The price of an app has two parts: building it, once, and keeping it running, every year. The build depends mostly on how many platforms you need (a web app, iOS, Android), how many kinds of users it serves, and how much happens behind the screens: payments, integrations, an admin panel. The yearly part covers servers, store fees, third-party services and the updates Apple and Google force on every app. Two quotes are only comparable once you know both parts and what each one leaves out.

You won't find a market average here. There are no reliable figures for Belgium, and a freelancer, an agency and an offshore team price the same app so differently that an average tells you nothing. What we can do is show what moves the number, what to ask before you sign, and what an app costs with us.

What drives the price of the build

Platforms: web, iOS, Android

This is the biggest single choice. A web app runs in the browser on any device, needs no store approval and ships an update the moment it is deployed. For a lot of B2B tools and first versions, it is enough.

If you need the App Store and Google Play, there are two routes. Native apps (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android) mean two codebases, written and tested twice. Cross-platform frameworks such as Kotlin Multiplatform, Flutter or React Native share most of the code between the two, which usually means less work than two native apps, though not half. Each still has to be built, tested on real devices and released through each store separately.

Ask any agency which route they propose and why. "iOS and Android" in a quote can mean either.

Users, roles and screens

An app where every user sees the same thing is cheaper than one with customers, staff and managers who each see different screens and have different permissions. Count the roles, then count the screens per role. Every screen also has states that someone has to design and build: empty, loading, error, no connection.

The backend

Almost every app needs a server: a database, accounts and login, business logic, e-mails. This is the part a client never sees and often underestimates. Login alone can be e-mail and password, or "Sign in with Apple/Google", or company SSO, and each is a different amount of work.

Integrations and payments

Each connection to another system is its own piece of work: Stripe or Bancontact for payments, your accounting software, a CRM, a booking system, a government API. A quote with one integration and a quote with five are for different projects, even if the screens look the same.

An admin panel

Someone will need to change prices, block a user or fix a record without calling a developer. That back office is a small app in itself, and it is often missing from a cheap quote.

Offline mode and notifications

An app that works without a connection has to store data on the phone and resolve conflicts when it reconnects. That is one of the more expensive features you can ask for. Push notifications need a setup per platform and a server that decides who gets what, and when.

Design

A design built on a ready-made component library costs less than a custom visual identity with its own illustrations and animations. Both can work well; the quote should say which one you are getting.

What you pay every year after launch

Servers and hosting. The backend, the database and file storage run somewhere, usually on a cloud provider, billed monthly. The bill grows with usage.
The Apple Developer Program. Publishing on the App Store requires a membership of 99 USD per membership year, shown in local currency when you enrol.
Google Play. A Play Console account has a one-time 25 USD registration fee.
Store commissions. If you sell digital goods or subscriptions inside the app, Apple and Google take a share. The rate depends on your revenue and the type of sale, and the EEA has its own terms, so check the current pages from Apple and Google rather than a number from a blog.
Mandatory platform updates. Both stores keep raising the bar. Since 28 April 2026, apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with Xcode 26 and an SDK for iOS 26 or the matching platform. On Google Play, since 31 August 2026 new apps and updates must target Android 16 (API level 36). An app nobody touches for a year or two will eventually be refused when you try to ship a fix.
Third-party services: e-mail delivery, error tracking, analytics, maps, SMS. Each has its own subscription, often free at first and paid once you have users.

If the build price looks suspiciously low, look for the difference in a monthly fee you cannot cancel, or in hosting that only the agency can manage.

Why start with an MVP

An MVP is the first real version that customers can use: one core workflow, done properly, with real accounts. Building the full product you have in mind costs a multiple of that, and much of it is guesswork until real users have touched the first version. An MVP lets you spend a smaller amount to learn which half of your feature list matters. Many founders also find that a web app is enough for the first version, and add iOS and Android once they know what people use.

Fixed price or time and materials

With time and materials you pay for the hours worked. It suits work where nobody can say in advance what "done" looks like, but the risk of an overrun is yours. Ask for a cap on hours and what happens when it is reached.

With a fixed price, the agency carries the overrun, and the scope has to be written down in detail before work starts. Read that scope carefully: a fixed price for a vague scope is a fixed price for whatever the agency decides to deliver. Ask how changes after signature are handled and priced.

What to ask before you sign

Which platforms are included: web, iOS, Android? Native or cross-platform, and which framework?
What is excluded? Ask for a written list: design, the admin panel, data migration, store release, translations, testing on real devices.
Who owns the code after payment? In Belgium, rights to work a contractor writes for you do not move to you by themselves; the transfer should be written into the contract (Code of Economic Law, art. XI.167, on Justel). Libraries and components the agency made earlier usually stay under their own licences.
Will you have access to the source repository from day one, or only at the end?
Are the cloud, domain and e-mail accounts in your company's name?
Are the App Store and Google Play accounts in your company's name? Apple enrols an organisation only as a legal entity with a D-U-N-S number, and the app shows your company as the seller. Google also requires a D-U-N-S number for an organisation account. A personal Google account created after 13 November 2023 must first run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before it can publish. Moving an app out of an agency's account later is extra work, so start in your own.
Who prepares the store listing and handles store review, including a rejection?
What does the first year after launch cost, adding up hosting, store fees and services?
Who does the mandatory platform updates after launch, and at what price?
Is the price including or excluding VAT? Agencies working for companies usually quote excluding VAT.
How are payments split? A large payment up front with nothing to see for months is a risk you carry.

Red flags in an app quote

One number with no list of screens, roles or exclusions.
"iOS and Android" without saying how.
The store accounts, the cloud account or the repository will be in the agency's name, "for convenience".
No mention of an admin panel, testing or deployment.
A maintenance contract that is mandatory and has no end date.
A delivery date given before anyone has asked about your users, roles or integrations.

What it costs with us

We publish our prices so you can compare them before we talk. All prices exclude VAT.

Package	Price	In short
Product Decision Sprint	€2,500	5 business days: user flows, clickable prototype, technical plan and a fixed quote for the build. Nothing goes to production.
Web-app MVP	€14,000	8–10 weeks: a responsive web app with accounts, one core workflow, a simple admin, one integration or payment path, testing and deployment
Product Build	from €25,000	several workflows, scoped and dated after a Decision Sprint

The web-app MVP is web first. It does not include native iOS or Android apps, offline mode, a second integration, data migration, SSO or custom reporting. A native mobile release is a fixed-price add-on to the MVP or the Product Build, quoted before we start. We have shipped our own apps to both stores (Komparo on Google Play, Crypto Vision on the App Store) and took over a client's existing iOS and Android product, which we kept releasing through both.

The MVP is paid 30% at signature, 40% when the functional milestone is approved and 30% at production handover. For the Product Build, €25,000 is the starting point: the number and the date are fixed once the scope document is approved. The Decision Sprint is paid in full up front and is credited in full against a build that starts within 30 days. Anything added after signature is a written change order, priced before it is built.

Code, design, the repository and the accounts transfer to you on full payment; third-party licences stay with their owners. After launch you can take a monthly care plan, Care from €69 a month, or the next fixed-price block of work. Neither is obligatory.

The full scope, exclusions and payment terms for each package are on the pricing page, and the MVP process is described on MVP development.