Mobile App Development Cost: What to Budget in 2026

Short answer

In 2026, a serious mobile app rarely starts below €7,500. For a clean MVP or a first publishable version, plan on somewhere between €14,000 and €40,000 depending on scope, backend, design and integrations. At Inyka, offers run from €7,500 to €24,000 and up, with a fixed price announced before you sign.

The real problem isn't the price

The real problem is the fog. A lot of founders shop for a mobile app price the way they shop for a laptop price. Except an app isn't a product sitting on a shelf. It's a stack of decisions.

An app with login, profiles, notifications, an admin back office, payment and store publishing does not cost the same as a mobile form wired to a database. Saying "I want an app like Uber" means almost nothing. Uber isn't an app. It's a fleet, a real-time map, payments, roles, support, business rules and years of product work.

My position is simple. A serious quote has to break down the scope. Not sell a dream in three vague lines.

At Inyka, I'd rather announce a fixed price after scoping than promise a price that's too low. The client knows what's in the budget, what's out, and what gets handed over at the end. The code belongs to the client.

Realistic price ranges in 2026

For an iOS and Android mobile app, the serious ranges usually land in these zones:

Project type	Common budget	What it often covers
Clickable prototype, no real backend	€2,000 to €6,000	Mockups, flows, idea validation
Simple mobile MVP	€7,500 to €15,000	Auth, a few screens, simple data
Standard publishable app	€14,000 to €40,000	iOS, Android, backend, stores, QA
Business app with a key module	€24,000 to €80,000	Payment, roles, analytics, workflows
Complex mobile product	€80,000 and up	Heavy real-time, hard security, dedicated team

These numbers aren't there to impress anyone. They're there to avoid bad starts. A €2,000 app can exist, but it will often be limited, unpublished, or fragile the moment real users show up.

Inyka sits in the studio range, not the low-cost range. The Essential offer starts at €7,500 for a first, simple mobile app. The Launch offer starts at €14,000 for an app publishable on the App Store and Google Play. The Scale offer starts at €24,000 for an app with a key business module, like payment, roles or analytics.

The full breakdown of the offers is on the mobile app pricing page.

What makes a mobile app price move

Screen count matters, but it's not the main factor. Two apps with ten screens each can have very different budgets.

The first driver is the backend. An app rarely lives alone on the phone. It needs users, data, access rules, email sending, files, sometimes payments. The richer the data model, the higher the cost.

The second driver is the level of design. A simple, clean interface with standard components costs less than a highly custom experience. Custom design takes time, especially when every screen has to be tuned for iOS, Android and several screen sizes.

The third driver is integrations. Stripe, a CRM, a line-of-business tool, a delivery API, a calendar, a support tool, a booking system, a homegrown ERP. A well-documented integration can be quick. An unstable API can eat a whole week.

The fourth driver is the quality you expect. An app used by fifty internal testers doesn't need the same robustness as an app aimed at thousands of customers. Quality has a cost, because it takes tests, fixes and technical choices that are slower but safer.

At Inyka, the default stack is React Native, Expo, Supabase and TypeScript. That choice cuts the time lost on technical plumbing, without giving up a clean base. React Native lets you build a native iOS and Android app from a shared codebase, which helps keep the budget in check on an MVP or a V1. The official React Native docs lay out that cross-platform logic well.

Freelancer, agency or studio: the price gaps

A freelancer can be the right call if the project is tightly scoped and you know how to steer it. The day rate is often lower than an agency's. But the sticker price doesn't tell the whole story.

With a freelancer, the client often carries part of the product steering. You have to clarify priorities, test, review, arbitrate, sometimes find a designer or a backend developer on the side. If you've never shipped an app before, the savings can vanish fast.

A traditional agency brings more structure. It may have several roles, a project manager, a designer, developers, a QA person. The price climbs too, because the organization is heavier. For some projects, that's justified. For an MVP, it's sometimes too slow.

A studio like Inyka sits between the two. The client keeps a short loop, with strict scoping and a stack picked to ship fast. The goal isn't to pile up workshops. The goal is to ship a clean, testable, transferable app.

This approach mostly fits startups, founders, small businesses and B2B product teams that want a first mobile version without building out a full team.

The costs a lot of people forget

Development isn't the only line item. Developer accounts, third-party services and maintenance all need to be planned from the start.

To publish on the App Store, the Apple Developer Program costs 99 USD a year. Apple states that price in its official documentation. For Google Play, creating a developer account takes a one-time 25 USD fee, per the official Google Play Console help.

These amounts are small next to development, but they block a launch if nobody anticipated them. You also have to plan for the domain name, backend hosting, transactional emails, payment services, analytics tools and sometimes notifications.

Expo and EAS Build can also enter the running cost as the project grows. Expo documents EAS Build as a build and automation service for Expo and React Native projects. On an MVP, this line usually stays reasonable, but it should be visible.

Supabase can cover a large part of the backend for a first version: Postgres database, authentication, storage and access rules. Its value isn't only the price. It's mostly the execution speed on standard needs.

Why phantom quotes cost a lot

A phantom quote is one that looks precise but says nothing. "iOS Android mobile app: €9,900." Great. With what backend? How many roles? What kind of publishing? Who writes the store copy? Who handles Apple rejections? Who owns the code?

A low quote with no scope is rarely a good deal. It pushes the decisions past the signature. The client later finds out that notifications are an add-on, that there's no back office, or that publishing wasn't included.

I'd rather lose a project than sign on a gray zone. A mobile app takes trade-offs. Writing them down before development avoids the tension later.

Good scoping should at least define the flows, the user roles, the data model, the integrations, the screens, the business rules and the delivery criteria. The mobile app MVP page details this scope-reduction logic.

How to stay on budget

The best way to hold a budget isn't to haggle every line. It's to cut the scope.

A mobile MVP has to prove a hypothesis. It shouldn't cover every idea the founder has. A booking app doesn't need a loyalty program in V1. A marketplace doesn't need a recommendation engine at launch. A B2B app doesn't always need an advanced dashboard in the first month.

Scoping should separate three things: what blocks usage, what improves usage, and what flatters the original idea. The third group usually has to wait.

To keep the price under control, you also have to accept standard components. A button doesn't need reinventing. Neither does a login page. Users mostly judge whether the app meets their need, not whether every micro-animation is original.

At Inyka, the work starts with that sorting. The Essential, Launch and Scale offers exist precisely to set a clear limit. A limit can be frustrating, but it protects the budget.

What Inyka includes in its prices

Inyka builds iOS and Android mobile apps in React Native. Projects are usually delivered in 4 to 6 weeks for MVP and standard V1 formats. The price is announced before signing, then the code is transferred to the client.

The Essential offer starts at €7,500. It fits a first, simple mobile app, with a light scope and few integrations. It's the right format to test a flow without building the whole product.

The Launch offer starts at €14,000. It targets an app publishable on the App Store and Google Play, with a more solid base. It's often the right pick for a startup or a small business that wants to put a V1 in real users' hands.

The Scale offer starts at €24,000. It targets apps with a key business module: payment, roles, analytics or a business workflow. The budget goes up because the rules get more sensitive.

Inyka doesn't take every project. Regulated healthcare, banking and insurance aren't the right ground for this format. Same for AI from scratch, taking over an existing codebase, or very complex real-time apps. Better to say so before the quote.

To understand where the studio stands, the React Native agency page explains the stack and method choices.

Budget examples by app type

A simple appointment-booking app can fit inside an Essential or Launch envelope, if the flow stays short. Login, a service page, booking, notifications and a light admin space can be enough.

A marketplace app quickly outgrows that frame. As soon as there are multiple roles, commissions, messaging, disputes or deferred payments, the price climbs. The risk isn't the home screen. The risk is in the business rules.

An internal app for a small business can be very cost-effective with a tight scope. Job tracking, field reporting, client records, photos, statuses. No need for spectacular design. You need an app that's reliable, fast and simple to train people on.

A mobile e-commerce app costs more if it has to replicate a whole storefront. The smart move is often to start with one precise flow: quick ordering, loyalty, tracking, customer access. Copying the entire site into an app is rarely clever.

The right price is the price of a scope you hold

A mobile app price only has value if it maps to a clear scope. Below €7,500, you have to accept a hard limit. Between €14,000 and €40,000, you can build a serious V1 if the decisions are sharp. Beyond that, you're mostly funding business complexity, integrations and robustness.

The bad reflex is to chase the lowest quote. The good reflex is to ask what will be delivered, tested, published and transferred.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What's the minimum price to build a mobile app?

For a real mobile app, the serious minimum starts around €7,500. Below that, you're usually talking about a prototype, a mockup or a very limited version. A published app with a backend, tests and code transfer takes more than a quick stack of screens.

Why does an iOS and Android app cost less with React Native?

React Native lets you share a large part of the code between iOS and Android. That cuts development time compared to two separate native apps. The gain isn't magic, since some testing stays specific to each platform.

Does the price include publishing on the App Store and Google Play?

At Inyka, the Launch offer targets an app publishable on the App Store and Google Play. The Apple and Google developer accounts stay on the client's side, because they have to belong to the app owner. It's also healthier for what comes next.

Can you build a mobile app in several stages?

Yes, and it's often the best option. A first version should validate the main flow, not the whole product plan. Secondary modules can come after the first user feedback.

Why do mobile app quotes vary so much?

Quotes vary because providers don't always price the same thing. Some include the backend, the publishing, the tests and the transfer. Others only price a visible part of the app. The scope detail matters more than the headline figure.