Free tool
App development cost calculator 2026
Most app projects cost $10,000 to $49,999 on Clutch's 2026 data, and the real number for your app is team hours x weeks x hourly rate. Using the build weeks of 44 apps we shipped and only published rates and wages, a simple app works out to about $18,000 to $107,000 of build effort and a marketplace to about $31,500 to $188,000. Pick your app type and features below to see your own cost band, timeline and the three things driving it.
Example estimate
$50,000 to $115,000
About 8 to 10 weeks to a first release
Mobile app (iOS and Android), 120 team hours a week for 8.5 to 9.5 weeks (1,020 to 1,140 hours) at $50 to $99 an hour. Rounded to the nearest $5,000.
Top 3 drivers of this estimate
- Mobile app (iOS and Android). Base: 7 mobile-only builds took 6 to 8 weeks, median 6 (our 44 builds), with a 3-person team at 120 hours a week. about $58k
- Screens: 11 to 25. 11 to 25 screens adds design, build and test time (our assumption: 1 week). about $9k
- Payments: Card payments or subscriptions. A checkout or subscription flow adds testing time. about $4k
This is longer than any of our 44 published first releases (5 to 10 weeks). Moving some features to a second phase usually brings a first version back inside that range.
This is a market estimate built from the research on this page (BLS wages, Clutch rate bands and the build weeks of 44 real apps), not an aibrevo quote. Store fees, hosting, AI and other usage fees are not included.
Written scope and quote after the call. NDA on request. You own the code.
See the 44 builds behind these weeks →How the estimate works
The formula is the one in our app development cost 2026 research: cost = team hours per week x weeks x hourly rate. Four steps, all shown below so you can check them or swap in your own numbers.
- Your product type sets the team size and the base weeks, from the median build times of the same kind of app in our 44 published builds.
- Each answer adds weeks, using the adder table. The weeks are our assumption, based on what pushed our own builds to the long end; they are written down so you can disagree with them.
- Weeks x team hours x the low and high end of the hourly band you pick gives the low and high cost. Separate native iOS and Android apps double it, per Clutch.
- The band is rounded to the nearest $5,000. The top 3 drivers are the inputs that add the most dollars at the middle of your rate band.
Product types: team and base weeks
| Product type | Team | Hours a week | Base weeks | From our builds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile app (iOS and Android) | 2 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA | 120 | 6 to 7 | 7 mobile-only builds took 6 to 8 weeks, median 6 |
| Web app | 2 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA | 120 | 6 to 7 | 28 web apps took 6 to 10 weeks, median 7 |
| AI app | 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA | 160 | 7 to 8 | 6 AI builds took 7 to 8 weeks, median 7.5 |
| Internal tool or customer portal | 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA | 160 | 6 to 8 | Internal tools took 6 to 9 weeks, median 8; portals median 8 |
| Marketplace (two-sided) | 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 1 QA | 180 | 6 to 7 | 16 marketplaces took 6 to 8 weeks, median 7 |
| SaaS product | 3 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA (internal tool team, our assumption) | 160 | 6 to 7 | 4 other SaaS or workflow apps took 6 to 8 weeks, median 6.5 |
| MVP (a first version to test an idea) | 2 developers, 0.5 designer, 0.5 QA | 120 | 5 to 6 | 6 simple apps and portals took 5 to 7 weeks, median 6 |
Adder table: weeks each answer adds
| Question and answer | Adds | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Which platforms? | ||
| Web (browser) only | 0 | One web front end. |
| iOS and Android from one codebase | 0 | Clutch lists the same hourly band for iOS, Android and cross-platform work, so one shared codebase adds little. |
| Web app plus iOS and Android | +1 wk | Builds with both a web and a mobile side had a median of 8 weeks in our data, against 7 for web apps. |
| Separate native iOS and Android apps | cost x2 | Clutch's mobile app pricing page says two separate native apps roughly double the project price. |
| How many main screens? | ||
| Up to 10 | 0 | Up to 10 screens fits a focused first version. |
| 11 to 25 | +1 wk | 11 to 25 screens adds design, build and test time (our assumption: 1 week). |
| 26 to 50 | +2.5 wk | 26 to 50 screens is a large first version (our assumption: 2.5 weeks). |
| More than 50 | +4 wk | More than 50 screens is past most first releases (our assumption: 4 weeks). |
| User logins and roles | ||
| No login | 0 | No accounts to build. |
| One type of user | 0 | One user type keeps the build at the short end, like StackStack and Stridely (6 weeks). |
| Two types (for example customers and staff) | +0.5 wk | A second user type needs its own onboarding and views. |
| Three or more types or permission levels | +1.5 wk | Several parties sharing one workflow pushed builds like Homer (9 weeks) to the long end. |
| Payments | ||
| No payments | 0 | No payment flow. |
| Card payments or subscriptions | +0.5 wk | A checkout or subscription flow adds testing time. |
| Money held or split between parties (escrow, payouts) | +1.5 wk | Held or split payments sat in our longest builds: Hago's escrow (8 weeks) and Spirit Airlines' split deposits (10 weeks). |
| AI features | ||
| None | 0 | No AI layer. |
| Chat, summaries or AI-written text | +1 wk | Every AI build in our data took 7 or 8 weeks, never 6: model output needs testing on real inputs. |
| A custom agent or RAG over your own data | +2 wk | An agent or retrieval over your own data adds the most test time of the AI options (our assumption: 2 weeks). |
| Integrations (CRM, payments, maps, calendar and so on) | ||
| None | 0 | No outside systems. |
| 1 to 2 | +0.5 wk | One or two standard integrations add a little scoping and error handling. |
| 3 to 5 | +1.5 wk | Integrations are what moved internal tools from 6 weeks to 9 in our data. |
| 6 or more | +3 wk | Live links to many outside systems made Spirit Airlines (Sabre, Stripe) our longest build at 10 weeks. |
| Admin dashboard for your team? | ||
| No | 0 | No separate admin side. |
| Yes | +0.5 wk | An admin dashboard is one more set of screens and permissions (our assumption: half a week). |
| Compliance needs | ||
| None | 0 | No regulated data. |
| HIPAA, finance or similar | +2 wk | Regulated data needs access control, audit logs and review (our assumption: 2 weeks; legal review is not included). |
Hourly rate bands
| Band | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| $25 to $49 an hour | Clutch average for app development companies (mobile app pricing page). |
| $50 to $99 an hour | Clutch US band on its custom software and AI pages. A US in-house team at BLS median wages plus benefits costs about $86 to $93 an hour, inside this band. |
| $100 to $149 an hour | Clutch US band on its web development page; a 90th-percentile US developer costs about $147 an hour with benefits (BLS). |
The BLS cross-check: the median US software developer earned $135,980 a year in May 2025, about $65.38 an hour. Dividing by 0.70, because wages were 70.0% of private-industry employer cost in June 2026, gives about $93 an hour. Weighted across a developer, designer and QA mix, a US team at median wages costs about $86 to $88 an hour, inside the $50 to $99 band, before recruiting, equipment and management.
What the estimate leaves out
- Store fees. Apple Developer Program $99 a year (Enterprise $299); Google Play $25 once.
- Store commissions. Apple's Small Business Program takes 15% of digital sales. Google Play's US, UK and EEA fees split into a service fee and a 5% billing fee from June 30, 2026. Payments for real-world services go through a payment processor instead.
- Hosting. Vercel Pro is $20 a month per deploying seat with a $20 usage credit; Hobby is $0.
- Usage fees after launch. AI model calls, maps, SMS, email and payment processing, billed per use by each provider.
- Discovery, legal and compliance review, marketing. The compliance answer adds engineering weeks only.
- Maintenance. We found no primary source for the common 15% to 25% a year rule. In hours: 20 hours a month at $50 to $99 is $1,000 to $1,980 a month.
Every number and its source is on the app development cost 2026 page, and the week-by-week data for all 44 builds is in how long does it take to build an app. For what a build covers, see mobile app development, MVP development, AI app development and marketplace app development.
We are a software company in San Francisco with 16 in-house engineers and 30+ remote specialists, and 200+ software projects delivered. We do not publish software prices; every build is scoped and quoted in writing after a free call, so this tool shows the market, not our rate card.
App development cost questions
How much does it cost to build an app in 2026?
Clutch's mobile app pricing page, updated September 21, 2026, says most app projects cost $10,000 to $49,999, with an average of $90,780.11. Working it out as team hours x weeks x hourly rate, with the 5 to 10 week build times of 44 apps our team shipped, a simple app comes 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, across Clutch's three rate bands. This is market arithmetic, not an aibrevo price.
How much does an AI app cost to build?
An AI app with a 4-person team for a median 7.5 weeks is about 1,200 team hours, which comes to $30,000 to $178,800 across Clutch's $25 to $149 an hour bands, or $60,000 to $118,800 at the $50 to $99 US band. Every AI build in our data took 7 or 8 weeks. Model usage is billed per call by the AI provider after launch and is not in that figure.
How much does an MVP cost?
A focused MVP with one user type and one core loop matches our simple app group: 5 to 7 weeks, median 6, with a 3-person team. That is about 720 team hours, or $36,000 to $71,280 at $50 to $99 an hour and $18,000 to $35,280 at $25 to $49 an hour. Each feature you move to phase two takes time out of the first version.
Why do app cost estimates vary so much?
Because they measure different things. Clutch's average ($90,780.11) sits far above its typical project ($10,000 to $49,999) because a few large projects pull a mean up, and its 11-month timeline describes a whole engagement, not one build. Clutch's own pages also give the US four different hourly bands, from $25 to $49 up to $100 to $149. Ask any vendor for team size, weeks and hourly rate, and check that they multiply out.
What is not included in this estimate?
Store and running costs: Apple's Developer Program is $99 a year, Google Play registration is $25 once, Apple's Small Business Program commission is 15% on digital sales, and Vercel Pro hosting is $20 a month per deploying seat. Also not included: discovery before the build, AI model, maps, SMS and payment fees billed per use, legal and compliance review, marketing, and maintenance, which at 20 hours a month is $1,000 to $1,980 a month at the $50 to $99 band.
Does building for iOS and Android double the cost?
Only if you build two separate native apps. Clutch's mobile app pricing page says that roughly doubles the project price, so the estimator doubles the band for that answer. A cross-platform build shares one codebase and Clutch lists the same hourly band for iOS, Android and cross-platform work, so the extra cost is mostly testing and store work.
How long does it take to build an app?
A focused first version took 5 to 10 weeks across our 44 published builds, with a median of 7 weeks; 40 of the 44 shipped in 8 weeks or less. The estimator adds weeks for the features that pushed our builds to the long end: live integrations, several user roles, split payments and a web plus mobile front end.
How do I get an exact price for my app?
Book a free 30-minute call. We scope the first version with you and send a written scope and quote with the team, weeks and rate visible, so you can check it against the arithmetic on this page. We do not publish a price list for software work, and the client owns the code.
Sources
- aibrevo, App development cost 2026: a sourced cost model: formula, team sizes, rate bands, fees and maintenance arithmetic. Published Oct 31, 2026.
- aibrevo, How long does it take to build an app? Timeline data from our 44 builds: weeks by product type and platform. Published Oct 31, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers and Web Developers and Digital Designers, May 2025 wages. Checked October 31, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026: wages 70.0% of total compensation. Checked October 31, 2026.
- Clutch pricing pages for mobile app, custom software, AI and web development, each updated Sep 21, 2026. Checked October 31, 2026.
- Apple Developer, Programs and App Store Small Business Program. Checked October 31, 2026.
- Google Play Console Help, registration fee and service fees. Checked October 31, 2026.
- Vercel, pricing. Checked October 31, 2026.
- aibrevo, Our work: 44 published builds with listed timeframes of 5 to 10 weeks.
Turn an estimate into a written quote
Bring your answers to a free 30-minute call. We scope the first version with you and send a written quote with the team, weeks and rate visible.
Written scope and quote after the call. NDA on request. You own the code.
