The short answer: €5,000 to €50,000+ — here's where your app lands
A mobile app in 2026 typically costs between €5,000 for a focused MVP and €50,000 or more for a complex product with a custom backend — at Bulgarian development rates, which run well below Western European agency prices for the same engineering quality. The range is wide because "an app" can mean anything from a single-purpose tool to a full platform. Here's how to place your project accurately. (Comparing with a web system? See our custom software cost breakdown.)
The three cost tiers
Tier 1: €5,000 – €15,000 (Focused MVP)
One core function, done well, on both platforms via a cross-platform framework:
- User accounts, push notifications, and a handful of screens
- A backend-as-a-service (Firebase, Supabase) instead of custom infrastructure
- Standard UI components with light branding
- Enough polish to pass App Store review and validate the idea with real users
Timeline: 8–12 weeks. Team: 1–2 developers.
This tier works when you can describe the app's core job in one sentence. If you can't, you're not ready to build yet.
Tier 2: €15,000 – €50,000 (Business app with a backend)
This is where most serious commercial apps live:
- A custom backend with its own database and admin panel
- Payments, real-time data, or offline support
- Role-based access for different user types
- Integrations with external systems or hardware
Our OHANA Partners app is a good example of this tier's shape: a restaurant order management app running on tablets with built-in fiscal printers. Orders arrive in real time, staff confirm them, and the receipt prints automatically — no manual re-entry. One focused purpose, executed deeply.
Timeline: 3–6 months. Team: 2–4 people.
Tier 3: €50,000+ (Complex products)
Consumer apps at scale, marketplaces, and platforms with demanding requirements:
- High concurrent usage with real-time synchronization
- Video, streaming, or AI-powered features
- Regulatory compliance (payments, health data, GDPR-sensitive processing)
- Multi-tenant architecture serving many organizations
Timeline: 6–12 months. Team: 3–6 people.
What actually drives the cost
Platforms. Building iOS and Android natively means two codebases — nearly double the frontend effort. Cross-platform frameworks collapse that (more below).
The backend. Users see the app; they don't see the API, database, admin panel, and notification infrastructure behind it. On business apps, the backend is often 30–50% of the budget.
Integrations. Payment gateways, maps, delivery platforms, hardware like printers or scanners — budget €1,000–€5,000 per integration, same as in web projects.
Design. Standard components are cheap. A custom design system, animations, and interfaces designed for a specific context — like a high-contrast tablet UI for a loud kitchen — take real design time.
Store compliance. Apple's review guidelines, privacy labels, GDPR consent flows, and in-app purchase rules all add testing and review cycles that a web app never faces.
Native vs cross-platform: the economics
For most business apps in 2026, cross-platform (Flutter or React Native) is the economically rational default. One codebase serving both platforms typically cuts development cost by 30–40% compared to two native apps, and maintenance stays cheaper for the life of the product.
Native still wins for apps that lean heavily on platform-specific features or need every last frame of performance — high-end games, camera-intensive tools, some AR work.
We built the OHANA Partners app with Flutter, including direct integration with the fiscal printer SDK — proof that cross-platform handles hardware-level requirements, not just simple UIs.
The hidden costs nobody quotes upfront
- Maintenance: 15–20% of the build cost per year. OS updates, dependency upgrades, and store policy changes don't stop when the app ships.
- Store fees. Apple's developer program runs about €90/year; Google Play is a one-time fee of about €25. If you sell digital goods in-app, the stores take a 15–30% commission.
- Backend hosting. From roughly €20/month for an MVP to hundreds per month at scale.
- Annual OS releases. Each new iOS and Android version can break something. Budget a testing pass every year.
How to reduce cost without killing quality
- Phase the MVP. Ship one core flow first, learn from real usage, then extend. This is the single biggest cost lever.
- Go cross-platform unless you have a specific technical reason not to.
- Start on backend-as-a-service and migrate to custom infrastructure only when scale demands it.
- Design for one primary context first. OHANA was designed for a tablet in a kitchen — not for every device in every situation. Focus is cheaper and better.
- Don't cut discovery. Ambiguity, not code, is the most expensive ingredient in software.
How DSX prices mobile projects
The same model as everything we build: a paid discovery phase produces a fixed estimate before we write a line of code. Most mobile apps we scope fall between €8,000 and €40,000, depending on backend complexity and integrations. Design, development, store submission, and maintenance come from one team — no handoffs between vendors.
Planning an app? Get in touch — we'll give you a realistic estimate in a free 30-minute call.