Mobile App Development Cost: A Line-by-Line Breakdown

"How much is an app?" has the same answer as "how much is a building?" — but the line items are predictable enough that you can sanity-check any quote you're given.

Realistic ranges by complexity

• Simple app (content, forms, basic auth, one platform): $30,000–$60,000
• Mid-complexity (custom backend, payments, notifications, offline support): $60,000–$150,000
• Complex (real-time features, multiple user roles, heavy integrations, compliance): $150,000–$350,000+

Where the money goes

• Discovery and UX — 10–15%. Skipping it is the most reliable way to pay twice.
• UI design — 10–15%, more if you need a full design system rather than a screen set.
• Mobile engineering — 35–45%, and this roughly doubles if you build separate native iOS and Android apps.
• Backend and APIs — 20–30%. The invisible half of the budget, and the part clients most often forget.
• QA across devices — 10–15%; device fragmentation is real work, not a rounding error.
• Store submission, compliance, and launch — 5%.

The decisions that move the number most

• One platform or two — cross-platform (React Native, Flutter) typically saves 30–40% versus two native codebases.
• Do you need a backend at all, or can an existing system expose APIs?
• Offline support and real-time sync — individually modest features that reshape the whole architecture.
• Regulated data (health, finance) — encryption, audit trails, and access control add meaningful scope.
• Third-party integrations — each one is build plus testing plus ongoing maintenance.

Don't forget year one after launch

Budget 15–20% of the build cost annually for OS updates, store policy changes, dependency patches, and the improvements your first real users will ask for. An app that isn't updated for a year visibly rots — and eventually stops passing store review.