If you want to have an app built, you want a number first. Here it is: a working MVP starts around €15,000, a production-grade iOS + Android app with a real backend typically lands between €30,000 and €60,000, an independent architecture review on an existing project sits between €5,000 and €12,000. All numbers are fixed prices after the brief — no hourly invoice, no scope creep.
If someone tells you “it depends” without naming a range, you don’t want to buy from them. Here is what those numbers consist of.
What you’re actually paying for
An app is not the code. An app is planning, architecture, code, App Store submission, monitoring, onboarding copy, legal text, app icon, crash reporting, push-notification setup, backend hosting, backups, a build system that still works when you want to change something three years from now, and documentation a different engineer can read. The code is the cheapest part. The rest is the engineering work that carries the next five years.
A serious fixed price includes all of that. A “cheap” quote ships only the code and sells you the rest later as “maintenance”. That’s the expensive path — you notice it in year two.
At a glance
| Tier | Price | Duration | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| MVP | from €15,000 | 2–4 weeks | One platform, lean backend, App Store submission, 30-day bug-fix retainer |
| Production app | €30,000–€60,000 | 3–4 months | iOS + Android, full backend with auth, push, CI/CD, written handover |
| Architecture review | €5,000–€12,000 | 1–2 weeks | Independent assessment of an existing codebase, prioritised report |
Three price tiers, three use cases
MVP — from €15,000, 2–4 weeks. One platform (iOS or Android), lean backend service, App Store submission included. For a market hypothesis you want in real hands before you spend the full budget. Comes with 30 days of post-launch bug fixes.
Production app — €30,000 to €60,000, 3–4 months. iOS and Android (Flutter by default, native in special cases), backend with database, authentication, push notifications, a clean DevOps pipeline. This is the standard tier for a real product launch or an internal company app with a few hundred users.
Architecture review — €5,000 to €12,000, 1–2 weeks. You already have an app and want to know whether the architecture will carry your next stage of growth. Written report with prioritised actions and risk ratings. No marketing speak — findings with file paths and recommendations.
What drives the price
Three dimensions, in this order:
- Platforms. One platform is meaningfully cheaper than two. iOS alone for a B2B audience is often enough.
- Backend complexity. An app without login and without a database is a different animal than one with multi-tenant auth, roles and an audit trail. The latter sits at the upper end of the €30–60k range, sometimes above.
- Third-party integrations. Stripe, SAP, an existing ERP, a legacy SOAP service — every integration eats two to five engineering days. They add up.
What does not meaningfully drive the price: whether the app should be “beautiful”. Good design is hours, not weeks, and bad design costs more later in retention.
What you should refuse to pay for
- Hourly rate without a cap. Every hour where nobody’s counting is one you don’t get back. Fixed price on a written scope is non-negotiable.
- “Maintenance fees” on code you don’t own. If the vendor doesn’t hand over the source, the monthly fee is a lock-in tax.
- €8,000 discovery workshops. A real brief takes 48 hours and is free. Anyone selling discovery is selling a sales pipeline.
- Whitepaper architecture without code. You don’t want someone who “advises” architecture and then hands the work off to subcontractors.
How to budget
Plan in this order:
- Build (fixed price). One of the three tiers above.
- Hosting + third-party services. Kubernetes cluster, database, App Store Developer account, transactional email, crash reporting — typically €80 to €300 per month for a production app. I pass these through at cost, no markup.
- Post-launch retainer (optional). Bug-fix retainer or feature retainer, month-to-month. Nobody locks you into a yearly contract.
An honest year-one total for a production iOS + Android app: €40,000 build + ~€2,000 hosting + €0 to €12,000 optional retainer. That’s the real number.
Where to go next
If the ranges work for you, there’s a dedicated pricing page with the three tiers in detail. If you want to know what your project costs specifically, that’s a 48-hour turnaround: send the idea, receive a written brief — fixed-price range, risks, timeline. Free, no commitment, on the contact page.