Seasoned Founders
Can't Believe
This is AI-Generated Plan

The calculator runs on GPT-4o-mini and GPT-4o (for larger scopes) and uses DALLE-3 for quick design estimates. These models are trained on data from 10 000+ real projects, so numbers match actual market rates and complexity.

Accuracy depends on the details you provide, but our tool uses project data from 10,685 completed apps (Ptolemay partners & Upwork, 2025). With good input, your estimate is usually within 5–10% of what you'd pay in a real contract. AI helps cut estimation errors by up to 95% compared to manual guesswork.

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You can use the results to:

• Set a realistic budget and avoid hidden costs
• Support your investor pitch with clear numbers
• Understand which team roles you'll need and what you'll spend
• Prioritize MVP features and plan future updates
• Move faster — get a number in minutes, not weeks

The calculator is fully automated. Your project details are never stored or shared unless you choose to contact our team. And remember, execution matters more than the idea itself — your app's success depends on marketing, team, and business model, not just the concept.

It provides a full feature breakdown and requirements for your Scope of Work, suggests the best tech stack (like Flutter or Node.js), maps out phased development and hiring needs, and splits costs and timelines by feature and development stage. You get a ready blueprint for your team or agency — not just a rough number.

A typical mobile app in 2025 costs $32,000 to $148,000, depending on complexity and features. Most MVPs start near $38,000, while advanced or AI-powered apps can exceed $180,000.

App cost = development hours × hourly rate (plus ~15% for project management and QA). Key factors: feature set, backend, integrations, developer rates ($20–$150/hr).

(Based on Statista, Apr 2025.)

App development cost is calculated as: total hours × hourly rate + 10–20% for project management. For a typical MVP, expect $20,000–$60,000; complex apps cost more. Main factors: features, hourly rate, and extra costs like testing.

A lean mobile MVP usually takes 9–11 weeks from wireframes to app store launch. A mid-level app with payments or chat features needs about 16–22 weeks, while advanced AI or real-time apps require 24–30 weeks.

This app build timeline is based on analysis of 1,086 real projects (Ptolemay & partners, 2025).

Typical development timeline:

• MVP (≤10 screens): 280–420 dev hours → 9–11 weeks
• Standard app (e.g., payments, chat): 550–900 hours → 16–22 weeks
• Complex/AI app: 1,200+ hours → 24–30 weeks

To estimate your app's timeline, divide total dev hours by your team's weekly capacity (e.g., 5 devs × 40 hours). Parallel design and QA can shorten delivery by 2–3 weeks.

(Sources: Statista Dev Survey 2025)

Most founders in 2025 raise about $25,000 for a lean MVP, or $90,000 for a payment-ready app. This covers design, cloud, QA, and publishing fees.

Source: Statista 2025.

The main app development cost factors are:

1. Backend & integrations (30–40%)
2. Frontend & UX design (20–25%)
3. Project management & QA (15–20%)
4. App maintenance & updates (10–15%)
5. Cloud hosting & APIs (5–10%)
6. App store fees (<1%)

This app price breakdown is based on Ptolemay + partners' 2025 project data and Statista's global mobile app report.

Expect 15–20% of the build budget per year: that's $5,000–$15,000 for a lean MVP and $30,000–$80,000 for a payment-ready or AI app. The spend breaks down to hosting ≈35%, updates ≈30%, monitoring ≈15%, bug-fix & support ≈20%.

Yes. App development is profitable in 2025: median ROI is 28–40 % with breakeven in 11 months. Most revenue comes from in-app purchases (48 %), subscriptions (27 %), and ads (20 %). (Statista 2025, SensorTower)

In 2025, AI apps cost $30,000 to $150,000, depending on complexity. Expect $30–60K to integrate GPT-4o or Vision-API, $60–120K for advanced fine-tuning, and $120K+ to train private models. Main price drivers: AI API usage, data processing, and GPU cloud fees. (Sources: Ptolemay, CB Insights AI Funding Report 2025)

Freelance: junior $25–50/h, middle $60–120/h, senior $100–180/h.

Agency squad (2–3 devs + PM): $90–150/h ($15–25K/month).

US — top rates, Eastern Europe –30%, South Asia –50%.

MVP build (400 h): $28–50K.

Yes. You can launch a no-code MVP for $0–1,000 using Glide or Bubble. Store fees: Google Play $25, App Store $99/year. Expect 40–80 hours of DIY work; free plans handle up to 1,000 users, upgrades start at $15–50/month.

Switch once one of these four triggers appears: (1) performance lags at 10k+ monthly users, (2) must-have features can't be built or integrated, (3) monthly no-code costs hit $1,000+, or (4) compliance requires on-prem or SOC 2.

Top startups migrate 2–3 months before a funding round—giving time to pass technical due diligence.

Flutter leads 2025 builds: 42 % of new apps and 48 % of MVPs (Statista). It delivers iOS + Android 18 % faster and logs 30 % fewer crashes than React Native across 486 launches, while hourly Flutter rates are ≈ 20 % lower on Upwork. Use React Native for JS stacks, Swift/Kotlin for sensor-heavy natives.

Mobile games lead gross app revenue in 2025 ($55B H1), but the most profitable are subscription-based finance and wellness apps—$4.8 ARPU/month, 42% net margin, 47% retention—almost double mobile-game profit. Social/video apps (TikTok, YouTube) and B2B/hybrid models rank between the two. (SensorTower)

Yes — but only a minority of apps hit profit. Median ad-driven Android ARPU is $0.32/month; break-even for a $15K MVP is ≈ 90K installs or 11 months. The OS's 2.2× larger audience yields 18% more gross than iOS, but most apps stall below $500/month.

Subscriptions and finance tools show up to 40% margin and fastest payback. (SensorTower & Ptolemay panel, H1-2025)

Yes — you can build and test iOS apps for free with Xcode and a regular Apple ID. TestFlight allows free private distribution to up to 100 users (each build valid 90 days). To publish on the App Store, you need a paid Apple Developer license ($99/year, waived for nonprofits, schools, and eligible US small businesses).

If you don't own a Mac, budget $20–40/month for a Mac-in-cloud rental. There's no 100% free way to publish to the App Store.

Start with a one-page product goal, then draft a five-part technical spec: 1) user stories, 2) prioritized feature list, 3) C4 architecture diagram, 4) API/data models, 5) sprint plan with acceptance tests. Teams that include a C4 diagram and test matrix get builds approved ≈3 days faster.

• True cost of building in 2025
• Spotting an overpriced quote
• Writing a bullet-proof tech spec
• No-code → custom: timing & checklist
• Flutter vs React Native (2025)
• Maintenance & OPEX math