How the cost comparison works
How we estimate it: the calculator compares two ways to run the same operation. The first is a licensed player-account platform (PAM) plus separate tools for CRM, loyalty and gamification, affiliates, fraud and risk, customer support, BI and payment orchestration, connected and maintained by your own team. The second is DXAPlay at our list prices. For each category we use a low, typical and high price taken from vendors' published prices, third-party estimates and our own estimates, scaled to your brands, monthly active players, gross gaming revenue, payment transactions and integrations. Year 1 = one-time costs + recurring fees + usage-based fees (including revenue share). Each later year = recurring fees + usage-based fees. Where DXAPlay does not replace a specialist tool, such as device-intelligence data or live chat, that cost stays on the DXAPlay side. Costs that are the same either way are left out: game-content royalties, payment-processing and KYC fees, licences, odds feeds, message delivery and taxes. Every formula, range and source date is listed in the methodology notes.
Illustrative estimate only — not a quote, offer or guarantee of savings. Third-party figures are ranges built from published price lists, third-party estimates and DXAPlay's own estimates as of 14 October 2026; many vendors do not publish prices, and your negotiated prices, contract terms, team costs and module needs will differ. Categories describe typical tools, not any named supplier. DXAPlay figures are list prices before tax, assume the selected modules are available for your market under your contract, and may change; only a signed order form sets your price. The difference is shown as a range and may be smaller than shown — in some configurations DXAPlay can cost more. These are not results achieved by DXAPlay customers.
The ten cost categories
Each category keeps one-time costs, recurring fees and usage-based fees (including revenue share) separate. They are only added together in the Year 1 and later-year totals, and the split is always shown.
| Category | What it includes | Source type and date | What DXAPlay replaces |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAM & wallet | Player accounts, wallet and ledger, bonus engine, compliance gate, back office, CMS. | Published price 2024-07-23 to 2026-09-14 | Replaced (full-platform mode). |
| CRM | Segments, campaigns, journeys, A/B tests, in-app messages (delivery charges excluded). | Third-party estimate 2026-09-14 | Replaced. |
| Loyalty & gamification | VIP tiers, missions, tournaments, jackpots, wheels, shops. | Third-party estimate 2026-09-14 | Replaced. |
| Affiliates | Tracking, commission plans, partner portal, payouts. | Third-party estimate 2026-09-14 | Replaced. |
| Fraud & risk | Fraud scoring, device intelligence, transaction monitoring, sanctions/PEP data (KYC checks excluded). | DXAPlay estimate 2026-10-14 | Partly replaced: rules, alerts and case workflow included; 75% of the data-vendor cost stays. |
| Customer support | Help desk and live-chat seats (support staff salaries excluded). | DXAPlay estimate 2026-10-14 | Partly replaced: ticketing included; 50% of the tooling cost stays for live chat. |
| BI | Reporting tools, data pipeline and warehouse. | DXAPlay estimate 2026-10-14 | Replaced for operational reporting. |
| Payment orchestration | Cashier and routing layer across payment providers (processing fees excluded). | DXAPlay estimate 2026-10-14 | Mostly replaced: cashier orchestration included; 25% of the cost stays for extra methods. |
| Integration engineering | Vendor integration fees and your engineers' time to connect each system. | Published price 2026-09-14 | DXAPlay builds connectors: some included per plan, others at the new-connector fee; your team still tests each one. |
| Ongoing maintenance | Upkeep of integrations and staff time to manage each vendor. | DXAPlay estimate 2026-10-14 | DXAPlay maintains its connectors; staff time scales with the number of vendors you keep. |
What is left out, and why
These costs are the same whichever platform you use, so including them would not change the difference.
- Game-content (provider) royalties. Paid to game studios and aggregators whichever platform you use; public trade ranges 7-20% of GGR depending on studio and content.
- Payment-provider processing fees. Charged by your payment providers in both cases.
- KYC / identity-verification checks. Per-check fees from your verification vendor in both cases.
- Gaming licences and regulatory fees. Jurisdiction-specific; identical in both cases.
- Sportsbook odds feeds and trading data. Contracted by the operator in both cases.
- Email, SMS and push delivery charges. Charged by your message-delivery providers in both cases.
- Hosting above plan fair-use limits. Excluded; DXAPlay list prices include hosting within fair use.
- Optional DXAPlay sourced-content share (roadmap). An elective content service; excluded because comparable vendor content margins are not published.
- Taxes. All figures exclude taxes.
Every formula
Formulas run in this order. Year 1 = one-time + recurring + usage. Each later year = recurring + usage. The difference is calculated separately for low, typical and high prices.
| Value | Formula | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| uplift | 1 + 0.1*(support_level - 1) | Premium-support uplift on third-party software fees (x1.0 / x1.1 / x1.2). |
| is_b | mod_pam | 1 = full-platform comparison (DXAPlay Full Operator Platform). |
| is_a | 1 - mod_pam | 1 = engagement-only comparison (DXAPlay Engagement Platform). |
| f_pam | mod_pam | Effective flag: PAM & wallet. |
| f_crm | mod_crm | Effective flag: CRM. |
| f_gam | mod_gamification | Effective flag: loyalty & gamification. |
| f_aff | mod_affiliates | Effective flag: affiliates. |
| f_fraud | mod_fraud*mod_pam | Effective flag: fraud & risk (full-platform mode only; unchanged and excluded in engagement-only mode). |
| f_sup | mod_support*mod_pam | Effective flag: customer support tooling (full-platform mode only). |
| f_bi | mod_bi*mod_pam | Effective flag: BI (full-platform mode only). |
| f_pay | mod_payments*mod_pam | Effective flag: payment orchestration (full-platform mode only). |
| k_tools | f_crm + f_gam + f_aff + f_fraud + f_sup + f_bi + f_pay | Point solutions the fragmented stack must buy and connect. |
| frag_integrations | integrations + k_tools | Integrations built in the fragmented stack. |
| frag_vendors | f_pam + k_tools | Vendor relationships in the fragmented stack. |
| sup_seats | ceil(map_monthly/sup_map_per_seat) | Support seats. |
| b_tiered | b_rate1*min(ggr_month, b_band1) + b_rate2*max(0, min(ggr_month, b_band2) - b_band1) + b_rate3*max(0, ggr_month - b_band2) | GGR share before minimum and cap (marginal bands). |
| b_capped | min(b_cap, b_tiered) | GGR share after the cap. |
| b_ent | is_b*(brands > 10) | Full platform plan = Enterprise (more than 10 brands). |
| b_mb | is_b*(1 - (brands > 10))*(brands > 3) | Full platform plan = Multi-Brand (4-10 brands). |
| b_gr | is_b*(1 - (brands > 3)) | Full platform plan = Growth (1-3 brands). |
| a_ent | is_a*max(brands > 10, map_monthly > 110000) | Engagement plan = Enterprise (more than 10 brands or more than 110,000 MAP). |
| a_mb | is_a*(1 - max(brands > 10, map_monthly > 110000))*max(brands > 3, map_monthly > 70000) | Engagement plan = Multi-Brand. |
| a_gr | is_a*(1 - max(brands > 10, map_monthly > 110000))*(1 - max(brands > 3, map_monthly > 70000)) | Engagement plan = Growth. |
| dxa_impl | b_gr*b_impl_growth + b_mb*b_impl_mb + b_ent*b_impl_ent + a_gr*a_impl_growth + a_mb*a_impl_mb + a_ent*a_impl_ent | DXAPlay implementation / set-up fee. |
| dxa_incl_brands | b_gr*1 + b_mb*5 + b_ent*1000000 + a_gr*1 + a_mb*5 + a_ent*1000000 | Brands included in the selected plan. |
| dxa_extra_brands | max(0, brands - dxa_incl_brands) | Brands above the plan allowance. |
| dxa_brand_setup_each | b_gr*b_brand_setup_growth + b_mb*b_brand_setup_mb + (a_gr + a_mb)*a_brand_setup | Set-up fee per extra brand. |
| dxa_brand_month_each | b_gr*b_brand_month_growth + b_mb*b_brand_month_mb + a_gr*a_brand_month_growth + a_mb*a_brand_month_mb | Monthly fee per extra brand. |
| dxa_integrations | integrations + f_fraud + is_a | Connections DXAPlay builds: your external systems, plus a fraud-data vendor (full platform) or your PAM event feed (engagement-only). |
| dxa_incl_connectors | b_gr*b_conn_growth + b_mb*b_conn_mb + b_ent*b_conn_ent + a_gr*a_conn_growth + a_mb*a_conn_mb + a_ent*a_conn_ent | Library connectors included. |
| dxa_new_connectors | max(0, dxa_integrations - dxa_incl_connectors) | Connectors charged at the new-connector fee. |
| dxa_b_month | b_gr*max(b_min_growth, b_capped) + b_mb*max(b_min_mb, b_capped) + b_ent*max(b_min_ent, ent_factor*b_capped) | Full platform monthly fee = greater of the minimum and the GGR share. |
| dxa_a_month | a_gr*a_fee_growth + a_mb*a_fee_mb + a_ent*a_fee_ent | Engagement monthly platform fee. |
| dxa_a_overage_month | a_gr*a_over_growth*max(0, map_monthly - a_incl_growth) + a_mb*a_over_mb*max(0, map_monthly - a_incl_mb) + a_ent*a_over_ent*max(0, map_monthly - a_incl_ent) | Engagement MAP overage per month. |
| dxa_support_addon_month | (support_level >= 3)*(b_gr*b_support_addon + a_gr*a_support_addon) | 24/7 support add-on (included in Multi-Brand and Enterprise). |
| dxa_vendors | 1 + f_fraud + f_sup | Vendor relationships with DXAPlay: DXAPlay plus any residual specialist tools. |
| frag_pam_setup | f_pam*(pam_setup_first + pam_setup_additional*max(0, brands - 1)) | PAM set-up |
| frag_pam_fee | f_pam*12*max(pam_min_month, pam_share*ggr_month) | PAM platform fee (greater of minimum and GGR share) |
| frag_crm_setup | f_crm*crm_setup | CRM set-up |
| frag_crm_fee | f_crm*12*uplift*max(crm_min_month, crm_per_map*map_monthly) | CRM subscription (active-player based) |
| frag_gam_setup | f_gam*gam_setup | Gamification set-up |
| frag_gam_fee | f_gam*12*uplift*max(gam_min_month, gam_per_map*map_monthly) | Gamification subscription (active-player based) |
| frag_aff_setup | f_aff*aff_setup | Affiliate software set-up |
| frag_aff_fee | f_aff*12*uplift*aff_month*(1 + aff_brand_factor*max(0, brands - 1)) | Affiliate software subscription |
| frag_fraud_setup | f_fraud*fraud_setup | Fraud & risk set-up |
| frag_fraud_fee | f_fraud*12*uplift*max(fraud_min_month, fraud_per_map*map_monthly) | Fraud & risk subscription (usage based) |
| frag_sup_setup | f_sup*sup_setup | Support tooling set-up |
| frag_sup_fee | f_sup*12*uplift*sup_seats*sup_seat_month | Help-desk and live-chat seats |
| frag_bi_setup | f_bi*bi_setup | BI set-up |
| frag_bi_fee | f_bi*12*uplift*bi_month*(1 + bi_brand_factor*max(0, brands - 1)) | BI licences and warehouse |
| frag_pay_setup | f_pay*pay_setup | Payment orchestration set-up |
| frag_pay_fee | f_pay*12*uplift*max(pay_min_month, pay_per_txn*payment_txn_month) | Payment orchestration fees (per transaction) |
| frag_integ_fees | frag_integrations*integ_vendor_fee | Vendor integration fees |
| frag_integ_internal | frag_integrations*integ_internal | Internal integration engineering |
| frag_maint_integrations | maint_pct*frag_integrations*(integ_vendor_fee + integ_internal) | Upkeep of integrations |
| frag_vendor_mgmt | fte_per_vendor*frag_vendors*fte_cost | Vendor management staff time |
| dxa_implementation | dxa_impl | DXAPlay implementation / set-up (selected plan) |
| dxa_brand_setup | dxa_extra_brands*dxa_brand_setup_each | Extra-brand set-up |
| dxa_connectors | dxa_new_connectors*connector_fee | New connectors beyond those included |
| dxa_internal_integration | dxa_integrations*dxa_internal | Operator effort per connection |
| dxa_platform_fee_b | 12*dxa_b_month | Full platform fee (greater of minimum and GGR share) |
| dxa_platform_fee_a | 12*dxa_a_month | Engagement platform fee |
| dxa_map_overage_a | 12*dxa_a_overage_month | Engagement MAP overage |
| dxa_brand_fees | 12*dxa_extra_brands*dxa_brand_month_each | Extra-brand monthly fees |
| dxa_support_addon | 12*dxa_support_addon_month | 24/7 support add-on |
| dxa_residual_fraud | residual_fraud*frag_fraud_fee | Residual fraud & risk data vendor |
| dxa_residual_support | residual_support*frag_sup_fee | Residual live-chat tool |
| dxa_residual_bi | residual_bi*frag_bi_fee | Residual BI tooling |
| dxa_residual_payments | residual_payments*frag_pay_fee | Residual payment orchestration |
| dxa_admin | fte_per_vendor*dxa_vendors*fte_cost | Platform administration staff time |