How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Mobile App? What Actually Drives the Number
What actually drives the cost of a mobile app: platform count, backend scope, monetisation. No price list — the levers to settle before you ask for a quote.
Updated 6 min read
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Every agency page that answers this question with a single number is guessing, and so is every "app cost calculator" that asks you four questions and prints a figure. Not because the number is secret — because the same sentence, "I want an app like Uber," describes projects that differ by an order of magnitude in the work required.
So this page does not give you a price. It gives you the things that decide the price. Settle these six and any competent studio can quote you accurately in a day. Leave them open and every quote you receive is fiction, including a cheap one.
The six levers#
The six levers that move the number
| Lever | Why it moves the number |
|---|---|
| Platform count | One iOS app is one build, one review queue, one bug surface. Adding Android roughly doubles the testing matrix even with a shared codebase. |
| Backend surface | Accounts, payments, push, file storage, moderation, an admin panel — each is a system with its own failure modes, not a screen. |
| Monetisation on day one | A subscription app needs paywall logic, store receipt validation, restore flows and renewal handling before it can take a single lira or dollar. |
| Where the design comes from | An existing design system is a starting line. "Make it look good" is a discovery phase. |
| Content and moderation | User-generated content means reporting, blocking and a review queue — App Store review asks for these, and they are not optional. |
| What happens after launch | Crash monitoring, store updates, OS version bumps. An app is not a delivery, it is a thing that keeps running. |
The questions worth answering before you ask anyone for a quote#
- Who is the first user, specifically? Not a segment — one person you can name and describe.
- What is the one thing the app must do on day one? Everything else is version two.
- iOS only, or both stores? If you cannot say why you need both, you probably need one.
- How does money arrive? Subscription, one-off purchase, free with something behind it, or nothing yet.
- Does anything already exist? A design file, a landing page, an audience, a backend.
- What is your deadline, and what makes it real? An investor meeting is a deadline. "Soon" is not.
If you can answer these six, you are ready to compare quotes properly — with us or with anyone else. If you cannot answer them yet, that is the actual first piece of work, and it is worth doing before you spend money on code.
Why a number on a page would be worse than useless#
A published price is only honest if the scope behind it is fixed. To publish one, an agency has to pick a scope narrow enough to defend — and then every project that does not fit that scope gets quietly reshaped to fit the price. That is how you end up with an app that shipped on budget and does the wrong thing.
We would rather look at what you are building and tell you what it takes.
What "shipped" means here#
Anyone can show you a portfolio. What is worth checking is whether the apps are actually on the store, and what the public record says about them. These are the three apps we have built, read straight off their public App Store listings:
Every one of them is one link away, with the US storefront beside the Turkish one: Glamour — Color Analysis & Glow Up holds 4.4 from 72 ratings in the US, HairMaxx — AI Hair Style & Care 4.6 from 48, and Tattoo Genie — AI Designer 4.1 from 29. Rating counts are per storefront, which is why the Turkish and US figures differ so much — these apps found their first audience in Turkey.
You will notice there are no revenue numbers on this page. Revenue claims from an agency are self-reported and unverifiable by definition, so they do not belong next to figures you can check for yourself.
What we do instead of quoting a price#
We look at your six answers, tell you what the first shippable version actually contains, and give you a scope and a timeline — the same 3-5 week window we work in on our own products. If the honest answer is that you need less than you think, we say that too.
Frequently asked questions#
Why do app agencies not publish their prices?
A published price is only honest if the scope behind it is fixed. To publish one, an agency has to pick a scope narrow enough to defend, and then every project that does not fit that scope gets quietly reshaped to fit the price.
That is how you end up with an app that shipped on budget and does the wrong thing. Looking at what you are actually building and saying what it takes is the more useful answer.
How quickly can I get an accurate quote?
Once the six levers are settled and you can answer the six questions, any competent studio can quote you accurately in a day. Until then every quote you receive is fiction, including a cheap one — which is why settling the scope is the real first piece of work.
Should I build for iOS only, or for both stores?
If you cannot say why you need both, you probably need one. One iOS app is one build, one review queue, one bug surface; adding Android roughly doubles the testing matrix even when the codebase is shared.
What does "shipped" mean, and why do the ratings differ between storefronts?
Shipped means the app is live on the store and its public record can be checked — ratings and rating counts included. Anyone can show a portfolio; the store listing is the part you can verify yourself.
Rating counts are kept per storefront, so the Turkish and US figures for the same app differ. Ours found their first audience in Turkey, which is why the Turkish counts are so much larger.
