How Much Does Mobile App Development Cost?
Direct Answer
Mobile app development costs range from $10,000–$30,000 for a simple MVP to $50,000–$200,000+ for a complex, feature-rich application. Cross-platform frameworks (Flutter, React Native) reduce cost by 40–50% compared to building separate native iOS and Android apps.
Mobile App Cost by Complexity
**Simple MVP (5–8 screens)**: $10,000–$30,000 | 6–10 weeks User authentication, basic CRUD operations, and a simple backend API.
**Medium Complexity (10–20 screens)**: $30,000–$80,000 | 12–20 weeks Custom UI, real-time features, third-party integrations (payments, maps, push notifications), and admin panel.
**Complex Application**: $80,000–$200,000+ | 20–40 weeks Advanced features like AR, ML/AI, offline sync, BLE/IoT, multi-language, and complex business logic.
**Enterprise Application**: $200,000–$500,000+ | 6–18 months Multi-tenant, high security, compliance requirements, and complex backend systems.
Native vs Cross-Platform Cost Comparison
**Native iOS + Android (separate)**: Full price × 1.8 (some shared logic reduces it slightly) Best performance and access to latest platform APIs. Requires two separate codebases and two teams.
**Flutter (cross-platform)**: 50–60% of native cost Single codebase, near-native performance, ships to both stores. Our recommended default.
**React Native**: 50–60% of native cost Good option if your team has React web expertise to share logic with.
For 90% of apps, Flutter is the best cost/performance balance and our default recommendation.
Hidden Costs to Budget For
**Backend Infrastructure**: 20–30% of app development cost. Your app needs a server, database, and API — budget for this separately if not included.
**App Store Fees**: Apple charges $99/year; Google charges $25 one-time.
**Third-Party APIs**: Payment gateways, maps, SMS, push notifications — these have ongoing costs.
**Maintenance**: Budget 15–25% of development cost per year for updates, OS compatibility fixes, and security patches.
**Marketing**: An app nobody downloads generates no revenue. Budget for ASO, user acquisition, and marketing.