How much does a mobile app cost? A 2026 breakdown by feature
A simple app costs US$20,000 to 60,000 from a small studio; one with accounts, payments and push runs US$50,000 to 150,000. Costs by feature and supplier.
By Sohail Hussain29 October 20267 min read
As of October 2026, a simple mobile app, a few screens with login and content, costs US$20,000 to 60,000 from a small studio, US$5,000 to 20,000 from a freelancer and US$60,000 to 150,000 from a larger agency. A medium app with accounts, payments, push notifications, a backend and an admin panel runs US$50,000 to 150,000 at a studio. A complex app with real-time features, offline sync, maps or video is US$150,000 to 400,000 at a studio and often past a million at an agency.
Apps cost more than websites because everything happens twice, once per platform, and because a backend, store accounts, and ongoing updates come with the territory. This guide breaks the price down by feature so you can add up your own, then covers what the stores charge and what it costs to keep an app alive.
What does an app cost by complexity?
| App type | Examples | Freelancer | Small studio | Larger agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | Company app with content, a catalogue, a form, basic login | US$5,000 to 20,000 | US$20,000 to 60,000 | US$60,000 to 150,000 |
| Medium | Accounts, profiles, payments, push notifications, backend API, admin panel | US$20,000 to 50,000 | US$50,000 to 150,000 | US$150,000 to 400,000 |
| Complex | Real-time chat, offline sync, maps and tracking, video, multiple user types, integrations | US$50,000 to 120,000 | US$150,000 to 400,000 | US$400,000 to 1,000,000+ |
The columns are different purchases. A freelancer is one developer, usually working in React Native or Flutter, often without a designer. A small studio has design, development, a backend developer and someone who handles the store submissions. Our mobile app development work is in that column: one React Native codebase for both platforms, with native modules where needed, plus the backend, push notifications, payments and the store launch. A larger agency adds user research, a QA team and account management.
For how app prices compare with websites and web apps, see the main guide to how much a website costs, and for the web-only version of a product, how much a web app costs.
What does each feature cost?
The most useful way to estimate an app is to add up its features. The hours below are typical for a cross-platform build by an experienced team, as of October 2026. Multiply by a rate of US$25 to 60 an hour for an Indian studio or US$80 to 180 for a US or UK one.
| Feature | Typical hours | What is involved |
|---|---|---|
| Email and password login, password reset | 20 to 40 | Screens, validation, backend, session handling |
| Social or phone OTP login | 15 to 30 each | Apple, Google, Facebook or SMS, plus the native setup |
| User profile and settings | 15 to 30 | Edit details, avatar upload, preferences |
| Push notifications | 20 to 50 | Device tokens, both platforms, a way to send them, deep links |
| Payments through Stripe or Razorpay | 40 to 80 | Checkout, receipts, webhooks, failure handling |
| In-app purchases and subscriptions | 60 to 120 | Both store systems, receipt validation, restore purchases, testing |
| Maps and location | 30 to 80 | Permissions, map display, geocoding, background tracking if needed |
| Chat or messaging | 80 to 200 | Real-time delivery, read states, media, moderation |
| Camera and image upload | 20 to 50 | Permissions, compression, storage, display |
| Offline mode with sync | 100 to 250 | Local database, conflict handling, testing every edge |
| Search and filters | 20 to 60 | Depends entirely on the data |
| Admin dashboard, web | 60 to 200 | Manage users, content and data; often half the project |
| Backend API and database | 100 to 400 | Everything the app talks to |
| Design, all screens | 60 to 200 | Flows, screens for both platforms, states and errors |
| Testing and store submission | 40 to 100 | Device testing, review fixes, listings, screenshots |
A medium app is usually 800 to 1,800 hours once these are added together. The two items people forget are the admin dashboard, which is a web app in its own right, and the backend, which the app cannot work without. Quotes that leave them out are not cheap; they are incomplete.
Our mobile app cost calculator does this arithmetic for you: pick platforms, features, backend and design level and it shows a range with the assumptions listed.
Does it cost more to build for iOS and Android?
Yes, but not double. With React Native or Flutter, one codebase covers both platforms and the extra cost is 20 to 40 percent for platform-specific setup, native modules, testing on both and two store submissions. Two native apps, one in Swift and one in Kotlin, cost roughly twice as much as one and need two developers who stay in sync. Native is worth it for games, heavy camera or audio processing, or hardware integrations; for most business apps it is not. The comparison in React Native versus Flutter and native versus cross-platform covers the trade-offs.
If your users are overwhelmingly on one platform, launch there first. In India, Android is the majority; in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, iOS has a much larger share of spending users. Shipping one platform three months earlier is often worth more than shipping both late.
What do the app stores charge?
As of October 2026:
- Apple Developer Program: US$99 a year per organisation, required to publish on the App Store. Details on Apple's developer programme page.
- Google Play Console: a one-time US$25 registration fee. Details in Google Play's console help.
- Commission on digital goods: both stores take a percentage of in-app purchases and subscriptions, with reduced rates for smaller developers and for subscriptions after the first year. Rates and rules have changed several times in recent years and differ by region, so check the current terms before you set prices. Physical goods and services paid for in the app, such as food delivery or a taxi, are not subject to store commission and can use Stripe or Razorpay directly. See in-app purchases versus web payments.
Set up both store accounts in your company's name, not your developer's. Transferring an app between accounts later is possible but slow.
What does it cost to keep an app running?
Apps decay faster than websites. Each year Apple and Google ship new OS versions, change store rules, and deprecate APIs. A typical small app spends, as of October 2026:
- Maintenance: 15 to 25 percent of the build cost per year for OS updates, dependency upgrades, store policy changes and bug fixes. See app maintenance: what it involves and costs.
- Backend hosting: US$20 to 300 a month at low to moderate usage, more as users grow.
- Services: push notification delivery, crash reporting, analytics, authentication, SMS for OTP. US$30 to 300 a month, with SMS the one that scales with sign-ups.
- Store accounts: US$99 a year for Apple; Google is a one-off.
Budget for these before you commission the build. An app with no maintenance budget usually stops working on a new OS version within 18 months.
When should you not build an app?
Say no to an app when:
- A mobile website would do. If people will use it once a month, there is no need for push, offline or the camera, and the main job is information or a form, a fast mobile site is cheaper, needs no store review, and is reachable from a link. The guide to app versus mobile website has a checklist, and a progressive web app covers some of the middle ground.
- You have not validated demand. The store listing, a landing page and a waiting list cost almost nothing. Build after people sign up.
- Your budget covers the build but not the first year of running it. Add 20 percent of the build cost to the budget for maintenance, or wait until you can.
- You want every feature in version one. A medium app with the feature list trimmed to what a first user needs launches in three to five months. The full list launches in a year, if at all.
The case for an app is strong when people will use it weekly, when push notifications or offline access are part of the value, or when the camera, location or payments in hand are the product.
How do you get a quote you can compare?
Write a brief before you ask: who the users are, the three things they must be able to do, which platforms, which systems the app connects to, and your budget range. The guide to writing a brief for a mobile app has a template. Ask each supplier for a scope document listing screens, features, backend and exclusions, and ask who owns the store accounts and the code. The questions to ask a web development company apply to app studios too, and fixed price versus hourly explains which payment structure protects you.
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