The Services Industry’s Broken Pricing Model Just Met Its Match

Fraction Launches the First Free, Instant Engineering Cost Estimator. No Sales Call. No Proposal. No Wait.

ATLANTA, Feb. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — You have an idea for what to build. What you don’t have is a straight answer on what it’s going to cost, because getting one still means contacting multiple firms, sitting through sales calls, and waiting two weeks for a proposal that may not even be in your budget.

Fraction, the top source of U.S.-based senior engineering talent, is ending that. Today the company launched a free AI-powered project estimator at hirefraction.com/instant-project-plan, giving any founder, operator, CTO, or product team an instant engineering plan and cost estimate with no sales call and no commitment required.

SaaS companies figured out transparent, self-serve pricing years ago. The services industry never did. Getting a software estimate has remained one of the last genuinely broken buying experiences in business: opaque, slow, and controlled by the vendor. Fraction is changing that.

“The way software agencies deliver estimates is broken,” said Praveen Ghanta, founder and CEO of Fraction. “You shouldn’t have to sit through a discovery call just to get an idea on what your project will cost. AI should give anyone with an idea a realistic plan and estimate in seconds, not weeks. This is where the services industry is headed. We’re just leading the way.”

How It Works

Anyone can describe what they want to build, from rough notes to a full PRD, and the estimator produces a complete, task-level engineering plan with story point estimates and projected costs. Tasks are scored for complexity using an AI-powered system and priced at Fraction’s transparent rate of $149 per story point, so teams know exactly what their project will cost before engaging with anyone. The output is a downloadable plan teams can use immediately to scope internally, pressure-test vendor proposals, or move directly into execution.

The Business Model Behind It

The estimator is the entry point to Fraction’s outcome-based pricing model, a fundamental departure from hourly billing. Fraction’s per-story-point model ties every dollar spent to a shipped feature, not a logged hour. Teams that want to move from estimate to execution are matched with senior, U.S.-based engineers through Fraction, with a 7-day risk-free trial and no long-term commitment.

“We didn’t gate this behind a demo request,” Ghanta added. “Use the estimate however you want. If the numbers work and you want us to build it, we’re ready. If not, you still walk away with a real plan.”

The estimator is live now at hirefraction.com/instant-project-plan.

About Fraction Fraction is the top source of U.S.-based senior engineering talent, connecting founders, CTOs, and operators with battle-tested engineers. With transparent per-story-point pricing and AI-powered project management, Fraction delivers the impact of senior talent without the overhead of a full-time hire. Over 150 engineering teams have shipped with Fraction.

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SOURCE Fraction