- Marketing or design-only work without engineering scope
- Fixed-price contracts without discovery validation
- Projects where AI is mandated but would underperform deterministic logic
Reviewed by Dr. Dmytro Nasyrov, Founder and CTO • Last updated July 2, 2026
Software Development Services
Custom AI, blockchain, FinTech and software development. 6 service categories, 35+ specialized services, delivered by 90+ engineers since 2013.
- 6 service categories
- 35+ specialized services
- 12+ years in delivery
SOC 2 Type II
GDPR
ISO 27001
NDA Protected
Aligned with these frameworks. Audit reports and certifications available on request.
Service categories at a glance
| Category | Best for | Typical timeline | Cost range |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Development | When you need production AI that works reliably, not just demos. Best for document automation, customer support deflection, multi-agent workflows and custom model training. | 6-24 weeks | $30K-$300K+ |
| Blockchain & Web3 | When trustless execution and on-chain verification are core requirements. Best for DeFi platforms, NFT marketplaces, tokenization of real-world assets and crypto infrastructure. | 8-36 weeks | $25K-$500K+ |
| FinTech Development | When regulatory compliance and financial-grade security are non-negotiable. Best for payment systems, digital banking, neobanks, RegTech and insurance platforms. | 12-36 weeks | $50K-$500K+ |
| Software Development | When off-the-shelf platforms cannot handle your workflows. Best for custom enterprise software, mobile apps, internal tools, SaaS products and legacy modernization. | 8-24 weeks | $25K-$300K+ |
| Security and QA | When you need independent security validation before launch or after a breach. Best for smart contract audits, application pen testing and compliance validation. | 2-8 weeks | $10K-$80K |
| Consulting | When you need senior expertise without committing to full-time hires. Best for technical strategy, architecture review, fractional CTO and team augmentation. | Ongoing | $8K-$25K/month |
Cost ranges are typical engagement totals. Discovery sprint ($5K-$15K) is recommended before any project over $50K.
Service categories
Each category links to a dedicated hub with full service breakdown, case studies and engagement options.
AI Development
Custom AI agents, LLM integration, RAG systems, machine learning pipelines and MLOps. 25+ AI projects delivered since 2023 across FinTech, healthcare and enterprise.
Best forWhen you need production AI that works reliably, not just demos. Best for document automation, customer support deflection, multi-agent workflows and custom model training.
- AI Consulting & Strategy
- AI Agent Development
- Generative AI & LLM Integration
- Machine Learning
- MLOps & AI Operations
- Computer Vision
- NLP Development
Blockchain & Web3
Smart contracts, DeFi platforms, dApps, tokenization, crypto wallets and exchanges. 100+ contracts deployed to mainnet with zero critical vulnerabilities since 2018.
Best forWhen trustless execution and on-chain verification are core requirements. Best for DeFi platforms, NFT marketplaces, tokenization of real-world assets and crypto infrastructure.
- Smart Contract Development
- DApp Development
- DeFi Development
- Tokenization & RWA
- Crypto Wallet Development
- Crypto Exchange Development
FinTech Development
Payment platforms, banking software, insurance technology, compliance and digital assets. Aligned with PCI DSS, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 controls, with banking integration experience.
Best forWhen regulatory compliance and financial-grade security are non-negotiable. Best for payment systems, digital banking, neobanks, RegTech and insurance platforms.
- Payment Solutions
- Banking Software
- Insurance Software
- Compliance & RegTech
- Digital Assets & Trading
- Web3 x FinTech Crossover
Software Development
Full-cycle custom software development with mobile, frontend, backend and DevOps. 110+ applications delivered for 200+ clients across 28 industries since 2013.
Best forWhen off-the-shelf platforms cannot handle your workflows. Best for custom enterprise software, mobile apps, internal tools, SaaS products and legacy modernization.
- Custom Software Development
- Mobile App Development
- Frontend Development
- UX/UI Design
- Backend Development
- DevOps & Infrastructure
- Cloud Services
Security and QA
Cybersecurity, smart contract audits, penetration testing, gas optimization and quality assurance. Built into every project, available as standalone engagements.
Best forWhen you need independent security validation before launch or after a breach. Best for smart contract audits, application pen testing and compliance validation.
- Cybersecurity
- Security Audits
- Smart Contract Audits
- Penetration Testing
- QA & Testing
- Compliance Validation
Consulting
IT consulting, technical strategy, staff augmentation and offshore development. Engagement models from project-based to dedicated team to staff augmentation.
Best forWhen you need senior expertise without committing to full-time hires. Best for technical strategy, architecture review, fractional CTO and team augmentation.
- IT Consulting
- Technical Strategy
- Staff Augmentation
- Offshore Development
- Digital Transformation
- CTO as a Service
Pharos Production offers six categories of custom software development services: AI Development, Blockchain & Web3, FinTech Development, Software Development, Security and QA and Consulting. Each category contains specialized services delivered by senior engineers with domain expertise. We work with founders, CTOs and CEOs at FinTech, healthcare, Web3 and enterprise companies. We have delivered 110+ production applications since 2013 across 28 industries with 5/5 Clutch rating from 96 verified reviews. The global custom software development market reached $43.16 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at 22.5% CAGR through 2030 (Grand View Research). Global IT spending is forecast to total $5.61 trillion in 2025, with software the fastest growing segment at 14% year-over-year (Gartner). Our State of Custom Software TCO 2026 research, based on 110+ delivered projects, maps five hidden cost layers that surface during paid discovery and routinely add 30 to 50% beyond sticker estimates in regulated finance programs. Our State of AI Development Costs 2026 research maps five hidden AI cost layers - evaluation, safety, context engineering, observability and model churn - that routinely add 40 to 60% to year-one AI build budgets. What we do not do: template websites, WordPress customization, no-code MVPs, marketing-only work, fixed-price contracts without discovery, projects under $10,000.
Reviewed by Dmytro Nasyrov
Founder and CTO, PhD in AI
23+ years in custom software development. Led 110+ projects across FinTech, healthcare, Web3, AI and enterprise, ISO 27001-aligned team.
"I review this services catalog quarterly against our actual delivery data. Every cost range and timeline on this page reflects what we charged and delivered in the last 12 months - not aspirational estimates."
Pharos Verified Delivery
Every service category follows the same proprietary delivery framework. Four phases that have produced 110+ production applications with zero critical security incidents across 13+ years of custom software development.
We developed this framework over 13+ years of delivery. When we started in 2013 the playbook for custom software was monolithic web stacks. By 2018 we rewrote it for cloud-native and containerized delivery, and starting in 2023 we extended it again for AI augmented engineering. Each shift was driven by what clients actually paid for in production, not by trend chasing.
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Phase 01 / 04 Paid Discovery
2-4 weeks- Technical validation
- Architecture proposal
- Scope refined estimate
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Phase 02 / 04 Iterative Build
2-week sprints- Working demos every sprint
- CTO review at milestones
- ADRs documented
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Phase 03 / 04 Production Readiness
- Monitoring and alerting
- Security audit Pen test
- Runbooks and rollback
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Phase 04 / 04 Support
Ongoing- Security patches
- Performance tuning
- 4h SLA response
Pharos Verified Delivery applied to 110+ production applications since 2013
Each phase has explicit entry and exit gates. Discovery gates scope and architecture before any build starts. Build phase ships working demos every two weeks. Production readiness gates security audit, runbooks and monitoring before launch. Support covers security patches, performance tuning and a 4-hour SLA response.
Outcomes that matter
What clients see after we ship.
- 110+
- Applications in production
- 13+
- Years of continuous delivery
- 28+
- Industries served
- 90+
- Engineers on the team
Real client transformations
Three anonymized before/after snapshots from production systems delivered across our service categories. Metrics measured against client-reported pre-engagement baselines.
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FinTech Payment reconciliationBefore
Manual reconciliation of 12,000 daily transactions across 4 payment providers. 3 full-time analysts. 18-hour delay between transaction and matched status.
AfterAutomated reconciliation in under 2 minutes. Analysts reassigned to exceptions review. Zero unreconciled balances across 12 months in production.
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Healthcare Patient intakeBefore
Paper forms and manual EHR entry. 45-minute average intake. Data entry errors triggered 8% insurance claim denials.
AfterHIPAA-aligned digital intake with HL7 FHIR integration. 9-minute intake. Insurance claim denial rate dropped to 1.2%.
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Web3 Smart contract auditsBefore
External audit queue time of 4-6 weeks. Each audit cycle cost $25K-$60K. Delayed mainnet launches by 6+ weeks.
AfterAutomated pre-audit pipeline with Slither, Mythril, Foundry fuzzing. 100% of Pharos contracts pass external audit on first pass. Zero critical vulnerabilities since 2018.
When we say no
We decline roughly 30% of RFPs we receive. Forcing a bad fit costs both sides 3-6 months and damages outcomes. Here is how we think about scope:
Not every problem needs AI. If business rules are well-defined and deterministic, a rules engine will outperform any LLM at 1/100th the cost with full auditability. We start every AI engagement by asking "can this be solved without AI?" If the answer is yes, we say so.
- Tax calculation and invoice totals
- KYC rule checks and AML thresholds
- Form validation and schema constraints
What we changed our minds about
Three convictions we revised after running projects across regulated industries.
Microservices are not the default
In 2018 we defaulted to microservices for early-stage products. We learned the hard way that operational burden outweighs modularity benefits until load or org scale justifies it. Now we start every project with a modular monolith, ship faster, and migrate to services only when metrics show we need to. Better uptime, fewer operational incidents and teams spend engineering hours on features instead of orchestration.
AI scope shrinks, not grows
Initial AI ambitions almost always exceed what ships in the first six months. Instead of building a broad platform, we now ruthlessly narrow to a single workflow that delivers measurable value. A chatbot that handles 20% of support tickets costs 1/10th of one that tries all 100 intents. Shipping fast, measuring adoption and iterating on real data beats the theoretically perfect architecture.
Ground-truth data first
We turn down RAG and agent projects without a verifiable corpus. No project. No exception. Hallucination is a data problem, not a model problem. A rules engine trained on clean client data outperforms the best LLM trained on hope. We've learned to spend 40% of AI budgets on data validation, cleaning and versioning before touching the model layer.
Emerging segment: Web3 x FinTech crossover
The intersection of blockchain and traditional finance is the fastest growing segment in B2B software in 2026. Tokenized real-world assets, compliant crypto wallets, DeFi for institutions and stablecoin payment infrastructure are moving from experiment to production at enterprise scale.
Pharos Production has dedicated engineering capacity for this crossover. Our Web3 x FinTech practice combines our 100+ smart contract deployments with control alignment to PCI DSS, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 frameworks from FinTech engagements.
Evaluating development partners?
Read our founder-grade evaluation guides and original research before committing to any vendor.
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Get a ballpark cost and timeline in 60 seconds. Select your service category, configure scope and see what to expect.
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Configure your project scope
Estimated investment
$50K - $300K
Estimated timeline
8-24 weeks
Recommended model
Project-based
Typical phase breakdown
Discovery 15%
Development 50%
QA & audit 20%
Deploy 15%
Ranges are based on actual project data from 2026. Your final quote may differ after discovery. All estimates include project management, QA and deployment.
About this page
How we source, measure and publish what you just read.
Community and open source
Our engineers contribute to open source, publish technical research and participate in the broader software development community.
How we count our stats
Applications delivered (110+) counts production-deployed projects with client sign-off since 2013. Service categories (6) and specialized services (35+) reflect active offerings as of July 2026.
Reviews (96) are verified on Clutch as of 2026. Cost ranges and timelines are typical engagement totals across 25+ recent projects per category, validated during the discovery sprint.
Important
Pharos Production provides software development services. We do not provide financial, legal, medical or regulatory advice. Compliance outcomes depend on client implementation and operational context.
Cost estimates are indicative and validated during the Paid Discovery phase. Smart contracts are deployed at client direction after security audit.
Recent updates to this page
We review this services catalog quarterly and publish what changed.
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Published two original research pieces: State of Custom Software TCO 2026 (53 sources) and State of AI Development Costs 2026 (50 sources). Added Web3 x FinTech emerging segment with four dedicated landing pages. Refreshed cost and timeline ranges from Q1 2026 delivery data.
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Re-verified all transformation metrics against client dashboards 12 to 48 months after deployment. Added editorial colophon block with stats methodology, correction policy and author attribution.
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Restructured the service taxonomy into six categories. Added "What we do not do" scope block and "When we say no" decision criteria.
Trusted & Certified
Partnerships and awards
Recognized on Clutch, GoodFirms and The Manifest for software engineering excellence
19+ industry awards
Reviews
Independent reviews from Clutch, GoodFirms and Google - verified client feedback on our software projects
Based on 12 verified client reviews
Web3 & Blockchain
Pharos Production Inc.'s efforts resulted in a 40% increase in transaction processing efficiency, a 30% improvement in blockchain integration speeds, and the mitigation of all critical security risks. The team was transparent, proactive, and technically proficient.
FinTech
Thanks to Pharos Production Inc.'s efforts, the client's platform scalability increased by 40%, and transaction processing speed improved by 35%. The team also mitigated all critical security vulnerabilities. Moreover, they utilized Jira, Slack, and Zoom for effective project management.
FAQ
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Pharos Production offers custom software development across web, mobile, AI, blockchain and cloud. Our catalog covers full-stack engineering, FinTech and Web3 platforms, AI agents and LLM integration, plus dedicated teams and staff augmentation.
We work from MVP through enterprise-scale systems with a team of 90+ engineers operating since 2013.
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Start with your goal: a new product MVP, scaling an existing platform, adding AI or modernizing legacy software. Each service page lists what it includes, typical timelines and cost ranges.
If you are unsure, we scope a fixed-price discovery first and recommend the right engagement before any code is written.
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Yes, both. We run fixed-price projects with a defined scope for well-specified work, and dedicated team or staff augmentation models for ongoing development.
The dedicated model embeds vetted senior engineers in your processes and tools, while fixed-price suits a clear deliverable with a firm budget.
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We start with a paid discovery sprint to define scope, architecture and estimates, then deliver in agile iterations with regular demos. Every engagement includes code review, automated testing and CI/CD.
Our process aligns with ISO 27001 security practices and gives you working software early rather than a big-bang release.
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Cost depends on scope and engagement model. An MVP typically starts in the tens of thousands of dollars while enterprise platforms run higher.
Dedicated engineers are billed at transparent rates well below coastal US markets. Each service page lists indicative ranges, and we provide a detailed estimate within 48 hours of receiving your requirements.
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Yes. We offer ongoing maintenance, monitoring, security updates and feature development after launch.
Many clients move from an initial build into a dedicated team arrangement so the same engineers who shipped the product keep improving it, avoiding the knowledge loss that comes with switching vendors.
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Our services span FinTech, healthcare, Web3 and blockchain, e-commerce, logistics and gaming among others. We pair domain experience with compliance knowledge, building to standards like PCI DSS, SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR where the industry requires it.
Industry-specific pages detail our work in each vertical.
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We typically scope a fixed-price discovery within days and assemble a dedicated team within 2 to 3 weeks. For urgent work we can prioritize onboarding so core development begins sooner.
Share your requirements and we return a detailed estimate with architecture recommendations within 48 hours.
Your business results matter
Achieve them with minimized risk through our bespoke innovation capabilities
What happens next?
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Contact us
Contact us today to discuss your project. We’re ready to review your request promptly and guide you on the best next steps for collaboration
Same day -
NDA
We’re committed to keeping your information confidential, so we’ll sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement
1 day -
Plan the Goals
After we chat about your goals and needs, we’ll craft a comprehensive proposal detailing the project scope, team, timeline and budget
3-5 days -
Finalize the Details
Let’s connect on Google Meet to go through the proposal and confirm all the details together!
1-2 days -
Sign the Contract
As soon as the contract is signed, our dedicated team will jump into action on your project!
Same day