Digitalbonus Bavaria for web apps: what is funded, eligibility and limits
The Digitalbonus Bayern – a Bavarian state funding programme that helps small businesses go digital – covers up to 50 per cent of eligible costs: a maximum of €7,500 in the standard tier and up to €30,000 as “Digitalbonus Plus” for particularly innovative projects (as of 27 October 2026). A custom web app that is deeply integrated into your business processes can be eligible – a standard website or a standard online shop is not. The order of events is what matters: application first, order second. One thing up front: I am a web developer, not a funding adviser, and I do not give funding advice. This guide summarises the official information and shows what it means in practice for a software project; only the information on digitalbonus.bayern is binding.
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- By Maurice de Felice, web developer in Augsburg, Germany
What are the key facts of the Digitalbonus Bayern?
| Item | Official information (as of 27 October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Funding rate | up to 50 % of eligible costs |
| Digitalbonus Standard | up to €7,500 |
| Digitalbonus Plus | up to €30,000 for a particularly high degree of innovation; only worthwhile with total costs above €15,000 |
| Lower limit | projects with eligible costs below €4,000 are excluded |
| Eligible | small commercial businesses with premises in Bavaria: fewer than 50 employees, turnover or balance sheet total no more than €10 million |
| Excluded | among others, the liberal professions, healthcare facilities, companies in insolvency |
| Programme term | 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2027 |
| Application | online, by the business itself, with an ELSTER business account; monthly application quota |
Sources: digitalbonus.bayern/foerderprogramm and digitalbonus.bayern/haeufige-fragen (Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs), retrieved on 27 October 2026
Does the Digitalbonus fund a web app?
According to the programme, eligible costs include services from external providers together with the ICT software needed to implement them – explicitly including custom adaptations and programming. What is funded is the digitalisation of products, processes and services as well as improvements to IT security.
Excluded, on the other hand, are standard websites and standard online shops without deep functional integration into business processes, standard software such as office programs, and pure online marketing as well as graphic or editorial services. A plain business website will therefore almost always fall outside the programme – an application that, for example, processes orders, appointments or customer data and is connected to your processes can qualify.
According to the FAQ, custom programming is not considered particularly innovative “per se” and therefore usually falls under Standard rather than Plus.
What does that mean in figures for a web app?
From around €15,000 in eligible costs, the standard maximum of €7,500 is reached. You can estimate the likely costs of your project with the cost calculator. A web app starts at €5,990 with me and is therefore above the €4,000 lower limit.
| Eligible costs | Grant at 50 % (Standard, max. €7,500) |
|---|---|
| €5,990 | €2,995 |
| €10,000 | €5,000 |
| €15,000 | €7,500 |
| €25,000 | €7,500 |
Worked examples, not a commitment: whether funding is granted, and how much, is decided by the approving authority. €5,990 is my starting price for web apps.
When are you allowed to place the order?
This is the most common and most expensive mistake: a project counts as started as soon as a legally binding order has been placed or a contract awarded – according to the FAQ, even if this only happened verbally. A project started in this way is no longer eligible.
Once you have submitted the application and received the email confirming receipt, you may start at your own risk; you do not have to wait for the approval notice. For our collaboration, this means: an initial call and a non-binding offer are no problem – you only place the order once you have your confirmation of receipt.
What do you need to know about invoices and payout?
- The approval period is at most 18 months from the date of the grant notice; invoices must be paid within this period.
- There is only one payout request; interim payouts are not possible. I work in milestones with payment per milestone – you submit all invoices together at the end.
- Changes to the price or scope, or a change of external service provider, must be reported immediately.
- Licence and service fees are only eligible for a maximum of 18 months; the service provider’s travel and accommodation costs are not eligible at all.
- Consulting and training are only eligible together with an implementation and may account for no more than 50 % of the eligible costs.
How do you go about it in practice?
- First check whether you are eligible: premises in Bavaria, commercial business, company size – and whether your project falls under the eligible content.
- Get an offer that describes the integration into your business processes. You can get such a non-binding offer from me after the free initial call.
- Set up an ELSTER business account if you do not already have one; the application is submitted by the business itself.
- Keep an eye on the monthly application quota – it opens at 10 a.m. on the first working day of each month.
- Only place the order after you have received the confirmation of receipt.
Which projects are a good fit, in my view?
From a developer’s point of view, the best fit is an application that digitalises a specific process in your business: internal software that replaces Excel lists, a customer portal where customers can retrieve documents and status updates, or a booking system connected to your capacity planning.
I cannot promise that your specific project will be funded – that is up to the approving authority. I do not give funding advice, but I am happy to describe clearly in the offer which processes the application digitalises.
What do clients often ask?
Planning a project?
In a free initial call you get an honest assessment of scope, timeline and a fixed price – by video, or in person in Augsburg and Munich. I usually reply within 24 hours.
About the author
Freelance web developer in Augsburg, Germany. By day a backend developer at one of Germany’s largest comparison portals; as a freelancer I build websites, web apps and SaaS platforms with Laravel and React – for example the SaaS platform YachtBrokerBid. More about me
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