Many app agencies answer cost questions with "it depends" and ask you to book a call. So we looked for agencies that put an actual number on their own website. We found 15, plus the numbers that Clutch, GoodFirms and Upwork publish. The table below shows their prices and timelines, and the sections after it cover hourly rates and upkeep.
What do app agencies actually charge?
These are the prices agencies publish on their own sites, in US dollars, as of October 25, 2026. Most of them price a first version of the app, often called an MVP (minimum viable product): the smallest app that does the main job well enough to put in front of real customers.
| Agency | Based in | Published price | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Codingclave | Lucknow, India | packages from $1,500 to $6,000+ | 4 to 16 weeks |
| eCorpIT | Gurugram, India | first version $8,000 / $15,000 / $25,000 | 6 to 10 weeks |
| ASPER BROTHERS | Warsaw, Poland | first version $10,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| RaftLabs | Dublin, Ireland and India | first version $10,000 to $20,000; full product $20,000 to $40,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| StudioKrew | Chicago office and others | simple first version $10,000 to $20,000 | 2 to 4 months |
| RapidDev | remote, serves Austin, TX | $13,000 to $25,000 fixed price | 4 to 12 weeks |
| PerfectionGeeks | Laguna Beach, CA and India | first version from $15,000; complex apps $80,000 to $150,000+ | 8 to 16 weeks |
| Purrweb | Walnut, CA and UAE | first version $25,000 to $70,000 | 2 to 4 months |
| LowCode Agency | not stated | first version $25,000 to $50,000 (no-code) | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Codica | Tallinn, Estonia | from $30,000; mobile app $30,000 to $50,000 | 3 to 5 months |
| NoviCore | not stated | projects start at $30,000 | not stated |
| Fueled | New York, NY | says $75,000 gets a barebones app running; first full version $100,000 to $250,000 | about 13 weeks |
| Chop Dawg* | US | from $7,500 a month | 1 to 4 months |
| Oracast* | Calgary, Canada | "$30,000 to infinity" | not stated |
| Sandlabs* | Melbourne, Australia | simple first version $15,000 to $30,000 | 2 to 4 weeks |
*Not counted in the median below. Chop Dawg prices by the month, not by project, and Oracast and Sandlabs do not say which currency they quote in.
Across the 12 agencies that publish a one-time price in US dollars, the median starting price is $14,000. Eight of the 12 start between $8,000 and $25,000. The cheapest package is $1,500 and the most expensive starting point is $75,000.
Prices vary a lot from team to team. The two lowest packages come from teams in India, while Codica in Estonia starts at $30,000 and Fueled, a New York studio, at $75,000.
How much does it cost to build a simple app compared to a bigger one?
The agency prices above are mostly for a first version. A full app with more features costs several times that.
- Simple app. A few screens and one main job, like booking or ordering. Most published first-version prices sit between $8,000 and $25,000.
- Mid-size app. User accounts, payments, an admin panel and its own back end. Agencies that publish tiers put this around $20,000 to $80,000.
- Large app. Many user types, connections to other systems, heavy security. The agencies that publish this tier start at $80,000.
The marketplaces land in the same place. Clutch, which collects verified reviews of development firms, says the most common app project it sees costs $10,000 to $49,999, while its average project comes to $90,780 because a few very large projects pull the average up. A GoodFirms survey from 2022 put a simple app at $12,960 to $30,240 and an advanced one at $56,160 to $82,080.
How long does it take to build an app?
A simple first version usually takes 4 to 12 weeks in the published timelines above. A bigger app takes 3 to 5 months, and complex products can take most of a year: Clutch puts its average project at about 11 months.
The GoodFirms survey gave similar ranges: 3 to 7 weeks for a simple app, 8 to 14 weeks for a more complex one and 13 to 19 weeks for an advanced app.
Late changes to what the app should do add time and cost. Settling what the first version includes before coding starts keeps the timeline and the price easier to control.
How much does an app developer cost per hour?
On Upwork, mobile app developers show rates of $18 to $39 an hour on its hiring page. Clutch lists most app development companies at $25 to $49 an hour, including those in the US. By country, Clutch shows under $25 an hour in India, $50 to $99 in Canada and Poland, and $100 to $149 in Australia.
A freelancer at $25 an hour who needs twice as long, or who disappears halfway through, can cost more than a fixed-price package. If you hire by the hour, ask for an estimate of total hours in writing and a limit you have to approve before it goes over.
How much does it cost to keep an app running?
Agencies commonly estimate 15% to 20% of the build price every year. Several app agencies give that same rule of thumb for maintenance, though none of the pages we read points to a study behind it. A $20,000 app would cost about $3,000 to $4,000 a year to keep running.
That covers updates when Apple and Google release new phone software, bug fixes, hosting and the services the app connects to, and small improvements. Some agencies include a short free period after launch: 30 days at eCorpIT and RapidDev, 3 months at StudioKrew and 6 months of bug fixes at Codingclave. After that, Codica quotes $400 to $1,000 a month, and Chop Dawg starts at $2,500 a month.
If you are deciding between an app and a website, count this cost too. A website usually has fewer parts to maintain than an app, and for many small businesses it does the job.
How we got these numbers
We collected these prices on October 25, 2026. For each agency we used its own website: a pricing page, a package list or a statement of its starting price. We left out agencies that only say "contact us," agencies whose pages only repeat general market estimates, and one agency that priced in euros. The Clutch figures come from its app development cost guide and pricing directory, and the Upwork rates from its hiring page. The GoodFirms survey figures date from 2022 and come from the company's press release. Prices change, and every agency adjusts the final quote to the project, so treat these as starting points.
You can download the full list, with the source link for every price: app-development-prices-2026-10.csv.
Full disclosure: AgaveRank plans app projects and builds the website and SEO around them, and a partner development team builds the app. We do not publish a price yet. You can see how that works on our outsource app development page.