What does a mobile app actually cost?

The decision that moves the number most

Before page counts or features, one choice dominates the budget: native apps or a progressive web app.

Native means separate iOS and Android builds, app-store review on both, and platform-specific work for every feature. A progressive web app is one codebase that installs to the home screen, updates instantly, and skips store review entirely. It cannot do everything native can — deep hardware access and certain background behaviours are limited — but for most business apps it does everything that is actually needed at a fraction of the cost.

A large share of businesses asking for "an app" want something a PWA delivers. It is worth establishing which you are before pricing anything.

What else drives the build

After the platform decision, in rough order:

• Accounts and login. The moment users have profiles, you have a backend, password resets, and data to protect.
• Payments or ordering. Same story as commerce on the web, plus app-store rules about how digital goods can be sold.
• Real-time features — live updates, chat, notifications tied to events — which change the architecture rather than adding to it.
• Integrations with systems you already run: a POS, a CRM, inventory, a booking calendar.
• Offline behaviour. Working without a connection is a genuine engineering requirement, not a setting.

The costs that arrive after launch

An app is not a website. It has recurring obligations a website does not, and they are frequently omitted from quotes.

Apple charges $99 a year for a developer account and Google $25 once. Both platforms ship OS updates annually, and an app that is never touched will eventually break or be delisted. If your app has a backend, that backend has running costs that scale with usage. And app-store listings need screenshots, descriptions and review responses — small work that nobody is assigned.

How Revio prices it

A scoped one-time build, then from $299 per month covering maintenance, OS-update compatibility, store presence and ongoing changes. Native iOS, native Android, and progressive web apps are all on the table, and we will tell you when a PWA does the job — that conversation costs us revenue and saves you more.

Typical timeline is eight to sixteen weeks. As with everything we build, the accounts and the code are registered in your name.

Common questions

Do I need a native app or will a web app do?

If your app does not require deep hardware access or heavy offline use, a progressive web app usually delivers the same result for less, updates instantly, and is discoverable by search engines. Native earns its cost when you genuinely need what only native provides.

How long does an app take to build?

Eight to sixteen weeks, depending on scope and whether accounts, payments and integrations are involved. Native adds app-store review time at the end, which is outside anyone's control.