How Much Does It Cost to Integrate Two Systems That Don't Talk (2026 Pricing)

You have an online store that sells, a billing system that issues invoices, a CRM holding your customer data, and a spreadsheet someone updates by hand every night — and none of them talk to each other. Integrating two systems that don't talk costs, in 2026, between USD 1,500 and 6,000 when both have a documented API, between USD 5,000 and 15,000 when one is legacy or has no API, and between USD 15,000 and 40,000 when the sync is critical, real-time and high-volume. Three factors set the price: whether both systems have an API, how much data moves, and how instantly everything must stay in sync. This guide breaks down each range with concrete numbers and shows you how to build the budget without surprises.

The 3 factors that set the price

Before you look at any range, understand what makes an integration expensive. Almost the entire budget comes down to three variables:

1. Do both systems have an API? An API is the ready-made "door" that lets other software walk in to read or write data. If both systems have one and it's well documented, the integration is straightforward. If one doesn't — typical of old accounting software or custom ERPs from 15 years ago — you have to build the bridge by hand, and that's where the work doubles.
2. How much data moves, and how often? Syncing 50 orders a day is not the same as 50,000. High volume forces you to think about queues, retries and error handling that a small case never needs.
3. Does it have to be real-time? Syncing once a night (batch) is cheap. Syncing instantly (live, via webhooks) takes more infrastructure, more testing and more fault tolerance. The cost gap between "every night" and "within a second" can be double.

A silent fourth factor is business logic: if a customer is "Customer" in one system and "Contact + Company + Billing Address" in the other, someone has to decide how each field maps. That mapping is the invisible part that eats the most time.

Cost to integrate two systems, by type (2026 table)

Integration type	Typical case	USD range	Timeline
No-code (Zapier, Make)	Connect two popular apps, few steps, low volume	USD 20-100/mo + setup USD 300-1,500	2-7 days
API ↔ API simple	Store and billing system, both with an API	USD 1,500-6,000	1-3 weeks
API ↔ system without API	Modern CRM and legacy accounting software	USD 5,000-15,000	4-8 weeks
Real-time / high volume	Multichannel stock synced instantly	USD 15,000-40,000	6-12 weeks
Central integration layer	4+ systems wired to a custom middleware	USD 20,000-60,000	8-16 weeks

These ranges are for solid LATAM teams at sane prices (not the rates of an international consultancy, which multiply by 3 or 4). They're fixed-project figures, not "it depends."

Real example 1: store + billing

An apparel shop sold through its online store but typed every invoice by hand into its accounting system. 80 sales a day, 40 minutes of manual entry daily, frequent errors. The integration — read each new sale and generate the invoice automatically — cost USD 3,200 and shipped in 2 weeks. They recovered the investment in under 4 months on admin hours alone. It's the classic case of AI automation applied to a concrete bottleneck.

Real example 2: CRM + legacy system without API

A distributor ran a 2009 management system with no API alongside a modern CRM. They wanted every order entered in the old system to appear automatically in the CRM with the customer's status. Since the legacy system exposed nothing, the integration was built by reading its database directly and exposing it as a custom API. It cost USD 9,800 and took 6 weeks. More expensive, yes — but the alternative was migrating the whole system for USD 40,000+.

Have two systems that don't talk and no idea what connecting them would cost? Book an intro call and we'll give you a concrete range on the same call, no strings attached.

No-code vs. custom development: when each one wins

This is the question that saves (or costs) the most money. There's no universal answer:

Choose no-code (Zapier, Make, n8n) when:

• Both systems are popular apps with ready-made connectors.
• Volume is low (hundreds of operations a day, not tens of thousands).
• The logic is simple: "when A happens, do B."
• You want to test fast and cheap.

Choose custom development when:

• One of the systems is in-house, old or has no connector.
• You move high volume and the per-operation cost of no-code tools blows up.
• There's real business logic (taxes, pricing rules, validations).
• The data is sensitive and you don't want it passing through a third party.
• You'll depend on this every day: you don't want your operation hanging off a tool that can change its pricing or shut down.

A healthy pattern: start no-code to validate, move to custom when it hurts. Many companies start with Zapier at USD 50/mo and, as they grow, discover they pay USD 400/mo for something a piece of custom software would solve better and without a growing monthly fee.

The hidden cost: maintenance

This is where almost every budget lies. An integration is not a product you ship and forget. APIs change versions, systems update, someone rotates a credential and the whole thing breaks at 3 a.m. on a Sunday.

Budget realistically:

• 15-25% per year of the project cost for support and maintenance.
• Or a monthly retainer (typical: USD 100-500/mo depending on complexity) if you don't have an internal technical team.

A USD 5,000 integration that saves 2 hours a day and then quietly fails with no one to fix it saves nothing: the team falls back to manual entry, and nobody notices until a customer complains. Maintenance isn't optional — it's part of the cost of keeping the thing running.

When integrating does NOT make sense

To be honest — and this saves you money — there are cases where connecting two systems isn't worth it:

• Minimal volume. If you move 5 records a week, automating the manual copy costs more than it saves. Do it by hand and move on.
• One system is about to die. If you're replacing the ERP in 6 months, don't invest in integrating the one you'll throw away. Wait and connect the new one.
• The process isn't defined yet. If you don't know how the data should flow between the two systems, you'll automate the chaos. Fix the process first, then connect.
• It's a nice-to-have, not a bottleneck. "It'd be cool if they talked" is not a business case. How many hours or how much money do you lose today by not being connected? If the answer is "little," wait.

If your case fits any of these, the most profitable move is to not integrate yet. A good vendor tells you that; a bad one sells you the integration anyway.

How to build your budget in 4 steps

1. Name the two exact systems and find out whether each has a documented API (search "[name] API docs"). This sets 60% of the price.
2. Measure real volume: how many operations a day, and whether you need real-time or a nightly sync is enough.
3. Quantify the pain: how many hours/month or how many errors the missing connection costs you today. That's your return.
4. Ask for a closed range, not an "it depends." A serious team can give you a concrete range from those three data points in a single conversation.

Connecting your systems isn't a technical expense: it's recovering hours, killing manual-entry errors and ending your company's dependence on someone copying and pasting every night. At Deepyze we integrate systems that don't talk — with or without an API, with off-the-shelf tools or custom-built — and we give you the real range before we start. Start your project here and tell us which two systems you want to connect.