress makes sense if you already have the expertise in-house and need deep integration with an existing site. Vibe coding with AI tools is tempting, but as we explored in our build vs. buy analysis, the gap between "working prototype" and "production-ready job board" is where most of the cost and time hides. Traditional custom development ($50K+) is for proven, revenue-generating boards that have outgrown every SaaS option, not for validating new ideas.

The risk of over-investing in infrastructure before proving product-market fit far exceeds the risk of starting simple. You can always migrate later, and by then, you'll have revenue to fund the upgrade.

If you're still choosing a niche, start with job board ideas. Ready to launch? Follow the step-by-step process in how to create a job board, or skip straight to building.

Start your job board with Cavuno → Free to try. No credit card required.