What hidden costs should I budget for in a Laravel SaaS?

Several costs are commonly underestimated. Third party service fees (Stripe at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction, email, SMS, KYC) scale with usage. Infrastructure grows with traffic. Ongoing maintenance and security patching typically runs 15 to 25 percent of the original build cost per year. Design and UX, if not budgeted separately, adds 10 to 20 percent. Compliance (SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR) adds audit fees and engineering. Post launch iteration is not free. Total cost of ownership over three years often equals two to three times the initial build cost.