Why do you publish prices?

Because you should know what something costs before you spend an hour in meetings about it. Every entry service has a fixed fee, a fixed scope and stated senior hours. If your situation needs something different, we say so and quote it in writing.

What does "senior hours" mean?

It is the time a senior practitioner spends on your work: interviews, analysis, writing and presenting. You are buying the outcome, not an hourly rate, but the hours tell you how much senior attention the fee pays for.

Do I have to build with you after a review?

No. You own the findings and can take them to any supplier. If you do go ahead with us within 60 days, half the review fee is credited against the next stage.

Can you work with our existing IT team or supplier?

Yes, and most of the time we do. Our job is to make your team and suppliers more effective, not to replace them. Where we recommend a change of supplier, we explain why and compare at least one alternative.

How do you handle POPIA?

Privacy is designed in from the first workshop: we map the personal information involved, set lawful bases and consent, agree operator terms with suppliers and apply security safeguards. We work alongside your attorney where a legal opinion is needed.

Do you work with clients outside South Africa?

Yes. We work with clients in the UK, Europe and the US, with good overlap with UK and European working hours. Prices are available in US dollars and invoiced from South Africa. For EU clients we align with GDPR and the EU AI Act.

What is a composable platform?

A platform assembled from specialist, replaceable parts (content, commerce, search, identity, payments) connected through APIs, rather than one large licensed suite. You can change one part without rebuilding the rest, and with open source you pay no licence fees.

How is this different from hiring a full-time CTO?

A full-time CTO is a permanent cost and a long hire. Fractional leadership gives you the same senior judgement for a fixed number of days a month, from day one, and you can scale up, scale down or move to a full-time hire when the business is ready.

Technology and AI partner

We build and lead technology that helps yousell, scale, connect, decide, last, be owned.

Fractional CTO and AI leadership, fixed-fee reviews, and platforms you own, engineered on open-source foundations.

Find where to start Take the AI readiness check

retail divisions led at national scale: 5
countries of commerce replatformed: 4
lower cloud bill on one estate: 95%
prices on every entry service: Fixed

Most businesses don't need more technology. They need clearer decisions about it.

We tell you where you stand, lead the change, and build platforms you own.

Start here

Three fixed-fee ways to find out where you stand

Each review has a published price, a stated number of senior hours and a written report you keep, whether or not you work with us afterwards.

Fixed-fee review
Platform Review
What your website or platform really costs, and what to do next.
Fee
R30,000 once-off$2,500 once-off
Duration
2 weeks
Senior time
12 hours
Details: Platform Review
Fixed-fee assessmentMost popular
AI-Native Readiness
Where AI earns its keep in your business, and how to do it safely.
Fee
R60,000 once-off$5,000 once-off
Duration
4 weeks
Senior time
24 hours
Details: AI-Native Readiness
Fixed-fee diagnostic
CTO Diagnostic
A clear view of your whole technology function in 30 days.
Fee
R50,000 once-off$4,000 once-off
Duration
30 days
Senior time
20 hours
Details: CTO Diagnostic

Not sure which? Book a 20-minute call

Who we help

All industries

Services

Assess, lead, build and run

Every service has a published price in rand and dollars. Choose a category to see what fits.

Fixed-fee reviews that tell you where you stand.

Fixed-fee review
Platform Review
What your website or platform really costs, and what to do next.
Fee
R30,000 once-off$2,500 once-off
Details: Platform Review
Fixed-fee diagnostic
CTO Diagnostic
A clear view of your whole technology function in 30 days.
Fee
R50,000 once-off$4,000 once-off
Details: CTO Diagnostic
Fixed-fee reviewNew
Data Protection and Governance Review
POPIA and GDPR readiness for your platforms, data and AI use.
Fee
R40,000 fixed$3,300 fixed
Details: Data Protection and Governance Review
Fixed-fee diligenceNew
Technology Due Diligence
An independent view of a target's technology before you invest or acquire.
Fee
From R75,000From $6,500
Details: Technology Due Diligence
Fixed-fee reviewNew
Cloud and Vendor Cost Review
Find the waste in your cloud and software bills in two weeks.
Fee
R35,000 fixed$3,000 fixed
Details: Cloud and Vendor Cost Review
Fixed-fee assessmentNew
Legacy Modernisation Assessment
A safe, phased path off ageing systems without stopping the business.
Fee
R65,000 fixed$5,500 fixed
Details: Legacy Modernisation Assessment

Compare every service

How we work

One clear path, in four steps

Assess
A fixed-fee review of where you stand. You own the findings.
Recommend
Options with costs, independent of suppliers, including us.
Rebuild or lead
We lead the change, or build the platform with Norse Brandsmiths.
Run and improve
Monthly running, regular reviews and a change allowance.

Assess · Recommend · Rebuild

Leading your business into AI

Every board is asking what AI means for their business. Few have someone senior who can answer, then make it happen.

What it notices

Accounts that have gone quiet against their usual buying pattern
Which enquiries look most like customers who closed last quarter

What it does

Drafts a follow-up with the right context from the CRM
Summarises calls and updates the opportunity record
Prepares a first-pass proposal from approved templates

What a person decides

Pricing, discounts and terms
Which accounts get senior time

Take the free check

Platforms

Yours, not rented

We build on proven open-source foundations, so the money goes into your platform rather than into licences.

You own the code
The repository, the content and the data sit in accounts in your name.
No licence fees
Open-source foundations, so there is no per-seat or revenue-share licence.
No lock-in
Documented and portable. Another team can pick it up without us.
POPIA-ready by design
Consent, access and retention are built in from the first sprint.

Our open-source defaults compared with typical licensed alternatives
Capability	Our default	Typical licensed alternative	Indicative licence cost
Commerce	Medusa	Shopify Plus or Salesforce Commerce Cloud	From about $2,300 a month, or a share of online revenue
Content	Strapi	Contentful	Paid plans from about $300 a month, enterprise far higher
Search	Meilisearch	Algolia	Usage-based, rising with every search
Identity	Keycloak or ZITADEL	Auth0	Priced per monthly active user
Customer data	RudderStack or Jitsu	Segment	Priced by tracked users, enterprise on quote
Dashboards	Metabase	Tableau	Priced per creator and viewer seat

Indicative public list prices, for comparison only. Check current pricing with each vendor.

See how we build platforms

Partnership

Brand and technology, forged together

Norse Brandsmiths forges the brand. We build and run the technology underneath. One proposal, two specialist teams.

Norse Brandsmiths

The brand

Brand strategy and identity
Naming, voice and messaging
Design systems and page design
Campaigns and content

Helmsmiths

The technology

Architecture and specification
Build on a stack you own
Hosting, security and support
AI, data and integrations

How the partnership works

Recent work

See what you receive

Sample outputs

Read a real report before you buy one

Anonymised examples of what each review delivers: the findings, the scorecard and the costed options. Client details are removed with permission.

See sample outputs

Platform Review
AI-Native Readiness
CTO Diagnostic
Architecture and Specification

FAQ

Questions we are often asked

Not sure where to start?

A 20-minute call is usually enough to tell you which review, if any, you need. No obligation, no sales script.

Book a call Take the AI readiness check

Capability

Our default

Typical licensed alternative

Indicative licence cost

Commerce

Medusa

Shopify Plus or Salesforce Commerce Cloud

From about $2,300 a month, or a share of online revenue

Content

Strapi

Contentful

Paid plans from about $300 a month, enterprise far higher

Meilisearch

Algolia

Usage-based, rising with every search

Identity

Keycloak or ZITADEL

Auth0

Priced per monthly active user

Customer data

RudderStack or Jitsu

Segment

Priced by tracked users, enterprise on quote

Dashboards

Metabase

Tableau

Priced per creator and viewer seat

We build and lead technology that helps yousell, scale, connect, decide, last, be owned.sell

Most businesses don't need more technology. They need clearer decisions about it.

Three fixed-fee ways to find out where you stand

Platform Review

AI-Native Readiness

CTO Diagnostic

Who we help

Assess, lead, build and run

Platform Review

CTO Diagnostic

Data Protection and Governance Review

Technology Due Diligence

Cloud and Vendor Cost Review

Legacy Modernisation Assessment

One clear path, in four steps

Assess

Recommend

Rebuild or lead

Run and improve

Leading your business into AI

What it notices

What it does

What a person decides

Yours, not rented

You own the code

No licence fees

No lock-in

POPIA-ready by design

Brand and technology, forged together

The brand

The technology

See what you receive

Read a real report before you buy one

Questions we are often asked

Why do you publish prices?

What does "senior hours" mean?

Do I have to build with you after a review?

Can you work with our existing IT team or supplier?

How do you handle POPIA?

Do you work with clients outside South Africa?

What is a composable platform?

How is this different from hiring a full-time CTO?

Not sure where to start?

We build and lead technology that helps yousell, scale, connect, decide, last, be owned.sell

Most businesses don't need more technology. They need clearer decisions about it.

Three fixed-fee ways to find out where you stand

Platform Review

AI-Native Readiness

CTO Diagnostic

Who we help

Assess, lead, build and run

Platform Review

CTO Diagnostic

Data Protection and Governance Review

Technology Due Diligence

Cloud and Vendor Cost Review

Legacy Modernisation Assessment

One clear path, in four steps

Assess

Recommend

Rebuild or lead

Run and improve

Leading your business into AI

What it notices

What it does

What a person decides

Yours, not rented

You own the code

No licence fees

No lock-in

POPIA-ready by design

Brand and technology, forged together

The brand

The technology

See what you receive

Read a real report before you buy one

Questions we are often asked

Why do you publish prices?

What does "senior hours" mean?

Do I have to build with you after a review?

We build and lead technology that helps yousell, scale, connect, decide, last, be owned.

We build and lead technology that helps yousell, scale, connect, decide, last, be owned.