The short answer
A professional business website usually costs a few thousand dollars. A custom web app or SaaS MVP typically costs somewhere between $15,000 and $80,000, and larger platforms or marketplaces can run well into six figures. Where your development team is based can change the price by two to four times for similar work.
The ranges below are indicative figures in US dollars for 2026, based on what we see quoted in the market. Your real number depends on your scope, so treat them as a starting point for budgeting, not a quote.
| Project type | Offshore team (e.g. India) | UK / US / CA / AU agency |
|---|---|---|
| Business website (5 to 15 pages) | $2,000 to $8,000 | $8,000 to $30,000 |
| Custom web app or customer portal | $12,000 to $40,000 | $40,000 to $150,000 |
| SaaS MVP | $15,000 to $50,000 | $60,000 to $200,000 |
| Marketplace or multi-vendor store | $20,000 to $70,000 | $80,000 to $250,000+ |
| Web app plus iOS and Android app | $25,000 to $80,000 | $100,000 to $300,000+ |
What actually drives the cost
Development cost is mostly time, and time comes from complexity. These are the factors that move the number most:
- Number of user roles. An app with one type of user is much simpler than one with customers, staff, vendors and admins, each with different screens and permissions.
- Core workflows. Each journey, such as booking, ordering, approving or reporting, needs screens, logic, validation and testing.
- Integrations. Payments, accounting, CRM, maps, email and industry systems all add work, especially when their APIs are poorly documented.
- Design. A clean design built on a component library costs less than a fully bespoke visual identity with custom animations.
- Platforms. A web app plus native iOS and Android apps costs more than web alone, although React Native keeps mobile costs down by sharing one codebase.
- Data and compliance. Health, finance and personal data need extra security, audit logs and sometimes data residency, for example UK GDPR, PIPEDA in Canada or the Privacy Act in Australia.
Why location changes the price so much
Hourly rates vary widely by country. Agencies in London, New York, Toronto or Sydney commonly charge somewhere around $100 to $200 per hour, while experienced teams in India often charge roughly $25 to $60 per hour for comparable work.
A lower rate only saves money if the team is good. A cheap team that misses deadlines or writes code you later have to throw away is the most expensive option of all. Our guide on how to outsource web development to India covers how to get the savings without the usual problems, and these 12 questions will help you check any agency, wherever it is based.
The costs people forget
The build is only part of the total cost of owning software. Budget for these too:
- Hosting and infrastructure: from around $20 a month for a small app to several hundred dollars for a busy platform on AWS.
- Third-party services: email delivery, maps, SMS, error monitoring and payment fees.
- Maintenance: a common rule of thumb is 15 to 20 percent of the original build cost per year for updates, security patches and small improvements.
- App store accounts: Apple charges an annual developer fee and Google a one-off fee if you publish mobile apps.
- Content and SEO: copywriting, photography and ongoing content if you want the site to bring in customers.
How to keep your budget under control
- Start with an MVP. Build the one workflow customers will pay for first. Our SaaS MVP guide shows how to cut scope without cutting quality.
- Pay for a short discovery phase. A week or two of scoping and wireframes gives you a written specification and a far more accurate quote.
- Use proven tools. Mainstream stacks such as React, Node.js and AWS are cheaper to build and maintain than exotic ones.
- Buy what you can, build what makes you different. Use Stripe for billing and existing services for email or maps, and spend your budget on the features your competitors do not have.
- Agree milestones. Pay against working software, not against time passing. Read our comparison of fixed price and time and materials contracts to choose the right model.
Three example budgets
To make the ranges more concrete, here are three typical projects and where they tend to land with an experienced offshore team. Your scope will differ, but the pattern is useful.
1. A booking portal for a service business
Customers book and pay online, staff manage a calendar, and the owner sees a simple report. One customer role, one staff role, Stripe payments and email notifications. This usually sits towards the lower end of the custom web app range, often in the region of $12,000 to $20,000, and takes around six to ten weeks.
2. A B2B SaaS MVP
Companies sign up, invite their team, and use one core workflow, such as inspections, stock counts or approvals, with subscription billing and an admin panel. Multi-tenancy, roles and billing add real work, so budgets of roughly $25,000 to $50,000 and ten to sixteen weeks are common.
3. A marketplace with a mobile app
Buyers, sellers and admins, listings with search and filters, payments with commission, a React Native app for buyers and server-rendered listing pages for SEO. Three roles, payments and two platforms push this towards $40,000 to $80,000 and four to six months.
How long does a web app take to build?
Time and cost move together, so it helps to know the typical timeline for each phase:
| Phase | Typical length | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and scoping | 1 to 2 weeks | Written specification, user flows and an accurate quote |
| Design | 1 to 3 weeks | Wireframes and final screens for the key journeys |
| Development | 4 to 16 weeks | Working software, demoed on a staging link every week or two |
| Testing and launch | 1 to 2 weeks | Bug fixing, data migration, go-live and monitoring |
A team that promises a complex platform in two weeks is either reusing a template or underestimating the work. Both usually cost more in the end.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a fixed price for my web app?
Yes, if the scope is clear. Most reliable teams will ask for a short discovery phase first, then quote a fixed price per milestone.
Why do quotes for the same project vary so much?
Different teams assume different scope, quality and location. Ask every agency for an itemised quote that lists features, so you can compare like for like.
Is it cheaper to use a no-code tool?
For internal tools and early experiments, sometimes. For a product customers pay for, no-code platforms often hit limits on performance, data ownership and custom logic, and per-user fees grow as you scale.
Does a cheaper team mean lower quality?
Not necessarily. Rates reflect local costs as much as skill. Judge a team by live products, code you can review and how clearly they explain their process, not by price alone.
How we quote projects
At Devmora we start with a short call, then send a written proposal with the scope, milestones, timeline and a fixed price per milestone, so you know the total before anything is signed. You own the code, repositories and accounts from day one.
If you are planning a SaaS product, a mobile app or an online store or marketplace, send us a short brief and we will reply with a realistic estimate within 24 hours.
