The first question 9 out of 10 clients ask is “How much does it cost to build an app?”. The answer “anywhere from $17,000 to $500,000” doesn't satisfy them, and rightly so. It's like answering “how much does an apartment cost” without knowing the city, the floor or the square footage.
In this article we break the cost down piece by piece: concrete figures, types of apps and the factors that actually drive the budget. No marketing promises. Prices are current as of early 2026 and are based on our own experience and market data.
The short answer: prices by app type
For those who want the gist without the details, here's the 2026 summary:
(core features)
(10–20 screens)
(marketplace, super app)
The spread is wide because a “mobile app” can be a one-screen calculator or a marketplace with a thousand sellers. Below we'll go through what puts a project in one range or another.
What drives the cost: 7 key factors
Types of apps: from MVP to enterprise
MVP: minimum viable product
An MVP isn't a cut-down version of the app. It's the minimum set of features needed to test a hypothesis on real users. If you're launching a delivery service, the MVP is a catalog, a cart, payments and a notification to the courier. Not ratings, not a loyalty program, not a support chat. All of that is the second release.
MVP cost: $9,900–35,000. Timeline: 4–8 weeks. Usually 5–10 screens, one platform (or cross-platform), basic design and a cloud backend. The goal isn't your dream product but a market test.
A case from our practice: a startup wanted an app for fitness clubs with a class schedule, workout booking, training programs, a food diary, a social feed and a sports nutrition marketplace. The budget for all of it was $170,000, and the timeline 3 months. We proposed a $13,000 MVP: schedule + booking + push reminders. We launched in 6 weeks. A month later it was clear nobody needed the food diary, but a chat with the trainer was in demand. We saved the client about $65,000 on features that turned out to be useless.
Mid-complexity app: product development
This is an app with polished design, full functionality and a server side. Typical examples: an online store app, a booking service, a corporate messenger, an app for managing a chain of venues.
Cost: $43,000–130,000. Timeline: 2–4 months. 15–30 screens, both platforms (via Flutter/React Native), custom design, a backend with an API, an admin panel, integrations with 2–3 external services.
A scenario: a restaurant chain wants an app with a menu, online ordering, delivery, a loyalty program and push notifications. Integration with its POS system (Toast or Square), Stripe and Google Maps. An admin panel for managing the menu and promotions. Budget: $60,000–85,000. Timeline: 3 months.
Complex app: a scalable system
Marketplaces, super app platforms, real-time apps (chats, video calls, exchanges), high-load systems with tens of thousands of concurrent users.
Cost: $100,000–270,000 and up. Timeline: 4–8 months. 30–60+ screens, microservice architecture, complex business logic, offline mode, scaling, A/B tests, monitoring.
An example: a marketplace with two apps (for buyers and sellers), a web version, payments with escrow, ratings, search with filters, geolocation, chat between users and an anti-fraud system. A project like this means 6–12 months of work and a budget from $170,000.
App costs by industry
Abstract figures are fine, but it's more useful to see real examples from your field. Here are typical projects broken down by features and budget:
Restaurant or food delivery app
Features: a menu with filters (cuisine, allergens, price), a cart, online payment, delivery tracking on a map, push notifications, a loyalty program (points, promo codes), order history, integration with the restaurant's POS (Toast, Square, Lightspeed). Two apps: one for customers and one for couriers.
Budget: $50,000–100,000. Timeline: 3–4 months. The main cost driver is the integration with the restaurant's POS system and the logic for assigning orders to couriers.
Fitness club or beauty salon app
Features: a class or stylist schedule, online booking, push reminders, memberships and club cards, a loyalty program, push promotions, chat with a trainer or front desk. Integration with the business management system (Mindbody, Glofox).
Budget: $35,000–75,000. Timeline: 2–3 months. Relatively affordable, because most of the business logic lives in the management system. The app is a convenient storefront and an entry point for the customer.
Online store app
Features: a catalog with search and filters, product pages, a cart, payments (Stripe, PayPal), a customer account with order history, push notifications on delivery status, a wishlist, promo codes. An admin panel for managing products and orders. Integration with your accounting or ERP system and shipping carriers (UPS, FedEx, DHL).
Budget: $40,000–85,000. Timeline: 2.5–4 months. The key cost driver is the number of integrations and the complexity of the catalog (product variants, sizes, colors, stock by warehouse).
Corporate app (for a company's employees)
Features: sign-in through corporate SSO, a KPI dashboard, task management, internal chat, requests (time off, business trips, purchases), document workflows, push notifications about approvals. Integration with your HR and payroll system, intranet or Microsoft Teams.
Budget: $50,000–115,000. Timeline: 3–5 months. Here the main costs go into integrating with the company's internal systems and meeting security requirements (GDPR, VPN, MDM).
Platforms: iOS, Android or both?
Native development (Swift + Kotlin)
Separate teams write separate code for each platform. Maximum performance, access to every device feature, the best UX. But: a double budget. If a native iOS app costs $50,000, Android adds another $40,000–50,000.
When it's justified: games, AR/VR apps, apps that work heavily with the camera or sensors, when every millisecond of performance counts.
Cross-platform development (Flutter)
One codebase, two apps. Flutter in 2026 is a mature framework used by Google, BMW, Alibaba and Nubank. Performance is 95% of native for most business apps. Savings: 30–40% of the budget.
When it's justified: 90% of business apps. Catalogs, orders, customer accounts, chats, maps: Flutter handles all of this very well.
For most business tasks, Flutter is the best choice. You get both stores (App Store + Google Play) for the budget of one app. We recommend native development only when there are specific requirements for performance or the device's hardware features.
Cost comparison by platform
For a mid-complexity app (15–20 screens, a backend, an admin panel):
(native, Swift)
(native, Swift + Kotlin)
(cross-platform, Flutter)
Hidden costs nobody mentions
The development price is only the beginning. Here's what else to put in the budget:
Rule of thumb: add 20–30% to the development cost for the app's first year (infrastructure + updates + support). An app that costs $50,000 to build will cost about $63,000 in its first year.
How to cut costs without losing quality
The MVP approach: hypothesis first, product second
Don't build a spaceship before you've confirmed people want to fly. According to CB Insights, lack of market demand is the reason roughly 35% of startups shut down. Standish Group estimates that up to 60–70% of features in a first release end up rarely used or not needed at all. An MVP lets you spend $5,000–17,000 testing the idea instead of $100,000 on a full product nobody needs.
How it works in practice: you launch an app with 5 key screens, collect metrics for 4–6 weeks (retention, DAU, conversion), see what works, and put the next budget only into features people actually use.
Cross-platform development
Flutter or React Native cut the budget by 30–40%. One development team writes one codebase and gets two apps for both stores. For 90% of business apps, the performance difference from native is invisible to an ordinary user. A developer will notice it, but you're paying for the result, not for elegant code.
Ready-made components and BaaS
Firebase (authentication, database, push, analytics), Supabase and ready-made UI kits mean you don't write from scratch what has already been built and tested by millions of users. Savings: $3,500–10,000 on a typical project. For example, Firebase Authentication replaces 2–3 weeks of a backend developer's work, and ready-made Material Design UI components cut layout time by 2–3x.
AI in development
In 2026, AI tools genuinely speed up development: generating boilerplate code, automated tests, code review, auto-documentation. They don't replace developers, but they cut effort by 15–25% at certain stages. The result: fewer hours, a lower price. At March Code we use AI assistants heavily in our workflow, which lets us offer competitive prices without cutting quality.
Staged development
Instead of “everything at once for $100,000”, split the work into stages. The first release: $27,000. A month later, analyze the data: what works and what doesn't. The second release: another $13,000 on improvements driven by real metrics. The third: another $10,000. That's $50,000 instead of $100,000, and the product fits users' needs more closely.
Our approach: MVPs from $9,900
At March Code we specialize in mobile app development on Flutter, which lets our clients get both stores for the budget of one app.
How we work:
A fixed quote before we start. No surprise add-ons every month. If the requirements change along the way, we recalculate and agree on it before the work begins.
FAQ
How much does a simple mobile app cost?
A simple app with 5–8 screens, basic design and a minimal backend costs $9,900–22,000. Timeline: 4–6 weeks. Example: a business-card app with a schedule, a booking form and push reminders.
How much does an app like Uber or Lyft cost?
Rebuilding Uber one-to-one would cost millions of dollars. But an MVP of a ride-hailing service with ordering, driver assignment, tracking and payments costs $65,000–130,000. The key difference is scale: Uber handles millions of requests, an MVP handles hundreds.
Which is cheaper: a mobile app or a web app?
A web app (PWA) is 30–50% cheaper: no app store review, one codebase, instant updates. But it has no access to NFC and some device sensors, limited offline support and no presence in the App Store or Google Play. For B2B tools a PWA is often enough. For B2C with a mass audience, a native app is the better choice.
Can I get an app built for $1,500?
No. Even with a freelancer, the realistic minimum is several thousand dollars, and that buys a very simple app. For $1,500 you can get a no-code builder (Adalo, Glide) or a template, but that isn't development. Builders are fine for testing an idea, not for a real product app.
How long does development take?
MVP: 4–8 weeks. Mid-complexity app: 2–4 months. Complex app: 4–8 months. You can speed things up by growing the team, but there's a limit: nine women can't make a baby in one month. The optimal team: 1 designer + 1–2 developers + 1 QA engineer.
Who will maintain the app after launch?
We hand over all the source code, documentation and access. You can maintain the app with your own team or sign a support contract with us (from $2,900/month). We don't lock clients in: if you decide to move to another team, they can continue development using our documentation.
What's included in the price, and what isn't?
Included: design, development (front end + back end), testing, publishing to the stores, source code handover and a 3-month warranty period. Not included: content (copy, photos), marketing (ASO, ads), server infrastructure (billed separately, usually around $100–200 a month).
Do I need a requirements document before development starts?
For an MVP under $17,000, user stories and a Figma prototype are enough. For projects from $35,000, we recommend a full specification. It costs 5–10% of the project budget but saves 20–30% on rework. More in our article on writing a software spec.
Why do prices from different studios differ 5–10x?
Because different companies mean different things by “mobile app”. Studio A will offer a cross-platform app with basic design and a Firebase backend for $10,000. Studio B will offer native development for two platforms, custom design, its own microservice backend and 6 months of support for $100,000. Both options can be reasonable; it depends on your goals. Compare scope, not prices: how many screens, which integrations, what backend architecture, what kind of support.
If you have an app idea and want to understand the budget, send us a request and we'll estimate your project for free. No strings attached: get the quote, think it over, decide.
