Member area or academy
Content, courses or downloads behind a login, optionally with a subscription.
MEMBERS
Dev & appsOnline platform development, built to scale.
A member area, marketplace, knowledge base or portal with many users and lots of data. We lay the foundation so that features, users and markets can be added later, without starting over.
Platforms with sign-in, roles and your own data. Fixed price after a call.
Price on request · fixed price up front · hosting in the EU
- Based in Julianadorp, NL · Chamber of Commerce 54099897 · you talk to the people who build it
In short
What is an online platform, and what do we build?
An online platform is a website or web application where many users sign in and do something together: members viewing content, customers and suppliers handling business, or buyers and sellers on a marketplace. Sharp Creations builds such platforms to measure, with sign-in, roles, a database of your own and hosting in the EU. Because every platform is different, the price is on request: after a call you get a fixed price up front. Once paid, the code and the Git repository are yours. We work from Julianadorp (the Netherlands) for businesses across the country.
Kinds
Kinds of platforms.
Marketplace
Sellers and buyers, with profiles, search and payments.
MARKETPLACE
Customer or partner portal
Orders, documents and status in one place.
PORTAL
Knowledge base or directory
Thousands of pages that are searchable and findable.
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Multilingual platforms
One platform for several countries and languages.
MULTILINGUAL
Platform with AI
Search, recommend or summarise on your own data.
AI
Technology
Scale, sign-in and data explained.
Scale
Scale means more users at once, more data and more features. We choose a setup that grows by itself, such as serverless functions and a managed database, so you do not have to add servers yourself. Pages that are the same for everyone are built in advance and served through a CDN; only personal parts are fetched per user.
Sign-in and roles
Sign-in with email, Google or Microsoft, optionally with a second step (two-factor authentication). Roles determine who sees and may do what: member, admin, seller or customer. Those rules apply in the database itself, not only in the interface.
Data
A data model that fits your platform: documents (as in Firestore) or tables (as in Postgres), depending on how your data relates. With backups, exports and a clear place where personal data lives, so you can handle GDPR requests.
Several organisations
If your platform serves several organisations, we separate their data strictly, so customer A never sees customer B’s data.
Firebase, Azure or something else
Firebase is quick to set up and scales automatically; Azure fits if you already work in Microsoft. Where the limits are: Firebase: scalability and limits.
What you get
What you get.
01
Discovery and architecture
Roles, core process and data model mapped, with the technical choices explained.
02
Screen design
The key screens designed before we build.
03
A first version live
The core of your platform, with real users, as early as is responsible.
04
Admin
Manage users, content and settings yourself.
05
Monitoring and backups
You see how the platform runs, and data can be restored.
06
Code and handover
Documentation and the Git repository, yours once paid.
How we work
How we build your platform.
- 01
Discovery
Users, roles and the core process. What belongs in the first version, and what can wait?
- 02
Fixed price per phase
Scope and planning per phase, so you decide step by step.
- 03
Build in sprints
A demo of something working every sprint.
- 04
Launch and build on
Launch, monitoring and building on what users actually do.
Choosing
Platform or web app?
The difference is mainly scale and audience. A web app usually supports one process for a known group of users, such as your own team or your customers. A platform has many users, often from outside, and must be findable, fast and well secured, even when it is busy. Starting with a single process? See custom web app development.
What we have built. A public platform case is not on the site yet. What you can see: this website itself (Next.js on Firebase, bilingual, with its own CMS), the custom online store of Hondenvoeding Texel on Firebase, and the multilingual site of ARENI Winestorage for Stockholm and Oslo.
Price
What drives the price.
We price a platform after a call, and often after a short discovery, so the fixed price per phase is right. What determines the price:
- the number of roles and screens;
- payments and subscriptions;
- search and filtering across large amounts of data;
- multiple languages;
- integrations with other systems;
- migrating existing users and content;
- requirements for security and availability.
You get a fixed price per phase, excl. VAT. Starting with a small first version keeps the first step manageable.
Who you talk to
You talk to the developers.
No account manager in between. Call, message or email; you usually get an answer within one working day.
One number for the four of us. We reply within one business day. Based in Julianadorp; online, or we come to you.
Frequently asked questions
Good to know.
Question not listed? Just ask, one of the four of us will answer.
Ask your questionWhat does it cost to build an online platform?
We price it after a call, because platforms differ greatly in roles, data and integrations. You get a fixed price per phase up front.
How many users can the platform handle?
That depends on the setup, not on a fixed number. With serverless functions and a managed database the platform grows with usage. If you expect peaks, we take them into account in the setup.
Can I start with a small version of my platform?
Yes, and we recommend it. We first build the core for a first group of users, and expand based on what they actually use.
Where is my users’ data stored?
In the EU. We record where personal data lives, so you can handle GDPR requests. A data processing agreement is available on request.
Can users pay or subscribe on the platform?
Yes, through a payment provider such as Mollie or Stripe, including recurring payments for subscriptions.
Is a platform findable in Google?
The public pages are: they are rendered on the server, with titles, descriptions and structured data. What sits behind a login is deliberately not findable.
Who maintains the platform after launch?
We can, with a maintenance agreement, or your own team: the code and documentation are yours once paid.
What kind of platform do you have in mind?
Briefly describe your users and what they do on the platform. You usually hear back within one working day, with a proposal or a few focused questions.