Who Can Build a Two-Sided Marketplace Platform? Firms Compared (2026)

If you want to hire a software team to build a two-sided marketplace platform, a site where one group of people lists something and another group books or buys it, there are four kinds of help: a US product firm, a large European engineering company, a marketplace specialist, and a marketplace platform you configure yourself or with a hired expert. This roundup compares six, says which buyer each fits, and gives a price only where the firm publishes one. Razoyo is listed first because this is Razoyo’s blog, so every other entry says where that firm beats us.

How we picked

1. The firm publishes marketplace work on its own website. A case study or service page describing a two-sided platform it built, checked live in October 2026.
2. The mix covers the real choices. A US firm, two European firms, an agency built around one marketplace platform, the platform itself, and Razoyo.
3. You can see what you are buying before a call. A published method, timeline or price ranks above “contact us.”
4. There is a real buyer for whom this option beats the others. A roundup where one firm wins every row is an ad.

At a glance

Razoyo, if your marketplace still has open questions and you want them answered for a fixed price first

Disclosure: this is Razoyo’s blog, and we are biased.

Razoyo is a software engineering firm in The Colony, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth), serving clients US-wide since 2011. We take prototypes and constrained systems into production. For a marketplace, that usually means the step before the build: turning a good idea into a specification a team can build from.

Our published marketplace work is the vacation-rental marketplace Spec. A startup wanted a search-and-book site where travelers book the owner directly, funded by host subscriptions rather than guest fees. Its existing web partner said a two-sided marketplace with subscription billing, identity verification and third-party integrations sat outside its wheelhouse. We did not quote the build. We ran a $2,500 fixed-fee Production Spec instead. The product brief reached the founders ten days after kickoff and the PRD two weeks after that. Our team also stood up a working prototype of the host experience on Elixir and Phoenix LiveView. Six weeks after the first email, they owned a document specific enough to hand to any development team, and the most they ever had at risk was $2,500.

The Spec also found what the brief had missed. Many hosts already run their homes on property-management software, so we researched pulling listings, photos, calendars and rates straight from it instead of asking hosts to type everything in again. We have also delivered systems for several Fortune 500 companies, always under NDA, so we name none of them.

After the Spec, the published price list: an MVP from $5,000, a production build from $10,000, support from $1,500 a month. Before any work above the Spec, a business analyst puts a level of effort and a budget on each piece and gets your confirmation first. No approval, no work.

Ideal for

• Founders with a marketplace idea, a requirements document and open questions about how it makes money
• Buyers who want a fixed, small first step before committing a build budget
• Marketplaces with live availability, calendars and approval queues, where the Spec’s prototype stack fits
• Founders who want a document they own and can take to any team, including one that is not us

Why they stand out

Razoyo prices finding out, not building. The published marketplace case shows what a $2,500 Spec produced, including what the client chose to leave out of the first version and why.

Pros

• A fixed, published first step. $2,500 for the Spec, and the brief and PRD are yours either way.
• A published marketplace Spec. Brief in ten days, PRD two weeks later, a clickable host prototype within six weeks.
• Every piece of work is approved first. Estimated and budgeted before anyone starts.
• You see changes before users do. Every change lands on staging for your approval.
• Month to month after launch. Thirty days’ notice to stop a retainer.

Cons

• Build prices are ranges until the Spec is done. “From $10,000” is a floor, not a quote.
• Higher rates than offshore and Eastern European teams. We are more AI-forward than most, so the rate is higher and the value per dollar is better.
• One published marketplace case, and it is a Spec. We have not published a finished, scaled marketplace build.
• Not a marketplace platform. If a standard booking or listing flow fits your model, a platform is cheaper to start on.
• Not built to put dozens of engineers on a project next month. A large bench is a different purchase.

Verdict: pick Razoyo when the marketplace still has unanswered questions and you want them answered, in writing, for a fixed $2,500 before anyone prices the build.

Chop Dawg, if you want a mobile-first marketplace and a US-led partner on fixed monthly costs

Chop Dawg is an app development company that says it has served more than 500 startups, enterprises, governments and universities since 2009, building iOS, Android and web apps. Its full-time team is based across the United States, Brazil and Pakistan, and its FAQ says everything is built by that in-house team.

Its success stories include several marketplaces: a parking marketplace that turns driveways into revenue, an on-demand bartender marketplace for event staffing, a subleasing marketplace, a senior care placement marketplace, a home help marketplace, a sports memorabilia marketplace and a ticket marketplace for events. That is more published two-sided work than most general app firms show.

The commercial model is distinctive. Every engagement starts with a complimentary 45-minute consultation and a free proposal, and the proposal maps each phase to a fixed monthly budget and a timeline. On ownership it is unusually direct: “Your code, servers, infrastructure, documentation, and accounts are 100% yours from day one.” No price is published on the site.

Ideal for

• Marketplaces where most users will arrive on a phone
• Founders who want a single partner for design, build, launch and support
• Buyers who prefer a fixed monthly cost to an hourly bill

Why they stand out

It has published more consumer marketplace builds than any other general app firm here, and its ownership terms are written plainly on its own site.

Pros

• Many published marketplaces. Parking, event staffing, subleasing, care placement and more.
• Mobile and web together. iOS, Android and web from one team.
• Fixed monthly budgets. Set in the proposal before work starts.
• Ownership from day one. Code, servers and accounts in your name.

Cons

• No published price. You learn the monthly number in the proposal.
• A distributed team. Ask who on the United States, Brazil and Pakistan team writes your code and in which hours.
• Built for apps first. If your hard part is pricing rules or integrations rather than screens, ask to see that work.

Verdict: pick Chop Dawg for a mobile-first consumer marketplace with a US-led team and a fixed monthly cost.

Netguru, if your marketplace already works and needs a bigger team to scale it

Netguru is a software company headquartered in Poznań, Poland. By its own count it has 17+ years on the market, 400+ people on board and 2,500+ projects delivered. Its marketplace page is aimed at platforms that already have traffic: catalog and discovery systems, seller onboarding workflows, secure payment integration and data foundations.

Its headline marketplace case is Vinted, the second-hand fashion marketplace. Netguru says it supported the rapid expansion of Vinted GO, Vinted’s logistics and shipping platform, as the marketplace scaled across Europe, through on-demand team extension, and reports 100% on-time delivery of new carrier integrations. That is a scaling engagement, not a first build, and it is the kind of work Netguru presents most.

No price is published.

Ideal for

• Marketplaces past launch that need more engineers quickly
• Platforms with large catalogs where search and discovery drive revenue
• Buyers comfortable with a European team and a larger vendor

Why they stand out

Few firms can show work for a marketplace at Vinted’s scale. If your problem is growth rather than the first version, that experience is rare.

Pros

• Scale. 400+ people, so a team can grow with your marketplace.
• A large-marketplace case. Vinted GO carrier integrations delivered on time.
• Search and catalog depth. Discovery and data work for large inventories.
• Long track record. 17+ years on the market by its own account.

Cons

• Aimed at established marketplaces. A pre-launch founder may be a small account.
• No published price. Ask what the first step costs.
• European time zones. Limited working-hours overlap for a US West Coast team.

Verdict: pick Netguru when the marketplace works and the problem is scaling it, not starting it.

Codica, if you want your first custom marketplace built as an MVP by a team that has built many

Codica is a custom software company registered in Tallinn, Estonia, as Codica OU. Its homepage lists 9 years in the market, 50+ successful projects and a team of 60+, and its leadership includes Rails and React tech leads. Online marketplace development is the first service on its menu, and its marketplace page sets out a process that starts with research and discovery and moves to an MVP.

Its published cases include a service marketplace for PlanMyKids, where parents book after-school activities. Codica says it helped the founders narrow the MVP features through prototypes and delivered the MVP under budget, “crucial for a bootstrapping company.” Other cases cover a boat-selling marketplace, a collectibles marketplace and a domain name trading marketplace.

It publishes estimates by effort rather than a price list. Its cost guide sizes the back end of a custom marketplace at 350 hours for a simple build, 550 for medium and 700 for advanced. Its stack is Ruby on Rails or Node.js on the back end, React or Vue on the front, with PostgreSQL and AWS.

Ideal for

• First-time marketplace founders who want a custom build rather than a platform
• Booking and listing marketplaces similar to its published cases
• Buyers who want Eastern European rates

Why they stand out

Marketplaces are Codica’s main specialty, not a side service, and it publishes several two-sided builds with the MVP thinking behind them.

Pros

• Marketplace specialists. Several two-sided builds published, from bookings to collectibles.
• MVP first. Its own advice is to start with a minimum viable product.
• Published effort estimates. Hours by complexity, so you can sanity-check a quote.
• A team of 60+. Large enough for design, build and QA in one place.

Cons

• No published price. Its cost guide gives hours, not Codica’s rate.
• Time zones. Limited overlap with US working hours.
• Stack choices are theirs. If you need a specific stack, ask before you sign.

Verdict: pick Codica for a first custom marketplace built as an MVP by a team that specializes in them.

Journeyhorizon, if you want to launch on Sharetribe first and go custom only where you must

Journeyhorizon pairs Australian product and business leadership with engineering and delivery teams in Vietnam. It has been building since 2018 and is a Sharetribe partner. Its marketplace page lists 200+ marketplaces delivered and 60+ senior marketplace developers, and names clients such as Legalfinda, a marketplace where lawyers compete for posted legal needs, and Drivelah, a car sharing marketplace.

Its pitch is a choice, not a single answer. It lays out three foundations for a marketplace: Sharetribe for a fast MVP on a proven core, a hybrid for custom workflows on top, or full custom architecture for unusual business logic and deep integrations. It also sells Sharetribe-powered templates, including a service marketplace mobile app template “from just $199,” and says a first version can be ready “in just 2 Weeks or less.”

Ideal for

• Founders who want to launch quickly on Sharetribe and extend later
• Marketplaces with standard booking or listing flows plus a few custom features
• Buyers who want one team that can grow from a template into custom code

Why they stand out

It works on both sides of the platform-or-custom question, so it has no reason to push you toward one, and it has built a lot of marketplaces on Sharetribe.

Pros

• Sharetribe depth. A Sharetribe partner with 200+ marketplaces delivered.
• Three paths on the table. Platform, hybrid or custom, chosen per model.
• Low-cost start. Templates from $199.
• Fast first version. Two weeks or less, by its own account.

Cons

• Sharetribe-centered. If your model fights the platform, make sure the custom path is costed early.
• Time zones. Vietnam and Australia have little overlap with US hours.
• No published price for custom work. The template price is not the build price.

Verdict: pick Journeyhorizon to launch on Sharetribe quickly with a team that can go custom when you need it.

Sharetribe, if you want to test the marketplace yourself before paying anyone to build it

Sharetribe is not a development firm. It is marketplace software: you configure a rental, service or product marketplace with no-code tools, and developers can customize it with full code and API access. Its homepage says it has helped thousands of founders launch, and it supports marketplaces like Airbnb, Turo, StyleSeat or Thumbtack in shape.

Pricing is published. The Build plan, for building and testing, is $39 a month. The Live plan for running the marketplace is $199 a month billed yearly or $259 billed monthly, and includes infrastructure maintenance and 24/7 incident response. Usage fees are added as the marketplace grows; Sharetribe’s own example table runs from $0 a month for a small marketplace to $999 a month for a large one. Stripe’s payment fees come on top. There is a free 14-day trial, and if you need custom work, Sharetribe runs an Expert Network of vetted freelancers and agencies.

Ideal for

• Founders who want real users on a real marketplace before spending on a build
• Standard rental, booking or listing models
• Teams with a developer who can customize the code later

Why they stand out

It turns the first version of a marketplace into a monthly subscription, which is the cheapest honest test of whether both sides will show up.

Pros

• Published pricing. $39 a month to build, $199 a month live on a yearly plan.
• No-code start, code later. Full code and API access when you outgrow the defaults.
• Hosting and on-call included. Infrastructure and 24/7 incident response on the Live plan.
• Vetted help. The Expert Network when you need a developer.

Cons

• Not a development firm. Your business rules, pricing logic and integrations are still yours to design.
• Usage costs grow with you. Check the usage table against your expected volume.
• A platform’s model. If your transaction flow is unusual, you may hit its edges.

Verdict: pick Sharetribe when the cheapest useful step is putting a working marketplace in front of real users this month.

What makes a two-sided marketplace harder to build than a normal app?

A marketplace has two sets of users with opposite goals, and money that moves between them. A normal app serves one customer. A marketplace has to onboard sellers or hosts, check they are real, list what they offer, let buyers find and book it, take payment, pay out the other side, keep a share, and handle disputes, reviews and refunds in between.

The money is the part most first quotes underprice. Stripe’s Connect documentation describes the job plainly: collect payments from customers and automatically pay out a portion to sellers or service providers. Its guide to charge types offers three ways to do it, and the right one depends on your model. A services marketplace that matches contractors with homeowners usually charges the customer on the platform and pays the provider. A cart with goods from several sellers needs charges split across several accounts. Ask every firm which charge type it would use for your model, and why.

Reviews deserve their own line. The FTC’s final rule on fake reviews and testimonials prohibits their sale or purchase and bars a business from misrepresenting that a review site it controls is independent. Seeding a new marketplace with invented reviews to look busy is not a growth tactic. It is a legal risk.

Should you build a custom marketplace or start on a platform?

Start on a platform when your model looks like one the platform already supports and your biggest risk is whether anyone will use it. Build custom when the thing that makes your marketplace work does not fit a standard flow: unusual pricing, a verification process you cannot outsource, or integrations with systems your sellers already run.

The vacation-rental case is a good example of why. The client’s model only worked if hosts, who already used property-management software, could bring their listings over without typing them in again. A platform could not answer that. A Spec could, before the build was priced.

Who should I hire to build a marketplace if I am not technical?

Hire a firm that will tell you what to build first, before it tells you what the build costs. A non-technical founder’s biggest risk with a marketplace is rarely the code. It is paying for a full build of a model that has a hole in it: no reason for the paying side to stay, no way to stop fake listings, or a supply side that will not do data entry.

Three questions separate firms that will catch that from firms that will just build what you asked for:

• “What would you leave out of version one?” A good answer names features. The vacation-rental Spec deliberately left out the entire guest booking side, because a marketplace only works once hosts show up first.
• “Who owns the code, the accounts and the documents if we stop?” Chop Dawg and Razoyo both put this in writing on their sites. Our wording: once fees are paid, you own the code we write for you, and the Spec’s brief and PRD are yours either way. More on that in you own the code.
• “What is the most I can lose before I know whether this is buildable?” If the answer is the whole build budget, keep looking.

If you are deciding between a freelancer and a firm for this, our freelancer or engineering firm comparison covers the tradeoff, and how to tell if an agency is padding the scope helps you read the quotes you get.

Razoyo’s Four Marketplace Questions

Answer these before you call anybody, including us. They are the four questions that were open on day one of our published marketplace Spec. As that case says, none of them are engineering questions, and all of them change what gets built. Write a one-paragraph answer to each. Any you cannot answer is the first thing a Spec, or your own homework, should settle.

1. What does the paying side get? If one side pays and the other does not, write down what the paying side receives that justifies a recurring charge, in their words, not yours.
2. What stops a fake listing? Write down what someone must prove to list, who checks it, and what happens when they fail. Then decide what “verified” means on the badge.
3. Where does inventory come from? Decide whether sellers type listings in by hand or whether you pull them from the software they already use. Onboarding friction on the supply side can sink a marketplace before launch.
4. What is version one without? List the features you will leave out of the first release, and why. If the answer is “nothing,” the first build is too big.

So who should you call?

Call the option that matches where your marketplace is. Testing whether anyone will use it: Sharetribe, or Journeyhorizon if you want help launching on it. A first custom MVP from marketplace specialists: Codica. A mobile-first consumer marketplace with a US-led team on fixed monthly costs: Chop Dawg. A marketplace that works and needs to scale: Netguru. An idea with open questions that you want answered, in writing, before anyone prices the build: we do that for a fixed $2,500, and if the answer is “start on a platform,” that is what you will hear. Every step and price is on our process page, the scoping step is explained on scoping a software project, and what it costs to take an AI-built prototype to production covers the build side if you have already built a prototype yourself.

Key takeaways

• A marketplace is two products and a payment system. Supply onboarding, demand, and money moving between them.
• Most marketplaces fail on the model, not the code. Settle who pays, what stops fake listings, where inventory comes from and what version one leaves out.
• Platforms are the cheapest test. Sharetribe publishes $39 a month to build and $199 a month live on a yearly plan.
• Ask how the money moves. Every firm should name the payment approach it would use for your model.
• Few firms publish a price. Razoyo, Journeyhorizon and Sharetribe publish a number; ask everyone else what the first step costs.

Key terms glossary

• Two-sided marketplace. A platform where one group of users supplies something and another group books or buys it, with the platform in the middle.
• Supply side and demand side. The sellers, hosts or providers, and the buyers, guests or customers.
• Cold start. The early stage when a marketplace has too few sellers to attract buyers, or too few buyers to keep sellers.
• Payment splitting. Taking one payment from a buyer and paying part of it to a seller while the platform keeps a fee.
• MVP (minimum viable product). The smallest version of the product that real users can use, built to learn what to build next.
• PRD (product requirements document). A written specification of what the product must do, detailed enough for a development team to build from.

FAQ

Who can build a two-sided marketplace platform? Firms that publish marketplace work include Razoyo, Chop Dawg, Netguru, Codica and Journeyhorizon. Sharetribe is marketplace software you can configure yourself or with a hired expert. Match the option to your stage: testing an idea, building a first MVP, or scaling a marketplace that already works.

How much does it cost to build a marketplace? Most firms quote after scoping. Sharetribe publishes $39 a month to build and $199 a month live on a yearly plan, plus usage. Journeyhorizon publishes templates from $199. Razoyo publishes a $2,500 fixed Production Spec, an MVP from $5,000 and a production build from $10,000.

Should I use a marketplace platform or build a custom marketplace? Use a platform when your model fits a standard rental, booking or listing flow and your main risk is whether anyone will use it. Build custom when your pricing rules, verification process or integrations do not fit a platform. A Spec can tell you which before you commit a build budget.

What makes a marketplace harder to build than a normal app? It has two sets of users and money moving between them. You need seller onboarding and verification, listings, search, booking, payments, payouts with your fee kept, reviews and dispute handling. Payment splitting is the part most first quotes underprice.

How do marketplaces split payments between buyers and sellers? Most use a payments platform built for it, such as Stripe Connect, which collects from the customer and pays out a portion to the seller or service provider. Stripe offers three charge types, and the right one depends on whether customers transact with you or directly with sellers.

How long does it take to build a marketplace MVP? It depends on the path. A platform marketplace can be live in days. Razoyo’s published marketplace Spec produced a product brief in ten days, a PRD two weeks later and a working host prototype within six weeks. A custom build takes months after that.

What should version one of a marketplace leave out? Anything the first side of the marketplace does not need to show up. In Razoyo’s published marketplace Spec, version one left out the entire guest booking side, because a marketplace only works once hosts are on it.

Talk it through

If you have a marketplace idea and are not sure whether it is ready for a build, that is a free 30 minute conversation. Bring your answers to the Four Marketplace Questions, even the ones you are unsure of. We will tell you which are open, whether a platform would answer them faster, and what a Spec would cost you to settle the rest. Schedule Free Consultation. If you do not need us yet, that is what you will hear.

Paul Byrne is President of Razoyo, a software engineering firm in The Colony, Texas taking prototypes and constrained systems into production since 2011.