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How much does it cost to build a social media app?

This social media app planning estimate starts at $80,000–$383,425 for an agency build for the preset below. Budget another $3,339–$6,219 a year for the recurring costs shown. Adjust the scope and compare DIY, freelancer, agency, and Superapp costs; these are model estimates, not quotes.

USD · Last updated November 5, 2026

Price your app

App platform
Complexity
Custom design
Who builds it?
Features
Yearly running costs view
Custom hosting budget / year
Maintenance hours / year
Other services / year

Free account · Two quick questions · Personalized cost breakdown

What drives the cost?

The preset includes feeds and moderation queues plus accounts / profiles, chat / live updates, notifications, admin dashboard, matching / recommendations. Profiles, a chronological feed, follows, and basic moderation.

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Public example using the default preset. Get your free estimate above for a breakdown of your selected scope.

Compare build options
Build optionOne-off laborRecurring budget
DIY builder$0 paid labor; your time excluded$339 + your maintenance time
Freelancer$57,600–$305,175$2,499–$5,019/year
Agency$80,000–$383,425$3,339–$6,219/year
Superapp ProYou build and review the app$639/year illustrative budget

Default preset breakdown and assumptions

Estimated effort
3200–7825 hours
Delivery effort at 30 productive hours/week
106.7–260.8 person-weeks
Global agency hourly range
$25–$49
Global freelancer hourly range
$18–$39
Custom design adjustment
+25% effort (planning assumption)
Hosting / platform
$240/year
Maintenance labor
$3,000–$5,880/year
Additional services
$0/year
Apple membership
$99/year

Hours include implementation and testing, not a delivery guarantee. Website scope starts at 12–140 hours plus 2–5 hours for each additional page. App scope starts at 400–5,000 hours depending on complexity. Selected features add the effort below. Annual domain and hosting budgets are placeholders, not provider quotes.

Selected feature assumptions

Incremental engineering hours used by this calculator.

Selected feature assumptions
FeatureHours
Accounts / profiles40–80
Chat / live updates80–160
Notifications20–50
Admin dashboard60–140
Matching / recommendations80–180
Feeds and moderation queues280–650

Feeds and moderation queues

Feed ordering, privacy changes, deleted posts, and blocked accounts interact. Define visibility rules first, then test recommendation changes against those rules.

How should moderation be budgeted

Reporting, appeals, and reviewer tools are software scope; staffing and policy enforcement are recurring operations. Media storage and delivery also grow with viewing rather than just registered accounts.

A cheaper way to start with Superapp

Build a focused version yourself before commissioning a full custom project. Superapp Pro is $25 a month; the subscription covers its plan allowance, while your time, extra usage, integrations, hosting, and specialist work remain part of the budget. A Superapp site is an alternative implementation, not a guarantee of WordPress or Shopify compatibility.

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Sources and methodology

Rates are global marketplace benchmarks, not US-only agency quotes. Freelancer and agency ranges overlap because they describe different samples. WordPress.com Personal and Shopify Basic use annual billing, exclude introductory promotions and taxes, and replace the hosting budget. Feature hours and recurring budgets are our explicit planning assumptions.

Common questions

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