Start with a domain you control, email on that domain, a simple website, a business bank account, accounting software, a way to take payments, a CRM, shared docs, a password manager and light automation. Most have free plans that last a two-person company months. A five-person stack runs about $180 a month at list prices.
Ten thousand units a month cost $9 on Make's Core plan, $16 on Pabbly Connect's Standard plan and $129 on Zapier's Professional plan, all billed yearly. But Make counts every step including the trigger, while Zapier and Pabbly only count actions. Here's what one real automation costs on each.
An internal tool for ten colleagues costs $99 a month on Softr Pro and $199 a month on Glide's Business plan, both billed yearly, because both count users. Bubble's Starter plan is $29 a month with no user count, but you build more yourself and pay for server workload. Here's which fits an internal tool, which fits an MVP, and when code is the better bet.