What does an app actually cost in 2026?
A focused first version — one platform, a handful of core screens, a simple backend — usually lands between $20,000 and $60,000. A polished cross-platform app with accounts, payments, integrations and a real design pass is more often $60,000 to $150,000. Anything with custom hardware, heavy data work or strict compliance climbs from there. Cheaper quotes exist; they almost always mean less testing, thinner architecture, or a junior team.
What drives the price up or down?
Five things move the number more than anything else. Scope (how many real features, not screens). Backend complexity (a static app is cheap; one with real-time data, roles and payments is not). Design (a template costs little; bespoke UX costs a lot and is often worth it). Integrations (each third-party system adds work and risk). And the team's rate, which varies by region from roughly $25/hour to $200+/hour. The last one is why the same app can cost three times as much in one place versus another.
Why cross-platform isn't automatically cheaper
Flutter and React Native let one codebase serve iOS and Android, which does save money — on the parts that were duplicated. It saves nothing on the hard parts: the backend, the integrations, the design, the testing. So a cross-platform app is usually 20–40% cheaper than two separate native apps, not 50%. If you only need one platform to start, native can be the cheaper first step.
How to keep the cost honest
Insist on a scoped estimate, not a single number. A serious team will break the quote into features and flag what's uncertain. Ask what's excluded — backend, app-store setup, post-launch fixes are common surprises. And treat a quote that's far below the others as a warning, not a win; the gap usually reappears later as rework.