Two apps with the same number of screens can differ in price by a factor of eight. The screens are not the difference. What sits behind them is, and it is decided almost entirely by the industry the app belongs to.
The price table, by app type
Entry is a usable first release for one side of the market. Full scope is the version with both sides, money movement and the reporting an operator needs.
| App type | Entry | Full scope | What drives the climb |
|---|---|---|---|
| eCommerce and marketplace | Rs 2,50,000 | Rs 35,00,000 | Seller panel, commissions, returns, multi-warehouse |
| Real estate | Rs 2,50,000 | Rs 30,00,000 | Broker panel, inventory holds, documents, e-sign |
| Food delivery | Rs 3,00,000 | Rs 25,00,000 | Rider dispatch, commissions, wallets, weekly payouts |
| Healthcare | Rs 3,00,000 | Rs 35,00,000 | Teleconsultation, prescriptions, lab reports, hospital sync |
| Travel | Rs 3,00,000 | Rs 25,00,000 | Live availability, supplier integration, cancellations |
| On-demand services | Rs 3,00,000 | Rs 30,00,000 | Provider app, scheduling, payouts, multi-city |
| Logistics | Rs 4,00,000 | Rs 35,00,000 | Manifests, proof of delivery, COD settlement |
| Fintech | Rs 5,00,000 | Rs 50,00,000 | Ledger, payment rails, lending, audit controls |
The spread is real. A catalogue app for a real estate developer and a lending app are both “a mobile app”, and one of them is twenty times the work.
Why the industry decides more than the feature list
Every industry carries rules that the app has to respect, and those rules are invisible in a feature list.
Healthcare carries consent, prescriptions and report delivery. Fintech carries a ledger that must balance to the paisa and an audit trail for a regulator. Logistics carries custody: who held the parcel, when, and what happened if it broke. Food delivery carries a dispatch decision every thirty seconds.
You can list the same eleven screens for all four. Only one of them will pass review, and it will not be the cheapest.
The two variables that actually move the price
How many sides. An app with a customer side only is a catalogue. Add a provider or seller side and you have added accounts, permissions, notifications and a second release cycle. Add a rider or delivery side and you have added real-time state.
How money moves. Displaying a price is cheap. Taking a payment is moderate. Splitting that payment between a platform, a seller and a delivery partner, then settling it weekly with a statement, is the single most expensive feature in most apps.
If a quote feels low, one of those two has been left out.
What a customer-app quote leaves out
A quote for “the customer app” is honest only if it says so. What usually sits outside it:
- the operations panel your staff will actually use every day
- the partner or seller app, without which the catalogue is empty
- notification infrastructure that survives a provider outage
- store submission, review handling and the first quarter of fixes
- reporting, which is always requested in month two
Ask for these as line items, even if the answer is “later”. A missing line item is a missing budget line, not a saving.
What twelve weeks actually means
A first release in twelve weeks assumes the design is settled, the data model is agreed and there is one decision maker.
In practice, two of those three are usually false. The realistic shape for a mid-sized app is: two to three weeks of discovery and flows, eight to fourteen weeks of build, two weeks of review and store handling, then a stabilisation period that is not optional.
Budget for the stabilisation period. Apps that launch without it are the ones whose first reviews mention crashes.
Where app projects go wrong
The most expensive mistake is building both sides before one side works. A marketplace with a beautiful seller panel and no buyers is a demo.
The second is treating the backend as a detail. Half the engineering in any app is behind the screen, and a quote that mentions only the app is quoting half a product.
The third is store policy. Payments, health claims and permissions are reviewed by people, not compilers, and a rejection can cost a fortnight.
FAQ
Why is a fintech app so much dearer than a marketplace app? Because the money has to be provably correct. A ledger, reconciliation and an audit trail cost more to build than a catalogue and a cart.
Can we launch with one platform only? Yes, and it is usually the right call. Launch on the platform your customers actually use, then decide about the second one with real usage data.
Does the entry price include the backend? It includes a working backend for that scope. It does not include the operations panel unless the page says so.
How much does maintenance cost after launch? Expect a retainer in the range of Rs 40,000 to Rs 1,20,000 a year for keeping a build alive, and more if features continue.
Are store fees included? No. Developer account fees are paid by you directly to the store, and we do not mark them up.
App budgets in Noida
We scope apps from Noida by naming the sides and the money flows before quoting, which is what makes the figure comparable. Call 7840002466 or describe the app through the contact page.
The software development cost comparison places these figures next to web, desktop and platform work.
