People ask this in the first email, sometimes in the first sentence, so let me answer the way I answer them. The honest answer is a range, and the range is wide: between the smallest and the largest project I quote there is roughly a tenfold difference. What actually matters is knowing which side of that scale your idea sits on, and that is decided by three things: screens, integrations, and platforms. Everything else is detail.
The three things that drive the price
Screens. Every screen is designed, built, and tested, and then tested again on small phones, large phones, and slow phones. An app with five screens and one job is a different project from an app with twenty-five screens and a settings labyrinth. When we cut a quote down for a client, this is usually where we cut: not features, but screens that duplicate each other.
Integrations. Each external system the app talks to (a payment provider, an accounting service, a government API) multiplies the edge cases. The integration itself might take a week; handling what happens when the other side is slow, down, or returns something undocumented takes another two. One integration is normal. Five integrations quietly dominate the budget.
Platforms. Android and iOS together are not twice the price: we build cross-platform, so the second mobile platform adds a fraction, not a multiple. A web dashboard, on the other hand, is honestly a second product, with its own screens and its own testing.
What silently doubles a quote
In twenty-five years of quoting projects I have learned that the most expensive sentence in app development is "and of course users should have accounts". Accounts mean a server. A server means sync, backups, password resets, privacy obligations, and hosting bills forever. An offline app that keeps data on the device can cost half of the same app with a cloud behind it. Sometimes the cloud is genuinely needed, and then it is worth every euro. But it should be a decision, not a default. We wrote about where that line runs in every one of our own apps.
The runner-up is "make it like X, but simpler". X was built by forty people over five years. The word "simpler" needs to be a written list of what is out, or the project inherits X's scope with a smaller budget.
What makes it cheaper
- A written spec. One page is enough. A clear spec removes the risk premium every developer silently adds to vague projects. We wrote a one-page template.
- Starting from something that exists. Extending one of our free apps with your workflow costs less than building from zero, because the boring 60 percent is already built and tested.
- One platform first. Launch on Android or iOS, learn, then add the second platform with the lessons included.
- Boring technology. Fashionable stacks are expensive twice: when written and when the fashion passes. We choose technology that will still be maintainable in ten years.
Why we quote a fixed price
Hourly billing moves the estimation risk onto the client: if the developer guessed wrong, you pay for the surprise. We work the other way. You describe the task, we return a short written spec with a price and a date, and once you sign it off, both are fixed. If we estimated wrong, that is our cost, not yours. It forces us to think before we promise, which is exactly what you want from a contractor.
Common follow-up questions
What are the recurring costs after launch? Store developer accounts (Google charges once, Apple yearly), hosting if there is a server, and support. We maintain what we build; the support terms are agreed together with the quote, not discovered later.
How long does it take? A focused app typically takes 2-4 months from signed spec to store release. The estimate comes together with the price.
Can you give a number without a spec? Only a dishonest one. Describe the task through the contact form: a real quote usually takes a few days and costs you nothing.