Real numbers on what a custom iOS, Android, or web app costs to build in 2026 — what drives the price up, what brings it down, and how to scope a project properly.
Most custom business apps land between $2,500 and $25,000. Simple internal tools — a booking form, an inventory tracker, a basic dashboard — sit at the low end. Full-featured apps with user accounts, payments, integrations, and a mobile component land in the middle. Multi-platform apps with complex logic, real-time syncing, and enterprise features sit at the high end and above.
When you hear someone quote "$100,000+" for an app, they're usually a big-city agency talking about a much bigger project than a small business actually needs.
$2,500-$5,000. A single-purpose tool. One core function, one or two screens, a database, and a clean interface. Examples: an internal booking form, an inventory checker, a simple intake portal, a calculator tool. Done in 4-6 weeks. No mobile app — it's a web app you access from any browser.
$5,000-$12,000. A real multi-feature web app or a simple mobile app. Multiple users with different permissions, multiple connected screens, basic reporting, and a few integrations with other systems. Examples: a grant tracking system, a client portal, a custom booking platform, a single-purpose mobile app for staff. Done in 6-10 weeks.
$12,000-$25,000. A polished cross-platform app with both a web admin dashboard and a customer-facing mobile app, real-time syncing, payments, push notifications, and meaningful integrations. Examples: a full lodge booking app with online payments, a community member app for a band office, a multi-location restaurant operations app. Done in 10-16 weeks.
$25,000+. Larger systems with complex logic, multiple user types, heavy integrations, regulatory compliance, or unusual technical requirements. Usually quoted in phases rather than all up front.
User accounts and roles. Apps with simple "log in and use it" cost less than apps where admins, staff, clients, and the public each see something different. Each role multiplies the work.
Payments. Anything that takes credit cards or processes refunds takes more work than something purely informational. There's compliance, security, and the user-experience design of failed payments to handle.
Mobile apps vs web apps. A mobile app costs more than a web app of the same scope — you have App Store/Play Store submission, more device variation, more testing, and more ongoing maintenance as iOS and Android release updates.
Real-time features. Live data syncing, multi-user editing, push notifications — these add complexity and infrastructure cost beyond a simple "load page, save data" model.
Integrations. Connecting to QuickBooks, your POS, Microsoft 365, or a payment processor each adds work. Not a lot per integration, but it adds up.
Custom design. Generic clean interfaces are fast to build. Heavily branded apps with custom illustrations and animations cost more — sometimes a lot more.
Tight scope. The single biggest lever. A clear, focused app with one main job costs a fraction of a sprawling "and it should also..." app. We help clients narrow the scope to the parts that actually matter — and add the rest later if needed.
Web app instead of mobile. If your users will mostly access this at a desk or counter, a web app is roughly half the cost of a mobile app and most of the time it's the right call. Many small businesses don't actually need a mobile app — they think they do because "app" is the word they've heard.
Standard authentication. Logging in with Google or Microsoft instead of building a custom username/password system saves work and improves security.
Phased delivery. Building the must-haves first and the nice-to-haves later means you start using (and benefiting from) the app sooner — and you can decide based on real use whether the later features are still worth building.
Hosting and infrastructure. Apps need to run somewhere. Most projects need $20-$100/month in ongoing hosting costs. Some agencies hide this — get clarity upfront.
Maintenance. Apps decay if left alone. Operating systems update, security issues are discovered, libraries change. Budget 10-20% of the build cost per year for ongoing maintenance if you want the app to stay healthy.
App store fees. Apple Developer Account is $99 USD/year. Google Play Developer Account is $25 USD one-time. Plus Apple takes 15-30% of in-app revenue if you sell anything through the app.
The cost of getting it wrong. A cheap fixed-bid build from someone who underquoted you and bails halfway is more expensive than a properly scoped flat-rate build done right the first time. We see this often — second-attempt rebuilds of failed first attempts.
We quote flat rate after a short scoping conversation. You know the total cost upfront. We don't bill hourly, and scope creep doesn't inflate your invoice — if you add new things mid-project, we'll quote those separately so the decision is yours.
You own everything we build. When the project ends, you have the source code, the design files, and the documentation. You're not locked into paying us to keep it running — though we're happy to maintain it for you if you'd rather not.
Most of our app projects in the region land at $4,000-$15,000. We've done internal tools as small as $2,500 and multi-feature platforms in the $20,000+ range. Whichever end you're at, we'll tell you honestly before any work begins.
Tell us what the app needs to do, who'll use it, and the problem you're trying to solve. We'll scope it and tell you honestly what it'll cost.