In 2026, making a simple app costs nothing to about $40 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
Priced in credits that are spent when the AI reads and writes. AI App Builder gives 100 credits free; a small app — four to six screens, a few rounds of changes — typically fits inside that or a first credit pack. There is no subscription, and previewing, hand-editing and exporting are free. Realistic totals:
- Simple app, light iteration: $0 (free credits).
- Simple app, thorough polish: $5 – $15.
- Medium app with native features and many iterations: $15 – $40.
Details and what one credit buys 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 | Firebase 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 | The builder generates an 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.