Mobile app cost in 2026: $25,000 to $300,000 to build in the US, by scope
TL;DR A custom mobile app built by a US agency in 2026 costs between $25,000 and $300,000. A simple app on top of a system you already have usually lands at $25,000 to $75,000, a consumer app with its own back end and subscriptions at $50,000 to $150,000, and an app with two kinds of users at $100,000 to $300,000. A clickable prototype first costs $6,000 to $24,000, and it is honestly the cheapest way to test the idea.
- A simple app takes about 250 to 500 hours, so roughly $25,000 to $75,000 at US agency rates.
- A consumer app with its own back end, subscriptions and admin takes about 500 to 1,000 hours, so roughly $50,000 to $150,000.
- An app with two kinds of users takes about 1,000 to 2,000 hours, so roughly $100,000 to $300,000.
- One cross-platform app in React Native or Flutter costs a little more than one native app and a lot less than two.
- After launch, Apple charges $99 a year, Google Play $25 once, and both take a share of in-app sales, with upkeep on top.
In this article
- What a mobile app costs to build in 2026
- iPhone, Android or both?
- Where the hours go in a typical app
- The features that change the price the most
- What it costs after launch
- How long it takes
- What makes app projects cost more than planned
- A web app first, or straight to the phone?
- What to prepare before you ask for a quote
- When we are not the right fit
- How to get a number for yours
A custom mobile app built by a US agency in 2026 costs between $25,000 and $300,000 to build, depending on how much the app has to do and whether it needs its own back end, and a clickable prototype you can hold on your phone costs $6,000 to $24,000 before any of that.
A simple app that does one job on top of a system you already have sits at the bottom of that range, a consumer app with accounts, subscriptions and its own back end sits in the middle, and an app with two kinds of users who pay or message each other sits at the top.
Most cost guides give one big range and stop there, and honestly the questions founders ask me are more specific than that. So this guide breaks the build down line by line, adds what an app costs every year after launch in store fees and upkeep, and shows how long the whole thing takes, with real apps on the App Store and Google Play as the examples.
Cross-platform appOne app built from a single codebase, usually in React Native or Flutter, that installs and runs as a real app on both iPhone and Android, instead of two separate apps built for each store.
What a mobile app costs to build in 2026
The hours below come from the apps I have scoped and shipped with the team at Axtra Studios, and the dollar column is those same hours priced at what US agencies charge, which Clutch's web development guide puts at $100 to $149 an hour. Every row includes design, the back end where there is one, testing on real phones and the store release, because an app that is not in the store is basically not finished.
| What you get | Time | Hours | At US agency rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| A clickable prototype on your own phone: the main flows, designed and tested before any code | 2 to 3 weeks | 60 to 160 | $6,000 to $24,000 |
| A simple app: one core job, sign-in and a handful of screens on a system you already have | 4 to 8 weeks | 250 to 500 | $25,000 to $75,000 |
| A consumer app with its own back end, subscriptions, push notifications and an admin panel | 8 to 14 weeks | 500 to 1,000 | $50,000 to $150,000 |
| An app with two kinds of users who pay or message each other, on both stores | 4 to 6 months | 1,000 to 2,000 | $100,000 to $300,000 |
What a mobile app costs to build in the US, 2026 · Source: Time and hours from Axtra Studios projects. Rates from Clutch's web development pricing guide (US agencies, $100 to $149 an hour). Checked October 5, 2026.
For a second opinion, Clutch's own app development guide puts the average app project reviewed on its site at about $90,780, which lands in the third row, and the most common budget at $10,000 to $49,999, which is the first two.
The jump between the rows is mostly the back end. An app that only shows data you already have can lean on your existing system, while an app with its own accounts, payments and admin needs all of that built behind it, and that is usually as much work as the app itself.
iPhone, Android or both?
This is the first decision, and it changes the cost more than any single feature. A native iOS app in Swift gives you the most native feel on the iPhone, and it is the right call when most of your users carry iPhones. Koda, a self-care app built around a forest spirit, is iPhone only, and the team built it end to end with a Koda Plus subscription sold inside the app.
A cross-platform app built in React Native with Expo, or in Flutter, puts one codebase on both stores. It costs a little more than one native app and a lot less than two, because most of the code is shared and only the parts that touch the phone itself, like background location, the camera or payments, need platform work.
Colota is a good example of where that platform work goes. It is an open-source GPS tracker for Android built in React Native, where the team worked as a significant contributor, and the hard part was never the screens, it was keeping location tracking running in the background all day and drawing a live map in real time.
Building two separate native apps, one in Swift and one in Kotlin, almost doubles the build, and I would honestly only recommend it when the app depends on something each platform does very differently. For most products the real choice is one native iPhone app first, or one cross-platform app for both stores, and our mobile app development page goes into how we choose.
Where the hours go in a typical app
Here is the middle row of the table broken down, which is a consumer app with sign-in, a subscription, push notifications and its own back end and admin panel. The total comes to 500 to 1,000 hours, and the split below is roughly how those hours land on our projects.
| Line item | Hours | At US agency rates |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery, user flows and a clickable prototype | 40 to 80 | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| UI design for every screen and every state | 80 to 160 | $8,000 to $24,000 |
| The app itself: screens, navigation, offline and error states | 180 to 360 | $18,000 to $54,000 |
| Back end, API and admin panel | 100 to 200 | $10,000 to $30,000 |
| Sign-in, subscriptions and in-app purchases | 30 to 60 | $3,000 to $9,000 |
| Push notifications, analytics and crash reporting | 20 to 40 | $2,000 to $6,000 |
| Testing on real phones, old and new | 30 to 70 | $3,000 to $10,500 |
| Store listings, privacy labels and review | 20 to 30 | $2,000 to $4,500 |
Where the hours go in a consumer app with its own back end · Source: Hours from Axtra Studios projects, totalling 500 to 1,000. Rates from Clutch's web development pricing guide (US agencies, $100 to $149 an hour). Checked October 5, 2026.
The app build is the biggest line, but notice how much sits around it. The back end and admin are often a fifth of the work, and founders tend to forget them because nobody sees them in the demo, although someone on your team will use that admin panel every single day.
Design is the other line people underestimate. Every screen has an empty state, a loading state, an error state and an offline state, and drawing all of them up front is what makes an app feel finished, because the alternative is a developer guessing what the empty screen should say at the end of a sprint.
The features that change the price the most
A few features move an app up a row on their own. Chat between users means a real-time back end, moderation and notifications, so it is close to a small product of its own, and payments between users, as in a marketplace, bring payouts, refunds and identity checks with them, which is most of the jump to the top row.
Maps and location are the other big one, since background tracking and offline maps need platform work on both iPhone and Android. Video, offline sync and anything built around the camera add hours too, while sign-in with Apple or Google, push notifications and a settings screen are honestly small, because the platforms already do most of that work for you.
What it costs after launch
An app has running costs that a website does not, and they are small but real. Apple charges $99 a year for the developer account that publishes the app, and Google Play charges a one-time $25. We publish under your own accounts, so the app and its reviews belong to you from day one.
| Cost | Apple App Store | Google Play (US) |
|---|---|---|
| Developer account | $99 a year | $25 once |
| Fee on subscriptions | 15% if you made under $1 million last year (Small Business Program), otherwise 30% in a subscriber's first year and 15% after | 10% plus a 5% billing fee |
| Fee on other in-app purchases and paid apps | 15% under the Small Business Program, otherwise 30% | Under $1 million a year, 10% plus a 5% billing fee for users who installed since June 30, 2026, and 20% plus 5% for earlier users |
What Apple and Google charge after launch, 2026 · Source: Apple's developer program, subscriptions and Small Business Program pages, and Google Play's service fee page (the US structure from June 30, 2026). Checked October 5, 2026. Fees outside the US differ.
The bigger cost is upkeep. Apple and Google release a new version of their operating system every year, and every one of them changes something, so an app that nobody touches for a year will usually need work before its next update is accepted.
On top of that there is the back end hosting, crash reporting and the small fixes that real users find in the first months, and on our projects all of that usually comes to 10 to 30 hours a month, so roughly $1,000 to $4,500 at US agency rates.
How long it takes
A clickable prototype usually takes two to three weeks, and it is honestly the cheapest way to find out whether the app makes sense before anyone writes code. A simple app usually takes four to eight weeks, and a consumer app with its own back end eight to fourteen weeks, because the back end, the subscription and the admin all have to be ready on the same day as the app.
An app with two kinds of users takes four to six months, since every flow has to work from both sides. We work in two-week sprints and put a build on your own phone through TestFlight or a Play test at the end of each one, so you are actually using the app long before launch. For comparison, Clutch's guide puts the typical app project at about 11 months.
The store release itself is quicker than most people expect. Apple says 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours, so a well-prepared app usually goes from submitted to live within a day or two. On Google Play, a personal developer account created after November 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days first, which is one more reason to publish under a company account.
What makes app projects cost more than planned
The most expensive mistake I see is building for both stores and every device when the users are on one. If most of your early users are on iPhones, an iPhone app first gets you to real feedback faster and for less, and the Android version can follow once you know what people actually use.
The second is a launch list with every feature on it. A first version with the one core job done properly, plus sign-in and payments, is almost always the better spend, and the features people really ask for after launch are usually different from the ones on the original list.
The third is leaving the store requirements until the end. Privacy labels, the reasons you give for each permission, account deletion inside the app and the rules for subscriptions all have to be right before review, and fixing them in the last week is how a launch date slips.
And the fourth is forgetting the back end until the app is half built. The moment an app needs accounts, payments or content you can change without an update, it needs a server and an admin panel behind it, and that belongs in the budget from the first conversation.
A web app first, or straight to the phone?
If your users sit at a desk while they use your product, or if you need to test the idea with a small group first, a web app is usually cheaper and faster to change, and our guide to web app cost in 2026 covers that side. If the product lives on the phone, with notifications, the camera, location or daily habits, then an app is the product, and building a web version first just delays the real test.
Colitas is a good example of a product that had to be an app. It is a pet-care app for Costa Rica with health records, a vet directory, adoption matching, a shop and a community feed with a Nearby tab, and the team designed and built it end to end and shipped it to the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
What to prepare before you ask for a quote
You will get a much more accurate number if you can describe the one thing people will open the app to do, who they are and which phones they carry. A rough list of screens, even a sketch on paper, is worth more to an estimate than a long feature document.
It also helps to know whether the app needs its own back end or can talk to a system you already have, how you plan to charge, and who will manage the content once it is live. Our app scope checklist is a plain spreadsheet with the questions that move the cost the most, and it is really worth filling in before a call.
When we are not the right fit
If you need a game, a 3D or AR experience, or an app built around custom hardware, a specialist studio is the better choice, and we will tell you that on the first call. The same goes for a native Android app in Kotlin, since we build Android through React Native or Flutter.
And if the budget is under about ten thousand dollars, a no-code app builder is honestly the better buy for a first version. Where we fit is the middle of this page, so an iPhone app or a cross-platform app with its own back end, designed, built and released by one team, which is what our MVP launch work is built around.
How to get a number for yours
The table will tell you which row you are in, and a short call will tell you where in that row you land. We can look at what the app has to do, who it is for and which phones they use, and send you a written scope priced in milestones, with the yearly running cost next to it.
If you are still deciding what goes into the first version, our guide to MVP cost and timeline goes deeper on that, and if the app needs AI inside it, the guide to AI chatbot and agent cost covers the build and the monthly bill. Our health and wellness expertise page has more of the app work behind this guide.
Store fees in this guide come from Apple's developer program, subscriptions and Small Business Program pages, Google Play's service fee and testing pages and Apple's App Review page, with rates and market figures from Clutch's web development and app development pricing guides, all checked on October 5, 2026. Everything here follows our editorial policy.
