In today's context, marked by digitization and the development of information technology, one of the topics that needs to be addressed is the "costs of software development". This study investigates the evolution of scientific production related to the research topic based on descriptive and bibliometric analysis of selected articles on Web of Science and EBSCO, thus continuing existing research in the field. The importance of this theme is due to the increasing interest of entities to use customized software products that help them to achieve the desired results. The scientific approach is based on information from national and international literature and practice and various electronic sources. It has been shown that the development costs of custom software depend largely on the number of technical resources, the number and complexity of software product features and design patterns. Therefore, accurate estimation is impossible without prior analysis of the software design, business objectives and cost factors.