Short answer: a custom mobile app built by a professional team usually costs between $25,000 and $150,000 for a first release on iOS and Android. Simple apps with little or no backend come in below that. Multi-role products with payments, real-time features and offline sync go above it. The spread comes from scope and from the hourly rate of the team, and you can estimate both.
About these numbers. They are planning estimates derived from typical effort and typical market rates. They are not survey results and not a BBR price list. Use them to check whether a quote is plausible. A real quote needs a written scope.
The method: effort multiplied by rate
Every quote is built the same way, whatever the presentation:
Cost = effort (person-weeks) × weekly rate + risk margin
A person-week is one person working for one week, about 40 hours. At $50 an hour a person-week costs $2,000; at $150 an hour it costs $6,000. So the same 20 person-week app is a $40,000 project from one team and a $120,000 project from another, before either has made a single different technical decision. We use the same method in our MVP cost guide, which also has a table of typical rates by region; this article concentrates on what is specific to apps.
Effort by app building block
The figures below assume an experienced team, a cross-platform codebase covering iOS and Android, and a standard interface. They include the app side and the backend work each block needs.
| Building block | Typical effort | What makes it bigger |
|---|---|---|
| App shell: navigation, theming, settings, build and release setup | 1–2 person-weeks | Tablet layouts, several languages |
| Onboarding, sign-up and login | 1–2.5 person-weeks | Social login. On iOS, offering third-party login generally means also offering a privacy-focused option such as Sign in with Apple |
| Core feature (the reason the app exists) | 3–10 person-weeks | Everything. This is the widest range in any estimate |
| Push notifications | 0.5–1.5 person-weeks | Segmentation, scheduling, deep links into specific screens |
| In-app purchases or subscriptions | 1.5–3 person-weeks | Several plans, trials, server-side receipt validation, restore and cancellation states |
| Payments for physical goods or services | 1–3 person-weeks | Marketplace payouts to providers |
| Camera, photo or file upload | 0.5–2 person-weeks | Cropping, compression, video |
| Maps and location | 1–3 person-weeks | Background tracking, which also draws extra store review scrutiny |
| Offline storage and sync | 2–5 person-weeks | Users editing the same data on several devices |
| Chat or live updates | 2–4 person-weeks | Media messages, read receipts, moderation |
| Bluetooth or other hardware integration | 2–6 person-weeks | Poorly documented devices; often needs native code |
| Backend API and database (beyond what the blocks above include) | 2–5 person-weeks | Business rules, third-party data sources |
| Web admin panel | 1.5–4 person-weeks | Moderation, reports, support tools |
| Analytics and crash reporting | 0.5–1 person-week | Detailed funnel tracking |
| Design: flows and screens | 2–6 person-weeks | Custom illustration and animation |
| Testing on devices, store assets, submission, project management | +20–30% on top | Wide device and OS coverage |
Add up the blocks you need, then apply the last row. If your total looks small, check whether you have included the admin panel and the backend. They are the items founders most often leave out, because users never see them.
Three worked examples
1. Utility app with a thin backend
An app that shows live data from an external source, lets users save favourites, track a personal list on the device and set alerts delivered as local notifications. No accounts, no admin panel. Shell 1.5, core feature 4, local alerts 1, design 2, analytics 0.5, totalling 9 person-weeks; with testing and release added, about 11 person-weeks. That is roughly $22,000 at $50 an hour and $66,000 at $150 an hour. BBR’s own Live Gold & Silver Prices app is a product of this shape.
2. Subscription content app
Accounts, a content library with search, favourites, push notifications, a paid subscription through store billing, and an admin panel for publishing content. Shell 1.5, login 2, core 5, push 1, subscriptions 2.5, backend 3, admin 3, analytics 0.5, design 3.5, totalling 22; with testing and release, about 27 person-weeks. Roughly $54,000 at $50 an hour and $162,000 at $150 an hour.
3. On-demand booking app with two roles
Customers request a service, providers accept and travel to them, the platform takes a commission. Customer app, provider app, maps with live location, card payments with payouts, chat, ratings and an admin panel. Shell 2, login 2.5, customer core 7, provider side 4, maps 3, payments 3, chat 3, push 1.5, backend 4, admin 4, analytics 1, design 5, totalling 40; with testing and release, about 50 person-weeks. Roughly $100,000 at $50 an hour and $300,000 at $150 an hour. Most founders should cut this before building it, for example by replacing in-app chat with a phone call button and launching in one city with manual payouts.
How the platform decision changes the total
| Approach | Effect on app-side effort | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| One platform only, native or cross-platform | Baseline | Reasonable if your audience is heavily on one platform |
| Cross-platform, iOS and Android (React Native, Flutter) | Baseline +10–25% | Second platform costs testing and adjustments, not a second build |
| Web app wrapped with Capacitor | Often below baseline if the web app exists | Suits content, forms and data apps; less suited to gesture-heavy interfaces |
| Two native codebases (Swift and Kotlin) | Baseline +70–100% | Every feature and every later change is made twice |
Backend, admin panel and most design work are shared in every case, so the percentages apply to the app portion only, typically half to two-thirds of the project. When native is worth its premium is covered in native vs cross-platform app development.
What pushes an app budget up
- A second user role. Drivers, sellers, coaches, clinicians. Each is its own set of screens and rules.
- Offline requirements discovered late. Sync affects the data model. Adding it after the build is far more expensive than planning it.
- Custom interface work. Bespoke transitions and illustration add weeks and validate nothing.
- Supporting old OS versions and many device sizes. Each step back in OS support adds testing and workarounds.
- Regulated data. Health, finance and children’s apps bring policy, consent and security work that cannot be skipped.
- Vague scope. Uncertainty is priced as risk margin. A clear brief lowers the quote.
Where app budgets get wasted
- Building the app before confirming that people want the product. A web version or a manual service is a cheaper test.
- Launching on tablets, watches and TVs in the first release.
- Building custom chat, custom video or custom analytics when a service exists for a small monthly fee.
- Paying for two native codebases for an app made of lists, forms and a payment screen.
- Spending the entire budget on the first release and leaving nothing for the changes real users ask for.
Costs that start after launch
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program | $99 per year |
| Google Play developer account | $25 one-off |
| Store commission on digital goods and subscriptions | 15–30% of that revenue, depending on programme eligibility |
| Hosting, database, storage | Roughly $20–$300 per month for an early-stage app |
| Push, email, SMS, maps, analytics and other metered services | Often free or small at first; grows with usage. SMS and maps grow fastest |
| Maintenance: OS updates, dependency updates, fixes | Plan on 15–25% of the build cost per year |
| New features | Separate budget; this is where the product improves |
The maintenance line is the one founders forget, and it is not optional for an app in the way it sometimes is for a website. The details are in what app maintenance costs and why.
How to get a quote you can compare
- Write a one-page brief. Users, the core job, must-have features, platforms, deadline and any budget ceiling.
- List the blocks. Use the table above as a checklist and mark what the first release needs.
- Ask for a line-item scope and explicit exclusions. Backend, admin panel, testing, store submission and analytics should all be named.
- Ask which devices and OS versions will be tested.
- Confirm that the store accounts, code and hosting will be in your name.
- Tie payments to working builds you can install on your phone.
For the evaluation itself, see how to choose a mobile app development company. If you would like BBR to estimate your app, our mobile app development page explains how we scope and price, and the app timeline guide shows how the same building blocks translate into months.