How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Mobile App?

With the ever-evolving digital era, the saying, “There’s an app for everything,” is becoming more relevant than ever. There is a mobile app for everything, from booking cabs, ordering food online, and locating cafes. But in the changing market trends and development, the question, “How much does mobile app development cost?” remains constant.

One of the most basic aspects to understand and estimate before proceeding with app development is understanding the cost of the whole process. However, the cost of building an app is not a fixed component and it varies as per the factors. Understand this: the cost of building an app internally may not be the same as the cost of developing an app with a mobile app development company.

During research or comparison, you may find that developing a mobile app internally may cost you less than hiring a development company. But here what you need to understand is that the development company brings experts who have the right skill set for working on multi-platform mobile app development projects.

On the other side, if you work internally to build a mobile app, you may struggle with certain complexities, including complicated processes, advanced mobile technology, and machine learning.

If you decide to go with the in-house development plan, you may save bucks by decreasing the cost to develop an app, but only at the initial stage, over time you may find a lack of user experience and fixable bugs that will somehow catch up with the price quote you would get from an app development company.

The estimate of an app development cost may vary depending on the budget-forming factors. Let’s understand what factors you need to consider while estimating the exact or near-about mobile app development cost in 2025

Understanding App Development Cost Estimate

Finding the exact price tag for the app development process is hard. But here are some of the estimations depending on the functionality and complexity that you consider as a budget range to build your mobile application.

• Simple Mobile App: $5,000 — $50,000
• Medium Complex App: $50,000 — $120,000
• Complex App: $120,000 — $300,000

What factors affect the Cost of developing an App?

The average cost to build an app varies depending on the factors mentioned below:

• Function and Purpose of the Mobile App- What can the app do for the users, and what are its functions
• Platforms and Supported Devices- Will the application be developed for iOS only, or will it support Android as well, with the support of specific hardware devices
• Integration- Integration with third-party apps providing the source of its content
• Developing Visual Objects- The cost to build an app will be estimated depending on the type of visual object. The more complex the visual object is, more is the cost of building an app.
• Integration of Features- Any specific integration of features like GPS Navigation, motion coprocessor, and Augmented reality tech compatible to work with smartphones or tablet computers.
• Schedule Maintenance- After the completion of the project, it requires technical touch-ups from the developers, incorporating updates that fix bugs and update new features

Mobile App Development Cost on Different Stages

A clear understanding of the stages in the app-building process, along with the estimated cost during that stage, can help businesses design the right plan according to their budget. Now, the development process is carried out in four different phases, including, Research, design, Development, Testing, and Deployment.

As of 2024 reports, the cost of each stage was categorized according to the below stats:

• Research or the stage of discovering the market before planning and plotting costs around 10–15% of the cost
• The designing stage focuses on UI/UX design, creating wireframes and prototypes calculated to be approximately 20–25% of the cost.
• The most important stage is development, which requires almost 40–55% of the cost of building a mobile app. In this stage of mobile app building actual coding and technical work are done.
• Testing is the most important factor before launching the mobile app in the market and it takes merely 15–20% of the budget to ensure that the mobile application is working fine.
• The final stage i.e. deployment of the mobile application requires another 5–10% of the total budget. After the complete development, the app is deployed to respective app stores.

Since we are now already aware of the total percentage of the budget allocated in different stages, let’s understand the app development cost breakdown in each stage.

1. The Discovery or the research stage

• It has been observed that the companies spent somewhere between $5 and $10k as the 10–20% of the total allocated budget.
• Reportedly one of the most expensive brackets was $40k constituting 5$-$10 of the total budget.

2. The Design State of the mobile app

• The cheapest cost budget spent on the designing of the mobile was $5-$10k constituting 10–15% of the total budget.
• Another observation was made stating that $10-$25k was representing 20–25% of the total budget.
• Out of all the most expensive cost bracket for use in the designing stage, was $50k representing 15–20% of the whole budget.

3. The Development Stage

• The budget bracket in this stage of the development process encompasses 40–50% of the total cost. The exact amount in USD may vary from $30k to $300k depending on the specifications and purpose.
• In some rare use cases, the app requires massive development due to top-notch specifications. In these types of cases, a budget of more than $300k becomes usable. However, the cost bracket in such scenarios ranges from 35–45% of the total allocated budget.

4. The Testing and Deployment Stage

• The testing stage before the deployment for simple and basic apps requires between $5k-$15k, using 10–15% of the total allocated budget.
• Another level of the medium complex app requires a little more extensive testing than the simple ones with $15k-$30k making 10–15% of the total allocated budget.
• The most complex app with extensive features requires thorough testing to fix bugs and enhance user engagement. And for fulfilling this requirement, a budget bracket of $30k-$50k, forming 10–15% of the budget is needed.

We can’t deny the fact that the exact cost of building an app in 2025 will depend on its features, purpose, and complexity.

Apart from the above cost breakdown, there are also the hourly charge rates for developing the mobile app. These hourly charges are different for different locations and regions. According to the stats, the cheapest average hourly rate is $20-$40, whereas the most expensive hourly charges are $150-$400.

Whether you hire mobile app developers for Android, iOS, or both, factors like cultural differences, time zones, and the development company you choose also impact costs.

When it comes to hiring one of the mobile app designing firms, several other factors might affect the price tag for these developers. The price chart may differ depending on the expertise in the industry, location, and economic differences.

Some Additional Charges for the app development cost estimate

• Cost for Maintenance: Just like every other application and software, there’s a cost associated with the maintenance of what you have already built. To maintain the application you have built, it will take 15–20% of the original development cost.
• Updates and Bug Fixing: Updating and fixing bugs are one of the major segments. Following these you can ensure an app that is functioning smoothly without any lags or breakdowns. The annual charges to integrate the upgrades and fix the bugs can range from $1,000 and $5,00.
• Updates for Security: To comply with the security concerns and remove any risk of data breach ensuring robust security measures is more than enough. As observed the current price range to maintain security is from $1,000 to $2,500 per year.
• Renewal of License Subscription: Timely checks on the License subscription help ensure on-time renewals. Without the renewal, your app might stop working resulting in declined customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

With all the details and information you might have understood that the cost to build an app depends on the functionality, complexity, and the using platform of the app. Once you have a clear idea about what type of app you need then you can find the estimated price. If still you are not able to find the cost then, try hiring an app development company to make the process easy and efficient.