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Mobile App Development Cost Calculator

What an iOS and Android app costs to build, cross-platform or native: screens, features, back end, QA and app store launch, by region.

Updated · By Niraj Kumar · 4 sources

Project

One codebase for iOS and Android, plus app store work.

Unique layouts, not every page: a product page template counts once.

CRM, ERP, shipping, tax, analytics… 32 hours each.

Features

Sign-up and loginSign-up and login

Email and social login, password reset; SSO or MFA is complex.

User profiles and settingsUser profiles and settings

Profile pages, preferences and account deletion.

Roles and permissionsRoles and permissions

Who can see and do what; complex means custom policies.

Teams and multi-tenancyTeams and multi-tenancy

Organisations, invitations and data isolated per customer.

Admin panel / CMSAdmin panel / CMS

Manage users, content and settings without a developer.

Product catalogue and checkoutProduct catalogue and checkout

Listings, variants, cart, checkout and orders.

Payments and subscriptionsPayments and subscriptions

Stripe or similar: plans, invoices, webhooks and refunds.

Search and filteringSearch and filtering

Full-text search and facets; complex means a search engine.

Email and push notificationsEmail and push notifications

Transactional email, push and in-app alerts.

File and media uploadsFile and media uploads

Uploads to object storage, previews and image resizing.

Real-time chatReal-time chat

Messaging over WebSockets, read receipts and history.

Maps and locationMaps and location

Maps, geocoding, distance search or live tracking.

Reports and dashboardsReports and dashboards

Charts, exports and scheduled reports for users.

AI / LLM featuresAI / LLM features

Chat assistants, summaries or retrieval over your data.

Multiple languagesMultiple languages

Translated interface, locale formats and RTL support.

Offline mode and syncOffline mode and sync

Works without a connection and syncs changes later.

Design and quality

UI/UX designUI/UX design
QA and testingQA and testing

Team

Mid-market US agencies; big consultancies bill $200 to $300 an hour.

Agency tierAgency tier
Seniority mixSeniority mix

More developers shorten the calendar, not the hours.

Sprint lengthSprint length
%
0%50%

A reserve for scope that changes once work starts. 15 to 20% is usual; more for a vague brief.

Likely budget, United States$235,000Range $184,000 to $305,000
Total effort
1,816 hours
842 hours of development
Timeline
12 weeks
6 sprints of 2 weeks, up to 18 weeks if the scope grows
Blended rate
$129 an hour
Across every role on the team
Maintenance after launch
$42,500 a year
About 18% of the build: updates, fixes and small improvements
Lowest-cost region
Philippines & Vietnam
$62,000, $173,000 less
Where the budget goes, United StatesHover or focus a row for its hours and share of the budget.
  1. 1Front-end development$67,000
  2. 2Back end, platform and integrations$39,500
  3. 3Contingency reserve$30,500
  4. 4UI/UX design$29,000
  5. 5Project management$22,000
  6. 6QA and testing$19,000
  7. 7Hardening and launch$10,500
  8. 8DevOps and CI/CD$10,000
  9. 9Discovery (sprint 0)$7,500
Sprint plan, 12 weeks192 hours of development per sprint; design, QA, DevOps and PM run alongside.
SprintFocusHoursCostRunning total
Sprint 0Discovery, backlog, architecture and first designs169$21,500$21,500
Sprint 1Project setup, Sign-up and login and 2 more345$45,500$66,500
Sprint 2Admin panel / CMS, Payments and subscriptions, Email and push notifications318$41,000$108,000
Sprint 3Email and push notifications, File and media uploads and 2 more318$41,000$149,000
Sprint 4Reports and dashboards, Offline mode and sync, Integrations318$41,000$190,000
Sprint 5Hardening, acceptance testing and launch111$14,500$204,000
Team by role, before contingency
RoleHoursRateCost
Project manager / BA196$130/h$25,500
UI/UX designer251$120/h$30,000
Senior developer416$160/h$66,500
Mid-level developer505$125/h$63,000
QA engineer211$90/h$19,000
Total1,579$129/h$204,000
The same scope in every region, offshore to onshoreMid-market agency rates at the tier you picked, with each region's coordination overhead added for a US client.
  1. 1Philippines & Vietnamoffshore$62,000
  2. 2Indiaoffshore$65,000
  3. 3Eastern Europeoffshore$89,000
  4. 4Latin Americanearshore$101,000
  5. 5Canadaonshore$186,000
  6. 6Western Europeoffshore$191,000
  7. 7Australiaoffshore$210,000
  8. 8United Kingdomoffshore$211,000
  9. 9United Statesonshore$235,000

How is software development cost estimated?

A cross-platform app for iOS and Android with 20 screens, login, profiles, push notifications, uploads, a map and a light back end takes about 1,800 agency hours. That is around $235,000 with a US agency and $65,000 in India. Two native apps instead cost about 30% more.

build = Σ features (hours × complexity × stack) + screens × 10 h + integrations × 32 h + 40 h setup total = discovery + design + build + 10% hardening + QA % + DevOps + PM (12% + time-zone overhead) cost = Σ role hours × regional rate × agency tier; likely = cost × (1 + contingency) sprints = 1 + ⌈build ÷ (developers × 40 h × weeks × 0.8)⌉ + hardening

This page uses the same method as the Software Development Cost Estimator, which explains each term and assumption in full.

Worked example

An iOS and Android app from one React Native or Flutter codebase: 20 screens, login, profiles, push notifications, photo uploads, a map, light offline support, in-app payments and a simple admin. Built by a US agency (mid-market rates), 3 developers in 2-week sprints, with 15% contingency.

  1. 1Discovery (sprint 0): 55 hours, $7,500
  2. 2UI/UX design: 240 hours, $29,000
  3. 3Front-end development: 482 hours, $67,000
  4. 4Back end, platform and integrations: 284 hours, $39,500
  5. 5Hardening and launch: 77 hours, $10,500
  6. 6QA and testing: 211 hours, $19,000
  7. 7DevOps and CI/CD: 62 hours, $10,000
  8. 8Project management: 169 hours, $22,000
  9. 9Contingency reserve: 237 hours, $30,500
  10. 10Blended rate: $129 an hour across the team
  11. 11Schedule: 6 sprints, 12 weeks

About $235,000, within a range of $184,000 to $305,000, and 12 weeks from kickoff to launch.

Frequently asked questions

React Native or Flutter, or native?

Cross-platform, for most apps: one codebase serves both stores, so the front end costs about 20% more than a single platform rather than double. Native Swift and Kotlin apps are worth it for heavy graphics, deep hardware use or platform-specific design. Switch the stack above to see the difference on your scope.

What does an app cost beyond the build?

Apple's developer program is $99 a year and Google Play's a one-off $25. Both stores take 15 to 30% of digital sales. Budget for OS updates every year, which can break features, and for the back end's hosting, which grows with users. Maintenance runs 15 to 20% of the build cost a year.

Sources

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