Build cheap with AI, then test properly

Building with AI cut the cost of a working product by an order of magnitude. Adding a proper security and QA test puts back a small fraction of that saving and removes most of the risk that came with it.

Last reviewed 2026-09-30Written by Jacob Masse, TrazTech Inc.

An app built with AI tools plus a proper security and QA test typically costs a small fraction of the same app built conventionally. The build is subscriptions and your time. The test is $2,000 to $12,000 CAD, once. A conventional build of a comparable first version runs to tens of thousands of dollars at contract rates. The test is the cheapest way to keep the saving without inheriting the risk.

The arithmetic, with the working shown

These are illustrations built from rates, not survey results. Substitute your own numbers.

Contract developer rates and AI tool pricing change. Check the current plan prices on each vendor's site; the order of magnitude is the point, not the exact figure.

What you skipped, and what you did not

The AI tool replaced the typing, most of the architecture decisions and a lot of the debugging. It did not replace the senior engineer who would have asked "and what stops someone else reading this record?" That question is the part of a conventional team you still need. A test is the cheapest way to buy it: a few days of someone whose job is to ask exactly that, on your specific app.

The cost of skipping the test

The risks are not fixed-cost problems. A data exposure in an app that holds personal information triggers breach duties under PIPEDA, notification of the people affected, a report to the Privacy Commissioner where there is a real risk of significant harm, and 24 months of breach records. A logic bug in checkout is refunds and chargebacks. An authorization gap found by your first enterprise prospect's security team loses the deal. None of these are priced in advance, and all of them cost more than the test. See who is liable if an AI-built app is breached.

When the test says rebuild

Sometimes a test finds that the foundation is wrong: no tenant separation in the data model, secrets baked into the client, an authorization model that cannot be patched. That is still the cheap outcome, because you learned it before customers moved in. How to tell a patch from a rebuild is on rewrite or patch.

How to buy the test well

1. Run the launch checklist yourself first. Free, and it clears the obvious.
2. Price the scope with the cost estimator so you know what a fair quote looks like.
3. Get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
4. Ask each firm the questions to ask a testing firm.
5. Fix with your AI tool, and make sure a retest is included.

TrazTech's version of this is vibe-coding QA and security review, built on exactly this argument: keep the AI build, pay for the part AI cannot do.

Common questions