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- Custom SaaS DevelopmentNewMulti-tenant, billing, SOC 2-ready, AI-native.
- Next.js DevelopmentProduction Next.js 15 with App Router, RSC & edge.
- Python & FastAPIHigh-performance APIs, microservices, AI inference.
- Mobile App DevelopmentNewReact Native & Flutter — iOS + Android.
- Web ApplicationsFull-stack web apps, portals & dashboards.
- Custom SoftwareBespoke software, sprint delivery, real PMs.
AI & Data- AI Agent DevelopmentLangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude — RAG + tools.
- Custom RAG DevelopmentNewHybrid search, reranking, evals & citations.
- MCP Server DevelopmentNewExpose your tools to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT.
- AI & ML DevelopmentComputer vision, predictive analytics, fine-tuning.
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Quick answer
UnlockLive IT is a Toronto-based custom software development company shipping bespoke software for product teams and enterprises since 2008 — over 1,000 projects across SaaS, internal tools, enterprise integrations, industry-specific software, legacy modernization, and AI-native products. Default stack is Next.js + TypeScript on the frontend, Python or Node on the backend, AWS for hosting, but we run Django, Laravel, .NET, Rails, Go, and Elixir when the project demands it. Every engagement is led by a Toronto PM accountable for the timeline, the budget, and your weekly written status update — no offshore-ghost vendor surprises.
What we build
Custom SaaS platforms:Multi-tenant B2B SaaS, vertical SaaS, and AI-native products. See our dedicated SaaS development page for details.
Internal tools & admin platforms:Operations consoles, CRM/ERP extensions, custom admin panels, internal dashboards, support agent tooling, and back-office automation. We replace fragile spreadsheets and Retool sprawl with maintainable internal apps.
Enterprise integration platforms:Middleware that wires together Salesforce, NetSuite, SAP, Workday, Microsoft Dynamics, your data warehouse, and 20-year-old systems-of-record. Event-driven, idempotent, observable.
Industry-specific software:EHRs and patient portals (healthcare), member management (associations and unions), learning management (education), broker portals (insurance and finance), inventory and dispatch (logistics).
Modernization & legacy migrations:Refactoring out of unmaintainable codebases — old jQuery, classic ASP, Cold Fusion, abandoned Rails, deprecated AngularJS, end-of-life PHP — onto modern stacks. We build the strangler-fig migration plan and execute it without big-bang rewrites.
Hardware-adjacent and embedded-touching software:POS systems, kiosk apps, IoT control planes, ESC/POS thermal-printer integrations, MikroTik / RouterOS workflows, and warehouse hardware (barcode scanners, RFID, label printers).
Our technology stack
Our development process
- Discovery (1-3 weeks): Stakeholder interviews, workflow mapping, technical audit (if modernizing), competitive teardown, and a written product strategy with prioritized scope, timeline, and budget — before you sign anything binding.
- Architecture & technical design (1-2 weeks): System design diagrams, data model, integration topology, hosting architecture, security and compliance constraints captured in a written ADR per non-obvious decision.
- Sprint 0 — foundations (1 week): Repo setup, CI/CD pipelines, design system, environment configuration (dev/staging/prod), auth scaffold, observability baseline, and a deployment-from-day-one staging environment.
- Iterative two-week sprints (8-30+ weeks): Real Scrum: planning Monday, daily standup during your business hours, mid-sprint check-in Wednesday, demo Friday week 2, written retrospective. Continuous delivery to staging. Weekly written status email from your Toronto PM.
- QA, security review & launch (2-4 weeks): Full regression suite, performance audit, accessibility audit (WCAG 2.1 AA where applicable), OWASP Top 10 review, load test, production launch with on-call coverage during cutover.
- Post-launch warranty & retainer (ongoing): 30-day warranty included on every project. Most clients move into a monthly retainer (20-160 hours/month) for feature work, performance, and bug fixes. We don't ghost you after launch.
Frequently asked questions
How much does custom software development cost?
A focused MVP or internal tool typically ranges from $25,000 to $80,000. A production-quality custom SaaS or enterprise application ranges from $90,000 to $350,000. Large enterprise platforms with deep integrations, compliance work, and 12+ month timelines run $400,000 to $2M+. We line-item every quote — no blind ranges, no scope-of-work magic — after a 1-2 week paid discovery.
How long does a typical project take?
Internal tools and tight MVPs: 8-14 weeks. Mid-sized custom platforms: 4-8 months. Large enterprise platforms: 9-18 months, usually broken into multiple releases. We ship a working staging environment within the first 2-3 weeks of every engagement so you see real progress, not slide decks.
Fixed price, time-and-materials, or dedicated team?
Fixed price works for tightly-scoped projects with stable requirements (e.g., migrations, integrations, defined MVPs). Time-and-materials is our default for product builds where requirements legitimately change. Dedicated team is our most common model for ongoing product development — you get a named team for a monthly fee with full Toronto PM management. We help pick the right model based on your situation, not ours.
Do you actually run agile, or is it agile in name only?
Real two-week sprints with sprint planning, daily standups during your business hours, end-of-sprint demos, and written retrospectives. Every client has access to our Linear or Jira board with full transparency into what's in progress. We send a written status email every Friday so people who can't attend ceremonies stay informed.
Where are your developers based?
Project management, architecture, and client-facing leads are in our Toronto, Canada headquarters. Full-time engineering is in our Mirpur DOHS office in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All work is run through Toronto accountability — your PM is in Toronto, your demos are in your time zone, and your contract is with our Canadian entity.
Can you take over a stalled project from another vendor?
Yes — about 25% of our incoming work is rescuing a project that stalled with another vendor. We start with a paid technical audit (typically 1-2 weeks), produce a written assessment of the codebase, the gaps, and the realistic options (continue, refactor, partial rewrite, full rewrite), and then propose a rescue plan with a fixed audit fee independent of whether you continue with us.
Do you build with AI features?
Yes. About 60% of our 2025-2026 engagements include some AI feature — copilots, RAG search, agentic workflows, document extraction. We have dedicated practices for AI Agent Development, Custom RAG Development, and AI/ML Development. We won't bolt AI on for the sake of it; if AI doesn't make your product better, we'll say so.
Ready to build software your team will love operating?
Tell us what you're building or modernizing. We'll respond within one business day with honest thoughts on scope, timeline, and budget. Book a free strategy call with our Toronto team.
UnlockLive IT Limited provides state-of-the-art software solutions to clients all over the world. We are a creative force with strategic alliances distributed around the globe
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