Author
Jesper Van Bondt
Founder and CEO, VBS Marketing
Steers the growth and strategy of VBS. VBS started with custom websites and today also builds software: its own platform AMOSI and platforms for clients in transport and professional services.
Writes on this site about custom software, apps and web apps, automation and building with AI.
Articles by Jesper
News
- AI-generated content labellingThe grace period ends for image, audio and text generators that were on the EU market before August.
- Data Act cloud switchingFrom 12 January 2027, moving your data to another cloud provider in the EU costs nothing in switching charges.
- Product Liability Directive softwareSoftware and AI become products under EU liability law, SaaS included. Whoever places them on the market answers for defects, fault or no fault.
- WhatsApp Business pricingSince 1 October 2026 the WhatsApp Business API charges for service messages above 1,000 per number a month, and for utility messages inside the customer window.
- Cyber Resilience Act reporting obligationsAn actively exploited vulnerability or severe incident in a product sold in the EU now has to be reported within 24 hours.
- EU AI Act transparency obligationsAnyone talking to your AI in the EU must know it, wherever your company is based. Deepfakes and some AI texts need a label.
Guides
- How much does a chatbot cost? Model, build and upkeepThe model costs next to nothing per conversation. What costs money is everything around it: your knowledge, the integrations, testing and upkeep.
- Excel scheduling or planning software: when to switchExcel schedules fine while one person plans. After that, nobody sees the double booking. When do you switch?
- ChatGPT or Copilot for business: which one fits?Copilot works inside your Microsoft 365, ChatGPT is a separate workspace. What each costs, what it does with your data and when something of your own fits better.
- Odoo or custom software: which fits your company?Odoo is Belgian, well known and does a lot. Custom software does exactly what you need. When to pick which?
- Developer rates by countryAn hour of IT work costs an employer 70 euros in Ireland, 59 in Belgium and 22 in Hungary. What freelancers and agencies charge on top, and what to compare instead.
- AI agents explained: how they work and what they costSoftware that gets a goal and picks its own steps. What that means for a small business, what it costs and where a person signs off.
- Odoo or Teamleader: price and difference for SMEsOdoo is broad, Teamleader is focused. What each costs, who it works for and when your process calls for custom.
- Excel to web app: when and how to replace spreadsheetsAlmost every company starts with a spreadsheet. It works for a long time, until it does not.
- AI tools for business: which kind fits which task?Choose per task, not per brand. That is how you find the AI that wins your team time every week.
- Freelance developer rates in the Netherlands, 2026What clients offer, what freelancers ask, per field, and how that compares with an employee or a fixed price.
- HubSpot pricing plansThe seat price is big on the page. Onboarding, user caps and credits sit in the small print.
- Best countries to outsource software developmentSix countries on the numbers that move your invoice and your risk. Belgium included, as the expensive option it is.
- Custom software development costAn honest price for custom work starts with scope: what the software must do, for whom, and what it talks to.
- Odoo pricingLicences are cheap, the set-up is not. Here is the sum for 5, 15 or 40 people.
- ERP cost per monthEvery pricing page shows the licence. The implementation, usually the bigger line, only shows up in the quote.
- EU data residency requirementsGDPR does not force your data into the EU. Your customers, tenders and auditors increasingly do.
- CRM cost per monthPer seat, every CRM looks affordable. Over three years and twenty people the gap runs into tens of thousands.
- App development cost in EuropeWhat an app costs depends mostly on the route to your user's phone: through the stores, or through a link.
- AI implementation in your business: a step-by-step planStart with one task, measure before and after, and keep a person approving. That is how AI becomes a fixed part of your work.
- Make, Zapier or n8n: what each costs for your flowsAll three connect your tools without code. The difference is how they count, what that costs and where your data lives.
- ChatGPT pricingFrom free to 500 dollars a month. What you pay depends on who uses it and which data goes in.
- Claude pricing plansThree ways to pay: per person, per seat in a team, or per use through the API.
- How to choose a software development companyLook at software they run today and at who owns the code. Compare prices only after that.
Tools
- Time zone overlap calculatorPick your city and your team's, set both working days, and see the hours you share on any date, daylight saving included.
- ChatGPT API cost calculatorWhat a chatbot, mail assistant or invoice reader costs per month in API fees, across four providers, from your own volumes.
- Software development cost calculatorPick what your software should do and see hours, a price range and calendar time, without an email address.
Questions
- Convert website to app: three routes comparedThree routes, what Apple and Google charge and review, and why a web app is enough for most businesses.
- Which software for Peppol?Belgium lists more than 250 solutions and recommends none. Here is how to choose without comparing them all.
- Is Odoo free?What One App Free really gives, what you pay per user once you add a second app, and why setup often costs more than the licences.
- Is n8n free?What the free Community Edition gives you, what the cloud costs, and what self-hosting takes in server, updates and security.
- Which chatbot is European?Le Chat by Mistral next to the American options with European storage, what that means for the GDPR, and what a team of ten pays.
- Why outsource software development?Four reasons that hold, what an hour of IT work costs across Europe, and the two cases where you should keep it in-house.
- AI literacy requirementsStill a duty after the omnibus, without a fixed level. Training you can show is your best proof.
- Is ChatGPT safe for business?What happens to your input on Free, Plus, Business and Enterprise, what the GDPR asks, and how to get your team working safely in a week.
- How long does ERP implementation take?The duration per company size, where the months go, what it costs your own people, and why a custom system sometimes goes live sooner than a package.
- Is Lovable good?Where an app built with Lovable leaks, what you must check before going live, and when a developer is the better call.
- Is HubSpot free?What the free CRM really does, where its limits are, and what the jump to Starter or Professional costs for a team of five.
- How to build a chatbotThree routes, from an afternoon with a tool to an AI chatbot on your own documents, the six steps every route needs, and what it costs a month.
- Do I need an AI policy?What the EU AI Act asks per way of using AI and since when, what it costs a business of ten, and a policy on one page.
Glossary
- What is a client portal?The same reminders every month, spreadsheets in ten formats, documents lost in an inbox. How a portal hands that work to the client, and what it gives you back.
- What is an API integration?If someone in your office copies orders, addresses or invoice totals from one screen into another, you are paying a person to be an integration. What a real one costs, and when it pays.
- What is RAG in AI?How a language model learns to use your manuals and contracts without retraining, what a question costs, and where it breaks.
- What is an AI hallucination?A chatbot that promises a refund your policy never offered, or cites a court ruling that does not exist. Why language models invent things so confidently, and how to stop it in your own business.
- What is CRM?Who called last week, which quote is still open, when does the contract end? Without a CRM that lives in three inboxes and one person's head. What a CRM costs, and when you need one.
- What is SaaS?What software as a service means, how it differs from PaaS and IaaS, and what a subscription really costs over five years.
- What is ERP?An order that sales enters, the warehouse picks and accounts invoice, without anyone retyping it. What an ERP costs, where the real bill sits, and when no package fits.
- What is prompt injection?How one sentence in an email or form takes over your chatbot or agent, why no filter stops it completely, and which limits do work.
- What is machine learning?How software learns a rule from your own data, the three kinds there are, and when a fixed rule does the job better.
- What is low code?Building an app by dragging, clicking or typing one sentence into a prompt box. Sometimes that is enough; sometimes you hit a wall three months in. Where the wall is, and what it costs by then.
- What is technical debt?Why every shortcut charges interest on the next change, how to measure that interest in hours, and when paying it off pays back.
- What is vibe coding?A prototype in an afternoon, a liability once real customers and real data arrive.
- What is a webhook?How a payment, a form or a request lands in your own software at once, without it asking every minute.
- What is a TMS?What a transport management system does, when a haulier needs one, and why buying or building is a real choice.
- What is a token in AI?How a language model cuts text into pieces, why Dutch and German cost more pieces than English, and what 1,000 summaries really cost.
- What is two-factor authentication?How a second step protects your accounts and your client portal, which method survives phishing, and what it costs.
- What is Scrum?The three accountabilities, five events and three artifacts of the Scrum Guide, and what you keep of them when an outside team builds your software.
- What is RPA?What robotic process automation does, what UiPath and Microsoft charge for it, and why an integration usually outlasts a robot.
- What is nearshoring?How nearshore outsourcing differs from offshore and onshore, what it really costs per hour in Europe, and when a team one border away is the right call.
- What is an AI agent?Software that does not just answer but acts: it plans, uses your tools and checks its own work. Where that already saves hours in a business, and where a simpler setup is the better buy.
- What is an MVP in software?Why you do not build the whole wish list, how to cut the first version, and what it teaches you before you invest further.
- What is fine-tuning?"Can we train ChatGPT on our company?" is the AI question we hear most. Fine-tuning is rarely the answer. What it does change, what it costs, and what usually works better.
- What is proof of concept?How a small test of a few weeks tells you whether your idea works technically, with a bar set beforehand and a decision after.
- What is an LLM?ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Mistral's Le Chat all run on the same kind of software. How it works without the hype, what it costs per thousand emails, and where it should not have the final word.
- What is prompt engineering?What you give an AI model, the five parts that make its answer usable, and why a prompt inside software works differently from one in a chat.
- What is a PWA?What a progressive web app is, what iPhone and Android do with it, and when it makes a store app unnecessary.
- What is MCP in AI?How an AI assistant reads and operates your calendar, files and software through one open standard, who supports it, and what it means for permissions.
- What is staff augmentation?How adding outside developers differs from a dedicated team or a project, what it costs per month, and when it is the wrong choice.
Comparisons
- Teamleader alternativesTeamleader, from Ghent, does quote to invoice well. What if your company needs more than that line?
- ChatGPT vs GeminiIf you run on Google Workspace, you already have Gemini. On Microsoft or a mix of tools, it is different.
- Toptal alternativesToptal screens for you and charges in the rate. What else gets you a senior developer, or a whole team?
- ChatGPT vs ClaudeBoth write, read and analyse. The differences are in the extras, the price per seat and where your data lives.
- Eastern Europe vs Western Europe developersAn hour of work in Poland costs about 40 percent of one in Belgium. The law is the same, the clock nearly so. What else differs decides.
- Upwork alternatives in EuropeUpwork is global and leaves the selection to you. Where else do you find developers in Europe?
- HubSpot alternativesMost teams use two or three HubSpot features. For those, cheaper and European options exist.
- Nearshore vs offshoreThe difference is not kilometres. It is the hours you share, the law you share, and how much talking the work needs.
- CRM vs ERPA CRM knows who your customer is, an ERP what your company delivered. Which question do you ask most?
- Build vs buy softwareA subscription is cheaper to start. A build can be cheaper to own. Team size and your process decide.
- Odoo alternativeToo many apps, too much set-up, or an implementation quote that stung? The alternatives, by type of business.
Templates
- Software development contract templateFourteen clauses to adapt with your lawyer, a note on what each one settles, and the five that matter most filled in for a real-sized project.
- AI policy templateTwo pages in five blocks, and a register that proves your team learned to work with AI.
- Software requirements specification templateTen parts in plain English, from why to done, with a requirements list in Excel and a filled-in example.
Research
Blog
- AI trends 2027: what European businesses plan forWhat is already fixed in law and in platform announcements, what it changes in search, ads and work, and what to plan now.
- ChatGPT prompts for marketing: 15 to copy, EU-readyFive building blocks, fifteen prompts to copy, and what you always add yourself, including for new European markets.
- Calculator on your website: tools that bring leadsA cost calculator that gets found in Google and turns into enquiries. What works, what it takes, where it goes wrong.
- Stop contact form spam without a captcha: what worksFive filters we built for eleven client domains, what a captcha costs, and what you can do today.
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