Services and prices for your community platform
We set up your community, design it in line with your corporate identity and manage it on an ongoing basis – based on open source software, hosted in Germany or the EU. Here you will find an overview of all our services and prices. All prices are net, plus VAT.
Comparison of ongoing support
All packages include the full community with groups, discussions, events, profiles and messages – designed in line with your corporate identity.
| Service | Basic | Plus | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| For whom | Communities that need to run reliably | Communities that are actively growing | Business-critical communities |
| Price per month | from €990 plus hosting | from €1,490 plus hosting | Customised based on requirements |
| Scope | Basic services | all features from Basic, plus: | all features from Plus, plus: |
| Time for your requirements | 4 hours per month | 8 hours per month | as required |
| Updates, security, monitoring | |||
| Test changes first, then go live | on a project-by-project basis | permanent test environment | permanent test environment |
| Support in the event of a fault | on the next working day | within 4 hours | by individual agreement |
| Security and status report | – | half-yearly | by arrangement |
| Hosting | Germany or the EU | Germany or the EU | triple redundancy |
| Login via your user management system | optional | optional | |
| Integration and bespoke development | charged on a time-and-materials basis | charged on a time-and-materials basis | included in the quote |
| Initial consultation | Initial consultation | Initial consultation |
Unused hours expire at the end of the month. Any additional work will be invoiced at €140 per hour, subject to agreement. Minimum contract term of 12 months, after which the contract may be terminated monthly with three months’ notice.
Set-up
Set-up is a one-off process carried out at the start. You pay 50% upon commissioning and 50% upon acceptance.
| Service | Scope | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Community set-up | Installation, basic configuration, testing | approx. 8 hours, €1,120 |
| Design in line with your corporate identity | Logo, colours, fonts | approx. 16 hours, €2,240 |
| Going live | Domain, SSL certificate, backup, monitoring | approx. 12 hours, €1,680 |
| Import of existing users | Data set to be provided by you as an Excel file | approx. 8 hours, €1,120 |
| Takeover of an existing community | Migration to our production environment, deployment, test environment, monitoring, documentation | from €2,240 (approx. 16 hours) |
| Migration of an existing community | Scope determined by Open Social Check | Fixed price as per quotation |
| Training | 5 hours’ training, 3 hours’ preparation | €1,120 |
Setting up a new community therefore typically costs around €5,000. You provide the domain; travel expenses are charged on a time-and-material basis.
Hosting
We bill for hosting separately so that you can decide for yourself what level of availability you require. The platform is the same across all tiers.
| Tier | Description | Price per month |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Server in Germany, daily backups, monitoring and updates by crowd-creation | €245 |
| Cloud | Managed cloud hosting in the EU, daily backups, scalable resources | €355 |
| Cloud Enterprise | Triple redundancy, for high availability requirements | On quotation |
The Cloud tier grows with your community: Computing power, RAM and storage space can be expanded at any time. We will agree the additional costs with you in advance. One month’s notice required, effective at the end of the month.
Additional modules
These extensions are not included in the packages and are only set up on request.
| Module | What it offers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Community as an app | Installation on the home screen, push notifications, app icon in your design – no App Store and no second application | from €1,120 |
| Newsletter | Registration with double opt-in, template in your design, dispatch queue, handling of bounce-backs, setting up dispatch authentication | from €1,680 |
| Registration via your user management system | Single sign-on via SAML or OIDC – useful if staff are to log in using their company accounts | from €1,680 |
| Further integrations and bespoke development | Integration with your systems, additional functions tailored to your requirements | €140 per hour or a fixed price as quoted |
Note regarding the newsletter: A correctly configured mailing domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and, depending on volume, a suitable mail server or mailing service are required for distribution. These costs are not included.
What is not included
- Content management and moderation of your community
- Concept, editorial planning and member recruitment
- Third-party licences and fees, such as for survey software or mailing services
- Domain registration
- Travel expenses for on-site appointments
Frequently asked questions
How much does a community cost in total?
A new community costs around €5,000 to set up, followed by a monthly fee starting at €990 for management, plus hosting from €245. The exact amount depends on your requirements and will be confirmed following the initial consultation.
How long does set-up take?
It usually takes four to eight weeks from placing the order to going live. The key factor is usually how quickly design specifications, content and the domain are ready.
Can I have my existing community taken over?
Yes. We start with the Open Social Check from €750, which assesses the version status, security status and the amount of work involved. We then migrate your community to our production environment, starting at €2,240. The cost of the check is fully credited upon commissioning.
Are there any minimum contract terms?
The support contract runs for twelve months, after which it can be terminated monthly with three months’ notice. Hosting can be cancelled with one month’s notice to the end of the month.
Who owns the customisations developed for us?
You are granted a simple, perpetual right of use to all customisations created as part of the contract. As Drupal and Open Social are licensed under the GPL, you will receive the associated source code and are permitted to modify and further develop it. crowd-creation retains the right to use the underlying components for other clients as well – you benefit from this through lower costs and faster implementation.
What happens if I cancel the contract?
Your community is based on open-source software. You will be given access to the source code and data and can continue to operate the site yourself or with another service provider. We will assist with the handover.
Certain additional features are operated as a service on our infrastructure and will no longer be available once the contract ends. We explicitly specify which ones these are in every quote. On request, we can arrange for these features to continue to be used for a licence fee.
Where is my data stored?
In data centres in Germany or the EU, depending on the hosting tier selected. We use exclusively open-source software and do not rely on US-based services.
Let’s discuss your project
During a free initial consultation, we’ll clarify your requirements and provide you with a reliable estimate of the effort and costs involved.