How much will your app really cost?
Pick your product type, platforms, features and how your team uses AI to get an indicative budget range, timeline, team shape and phase breakdown. See exactly what AI-native delivery changes compared with a traditional team.
Configure your product
Start from a preset or build up your own scope. The estimate updates as you go.
- Discovery & scoping5%
- UX & UI design8%
- Engineering55%
- QA & testing16%
- DevOps & launch6%
- Project management11%
- 2 third-party integrations (~90h)
- Payments (~80h)
- Search & filters (~70h)
- 1 tech lead / architect
- 1 backend engineers
- 1 frontend engineers
- Part-time product designer
- Part-time qa engineer
- Part-time product / project manager
- Compared with a traditional team, about $18,000 less and 2 weeks sooner under these assumptions.
- Novel logic, discovery and stakeholder decisions benefit less from AI, so they still set the pace.
- Every AI-generated change should still be reviewed by a senior engineer.
Hosting at this scale typically runs $50 to $300 per month.
Indicative only. We will send the inputs above with your message so a senior engineer can sanity-check them.
Effort first, then rates, then risk.
The calculator starts from a baseline effort for your type of product, then adds effort for each feature, platform and integration you select. Features are weighted by how much backend, frontend and testing work they usually involve, not just counted.
Design ambition, compliance requirements, expected scale and your delivery approach apply multipliers to the parts of the work they affect. Regulated data, for example, increases engineering and QA effort far more than it affects design. An AI-native team reduces engineering, design and testing hours, but leaves discovery and decision-making largely untouched, because those depend on people rather than code.
Effort is converted to cost using typical blended rates for the team location you choose, and a timeline is derived from a realistic team size. The range widens as scope grows, because larger projects carry more uncertainty. That is also why a real quote always starts with a conversation.
What moves the number the most
Across the projects we have scoped, the same handful of factors account for most of the difference between a lean build and an expensive one.
Number of platforms
Every additional platform adds interface, testing and release work. Cross-platform frameworks reduce but do not remove that cost.
Integrations
Connecting to payment providers, ERPs, CRMs or legacy systems is often the least predictable part of a build, especially with poorly documented APIs.
Compliance and security
Healthcare, finance and personal data regulations add audit logging, access controls, documentation and far more testing.
User roles and permissions
A product with buyers, sellers, admins and support staff is effectively several products that share a database.
How the team uses AI
AI-native teams hand routine code, tests and integrations to coding agents and focus senior time on design and review. The same scope typically needs fewer hours.
Team location
Blended hourly rates vary several-fold between regions. Lower rates can be great value, but management overhead and time zones matter too.
Typical app budgets by product type
Indicative ranges for a first production release using a mid-market team. Your scope can land well outside these.
| Typical scope | Timeline | Indicative budget (USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focused MVP | One core workflow, one platform | 6 to 12 weeks | $15k to $80k |
| Internal business tool | Dashboards, forms, approvals, integrations | 6 to 14 weeks | $30k to $120k |
| SaaS platform | Multi-tenant, billing, roles, admin | 4 to 8 months | $90k to $350k |
| Two-sided marketplace | Buyers, sellers, payments, messaging | 4 to 9 months | $120k to $450k |
| Consumer mobile app | iOS and Android, social, notifications | 4 to 8 months | $80k to $300k |
Ranges reflect blended rates between Southeast Asia and Western markets. AI-native teams tend towards the lower end of each range. They are a starting point for discussion, not a quote.
Five ways to get more for your budget
Launch on one platform first
Pick the platform your earliest users actually use, prove the product there, then expand.
Buy commodity features
Authentication, payments, email and analytics are solved problems. Use proven services rather than building them.
Cut the second user type
If an admin can do something manually for the first hundred customers, it does not need a screen yet.
Write down what is out of scope
An explicit "not in version one" list prevents the slow creep that turns 10-week builds into 10-month builds.
Get an independent review of quotes
Quotes for the same scope can differ by 5x. A senior engineer can spot padded estimates and dangerously thin ones.
Questions we often hear
How accurate is this app cost calculator?
It gives an indicative range based on typical effort for each feature and typical regional rates. Real projects vary with the detail of each feature, the state of any systems you integrate with, and how decisions are made during the build. Treat it as a way to sanity-check budgets and quotes, not as a fixed price.
How much does it cost to build an app in 2026?
A focused MVP commonly costs between $15,000 and $80,000, with AI-native teams towards the lower end, while a full SaaS platform or marketplace often ranges from $100,000 to well over $400,000. The biggest factors are the number of platforms, integrations, user roles, compliance needs and where your team is based.
Is it cheaper to build a web app or a mobile app?
A web app is usually cheaper to build and update, because there is one codebase and no app store review. Mobile apps make sense when your users need device features such as push notifications, camera, location or offline use. Many products launch on the web first and add mobile later.
Why do quotes from development agencies vary so much?
Agencies make different assumptions about scope, quality, testing and risk, and use different rates and team structures. A low quote often excludes things like QA, infrastructure or project management. Comparing quotes line by line against a clear scope is the best way to see what you are actually paying for.
Does AI reduce the cost of app development?
Usually, yes. Teams that work AI-first spend fewer hours on boilerplate, standard screens, integrations and tests, so budgets and timelines typically shrink. The saving is smaller for novel logic and for discovery, and AI-written code still needs senior review, so be wary of anyone promising dramatic savings without explaining how quality is protected.
How much does app maintenance cost per year?
Plan for around 15 to 25 percent of the initial build cost each year for hosting, monitoring, security updates, operating system changes and small improvements. The calculator shows an estimate for this alongside the build cost.
Related reading and tools
Turn this estimate into a plan.
Send us your estimate and a few lines about the product. A senior engineer will review the scope and come back within 24 hours with an honest view on budget, timeline and what to cut.
Working with companies globally · Response within 24 hours