# How Much Does an App Cost in 2026? Real-World Budgets

> Source: https://extradev.fr/en/blog/how-much-does-an-app-cost-in-2026-real-world-budgets
> Published: 2026-10-07
> Author: Vincent Roye
> Site: Extra Dev (https://extradev.fr)
> Lang: en-US
> Tags: coût application, développement application mobile, budget MVP, régie, développeur senior

From €5,000 for an MVP to over €150,000 for an enterprise project: what drives the price of an app, the hidden costs, and the budget you should plan for.

How much does an app cost in 2026? Anywhere from €5,000 for an MVP (a minimum viable product, meaning a stripped-down first version with one or two features) to over €150,000 for an enterprise project, according to aquilapp.fr's March 2026 pricing guide. That 30-fold spread comes down almost entirely to one number: the number of development days.

I've been running development projects for years, and the same thing keeps happening. A founder asks for a price, gets three quotes at €12,000, €45,000 and €90,000, and no longer knows what to believe. This article gives you the ranges, explains what moves them, and shows how I would bring the bill down.

- 📊 **2026 price ranges**, from €5,000 for an MVP to over €150,000 for an enterprise project.
- ⏱️ **Timeline and price go together**, an MVP takes one to three months, a business app three to five.
- ⚠️ **Hidden costs**, annual maintenance adds 15 to 20% of the initial budget.
- 🎯 **My clear verdict**, run a five-day time-and-materials trial before signing off on an overall budget.

## What are the price ranges for an app in 2026?

The price of an app depends first on what kind of app it is, not on how its home screen looks. According to aquilapp.fr (March 2026), an MVP costs €5,000 to €20,000, a business app €20,000 to €50,000, and an enterprise project that integrates with the company's information systems €100,000 to €250,000.

### Which price range fits which type of app?

The table below reproduces aquilapp.fr's pricing grid, based on more than 50 completed projects. I've added a timeline column, because a budget without a schedule tells you nothing about the risk.

| Project type | Typical technology | Budget (excl. VAT) | Timeline |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MVP / prototype | React Native or no-code | €5,000 to €20,000 | 1 to 3 months |
| B2B / business app | Flutter or React Native | €20,000 to €50,000 | 3 to 5 months |
| E-commerce / back office | Flutter or native | €50,000 to €100,000 | 5 to 8 months |
| Complex app (AI, marketplace) | Native | €80,000 to €150,000+ | 6 to 12 months |
| Enterprise / IS integration | Native | €100,000 to €250,000+ | 8+ months |

SOURCE: aquilapp.fr, pricing grid based on 50+ projects · UPDATED 03/2026

Three terms worth explaining. React Native and Flutter are frameworks that produce both an iOS and an Android app from a single codebase. Native means writing two separate apps, one for each platform. The back office is the admin interface your team uses to run the product.

### Why don't agency price grids line up?

Because each source is pricing a different scope. Digital Unicorn quotes €5,000 to €100,000 (page dated 1 July 2026), with an MVP at €5,000 to €15,000 delivered in one to three months. Codeur.com, a freelance marketplace, gives €500 to €25,000 (2025 page).

None of these ranges is wrong. They describe different providers, quality levels and scopes, which is why comparing two quotes without comparing their assumptions is like comparing prices per kilo without knowing what's being sold.

**Two quotes are only comparable if the scope is written down.**

For more on typical figures by sector, I've broken down the [real price ranges by project type](https://extradev.fr/blog/cout-developpement-application-fourchettes-reelles-par-type-projet) and the [budget for a mobile app, line by line](https://extradev.fr/blog/prix-developpement-application-mobile-2026).

## Why can the price of an app vary 30-fold?

The price of an app is the product of two numbers: the hours each feature requires, multiplied by the team's hourly rate. The 30-fold spread comes from a broader scope and a higher rate stacking on top of each other.

### How does an agency work out your quote?

Arsh Singh, a growth strategy consultant, walks through the method in his video "How Much Does It Cost To Build An App?". He takes an app with five features, estimated at 340 hours. At $50 an hour, the bill comes to $17,000. At $120 an hour, it rises to $40,800, 2.4 times more for the same product.

For a complex app, he assumes around 1,500 hours: $75,000 with a $50-an-hour provider, $180,000 with a $120-an-hour one. He also puts the average rate at around $150 an hour in the United States and $100 in Europe.

There's a flaw in this reasoning that I don't buy: it treats hours as fixed. In reality, **the number of hours depends on how the work is done**, not just on the scope. A senior developer (at least 8 years' experience at Extra Dev) working with Claude Code, a command-line AI coding assistant, ships a standard feature in far less time than a developer without those tools. That's the variable I work on, not the rate.

### Which features blow up the budget?

Real-time features, payments, mapping and multiple user roles. The Platzi channel illustrates this with an app like Uber: real-time GPS tracking of both rider and driver, online payment, route prediction, dynamic pricing, a digital wallet for drivers, and two-way ratings.

Above all, it isn't one app but two: the rider's and the driver's, each with very different features. Many founders picture "an ordering screen and a map" and forget half the product.

A thread on [r/programacion](https://www.reddit.com/r/programacion/) offers a concrete example: two developers need to price a delivery app for a small town, with three modules (customer, delivery driver, and a manager who views reports). Their optimistic estimate is two months, and they're torn between a fixed price and a salary until the project ends. The thread got no replies, which says a lot about how hard the question is.

Three modules mean three apps on the invoice. **Count screens per role, not per product.**

## What costs does an app quote leave out?

A quote covers the build, rarely the product's life after launch. According to aquilapp.fr (March 2026), annual maintenance runs at 15 to 20% of the initial budget, and that cost comes back every year for as long as the app exists.

### How much should you plan for after launch, and what are the fixed costs?

For a business app built for €40,000, maintenance (bug fixes, iOS and Android updates, minor improvements) therefore costs €6,000 to €8,000 a year. That's an operating budget, not a nasty surprise, as long as you've planned for it.

Then come the fixed costs. Steven Cravotta, in his video on mobile app costs in 2025, puts them at around $145 a year: the Apple developer account at $99 a year (see the [official Apple Developer Program](https://developer.apple.com/programs/)), the Google Play account, a domain name and hosting, since both app stores require a website with a privacy policy and a support address. Bug tracking and analytics tools are free to start with, then billed on usage beyond roughly 10,000 downloads a month, according to the same video.

The heaviest cost is still development itself, as a real case shows. In his video about the Clochette app (private chefs at home), the Italian entrepreneur behind the Surry channel reports around €60,000 in development for the app, the back office and the website, after 150 to 200 test builds. Add €10,000 in legal advice, the company's share capital and €4,000 a year in accounting, and he reaches about €86,000 before marketing.

The fixed publishing costs are modest. The expensive mistake lies elsewhere: launching without a back office, without error logging, without backups. In my experience, an app built properly from the start (database, admin interface, logs, backups, security) costs a little more on day one and a lot less by the eighteenth monthly payment.

## How can you cut an app's budget without cutting corners?

Three levers bring the bill down without hurting the result: a precise specification, work broken into short, testable chunks, and a senior developer equipped with AI tools. All three attack the number of days, which is the one variable the hourly rate can't fix.

### Can AI replace a developer?

For a prototype, often yes. Steven Cravotta ranks "vibe coding" (describing your app to an AI tool such as Lovable, Cursor or Replit, which writes the code) as the cheapest option: at first it only costs your time, since the tools offer free trials before their paid plans.

I'd add a caveat. An AI-generated prototype is for testing an idea. An app that customers will pay for needs a clear architecture, real in-browser testing and a database you actually control. Without that, generated code quickly becomes unmanageable, and the cost of rewriting it outstrips the initial savings.

Platzi's video reaches a similar conclusion by a different route: the best companies launch a prototype, talk to users, then iterate. **The right first budget pays for learning, not for the finished app.**

My choice of tech stack follows the same logic: Next.js, Vercel, PostgreSQL or Supabase make it possible to ship a clean product fast. To scope the project before writing any code, a [specification template](https://extradev.fr/blog/cahier-des-charges-application-mobile-modele-budget) heads off a lot of inflated quotes.

### Fixed price or time and materials: who carries the risk?

A fixed price shifts the risk onto the provider, who builds it into the price. Time and materials (billing for the time a dedicated developer actually spends) lets the client set priorities and pay only for work done. I've long argued for time and materials, and I've explained why [the reassuring fixed price often ends up costing more](https://extradev.fr/blog/forfait-regie-dev-pourquoi-forfait-coute-plus-cher).

Time and materials also makes the maths simple. At Extra Dev, a dedicated developer costs €180 a day, all-in. Twenty days is €3,600, sixty days €10,800, a hundred days €18,000. The budget is read in days, and those days can be measured from the very first week.

To keep it on track, a short management routine is all it takes: see [the 30-minute rhythm that prevents drift](https://extradev.fr/blog/piloter-dev-regie-distance-rituel-30-minutes).

## What budget should you plan for your app, and where should you start?

Plan €5,000 to €20,000 to validate an idea, €20,000 to €50,000 for a business app, and set aside 15 to 20% a year for maintenance. For a project you're seriously committing to, the safest approach is to measure before you sign: five days of real development tell you more than a twenty-page quote.

### What decides between a prototype, an MVP and a full app?

Proof of demand. If no user has yet paid for or used the product, stick with a prototype, at €5,000 to €15,000 according to Digital Unicorn (July 2026). If a dozen customers are waiting for the next version, move to an MVP and then a business app, at €20,000 to €50,000 according to aquilapp.fr.

My verdict comes down to three rules. **Break the work into short chunks, each with its own acceptance criteria.** Start with five days of development to measure real speed and quality. Project the rest of the budget from that data, not from an agency estimate.

The truth about the price of an app is that you discover it by doing the work. The quoted price is a hypothesis, and the only reliable price is the one you've measured. If you want to put this to the test, Extra Dev sends a first profile within 48 hours and can start in under seven days, with no commitment.

To build a more precise launch budget for an online software product, the article on the [budget for a SaaS MVP in France in 2026](https://extradev.fr/blog/budget-mvp-saas-france-2026) takes this method further. The French government's [France Num](https://www.francenum.gouv.fr/) portal also lists guides and funding schemes for the digital transformation of small businesses.

## FAQ

### How much does a simple mobile app cost in 2026?

A simple app (one or two features, a single user role) costs €5,000 to €20,000, according to aquilapp.fr (March 2026). Digital Unicorn quotes €5,000 to €15,000 for an MVP delivered in one to three months (July 2026). Add 15 to 20% a year for maintenance.

### Why do app development quotes vary so much?

A quote multiplies estimated hours by an hourly rate, and both vary from one provider to the next. For 340 hours, Arsh Singh calculates $17,000 at $50 an hour versus $40,800 at $120 an hour. Scope, technology and the team's experience account for the rest.

### What does an app cost per year after launch?

Allow 15 to 20% of the initial budget each year for maintenance, according to aquilapp.fr (March 2026). On top of that come around $145 a year in fixed costs (Apple developer account, domain, hosting), according to Steven Cravotta. These costs rise with traffic.

### Can you build an app with AI for next to nothing?

For a prototype, yes: tools like Lovable, Cursor or Replit let you test an idea for little more than your own time. For an app that real customers will use, you need architecture, testing, backups and security, which takes a senior developer. AI cuts development time, it doesn't replace oversight.

### Is a fixed price or time and materials better for building an app?

Time and materials suits projects whose scope evolves, which is the case for most first versions: you pay for measurable days and you set the priorities. A fixed price only makes sense if the specification is frozen and signed off before the first day of work. At Extra Dev, time and materials is billed at €180 a day.

## Sources

- [Mobile app pricing in 2026: from €5,000 to €250,000 — aquilapp.fr](https://www.aquilapp.fr/ressources/projet-mobile/combien-coute-application-mobile)
- [How much does it cost to build a mobile app? — digitalunicorn.fr](https://digitalunicorn.fr/le-prix-pour-la-creation-dune-application-mobile/)
- [How much does a mobile app cost in 2025? — codeur.com](https://www.codeur.com/pages/combien-coute-application-mobile)
- [How Much Does It Cost To Build An App? — Arsh Singh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORxLNgmb0Wk)
- [How much does it cost to make an app like UBER? — Platzi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mGHGq2cNy4)
- [How Much It Costs To Build a Mobile App in 2025 — Steven Cravotta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLSJ2Da5gyw)
- [Quanto costa creare un'app come Clochez — Surry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twD-Ghyev74)
- [¿Cuánto cuesta una aplicación de delivery? — r/programacion](https://www.reddit.com/r/programacion/comments/1rremau/cu%C3%A1nto_cuesta_una_aplicaci%C3%B3n_de_delivery/)
- [Apple Developer Program — developer.apple.com](https://developer.apple.com/programs/)
- [France Num — francenum.gouv.fr](https://www.francenum.gouv.fr/)