Hello,
I am a free lancers with 20+ years of experience. I have been using Delphi since its inception. I can offer you serveral upgrade solutions; MS Access, MS SQL Express, MSSQL Server, or MySQL Server. The choice mostly depends on the quantity of data.
- MS Access is the easiest since it requires no extra installations, but does not scale well.
- MS SQL Express is good for databases smaller then 2Gb with mostly local access
- MS SQL Server has virtually no size limits, but is an extra expense
- MySQL is comparible to MS SQL Server, but is free
I also do some work using Lazarus instead of Delphi. It is just like Delphi except it is Open source. The advantage is that you can recompile most code for Linux, and OSX (I have not it for OSX, but have for Linux) without changes.
I know my hourly rate is higher than you are looking to spent, but I'd be glad to estimate the smallest exe to give you an idea of cost.
Regards,
Tom