In 2026, making a simple app costs about $1 to $20 with an AI app builder, $300 to $2,400 a year with a drag-and-drop no-code subscription, $1,500 to $25,000 with a freelance developer, and $8,000 to $80,000 or more with an agency. On top of any route add a one-time $25 Google Play developer registration and, if the app needs a backend, hosting that starts free and grows with use.
Route by route
AI app builder
No-Code AI App Builder runs on your own OpenAI API key: you pay OpenAI's own token price for the AI and we add 0% commission. Building and previewing are free; Builder Pro at $7 a month unlocks the signed APK and AAB. Realistic totals:
- Simple app you build and test: your OpenAI usage only.
- The same app on phones and Google Play: +$7 (one month of Builder Pro).
- Ongoing updates: $7 a month while you keep shipping new versions, plus your OpenAI usage.
Details are on pricing.
Drag-and-drop no-code platforms
Subscriptions, usually per app or per editor, from about $25 to $200 a month depending on tier, with the features you actually need (custom domain, no badge, native publishing, more records) pushing you up a tier. Over a two-year life that is $600 to $4,800, and the app generally stops working if you stop paying.
Freelance developer
$1,500 – $6,000 for a simple app, $6,000 – $25,000 for one with accounts, a backend and payments, varying widely by region and experience. Expect 3–8 weeks. Changes afterwards are billed hourly.
Agency
$8,000 – $25,000 simple, $25,000 – $80,000+ medium, and six figures for anything ambitious. You pay for a team, project management and polish. Timelines run 2–4 months.
The costs everyone forgets
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Play developer account | $25 once | Required to publish. Identity verification takes a few days. |
| Apple developer account | $99 / year | Only if you go to iOS. |
| Backend (accounts, database, storage) | $0 – $25 / month to start | Supabase and similar have generous free tiers; grows with users. |
| Domain + privacy policy page | $10 – $15 / year | Play requires a privacy policy URL for most apps. |
| Icon and screenshots | $0 – $150 | Upload your logo as the icon; a designer for store art is optional. |
| Updates and maintenance | Varies | With an AI builder: minutes and cents. With a developer: their hourly rate, typically 15–20% of build cost per year. |
| Payment processing | ~2–3% + fixed fee per transaction | Only if you take payments in-app. |
What drives cost up
- Accounts and a backend. The moment users log in, someone has to run a server, secure it and back it up.
- Payments. Integration, compliance, refunds, disputes.
- Two platforms. iOS roughly doubles developer cost unless built cross-platform.
- Custom design. Pixel-exact designs mean design hours plus implementation hours.
- Real-time anything. Chat, live tracking, multiplayer.
How to spend the least
Build the version without accounts first. Load content from a spreadsheet instead of a database. Take orders by message instead of card. Publish on Android first. Use an AI builder for the whole thing if the app is screens-and-data, or for the prototype if it is not. Every one of these is reversible later, when the app has earned the budget.