How much does it cost to make an app? Real prices, October 2026

The biggest cost is who does the building: you with an AI app builder, a freelancer, or an agency. Everything else (store fees, hosting, AI, payments) is the same whichever path you pick, and is covered further down. Prices are as of October 2026.

The gap is not only money. With a builder you can have a first version the same day and change it yourself. With a freelancer or agency you pay for every change after the project ends. If you are unsure you could do it yourself, read how hard it is to make an app.

An AI app builder costs $16 to $25 a month on the entry paid plan, and each has a free plan to try it first. You pay in credits or tokens: each request to the AI uses some, so a big app or lots of changes can push you to a higher plan.

Most builders give you an app, a database and sign-in. What usually costs extra, in money or setup time, is the business around the app: payments, emails, support and analytics. See how an AI app builder can include those pieces from day one.

Freelance mobile app developers on Upwork charge a median of $18–$39 an hour, and app development companies on Clutch charge $25–$49 an hour. Clutch says most projects reviewed on its site cost $10,000–$49,999, with an average of $90,780.11 and a typical timeline of about 11 months.

• The average is far above the typical range because a few very large projects pull it up. Use the range, not the average, to plan a first version.
• Clutch names features, design complexity and the backend (database, sign-in, servers) as the biggest cost drivers.
• Hourly rates vary by country and experience. Upwork’s own guide lists $45–$75+ an hour for basic to intermediate iOS developers.

Running an app costs from almost nothing to a few hundred dollars a month at small scale. The store fees only apply if you publish native apps; a web app that works on phones needs neither.

On Stripe’s US rate, a $10 card payment costs you $0.59 (2.9% of $10 is $0.29, plus $0.30). On small prices the fixed 30¢ hurts most, which is one reason many apps sell monthly plans or packs rather than $1 items.

AI usually costs cents per user per month, but it depends heavily on the model. AI models charge per token (roughly three-quarters of a word), with different prices for what you send in and what comes back.

Image, video and voice generation are priced differently (per image, per second or per character) and usually cost more per use than chat. Whatever you build, know your AI cost per customer before you set a price.

These are illustrative calculations built only from the prices cited on this page. The user counts and hours are assumptions, not predictions. Payment fees are left out because they depend on what you charge: add $0.59 per $10 card payment on Stripe’s US rate.

Two lessons from the numbers. First, the build is most of the cost on paths B and C, and you pay again for every later change. Second, the AI model you pick can matter more than hosting: in example B, switching to GPT-5 mini would cut the AI line from $2,880 to about $470.

1. 1

   Start on the web

   A mobile-friendly web app skips the $99 and $25 store fees and the review wait. Add native apps once people pay.

2. 2

   Build the first version yourself

   Use a builder’s free plan to test the idea before paying anyone.

3. 3

   Pick the smallest AI model that works

   Test your feature on a cheap model first. In the example above, the gap between models is about six times.

4. 4

   Avoid stacking subscriptions

   Hosting, email, support and analytics each add a monthly bill. A builder that includes them saves money and setup time.

5. 5

   Price above your cost per user

   Know what each customer costs in AI and fees, then set a price that covers it. See how to monetize an app.