Nobody can price an app from one sentence. Here is what the price is actually made of, and how to get a quote you can compare against another one.
Short answer:
- The number comes from screens, sign-in, payments, admin screens and integrations, not from the idea.
- Small jobs start at $50. A full product is quoted as one fixed price after a free call.
- Store accounts, hosting and any AI bill are running costs, separate from the build.
- The cheapest quote usually leaves something out that you pay to add back later.
Why do two developers quote different numbers?
Because they are not quoting the same thing. One is quoting the app you described, and the other is quoting the app you will want in six months: the admin screen, the refunds, the offline mode, the second language.
There is no honest way to compare two quotes until you can see what each one includes. That is why I write the plan down before the price, so you can put my list next to anyone else's.
What actually moves the price?
These are the things I count when I quote. Each one is a real piece of work, and each one is also something you can choose to leave out of the first version.
- How many screens there are, and how different they are from each other.
- Whether people sign in, and whether there are different kinds of people with different views.
- Whether money moves: cards, subscriptions, refunds, payouts, receipts.
- How much admin sits behind it. Someone has to add the products, approve the jobs and fix the mistakes.
- What it has to talk to: your shop platform, your accounts package, a spreadsheet, a supplier feed.
- Content. Writing, photography and prices take somebody's time, usually yours.
- The stores. Apple and Google both have accounts, rules and a submission process.
Does AI make an app cheaper?
It makes the typing faster, not the deciding cheaper. Screens and plumbing take less time. The plan, your data, payments, admin screens and store rules are the same work.
I wrote a separate guide on what an app built with AI costs, including the model bill that arrives after launch.
What costs do people forget?
The build is the number everyone asks about, and it is not the only one. These keep running after launch.
| Cost | When you pay it | Who it goes to |
|---|---|---|
| Apple developer account | A yearly fee, before the app can go live | Apple |
| Google Play developer account | A one-off registration fee | |
| Domain name | Yearly | Your registrar |
| Hosting and database | Monthly, usually small at first | The host or platform |
| Payment processing | A percentage of each payment | The payment provider |
| AI model calls, if the product uses them | Monthly, based on volume | The model provider |
| Looking after it | Monthly, if you want an engineer on call | Me, on a support plan |
How much does it cost to hire an app developer?
There is no single number, which is why quotes for the same idea range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. The useful question is not the hourly rate, it is what the quote includes and who carries the risk when the estimate is wrong.
Hourly works when the work is genuinely unknown, like a rescue where nobody knows what is broken until the code is read. It punishes you when the scope is clear, because every change reopens the bill. A fixed price works when the plan is written down, because the number stays still unless the work changes.
Offshore teams are often cheaper per hour and cost more in the end when the time zone, the language and the handover add management you did not budget for. Local developers cost more per hour and can be faster to reach. Either way, what matters is a written plan and one person accountable for the result.
My fixed price includes the plan, the build, testing of the main flows, the store submission when there is an app, and the fix-it promise if what I deliver does not do what the plan says. Small jobs start at $50. The Apple and Google developer accounts and any hosting or AI bills are separate running costs you own.
How I quote
A free first call, then a written plan that says what I will build and what it will not do, then one fixed price. The price does not move unless the work does, and if what I deliver does not do what the plan says, I fix it at no extra cost.
Small jobs start at $50: a fix, a screen, a small automation. If the honest answer is that you do not need software at all, I will say that on the call instead of quoting you.
How to get a quote you can compare
Send the same short brief to everyone you ask. The more specific it is, the more the quotes mean.
- Who uses it, and what each kind of user needs to do.
- The screens you can already picture, even roughly.
- Whether money moves, and who receives it.
- Anything it has to connect to that already exists.
- Your deadline, and what happens if it slips.
- Who looks after it after launch.
Takeaways:
- Price the screens, the sign-in, the money and the admin, not the idea.
- Compare what is included before you compare numbers.
- Budget for running costs from the day it goes live.
- Get the plan in writing, so the price means something.
Q: Can you give me a price over email?
A: I can give you a small-job price, because those start at $50. For anything bigger I need to understand it first, and I would rather be accurate than fast. The first call is free and usually settles it.
Q: Do you charge by the hour?
A: No. You get one fixed price for the work in the plan. Hourly billing puts the risk of my mistakes on you, and that is the wrong way round.
Q: Is it cheaper to start with a website?
A: Often yes. A website can be found on Google and does not need two store accounts, so for one shop or one trade it is usually the sensible first step. I will tell you if that is the case for you.
Q: What if the price changes halfway through?
A: Only if the work changes. If you add something that was not in the plan, I will tell you what it costs before I build it, and you decide.
Q: Why do agencies quote more than you do?
A: An agency has more people to pay and more coordination, so the same work carries more overhead. That is not a comment on their quality, it is a different shape of business. With me you get one person who does the work and answers you directly.
Sources:
- Apple Developer Program: https://developer.apple.com/programs/
- Google Play Console registration: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6112435
- Stripe pricing: https://stripe.com/pricing
This is a republished version of a guide from my own site: https://najam.dev/guides/what-an-app-costs/. If you want a straight answer about your own build, the contact details are on https://najam.dev.
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