App development cost calculator: hours and budget by feature

Work	Hours
Design	44 h to 84 h
App development (both platforms)	156 h to 273 h
Backend and API	58 h to 118 h
Testing and QA	54 h to 98 h
Project management	47 h to 86 h

Most app budgets start as one number that nobody can explain. This calculator works the other way around. You tick features, it adds hours for design, app development and the backend, puts testing and project management on top, and multiplies by a rate you supply. The result is a range you can question line by line.

The hour ranges behind each feature are the writers' illustrations, based on typical small agency and freelance projects, not market data or survey results. The tool also has no hourly rates of its own: the rate box needs a number from a real quote, a freelancer you know or your own team's internal cost.

How to use it

Choose the platforms: one platform (iOS or Android), iOS and Android as two native apps, or iOS and Android from one cross-platform codebase.
Tick the features the first version needs. Project setup, navigation, icons and store release are always included. Store release here means the setup in Apple's App Store Connect and Google's Play Console: listing, screenshots, privacy details and the first review.
Tick "A backend or API already exists" if the app only has to connect to a server that already runs.
Enter a blended hourly rate for the whole team and pick a currency.
Enter how many people will work on it at the same time.

The readout shows the cost range, total hours, a rough number of weeks and the hours per line of work.

How the estimate is built

Each feature carries three hour ranges, for design, app development and backend, each with a low and a high figure for one platform. Email sign-up and login, for example, is 8 to 14 hours of design, 24 to 40 of app work and 16 to 32 of backend. Chat is the heaviest item, at 60 to 110 hours of app work alone. The tool adds up everything you ticked, then applies these rules:

Step	Rule
Two native apps	App hours × 1.85, design × 1.2
Cross-platform	App hours × 1.3, design × 1.05
Backend	Not scaled by platform; × 0.35 if a backend already exists
Testing and QA	25% of app and backend hours
Project management	15% of design, app, backend and testing hours
Rounding	Lines to whole hours, total to the nearest 5, cost to the nearest 100
Weeks	Total hours ÷ (people × 30 productive hours a week), rounded up

The low end of the range takes the low estimate for every feature at once and the high end the high estimate. A project where everything goes smoothly sits near the bottom; one where every feature fights back sits near the top.

Worked example: the default app

The calculator opens with a cross-platform app and five features on top of the base: email sign-up and login, profile and settings, lists and detail screens from an API, push notifications, and analytics and crash reporting. There is no existing backend, the rate is €75 an hour and three people work on it. The €75 is a placeholder so the page shows a number, not a suggested or typical rate.

The six items add up to 42 to 80 hours of design, 120 to 210 of app work and 58 to 118 of backend. Cross-platform turns design into 44 to 84 and app work into 156 to 273. Testing is a quarter of the app and backend hours together (214 to 391), so 54 to 98, and project management is 15 percent of everything so far, 47 to 86.

Work	Hours
Design	44 to 84
App development (both platforms)	156 to 273
Backend and API	58 to 118
Testing and QA	54 to 98
Project management	47 to 86

The lines add up to 359 to 659 hours, which the tool rounds to 360 to 660. At €75 that is €27,000 to €49,500, and with three people at 30 productive hours a week, about 4 to 8 weeks.

Switching inputs shows where the money goes. The same features as two native apps come to 460 to 840 hours, and on one platform only to 305 to 565. Keeping cross-platform but connecting to an existing backend gives 305 to 550, mostly because the backend line drops to 20 to 41 hours.

What it leaves out

The estimate covers design and build up to the first store release. It does not include:

discovery and research before design, which many teams sell as a separate phase;
store fees, hosting, third-party services and the yearly upkeep for new OS versions;
content, copywriting, legal and privacy work;
changes of scope during the project;
marketing, ASO and launch campaigns.

It also assumes work divides evenly between people. A third developer rarely cuts the calendar by a third, because people wait on each other, so read the weeks as a floor rather than a forecast. The store fee calculator covers the other side of the sum, what you keep from each sale. For a line-by-line walk through a full budget, read what an app really costs to build, and before you send a brief, the guide to choosing an app agency or studio.

Questions

Where do the hour ranges come from?

They are the writers' illustrations from typical small agency and freelance projects, not market data, benchmarks or survey results. Hold them against the hours a builder quotes, and ask about any line where the two differ a lot.

Why doesn't the calculator suggest an hourly rate?

Rates depend on region, team type and seniority, so any number printed here would be wrong for most readers. The tool has no rates of its own; it multiplies the hours by whatever you enter.

Is cross-platform half the price of two native apps?

No. In this model, cross-platform app work is 1.3 times the one-platform hours against 1.85 times for two native apps, because both platforms still need testing, platform fixes and store work. Backend hours are the same either way.

What changes when a backend already exists?

Backend hours drop to 35 percent of the full figure. Someone still has to connect the app to the API, handle its errors and test against it, so the line never reaches zero.

How are the weeks calculated?

Total hours divided by the number of people times 30 productive hours a week, rounded up. Meetings, reviews and waiting are why it isn't 40.

Is the result a quote?

No. It's a range for a first conversation. A real quote comes after a builder has seen your designs or a written scope.