Mobile app pricing questions almost always come with an unspoken assumption baked in, that the number is going to be simple. It is not, because a mobile app can mean a basic booking tool or a full marketplace platform with payments, messaging, and offline sync, and those two projects are not close in price.
What a Mobile App Actually Costs
Simple apps, a single-purpose tool with basic screens and no complex backend, typically run $40,000 to $80,000. Apps of medium complexity, with accounts, a real backend, and a handful of integrations, commonly land between $50,000 and $120,000. Complex or enterprise-grade apps, marketplaces, apps with payments and real-time features, or apps supporting large user bases, frequently run $200,000 to $500,000 or more.
Native vs. Cross-Platform: What the Choice Actually Trades Off
Native development, building separately for iOS and Android, consistently costs more than a cross-platform approach using a framework like React Native or Flutter, since two codebases require roughly double the engineering effort for anything beyond the shared backend. Cross-platform development commonly saves 20% to 40% compared to two parallel native builds.
That savings is not free. Native apps tend to perform better for graphics-heavy or hardware-intensive features, and app-store review teams are more familiar with native patterns. For most business apps, forms, dashboards, bookings, content, cross-platform is the more capital-efficient choice. For apps that depend heavily on camera, AR, or complex device sensors, native often earns its higher cost.
Why Android Sometimes Costs More Than iOS to Ship
Development cost for iOS and Android is roughly comparable for equivalent scope, but Android frequently requires more quality assurance time due to device fragmentation, the wide range of screen sizes, OS versions, and hardware combinations Android devices ship in. Budget realistic QA time for Android rather than assuming parity with iOS on testing effort.
The Cost Nobody Budgets For: Maintenance
A mobile app is not a one-time expense. Annual maintenance, OS updates, bug fixes, dependency updates, and app-store compliance changes, typically runs 15% to 25% of the original development cost every year. A founder who budgets only for the initial build and not for year-two maintenance is planning for an app that quietly breaks after the next major OS update.
How to Scope a Mobile App Budget Realistically
Start with the smallest version of the app that can actually be tested by real users, not the full long-term vision. Decide native versus cross-platform based on what the app actually needs to do, not a default preference. And ask any vendor directly what percentage of the quote covers post-launch maintenance and store resubmission, since that answer tells you whether the relationship ends at launch or continues.