How Much Does It Cost to Build a Mobile App in 2026?

Mobile app quotes vary more than almost any other kind of software. The same idea can be priced at a few thousand dollars by one team and six figures by another, and both can be honest. The difference is nearly always scope, platform strategy and how much backend the app needs.

The four things that set the price

• Number of screens and flows. Sign-up, onboarding, the core feature, settings, payments. Each one is designed, built and tested.
• One codebase or two. Building separate native apps for iOS and Android means building the product twice. A cross-platform framework such as React Native ships both from one codebase.
• Backend. If the app has accounts, stores data or needs an admin dashboard, there is a server-side system to build as well.
• Integrations and device features. Payments, push notifications, maps, camera, calendars and third-party APIs all add work.

Real prices for iOS and Android apps

Our mobile app development packages are fixed price and cover both platforms from one React Native codebase:

UI/UX design, App Store and Google Play submission, and a post-launch iteration period are included. Larger scopes get a fixed quote after a discovery call.

Why one codebase matters for cost

With two native apps, every feature, every fix and every design change is done twice, by developers with different skills. With a shared codebase, most of the work is done once and runs on both platforms. For a typical business app, that is the largest single saving available.

Native development is still the better choice for some products. We compare the two in React Native vs native app development.

Fees outside the build

• Apple Developer Program. $99 per year to publish on the App Store.
• Google Play. A one-time $25 registration fee.
• Store commission. Apple and Google take a cut of digital goods and subscriptions sold inside the app, typically between 15% and 30%. Physical goods and services are usually exempt.
• Backend hosting and services. Servers, databases, push notifications, email and SMS are billed by usage.
• Maintenance. iOS and Android release major versions every year, and apps need updates to stay compatible.

How to keep the budget under control

1. Launch with one core job. Decide the single thing the app must do well and ship that first.
2. Scope the backend at the start. Accounts, data storage and admin tools should be in the first quote, not discovered halfway through.
3. Ask for a written scope and fixed price. It forces both sides to agree on what is being built.
4. Plan a second phase. Real users will tell you what to build next more reliably than a feature list written before launch.

What to send for a quote

Describe what the app does in a few sentences, who uses it, whether users need accounts, what it has to connect to, and when you want to launch. That is enough for a studio to tell you which price band you are in.