App development cost in India (2026): INR ranges from published price guides
What a mobile app costs in India in 2026: INR ranges from published guides, hourly rates by city, maintenance, GST and timelines.
Building a mobile app in India costs from about ₹6 lakh for a basic app to more than ₹1 crore for a complex platform, going by price guides Indian agencies published in 2026. A mid-complexity app with payments, accounts and an admin panel is priced at ₹15 lakh to ₹40 lakh in one Mumbai guide and ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh in another. The lowest published figures, from ₹50,000, describe a much smaller product.
Every figure on this page comes from a page you can open, listed at the end. STYLABS builds apps from Mumbai and Dubai, so we have an interest in the answer; our own price is stated once and labelled.
Published INR ranges by app size
| Publisher | What it prices | Published range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| EngineerBabu (10 September 2026) | Basic app | ₹6 lakh to ₹12 lakh | 6 to 9 weeks |
| Mid-complexity app | ₹15 lakh to ₹40 lakh | 12 to 20 weeks | |
| Complex platform | ₹45 lakh to ₹1.2 crore and up | 24 to 40 weeks | |
| Unico Connect, Mumbai (updated 17 October 2026) | App MVP | ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh | |
| Growth-stage app | ₹50 lakh to ₹1.5 crore | ||
| Codingclave, Lucknow (2026) | Mobile app, iOS and Android | ₹1,25,000 to ₹6,50,000 | |
| PageTraffic | Mobile app | ₹50,000 to ₹5,00,000 | |
| Zartek, Kochi (updated 4 May 2026) | Tightly scoped MVP, three to five core features, one platform | ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh | |
| STYLABS, Mumbai and Dubai | App build | ₹8 lakh to ₹30 lakh | 3 to 12 weeks |
The lowest and highest figures for "an app" differ by more than a hundred times. They are not prices for the same thing. A ₹1 lakh app is a few screens on a template; a ₹40 lakh app has several user roles, payments and an admin panel.
Hourly rates by city and team
EngineerBabu publishes hourly rates by the kind of team:
| Team | Rate per hour |
|---|---|
| Mumbai full-service agency | ₹1,500 to ₹3,000 |
| Bengaluru agency | ₹1,400 to ₹3,200 |
| Pune studio | ₹1,000 to ₹2,200 |
| Tier-2 partner (Indore, Jaipur, Coimbatore) | ₹800 to ₹1,800 |
| Independent freelancer | ₹600 to ₹1,500 |
Unico Connect puts a senior developer at ₹2,400 to ₹4,800 an hour. Zartek gives its comparison in US dollars: 10 to 40 dollars an hour for an Indian firm against 80 to 150 dollars for a US agency.
What moves a quote
- User roles. A customer app with a separate seller, driver or staff app is two or three apps.
- Integrations. Zartek says payments, maps, WhatsApp Business APIs and CRMs each add ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh.
- Platforms. iOS, Android or both, and native or cross-platform. Flutter builds both from one codebase.
- The back end. An admin panel, an API and hosting are part of the app, whether or not the quote lists them.
- GST. Ask whether a quote includes 18% GST. A ₹10 lakh quote before GST is ₹11.8 lakh on the invoice.
Zartek's rule of thumb is to add 25% to 30% on top of the quoted development cost.
Costs after launch
- Maintenance. EngineerBabu and Zartek both put annual maintenance at 15% to 20% of the original build cost.
- Hosting. EngineerBabu gives ₹15,000 to ₹1.5 lakh a month for cloud hosting, depending on usage.
- Store accounts. The Apple Developer Program costs 99 US dollars a year, and Apple says enrolment in India is only available through the Apple Developer app. Google Play charges a one-time 25 US dollar registration fee.
- AI features. EngineerBabu puts the running cost of an AI assistant at ₹25,000 to ₹1.5 lakh a month.
How long it takes
EngineerBabu publishes 6 to 9 weeks for a basic app, 12 to 20 weeks for a mid-complexity app and 24 to 40 weeks for a complex platform. Zartek gives four to six weeks for a simple app, two to three months for medium complexity and four to six months for an enterprise platform. STYLABS takes three to twelve weeks depending on complexity.
For what STYLABS builds and has shipped, see mobile app development in Mumbai. For the comparison with Dubai prices, see what an MVP costs in India and Dubai.
FAQ
How much does it cost to develop an app in India? Published 2026 guides put a basic app at ₹6 lakh to ₹12 lakh, a mid-complexity app at ₹15 lakh to ₹40 lakh and a complex platform at ₹45 lakh to ₹1.2 crore or more (EngineerBabu). Smaller agencies publish ₹50,000 to ₹6.5 lakh for much simpler apps. A STYLABS app build runs from ₹8 lakh to ₹30 lakh.
How much does a simple app or MVP cost in India? Zartek says ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh is achievable for a tightly scoped MVP with three to five core features on one platform. EngineerBabu prices a basic app at ₹6 lakh to ₹12 lakh, and Unico Connect prices an app MVP at ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh.
What do app developers charge per hour in India? EngineerBabu publishes ₹1,500 to ₹3,000 an hour for a Mumbai full-service agency, ₹1,400 to ₹3,200 for a Bengaluru agency, ₹1,000 to ₹2,200 for a Pune studio and ₹600 to ₹1,500 for an independent freelancer. Unico Connect puts a senior developer at ₹2,400 to ₹4,800 an hour.
How much does app maintenance cost in India? EngineerBabu and Zartek both say to budget 15% to 20% of the original build cost each year. Cloud hosting adds ₹15,000 to ₹1.5 lakh a month by EngineerBabu's figures, plus 99 US dollars a year for the Apple Developer Program and a one-time 25 US dollars for Google Play.
How long does it take to build an app in India? EngineerBabu publishes 6 to 9 weeks for a basic app, 12 to 20 weeks for a mid-complexity app and 24 to 40 weeks for a complex platform. Zartek gives four to six weeks for a simple app. STYLABS takes three to twelve weeks depending on complexity.
Does the quoted price include GST? Often not. A GST-registered vendor adds 18%, so a ₹10 lakh quote before GST is ₹11.8 lakh on the invoice. Ask every agency whether its figure includes it.
Sources
- EngineerBabu, How Much Does It Cost to Build an App in Mumbai? (10 September 2026) — https://engineerbabu.com/blog/?p=24274 (retrieved 10 November 2026). Verified: fetched and read. The publisher's India office is in Indore.
- Unico Connect, Mobile App Development Cost in 2026: Pricing Guide (updated 17 October 2026) — https://unicoconnect.com/blogs/mobile-app-development-cost-2026 (retrieved 19 October 2026). Verified: fetched and read.
- Codingclave, Website Development Cost in Mumbai (2026) — https://codingclave.com/cost/website-development-cost-in-mumbai (retrieved 19 October 2026). Verified: fetched and read.
- PageTraffic, How Much Does Website Design Cost in India — https://www.pagetraffic.in/blog/website-design-cost/ (retrieved 10 November 2026). Verified: fetched and read. No publication date shown.
- Zartek, App Development Cost in India 2026: Detailed Breakdown by Type and Complexity (updated 4 May 2026) — https://www.zartek.in/app-development-cost-in-india-2026/ (retrieved 10 November 2026). Verified: fetched and read. The page's cost table by app type did not load, so only figures from its text are used.
- Apple, Enrollment: Apple Developer Program — https://developer.apple.com/support/enrollment/ (retrieved 10 November 2026). Verified: fetched and read.
- Google Play Console Help, developer account registration page — https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6112435 (retrieved 10 November 2026). Verified: fetched and read.