That's not a great analogy. Using cheaper components to cut costs requires more engineering effort; this is a form of optimization. For a prototype, you might just use more expensive components if it's convenient, since the per-unit cost doesn't matter much.

When writing software, there's no direct analogy because usually the components we build our programs out of have hardly any per-unit cost. We don't save any money by using a crappy third-party library over a high-quality one. Using a library with lots of unnecessary features may be cheaper both for prototyping and for the final product.