Why we cost less
Lower overhead. Not a lesser product.
When a government sets our quote next to the incumbent's, the natural question is: where's the catch? There isn't one. CiVQ costs less for a structural reason — the overhead that quietly inflates most government-software invoices simply is not in our cost structure. This page walks through exactly where the difference comes from, line by line.
Our commitment
30–50%
less than what you currently pay
That is the one number we put in writing — and we stand behind it in your quote. Everything else is quoted to fit your entity.
The overhead ledger
What we don't pay for — so you don't either.
Every software invoice quietly carries its vendor's cost structure. Sales commissions, rented license stacks, cloud margins — it all has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is you. Here is what CiVQ's books simply do not have on them.
An enterprise sales organization
CiVQ is one owned platform, built and run by its founder. There is no national sales team, no quota-carrying account executives, no commission layer waiting inside your renewal.
Zero dollars — not in our cost structureYour quote pays for software and service — not for somebody's commission.
Per-seat licensing arithmetic
We never license by the seat, so we never built — or staffed — the machinery that meters, audits, and trues-up seat counts.
Zero dollars — not in our cost structureTrain every clerk, every crew lead, every seasonal hire; your line item does not move.
Cloud-margin pass-through
CiVQ runs on its own origin server — infrastructure we own, not capacity we rent at a markup. No hyperscaler margin is baked into your bill.
Zero dollars — not in our cost structureWhen we don't pay rent on our own platform, you don't pay it either.
A rented middleware stack
The platform does not sit on a pile of third-party licenses that we rent monthly and re-bill to you. The pieces that matter, we built.
Zero dollars — not in our cost structureThere is no stack of someone else's subscriptions hiding inside yours.
Acquisition debt
CiVQ was never assembled from acquisitions. It is one codebase, designed as one system — there is no glue between bolted-together products to maintain, support, and bill for.
Zero dollars — not in our cost structureYou pay for one platform, not for the cost of holding several together.
None of this makes the product smaller. The full module suite, human-authored English/Spanish on every resident-facing surface, the append-only audit trail, the tested tenant isolation — all of it ships at this cost structure. Lower overhead is the whole trick. There is no other one.
Switching, without the leap
You never pay for promises. You pay for delivered modules.
Switching platforms is where governments usually get hurt: long contracts signed on promises, migration fees, training invoices. We removed all three.
- 01
We quote it — you pick a first module
Tell us what hurts most: alerts, 311, permits, payments. We quote a first module, sized for your entity and your budget cycle.
- 02
We deliver it, ready to use
We build it, we migrate all of your existing data, and we train your staff in person — both free, as part of onboarding.
- 03
You judge it working
Your staff runs the real module on your real data. If it isn't earning its keep, you stop — having only ever paid for what was delivered.
Included in onboarding, at no cost
- Free
Full data import
We migrate everything you have today — records, residents, history — at no cost. Switching never carries a migration invoice.
- Free
In-person training
We drive to your offices and train your team face to face, in English and Spanish. Not a line item, not a per-day rate.
Then it's your call
Continue module by module
Add the next module when you're ready — each one delivered, evaluated, and paid for on its own terms.
Or opt into a full contract
If you'd rather plan the whole platform at once, we'll write a full contract for the suite. Same product, same support — your preferred pace.
Both paths are first-class. Neither is penalized.
Two ways to take it
Lease it or buy it — both first-class, both customizable.
Some governments want a hosted platform with a predictable annual line. Others want to own their software outright. CiVQ was built for both — and we customize the platform to your entity under either path.
Lease it
Fully hosted, managed, monitored, and updated by us — one predictable per-tenant line item that is easy to budget and easy to defend to council.
- Hosting, updates, and security handled by us
- One predictable per-tenant annual line item
- Custom modules and workflows built to your entity
Buy it
Purchase the platform outright: full source-code handover, running on infrastructure you control, yours for as long as you want it.
- Full source-code handover
- Self-hosted, on infrastructure you control
- Custom modules and workflows built to your entity
Customization is not a tier and not a path — it comes with both. However you take CiVQ, we shape it to how your government actually works.
Get started
See CiVQ in your language.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough with our team in Rio Grande City. We'll tailor it to your city, county, or district.
Bilingual support included at every tier.