What does it cost to have an app built?

What does it cost to have an app built?

Anyone looking into app development for the first time quickly runs into an unsatisfying answer: “it depends.” That’s not an evasion - it’s the reality. A simple app with three screens and an app with payment processing, offline mode and a connection to an inventory system are both called “app,” but have almost nothing in common. This guide walks through the main cost drivers so you can form a realistic expectation before requesting your first quote.

What actually determines the price

Feature scope. The biggest lever is simply how much the app needs to do. A login screen, a list, a form - that’s manageable. Once you add payments, push notifications, location services, camera access or your own user management, effort grows noticeably, because each of these brings its own edge cases and test scenarios.

One platform or two?

iOS and Android are two separate platforms with their own rules, their own app stores and often their own design conventions. A native app for both platforms traditionally means, in effect, two projects. Cross-platform frameworks (React Native, which we use often) share most of the code between iOS and Android and cut costs significantly compared to two separate native builds - without users noticing any difference.

Backend, integrations and data model

An app that only stores data locally is a different animal from one that talks to a server, a database, or perhaps to your existing software (CRM, inventory, accounting). Every connection to a third-party system is its own small project: understanding the interface, reconciling data formats, handling failure cases. This is often the most underestimated part of an app project.

Design and user experience

An app that looks like a bare form quickly feels unfinished - especially when customers hold it in their own hands. Custom UI design, thoughtful navigation and accessibility take time, but pay off in adoption and trust.

Maintenance after launch

An app isn’t “done” at release. Operating systems update, stores require adjustments, users send feedback. Ongoing maintenance should be planned for from the start, not discovered as a surprise after launch.

Rough ranges, for orientation

As a rough, non-binding point of reference: a very lean app with a handful of screens and no backend of its own sits in the low-to-mid five-figure range. An app with user accounts, its own backend and one or two integrations typically lands in the mid five-figure range. More complex products with payment processing, multiple integrations and elaborate design can run considerably higher. These ranges are deliberately illustrative - the real price always depends on the concrete scope, and a serious quote only comes after a conversation about your project.

Why our approach lowers cost without cutting quality

The traditional path - write a long spec document, develop for months, test at the end - tends to produce its most expensive surprises at exactly that last step: when a misunderstanding only surfaces at acceptance, fixing it is costly. We work spec-driven: before a single line of code is written, we define together with you exactly what the app should do - as a concrete, testable specification, not a vague requirements document. A team of AI agents then handles most of the actual build, in parallel rather than in sequence: one agent builds the interface, another the logic, a third writes tests against the specification. A person stays accountable for every decision and reviews the result - the speed comes from the division of labor between human and agents, not from less care. The outcome: features that traditional development needs months for take us weeks - at equal or higher code quality, because the specification accounts for tests and edge cases from day one.

Next step

The most reliable answer to “what will my app cost?” comes from a short conversation about your specific project. Take a look at our services around app development, or get in touch directly - we’ll give you an honest read on what’s realistic.