What does app development really cost?
Honest market orientation instead of a teaser offer: what app development typically costs, what drives the price — and where you can save without losing quality.
How much does app development cost?
The honest answer first: there is no fixed price for “an app”. The price depends on what the app needs to do, which platforms it should run on, and what has to happen behind the scenes. What does exist is a reliable market orientation.
According to publicly available market overviews, typical agencies in Austria calculate with hourly rates of roughly 100 to 160 euros, with specialists partly above that. For an MVP — a deliberately lean first product version — those overviews commonly cite 15,000 to 40,000 euros, and 40,000 to 80,000 euros for a full business app in the German market.
Important: these are market ranges from third-party sources, not DevBit prices. They show the order of magnitude — your specific project can land below or above, depending on what it really needs. What a professional build actually includes is on our app development page.
What drives the cost?
Six factors determine most of the price. Knowing them lets you compare quotes — and spot where a seemingly cheap offer gets expensive later.
| Cost driver | What it means |
|---|---|
| Feature scope | The biggest lever: every feature costs concept work, development and testing. A clearly bounded scope is the most effective protection against budget surprises. |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web — cross-platform development (e.g. Expo/React Native) covers several platforms with one codebase instead of building everything twice. |
| Backend & data | Display-only app or a system with user accounts, sync and a database? The backend is often the invisible but larger part of the effort. |
| Interfaces & integrations | Connections to ERP, accounting, payment providers or third-party systems — every integration brings coordination and testing effort. |
| Design | From a clean, lean standard UI to a fully custom brand experience with animations — both legitimate, but with very different effort. |
| Operations & maintenance | Hosting, store releases, updates for new OS versions, monitoring — recurring items after launch that a serious quote lists from the start. |
Prototype, MVP or product — which project size fits?
Before comparing prices, it pays to honestly place your venture in the right phase:
- Prototype: A clickable prototype or lean proof of concept — when you want to test an idea or convince stakeholders before committing a larger budget.
- MVP: The first production version with the core features — genuinely usable, deliberately focused, as the basis for feedback and growth.
- Product: A full business app with backend, integrations, ongoing operations and everything audits and app stores demand.
Our projects are B2B: apps and systems for companies, professional firms, organisations and founders with a concrete business model. DevBit works from small fixed-scope packages to large projects — what matters is that the project size matches the phase your venture is in.
How can you reduce the cost?
The most effective lever is a clear, focused scope: core features first, expansion later. The cheapest feature is the one you don't build in the first version — and after real user feedback may never need.
The second lever is cross-platform development: one codebase for iOS, Android and web instead of two or three separate builds — with the same user experience for the vast majority of use cases.
The third lever is the development process itself: we work senior-led and clearly below typical market rates, because AI-assisted processes reduce our development time — and every line is still reviewed, tested and accounted for by senior engineers.
And finally: funding. For companies based in Austria, many digitalisation and product projects qualify for public funding programmes — we have written, submitted and won funding applications ourselves, and we check day by day whether a programme currently fits your project. More on our consulting page.
Are AI builders the cheaper alternative?
AI tools like Lovable or Replit are great for validating an idea in days — that's the 0→1 phase, and for that they are often the cheapest choice. If you've done that: well done, that's the hardest step.
The path from “works in the demo” to “runs safely in production”, however, is engineering work: architecture, security, maintainability, store review. In practice a follow-up cost cascade tends to appear — usage-based token billing, paid add-on services for production, and growing effort for every change as the codebase gets harder to untangle.
Our take, therefore: the right tool for the right phase. A web demo can be vibe-coded in a weekend — an app that survives app review, privacy labels and three OS updates is engineering work. We use AI ourselves every day, with engineering discipline — and we calculate honestly with you which total path is cheaper for your project.
Why we can explain this honestly
Senior quality, structurally cheaper.
Because AI-assisted processes reduce our development time, we can offer senior-led development clearly below typical market rates — without cutting reviews, tests or responsibility. Not a discount campaign, but a more efficient process.
Frequently asked questions about app costs
How much does a simple app cost?
For a deliberately lean first version (MVP), publicly available market overviews for Austria typically cite 15,000 to 40,000 euros; a clickable prototype sits well below that. These are market ranges from third-party sources, not DevBit prices. What your app actually costs depends on the feature scope, the platforms and the backend — in a first call we narrow that down together and tell you honestly whether a small fixed-scope package is enough.
Why do prices vary so much?
Because “app” is not a defined product: there are worlds between a display-only app without a backend and a system with user accounts, sync and integrations. Provider models also differ widely — hourly rates, team sizes, offshore shares, and how much concept work and testing a quote actually includes. So never compare bottom lines alone; compare what is concretely delivered: scope, quality assurance, and what the handover at the end includes.
What does app development cost per hour?
According to publicly available market overviews, typical agencies in Austria calculate with roughly 100 to 160 euros per hour, with specialists partly above that. That is a third-party corridor for orientation, not a DevBit rate. The total outcome matters more than the hourly rate anyway: an experienced team with an efficient process is often cheaper per delivered feature than a lower rate with considerably more hours.
Which running costs come after launch?
Expect hosting and infrastructure, the app stores' developer accounts, regular updates for new iOS and Android versions, plus maintenance and monitoring. How much that adds up to depends on architecture and usage volume — a lean app generates low recurring costs, a system with many users correspondingly more. A serious quote lists these items transparently from the start, so there are no surprises after launch.
How can I reduce the cost without losing quality?
Three levers work hardest: a clear, focused scope (core features first, expansion later), cross-platform development with one codebase for iOS, Android and web — and an efficient development process. We work senior-led and clearly below typical market rates, because AI-assisted processes reduce our development time. For companies based in Austria, public funding is worth a look too: we have submitted and won funding applications ourselves and check day by day whether a programme currently fits.
Are AI builders like Lovable or Replit the cheaper alternative?
For the very first phase, often yes: these tools are excellent at validating an idea in days, and that is exactly what they are built for. For production, however, a follow-up cost cascade usually appears — usage-based billing, paid add-on services and growing effort for every change. The path from demo to a production-ready app with architecture, security, maintainability and store review is engineering work. Our recommendation: the right tool for the right phase — and an honest calculation of what the total path costs.
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