Price your app
Traditional build
$58k–$160k
4–8 months · $100–$200/hr
Superapp Pro
$25 / mo
50 credits / month · Apple $99/yr
Save about $58k–$160k
How the estimate adds up
- Medium baseline
- $75k–$200k
- Fitness or health
- 1.1×
- iPhone
- 0.65×
- Custom design
- 1×
- Accounts / login
- +$3k–$12k
- Push notifications
- +$1k–$5k
- Store accounts
- Apple $99/yr
- Effort
- 800–2,000 hours
Three ways to build it
- Agency, us / canada agency
- $58k–$160k
- Freelancer
- $23k–$96k
- Superapp Pro
- $399 first year
A medium fitness or health app for iPhone typically costs $58k–$160k to build with us / canada agency in 2026. Freelancers run 40–60% less, but coordination, QA, and continuity shift to you. For this scope, Superapp Pro is $25 a month, about $399 for the first year including Apple’s fee.
Where an agency budget goes
- Product, discovery and PM
- 15–20%
- UX and interface design
- 15–20%
- Engineering
- 45–55%
- QA, launch and hardening
- 15–20%
- Maintenance after launch
- 15–20% a year
App development cost data
Agency, freelancer, or AI tool
Who builds the app changes both the price and who owns the work.
| Approach | Typical cost | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superapp | Free to start; Pro $25/mo + Apple $99/yr | Hours to a working app | Native Apple apps with a builder-led scope |
| Freelancer | About 40–60% below an agency | 3–12+ months | Defined scopes you can manage closely |
| Agency | $30,000–$500,000+ | 2–18+ months | Custom, complex, or managed delivery |
Cost by complexity
Complexity captures screens, backend logic, risk, and operating requirements.
| Complexity | Cost range | Timeline | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple MVP | $30,000–$75,000 | 2–4 months | Utility, content app, focused prototype |
| Medium | $75,000–$200,000 | 4–8 months | E-commerce, fitness, social product |
| Complex | $200,000–$500,000+ | 8–18+ months | Marketplace, AI platform, fintech |
| Enterprise | $500,000+ | 12–24+ months | Regulated systems, high scale, custom infrastructure |
Hourly rate by region
Blended rates include the delivery team, not only one developer’s wage.
| Region | Blended rate | Index vs US |
|---|---|---|
| US / Canada agency | $100–$200/hr | 1.00× |
| Western Europe / Australia | $80–$150/hr | 0.85× |
| Eastern Europe / Latin America | $40–$80/hr | 0.42× |
| South Asia | $25–$55/hr | 0.29× |
| Freelancer, global | $30–$150/hr | Scope-dependent |
Cost by platform
One shared codebase reduces duplicated implementation and QA.
| Platform | Relative cost | Store fee | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| iOS only | 0.65× | Apple $99/year | One native Apple codebase |
| Android only | 0.65× | Google Play $25 once | One native Android codebase |
| Cross-platform | 1.00× | Both fees | One shared codebase for iOS and Android |
| Dual native | 1.60× | Both fees | Separate native iOS and Android apps |
Cost by app type
Category multipliers reflect common scope and risk, not a guarantee.
| App type | Modifier | Typical medium build |
|---|---|---|
| Simple / utility | 0.8× | $60k–$160k |
| Content or media | 0.7× | $53k–$140k |
| E-commerce | 1.0× | $75k–$200k |
| Social or community | 1.0× | $75k–$200k |
| On-demand or marketplace | 1.2× | $90k–$240k |
| Fitness or health | 1.1× | $83k–$220k |
| Fintech or payments | 1.4× | $105k–$280k |
| AI-powered app | 1.3× | $98k–$260k |
What drives the final cost
Features. Authentication can add $3,000–$12,000; payments $5,000–$20,000; real-time behavior $10,000–$40,000.
Platforms. A single iOS or Android app is about 0.65× the two-platform baseline; separate native apps are about 1.6×.
Design. Template design reduces the estimate about 10%; a premium custom system can add about 25%.
Team location. Representative blended rates range from $25–$55/hour in South Asia to $100–$200/hour in the US and Canada.
Quality and risk. Payments, health data, financial compliance, high scale, and unusual integrations add discovery, hardening, and testing.
Maintenance. Budget 15–20% of the initial build each year for security, OS updates, bugs, infrastructure, and improvements.
How much you save building it yourself
A medium iPhone fitness app with accounts and push notifications comes to roughly $56,000–$159,000 with a US or Canada agency. Superapp Pro is $25 a month, and Apple’s developer membership is $99 a year: $399 for the first year.
It is a different model, not an identical service. You make the product decisions and test the app; Superapp generates a native Swift project for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Complex regulated apps, unusual infrastructure, or Android delivery may still need specialist engineers.
How this calculator works
- Start from a 2026 traditional-build range by complexity.
- Adjust for app category and platforms.
- Add feature ranges, then apply the design level.
- Apply the regional delivery index.
Results are rounded to the nearest $1,000, because an estimate should not imply quote-level precision. Hours and rates are shown as context, not multiplied into a second answer. Maintenance adds 15–20% of the build cost for each year after launch.
These are planning ranges, not a binding quote. Taxes, cloud usage, payment processing, legal work, content, and marketing are not included.
Sources
- Resourcifi — Mobile app development cost in 2026
- DesignRevision — App development cost: what to expect in 2026
- Upwork — How much does it cost to build a mobile app?
- Apple Developer — Membership details ($99/year)
- Google Play Console — Developer account registration ($25 once)
- Superapp — Current plans and pricing