How Much Does an App Cost? Realistic Pricing Guide for SMEs

Introduction: Three Proposals, Three Numbers, One Big Question Mark

Imagine you're managing a café, clinic, or store and you've decided to order an app. Three different teams have given you proposals:

• One says: "We'll wrap up the whole thing for 3 to 5 thousand euros."
• Another says: "Around 15 to 20 thousand euros, with custom UX and separate backend."
• A more experienced team says: "Depending on project scope, from around 30 thousand euros upward."

They all look professional, show portfolios, speak well – but one thing is common: you really don't know which number is closer to reality, which team will abandon you midway, and which team will actually build something that works for your business, not just another app on people's phones.

In the hub article "Ordering an App: A Professional Roadmap for Clients", we outlined exactly this scenario as the starting point for the app ordering journey. This article is the specialized version of that story – but only from the angle of "actual cost" for small and medium businesses.

Our goal in this text is to: transform you from a "victim of numbers" to a "client who masters the numbers"; show you the real cost ranges for typical SME scenarios, break down the budget into transparent blocks, expose hidden costs that usually get lost in proposals, and finally, give you a checklist so that at every negotiation table – with any team – you keep control in your own hands.

1. Why Do App Development Prices Differ So Much?

Before you ask "How much?", you need to see "For what?" you're actually paying.

When three teams give completely different numbers, usually each has priced something different in their mind:

• One has only calculated "raw coding."
• One has included "analysis, UX/UI design, backend, testing, and launch" in the number.
• Another has left out important parts like "maintenance, monitoring, and post-launch development" to invoice them separately later.

In practice, app development costs are distributed across several main pillars:

For every number you hear, one golden question should immediately light up in your mind: "Which pillars does this number exactly cover and which ones doesn't it?"

With just this simple question, the difference between "cheap" and "actually expensive" often reveals itself.

To understand how technology choice (Native, Hybrid, or Web App) affects these costs, be sure to also check out the following article in the app cluster: Native App, Hybrid, or Web App – Which One Is Right for You?

2. Realistic Cost Ranges for Small and Medium Businesses

The numbers you'll see below are for small and medium businesses in Europe (or teams with comparable quality) and for serious but non-Enterprise projects. These aren't official rates from any team, but "realistic ranges"; if you hear a number much lower or much higher than these, you should put a question mark on it.

3. Three Real Scenarios to Touch the Numbers

4. Where Exactly Does the Money Go? Breaking Budget into Transparent Blocks

To be able to compare two proposals, you need to see the cost structure. A practical breakdown is this:

If a proposal only covers the "app code + some backend" pillar (and ignores things like Discovery, UX, QA, maintenance), you should ask yourself: "Do I really want to be responsible for UX, analysis, testing, and maintenance myself? Or will I actually have to pay another team later to fix this half-finished infrastructure?"

5. Hidden Costs That Usually Get Lost in Proposals

This is where projects transform from "realistic costs" to "unpredictable expenses."

To see the risks that burn app projects in contract, team, scope, documentation, etc., be sure to read the following cluster article alongside this text: 10 Common App Project Risks That Burn Time and Budget

6. How to Use This Article as a "Power Card" in Negotiations?

This text isn't just for awareness; it can become a checklist for your meeting with any team.

In your next meeting, ask these few simple questions:

The answer to these few simple questions is enough to understand: which team is just giving a pretty number and which team really wants to stand by your side for results.

If you want a more accurate picture of a realistic timeline for building an app or website and compare it with team proposals, check out the following article in the cluster: How Long Does It Take to Build a Website or App?

7. Where Does Olymaris Stand in This Puzzle?

In the Olymaris strategy (which we've also explained in the hub article "Ordering an App"), our assumption is that: you don't need to become a programmer, but you should be equipped enough so that no team can take control from your hands with ambiguity and half-finished numbers.

Our difference from the "we'll quickly make you a cheap app" approach lies in several things:

You can take this article and enter negotiations with any other team and use it. But if you want to:

• Based on your business's actual scenario, simulate one of these scenarios with your own numbers and time
• Define a realistic Version 1 for your app

then it makes sense to book a focused Discovery Session with the Olymaris team.

This meeting doesn't necessarily mean starting a collaboration, but after it, with any team you work with, you enter with "map and power," not with "guess and feeling."

8. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions About App Development Costs)