How much does a mobile app cost in 2026?

It is the first question every prospect asks, and the honest answer is: it depends on what the app must do. Here is how a price is built, so you can compare quotes with confidence.

The five price drivers

• Number of screens and user journeys: a 6-screen booking app is nothing like a 40-screen marketplace.
• User accounts and roles: customer, driver, admin… each profile adds screens and rules.
• Payments: cards, MVola, Orange Money or Airtel Money each need specific integration and testing.
• Offline mode: essential for field teams, it requires data synchronisation.
• Back-office: almost every app needs a web interface to manage content, orders or users.

Realistic ranges

At Hardware Solution, a simple mobile app starts at €4,900 excl. VAT. An app with accounts, payments and a back-office usually falls between €8,000 and €15,000. Multi-profile platforms (multi-company booking, delivery) often exceed €20,000.

Cross-platform technology (one codebase for Android and iOS) cuts cost by 30–40% compared with two separate native apps.

The costs people forget

• Hosting for the API and database (from a few dozen euros per month).
• Developer accounts: $25 once for Google Play, $99 per year for the App Store.
• Maintenance: Android/iOS updates, fixes, small improvements. Budget 10–20% of the initial cost per year.

Cutting the budget without cutting quality

Start with an MVP: the minimum version that solves your users’ main problem. Put it in their hands within weeks, measure, then invest in what works. That is the approach we use on our projects.

To get a first range for your own project in two minutes, try our online estimator.