How much does it cost to build an app in 2026?
Real numbers for a first version, what moves the price, and how to keep it lean.
It's the first question every founder asks, and most agencies won't answer it on their website. We publish our prices, so here's how we price a first version, with the numbers from our own estimator.
The short answer
A focused web app, with sign-up, one core flow done well and a simple admin view, usually lands between $8,500 and $10,000 with us and takes four to six weeks. A mobile app for iOS and Android starts around $10,000 to $12,500, because there are two platforms to test and two app stores to get through. Web and mobile together start around $14,000.
Those are fixed prices, paid in four milestones as the work is delivered. You don't pay for hours; you pay for a scope we agree on in writing.
What moves the price
- Platforms. Each one you add, web, iOS or Android, adds design, build and testing time.
- User types. A marketplace has buyers, sellers and an admin, and each role brings its own screens and rules.
- Payments. Taking payments adds about $2,500. Paying out to sellers adds more.
- An admin dashboard. About $3,500 for a back office your team can run the business from.
- AI features. About $4,500 for a feature that's tested, capped and safe to ship.
- Integrations. About $3,000 to connect the tools you already use.
What a fixed price should include
Whoever you hire, check that the quote covers more than code: product design, testing on real devices, app store submission, launch and support afterwards. Ours includes 30 days of care after launch and a handoff pack, and the code lives in your own GitHub organization.
Three questions, an itemized range, no email needed.
How to keep the first version lean
- Pick the one flow that proves people want this, and build that well.
- Launch to 20 real users before adding the second feature.
- Add payments when someone is ready to pay, not before.
- Use proven services for email, sign-in and analytics instead of building them.
Hourly or fixed price?
Hourly billing puts the risk on you: every surprise lands on your bill. A fixed price puts it on the team that wrote the estimate, which is where it belongs. If the scope changes, you should get a written note with the new price and date, and nothing should move until you approve it.
The Idea Lab turns a two-sentence idea into a build plan: why it could work, what to get right first, the first version worth building and its price. Two minutes, from our published rates.