Short answer · a typical booking app, iOS and Android
$53,000 built AI-native, $84,000 at typical agency effort
Built the way most teams now work, with AI coding tools, our booking app example comes to about $53,000 at Clutch's US development company rate. At the effort agencies typically quote it is about $84,000, inside the $60,000 to $180,000 DashDevs publishes for a medium-complexity app. A simple one-platform app runs from $8,800 to $15,000; a complex social app from $136,000 to $246,000.
The code got cheap. The rest of the app didn't.
Hours by category: AI-native / agency-quoted
Accent bar: AI-native hours. Grey bar: agency-quoted hours. Both are this site's published hour models, priced at Clutch's US development company band midpoint. Where a line marked not compressed still differs, it is because the agency model sets testing and project time as shares of its larger build hours. Methodology
Six apps, three ways to build them
Each row is a fixed scope run through the calculator. The three columns change only who builds it: a US development company (Clutch band midpoint), a Latin American outsourcing team (Accelerance 2026 bands, half junior and half senior), and an employed US team (BLS wages plus benefits from BLS ECEC).
| Scenario | Built AI-native | Agency quote, US agency | Agency quote, Latin America | Agency quote, US in-house |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple utility appOne platform, a handful of screens, analytics, no accounts. | $8,800118 h | $15,000206 h | $11,000206 h | $18,000206 h |
| Internal web dashboardBrowser-based tool on an API you already run, with logins and search. | $23,000305 h | $40,000538 h | $29,000538 h | $47,000538 h |
| Booking app for a local businessiOS and Android from one codebase, accounts, booking, payments, maps. | $53,000709 h | $84,0001,131 h | $60,0001,131 h | $97,0001,131 h |
| Subscription content appCross-platform, in-app subscriptions, media, offline reading, custom backend. | $65,000877 h | $108,0001,444 h | $77,0001,444 h | $124,0001,444 h |
| Two-sided marketplace MVPCross-platform, listings, search, chat, payments and an admin dashboard. | $75,0001,004 h | $133,0001,786 h | $95,0001,786 h | $154,0001,786 h |
| Social app, two native codebasesNative iOS and Android, feed, chat, media, maps, languages, admin. | $136,0001,830 h | $246,0003,301 h | $176,0003,301 h | $283,0003,301 h |
What moves the number most
- Platforms. Two native codebases multiply app-side hours by 1.9 in our model; one cross-platform codebase by 1.25. See mobile app costs.
- A few heavy features. Chat (176 hours before multipliers), an admin dashboard (120) and a social feed (112) cost more than several light features combined. See cost by feature.
- Backend approach. A managed backend such as Firebase or Supabase cuts server-side hours in our model to 60% of a custom build, plus a smaller set-up.
- Who builds it. The published bands run from $24 an hour (Accelerance, junior developers in Asia) to $118 an hour (our employer-cost figure for a 75th percentile US developer). That is a wider spread than any scope decision. See hourly rates.
What published averages say
Clutch, which collects verified client reviews of development firms, reports an average app development project cost of $90,780.11, an average monthly spend of $8,188.44, a usual timeline of about 11 months, and says most app projects reviewed on Clutch range between $10,000 and $49,999. Those figures describe projects that happened to be reviewed on one platform, so treat them as context rather than a benchmark for your scope.
The costs that come after launch
Apple charges 99 USD a year for the Apple Developer Program and Google Play charges a US$25 one-time registration fee. Both stores also move their minimum build requirements on a published schedule, which is why an app needs paid upkeep even when nothing new is added. See app maintenance cost and app store fees.
Questions
How much does it cost to build a simple app?+
In our worked example, a simple one-platform utility app with a handful of screens comes to about 118 hours built with AI coding tools, which is $8,800 at the midpoint of Clutch's $50 to $99 US development company band. At the effort agencies typically quote it is about 206 hours, or $15,000. Both hour models are this site's planning assumptions and are set out on the methodology page.
How much does it cost to build an app like a marketplace or social network?+
The features that make those apps useful (chat, feeds, payments, media upload, an admin back office) are also the expensive ones. Our social app example on two native codebases comes to about 3,301 hours, or $246,000 at the US agency midpoint. A cross-platform codebase and a narrower first release are the two biggest levers on that number.
Is it cheaper to hire developers outside the US?+
Usually per hour. Accelerance's 2026 survey puts senior developers in Latin America at $60 to $75 an hour and juniors at $33 to $45, against Clutch's $50 to $99 band for US development companies. Our booking app example falls from $84,000 at the US agency midpoint to $60,000 with a Latin American team at a 50/50 senior mix, before any allowance for time-zone or management overhead.
What is the average cost of an app?+
Clutch reports that the average cost of app development projects on its platform is $90,780.11, and that most projects reviewed there range between $10,000 and $49,999. An average across very different projects says little about yours, which is why this site prices a specific scope instead.
How long does it take to build an app?+
Clutch reports a usual timeline of about 11 months for mobile app projects. In the calculator, time is hours divided by team size at 32 productive hours per person per week, so the booking app example takes about 12 weeks with three people.
Sources for this page
- DashDevs (a development agency), blog cost guide. How Much Does It Cost to Make an App in 2026: Full Cost Breakdown. dashdevs.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-an-app/ (read 2026-10-02)
- Clutch (App Development Pricing Guide). App Development Pricing Guide, updated September 21, 2026. clutch.co/directory/mobile-application-developers/pricing (read 2026-10-02)
- Clutch (Software Development Pricing Guide). Software Development Company Pricing Guide, updated September 21, 2026. clutch.co/developers/pricing (read 2026-10-02)
- Accelerance (blog post by Peter Griffin, November 24, 2025, summarising the Accelerance 2026 Global Software Development Rates & Trends Guide). Price Pressure and Performance: The New Equation for Global Dev Rates. www.accelerance.com/blog/2026-outsourcing-rate-trends-asia-europe-latam (read 2026-10-02)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Software Developers (SOC 15-1252), national, May 2025 estimates. www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151252.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC). Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026. www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- Apple Developer (Enrollment support page). Apple Developer Program enrollment. developer.apple.com/support/enrollment/ (read 2026-10-02)
- Google Play Console Help. Get started with Play Console (registration). support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6112435?hl=en (read 2026-10-02)
Hours are this site's own planning assumptions, set out line by line on the methodology page. Full quotes for every figure are on the sources page.