App Development Cost 2026: A Sourced Cost Model From BLS Wages, Clutch Rates and 44 Real Builds

Short answer: in 2026 a typical app project reviewed on Clutch costs $10,000 to $49,999, the Clutch average is $90,780.11, and the real number for your app is roughly team size x weeks x hourly rate. Using the 5 to 10 week build times of 44 apps our team shipped and only published rates and wages, a simple app works out to about $18,000 to $107,000 of build effort at median weeks and a two-sided marketplace to about $31,500 to $188,000. Those ranges are illustrative arithmetic from public data, not aibrevo prices.

To run the same formula on your own scope, try our free app development cost calculator, which uses the rates, wages and build weeks on this page.

Sources: Clutch mobile app pricing page, BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Apple Developer and Google Play Console Help, all checked Oct 31, 2026; build weeks from our published case studies.

Most app cost articles you will find are agency estimates, and they rarely show where a number came from. This page uses four kinds of primary data only, each dated and linked, and shows every multiplication so you can replace any input with your own.

How did we build this cost model?

We used four primary inputs and nothing else, all checked on October 31, 2026:

1. US wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: the May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) estimates, released May 15, 2026, as published in the Occupational Outlook Handbook pages last modified August 27, 2026. For benefits, the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026 (published September 9, 2026).
2. Agency rates and project costs from Clutch’s four pricing pages for mobile app, custom software, web and AI development. All four say “Updated September 21, 2026.” Clutch states the figures come from first-party reviews by verified clients; none of the pages gives a sample size.
3. Platform fixed costs and commissions from Apple’s and Google’s own developer pages, and hosting from Vercel’s pricing page.
4. Build weeks from the 44 app and software builds published in our work portfolio, each with a listed timeframe of 5 to 10 weeks.

Then we did one thing: multiplied team hours by weeks by a published hourly band. We assigned a team size to each app type; that part is our assumption and is labelled wherever it appears. We did not use any percentage, multiplier or price range from another agency’s blog.

What do US developers and designers earn in 2026?

The median US software developer earned $135,980 a year in May 2025, according to BLS. That works out to about $65.38 an hour at 2,080 hours, the full-time year BLS uses to convert hourly and annual wages (its combined software developer and QA group shows $64.44 an hour against $134,040 a year, which is the same conversion).

Occupation (BLS)	Median annual wage, May 2025	Hourly at 2,080 h	Lowest 10% earned less than	Highest 10% earned more than	Employer cost per hour incl. benefits (wage / 0.70)
Software developers	$135,980	$65.38	$82,460	$214,670	about $93.39
Software QA analysts and testers	$104,300	$50.14	$61,440	$167,010	about $71.63
Web and digital interface designers	$104,000	$50.00	$53,750	$201,550	about $71.43
Web developers	$92,650	$44.54	$48,100	$162,290	about $63.63

Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers and Web Developers and Digital Designers, May 2025 wage data, pages last modified Aug 27, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026. Benefits ratio from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026. Hourly and loaded columns are our arithmetic.

The last column needs one explanation. BLS reports that in June 2026 private-industry employers paid $46.89 per hour worked in total compensation, of which wages were $32.82, or 70.0%, and benefits $14.07, or 30.0%. Dividing a wage by 0.70 gives a rough employer cost per hour. It is an all-industry ratio applied to tech roles, so treat it as an approximation. It still leaves out recruiting, equipment, software licences, management time and weeks when nobody is billable, which is part of why agency rates sit above it.

Two industry splits are worth knowing. BLS lists the median software developer at software publishers at $164,550, against $132,050 in computer systems design and related services, which is where agencies sit. And the OEWS wage data excludes self-employed workers: 18% of web developers and 13% of web and digital interface designers were self-employed in 2025, per the same BLS page, so freelance rates are outside this table.

These are national figures. For the same BLS wages broken out by state and metro area, with a loaded employer cost per hour for each, see our software developer salary by state table.

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data, checked Oct 31, 2026.

What do app development companies charge per hour?

Clutch reports that app development companies charge an average of $25 to $49 an hour, on its mobile app pricing page updated September 21, 2026. The same band appears for Android, iOS and cross-platform work, and for games, health and wellness, education, CRM, social, financial and e-commerce apps. Clutch’s point is that features change the price, not the industry.

Here is what each of Clutch’s four relevant pricing pages says, quoted as published:

Clutch pricing page	Average project cost	Average hourly rate	Typical timeline	Average monthly cost	Projects typically cost
Mobile app development	$90,780.11	$25 to $49	about 11 months	$8,188.44	$10,000 to $49,999
Custom software development	$132,480.29	$25 to $49	about 13 months	$10,209.39	$10,000 to $49,999
AI development	$120,594.55	$25 to $49	10 months	$11,553.45	$10,000 to $49,999
Web development	$66,499.09	$25 to $49	9 months	$7,138.93	under $10,000

Source: Clutch pricing pages, each marked “Updated September 21, 2026”, checked Oct 31, 2026.

Source: Clutch pricing pages updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.

What the Clutch averages actually describe

Multiply each page’s average monthly cost by its typical timeline and you land close to its average project cost: $8,188.44 x 11 months is $90,072.84 against a reported $90,780.11, and $10,209.39 x 13 is $132,722.07 against $132,480.29. So the headline averages describe long engagements, not a single build.

At $25 to $49 an hour, $8,188.44 a month buys about 167 to 328 hours, or roughly 1 to 1.9 full-time people (a full-time month is 2,080 / 12, about 173 hours). In plain terms, the Clutch mobile app average looks like one or two people working for most of a year. That is a different shape from a 3 to 5 person team shipping a first release in 7 weeks, which is what our build data below measures.

Where Clutch’s own pages disagree

We are reporting these because a cost model is only as good as its inputs:

• The US hourly band changes by page. The mobile app page lists the United States at $25 to $49 an hour, the custom software and AI pages at $50 to $99, and the web development page at $100 to $149. All four were updated on the same day.
• The custom software page gives two averages. One place says $25 to $49 an hour, another says $24 to $49.
• The web page’s typical project is below its own average by a wide margin. It says projects typically cost under $10,000, next to a $66,499.09 average.
• Country bands move between pages. India is under $25 on the mobile and web pages and $25 to $49 on the software and AI pages. Australia is $100 to $149 on three pages and $25 to $49 on the AI page. Mexico is $25 to $49 on three pages and $50 to $99 on the AI page.
• The directory itself shows a wider spread. Clutch’s US app developer listing (ratings updated Oct 31, 2026) shows individual firms at anything from $25 to $49 up to $200 to $300 an hour.

Our reading: the bands are useful as a range, not a point estimate, and the US band you should use depends on which kind of firm you are actually talking to. That is why the cost model below uses three bands rather than one number.

What are app development hourly rates by region?

Clutch is the only primary dataset we found that compares agency rates across countries, so it is the only one we use. BLS covers US wages only, and we did not find a government or statistical source that publishes comparable developer wages or agency rates across these countries in one series. Treat the table as Clutch’s review-based bands, not a wage survey.

Country (Clutch traffic order)	Mobile app page	Custom software page	Web development page	AI development page
United States	$25 to $49	$50 to $99	$100 to $149	$50 to $99
India	under $25	$25 to $49	under $25	$25 to $49
United Kingdom	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Canada	$50 to $99	$100 to $149	$100 to $149	$50 to $99
Australia	$100 to $149	$100 to $149	$100 to $149	$25 to $49
Philippines	$25 to $49	$25 to $49	$25 to $49	$25 to $49
Ukraine	$25 to $49	$25 to $49	$25 to $49	$25 to $49
Poland	$50 to $99	$50 to $99	$50 to $99	$50 to $99
Spain	$25 to $49	$50 to $99	$25 to $49	$50 to $99
Mexico	$25 to $49	$25 to $49	$25 to $49	$50 to $99

Source: Clutch pricing pages for mobile app, custom software, web and AI development, all updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026. Clutch lists the UK as Unknown on every page.

Only Philippines, Ukraine and Poland hold the same band on all four pages. If a vendor quotes a regional rate, ask what it includes (project management, QA, design) because Clutch’s bands are blended agency rates and do not split by role.

How long does it take to build an app?

Our 44 published builds took 5 to 10 weeks each, with a median of 7 weeks and a mean of 7.05. That is the build timeframe listed on each case study in our portfolio; the full breakdown by app type is in app development timelines: 44 real builds.

Source: aibrevo published case studies, 44 builds, checked Oct 31, 2026.

Weeks are the one input on this page that comes from us rather than a public dataset, and they are the input most cost articles skip. Clutch’s 9 to 13 month timelines and our 5 to 10 weeks measure different things: Clutch reports the length of the engagement a reviewer describes, while our figure is the time to ship each build.

How much does it cost to develop an app in 2026? A worked cost model

Cost is team hours per week x weeks x hourly rate. The table applies that formula to four app types, using the median weeks of our real builds of that type and Clutch’s three published rate bands. This is illustrative arithmetic from public data. It is not an aibrevo price, quote or package.

Team sizes are our assumption, stated in full-time people at 40 hours a week:

• Simple app: 2 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA = 3 people, 120 hours a week.
• Marketplace: 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 1 QA = 4.5 people, 180 hours a week.
• AI app: 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA = 4 people, 160 hours a week.
• Internal tool: 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA = 4 people, 160 hours a week.

Project management is assumed to sit inside the blended agency rate, which is how Clutch reports rates.

App type	Our builds of this type	Weeks (range, median)	Team hours at median	At $25 to $49 / h	At $50 to $99 / h	At $100 to $149 / h	Same hours at US employer cost (BLS)
Simple app	6	5 to 7, median 6	720	$18,000 to $35,280	$36,000 to $71,280	$72,000 to $107,280	about $62,000
Marketplace	14	6 to 8, median 7	1,260	$31,500 to $61,740	$63,000 to $124,740	$126,000 to $187,740	about $108,500
AI app	6	7 to 8, median 7.5	1,200	$30,000 to $58,800	$60,000 to $118,800	$120,000 to $178,800	about $105,500
Internal tool	8	6 to 9, median 8	1,280	$32,000 to $62,720	$64,000 to $126,720	$128,000 to $190,720	about $112,500

Illustrative arithmetic, not aibrevo prices. Rate bands: Clutch pricing pages updated Sep 21, 2026. Weeks: aibrevo case studies. Last column: BLS May 2025 median wages for each role divided by 2,080 hours and by 0.70 (BLS June 2026 benefits ratio), weighted by the team mix above, which comes to about $86 to $88 an hour. All checked Oct 31, 2026.

The last column is the useful cross-check. A US team hired at median wages, with benefits, costs about the same per hour as an agency in Clutch’s $50 to $99 band, before you count recruiting, equipment, management and the time it takes to hire. A 90th-percentile US developer ($214,670 a year) works out to about $147 an hour of employer cost, which sits at the top of the $100 to $149 band.

Sources: Clutch pricing pages, BLS OOH and ECEC, aibrevo case studies; checked Oct 31, 2026.

To use the model for your own app, change one input at a time. Two native apps instead of one cross-platform app: Clutch’s mobile page says that roughly doubles the project price. A tighter first release: cut weeks. A senior US team: move to the $100 to $149 band. The formula does not change.

Mobile app development cost breakdown by app type

Each scenario below maps to real builds in our portfolio, so you can open the case study and see what that number of weeks actually delivered.

Simple app or customer portal (5 to 7 weeks)

Six builds are tagged as a mobile app or a customer portal: CommonFaktor (7 weeks), StackStack (6), Stridely (6), Loop (6), ITS Website (5) and JetStarix (5). StackStack, for example, is a supplement routine and adherence tracker with one-screen daily logging. At 720 team hours, the worked range is $18,000 to $107,280 across the three Clutch bands. This is also the shape of most MVP builds: one user type, one core loop, no payments between users.

Marketplace (6 to 8 weeks)

Marketplaces are the largest group in our data: 14 builds, median 7 weeks. Two-sided apps need two onboarding flows, matching, messaging and payments that hold money between parties. Hago (8 weeks) has provider verification, matched job routing, itemised quotes and escrow payments released on completion. GoHangars took 7 weeks. At 1,260 team hours the worked range is $31,500 to $187,740. See marketplace app development for what goes into scope.

AI app (7 to 8 weeks)

Six builds are tagged AI-enabled, and none took less than 7 weeks, which is the clearest pattern in our data: the AI layer adds testing time even when the model is bought in, not trained. DAIN, an AI realtor video app, took 7 weeks; Birdie, HirePrep and DropMyDrip took 8. At 1,200 team hours the worked range is $30,000 to $178,800, before model usage fees, which the provider bills per use after launch. More in AI app development.

Enterprise internal tool or workflow system (6 to 9 weeks)

Eight builds are tagged internal tool or workflow automation, with a median of 8 weeks, the longest of the four groups. EdgeBase, a deal-tracking CRM for a venture fund, took 6 weeks; EMS Lifeline, an event medical dispatch platform, took 9. The longest build in the whole set, Spirit Airlines group booking, took 10 weeks. At 1,280 team hours the worked range is $32,000 to $190,720. Integrations with existing systems are usually what moves these from 6 weeks to 9; see custom software development and internal tools development.

How much does it cost to build an app like Uber?

Nobody outside Uber can price Uber, a company with years of engineering behind it. What you can price is the dispatch core that an Uber-like app needs at launch: two user types, a request that routes to the nearest available provider, live status tracking and payments.

Our two closest builds are Respond Central (8 weeks), where nursing facilities request ambulance transport, requests route automatically to available crews matched on vehicle type and certification, and the facility sees live crew status and arrival time, and EMS Lifeline (9 weeks), which assigns incidents to the nearest suitable crew on a live site map. Using the marketplace team (180 hours a week) for 8 to 9 weeks:

Rate band	1,440 hours (8 weeks)	1,620 hours (9 weeks)
$25 to $49 an hour	$36,000 to $70,560	$40,500 to $79,380
$50 to $99 an hour	$72,000 to $142,560	$81,000 to $160,380
$100 to $149 an hour	$144,000 to $214,560	$162,000 to $241,380

Illustrative arithmetic, not aibrevo prices. Rate bands: Clutch pricing pages updated Sep 21, 2026. Weeks: aibrevo case studies. Checked Oct 31, 2026.

Two costs grow with use rather than with the build. Map, routing and geocoding APIs bill per call above a free monthly allowance (see the Google Maps Platform pricing page; prices vary by country, so we do not quote one here), and payment processors take a fee per transaction. Model them per ride before launch, because an Uber-like app’s running cost is mostly per-trip.

What does an app cost after launch?

The fixed fees are small; commissions, hosting and engineering time are the real running cost. Here is every fee we could tie to a primary page:

Item	Cost	Source, checked Oct 31, 2026
Apple Developer Program	$99 a year, individual or organization	Apple Developer: Programs
Apple Developer Enterprise Program (private internal apps)	$299 a year	Apple Developer: Programs
Google Play Console registration	$25, one time	Play Console Help: registration fee
Apple commission, App Store Small Business Program	15% on paid apps and in-app purchases, for developers with up to $1 million in proceeds the prior year and for new developers	Apple: Small Business Program
Google Play, US, UK and EEA from June 30, 2026	Service fee and billing fee now separate. Auto-renewing subscriptions: 10% service fee on the first $1M, plus a 5% billing fee if you use Play Billing. Other in-app sales: the help page lists 20% + 5% for new installs and 25% + 5% for installs that predate the rollout, at standard rates	Play Console Help: service fees, Android Developers Blog, June 24, 2026
Google Play, markets not yet on the new structure	15% on the first $1M of earnings a year, 30% above it, 15% on auto-renewing subscriptions	Play Console Help: service fees
Web hosting, Vercel Pro	$20 a month per deploying seat, with a $20 included usage credit; Hobby is $0	Vercel pricing

Three notes on that table. Apple’s Small Business Program page says the standard commission applies above the $1 million threshold but does not state the standard rate on that page, so we have not quoted one. Google’s new US rate card has several tiers (standard rates and lower rates for its Play Games Level Up and Apps Experience programs), so read Google’s help page for the exact figure on your transaction type. And store commissions only apply to digital goods sold in the app; a marketplace taking payment for a real-world service, like Hago, pays a payment processor instead.

How much is app maintenance per year?

We could not find a primary dataset for the “15% to 25% of the build cost a year” figure that appears across agency blogs, so we do not use it. What the primary sources do show is that maintenance is not optional:

• Google Play requires new apps and app updates to target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher from August 31, 2026, and existing apps to target Android 15 (API level 35) to stay available to new users on newer devices (Play Console Help: target API level, checked Oct 31, 2026).
• Apple requires that apps uploaded to App Store Connect since April 28, 2026 be built with Xcode 26 or later using the iOS 26 SDK (Apple: upcoming requirements, checked Oct 31, 2026).

So every app on both stores goes through at least one forced SDK update a year, on top of bug fixes, OS changes and security patches. Rather than a percentage, here is maintenance in hours. The hours are our assumption; the rates are Clutch’s bands.

Maintenance time reserved	At $25 to $49 / h	At $50 to $99 / h	At $100 to $149 / h
20 hours a month (light: fixes, SDK updates)	$500 to $980 a month	$1,000 to $1,980 a month	$2,000 to $2,980 a month
40 hours a month (active: small features too)	$1,000 to $1,960 a month	$2,000 to $3,960 a month	$4,000 to $5,960 a month

Illustrative arithmetic, not aibrevo prices. Rates from Clutch pricing pages updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.

Our software maintenance and support page explains how we scope that work.

Why do published app cost estimates disagree so much?

Because they measure different things. The search results for this keyword mix four kinds of number:

1. Means across very different projects. Clutch’s $90,780.11 average sits above its own typical band of $10,000 to $49,999 because a few large projects pull a mean up.
2. Engagement length versus build length. Clutch’s 11-month mobile timeline describes the engagement a client reviewed; a 7-week figure describes one shipped build. Same app, very different totals.
3. Different rate bands for the same country. Clutch’s own pages give the US four different-looking bands, from $25 to $49 up to $100 to $149.
4. Agency estimates without a source. Most cost guides publish ranges with no dataset behind them. We have not used any of them here.

The fix is to ask any vendor, including us, for the three inputs: team size, weeks and hourly rate. If the quote does not multiply out, ask why.

What this model does not include

• Discovery and design before the build. If a vendor runs a separate discovery phase, it adds weeks before our build clock starts.
• Third-party usage fees after launch: AI model calls, maps, SMS, email and payment processing, all billed per use by the provider.
• Legal, privacy and compliance work, such as HIPAA reviews for health apps, which depends on your data and your lawyer.
• Marketing and app store optimization.
• Non-US wages. BLS covers the United States only, and we found no primary dataset with comparable wages for other countries, so regional figures on this page are Clutch’s agency bands only.

How do we price an app build?

Our app and web app builds typically cost $7,000 to around $25,000 to $30,000, depending on features, and we work project-based or hourly. Every mobile app, MVP or custom software build is scoped and quoted in writing after a free 30-minute call, with the team, weeks and rate visible so you can check it against the arithmetic above. Our 16-person in-house engineering team, led by our co-founder and CTO Shivam Pujara, has delivered 200+ software projects; the 44 builds behind this model are all in our work portfolio. Book a free call if you want your own app run through the same formula.

Changelog for this page

• October 31, 2026: first version. BLS wages (May 2025 OEWS, OOH pages last modified Aug 27, 2026), BLS benefits ratio (June 2026 ECEC), four Clutch pricing pages (updated Sep 21, 2026), Apple, Google Play and Vercel fee pages, and 44 aibrevo build timeframes, all checked October 31, 2026.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, May 2025 wage data, page last modified Aug 27, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Web Developers and Digital Designers, May 2025 wage data, page last modified Aug 27, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates released May 15, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, released Sep 9, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Clutch, Mobile app development pricing, updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Clutch, Custom software development pricing, updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Clutch, AI development pricing, updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Clutch, Web development pricing, updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Clutch, Top app developers in the United States, ratings updated Oct 31, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Apple Developer, Programs, App Store Small Business Program and Upcoming requirements, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Google Play Console Help, Registration fee, Service fees and Target API level requirements, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Android Developers Blog, Play expanded billing, June 24, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• Vercel, Pricing, checked Oct 31, 2026.
• aibrevo, Our work: 44 published builds with listed timeframes of 5 to 10 weeks.