Here’s what you need to know

The cost to build an app in 2026 depends on your approach:

• Hiring a developer to build your app can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $300,000, depending on your location and app complexity.
• If you use the Bubble AI app builder, the Starter plan costs $59 per month on annual billing and gives you all the features you need to launch your app. You can also start with a free plan to explore the platform before committing.
• Features include hosting, database, security, and deployment to web, iOS, and Android.
• The main cost drivers are feature complexity, platform coverage, team location, and maintenance.

You have a great app idea and you’re excited to bring it to life. However, the potential costs of development are holding you back.

Traditionally, app development hasn’t been cheap. But with new AI tools, creating and launching your app has become much easier and more affordable.

This guide explains how much it costs to create an app in 2026 by comparing real build options such as custom code, AI-only generators, and Bubble’s combined AI + visual development.

Traditional app development costs in 2026

The average cost of building an app depends on its complexity and where your development team is located. Here are the average costs for US-based development teams:

• Simple app: From $5,000 to $50,000
• Medium complexity: From $50,000 to $120,000
• Complex app: From $100,000 to $300,000

In addition to location and app complexity, the main cost drivers of app development include:

• Platform coverage. Separate iOS and Android builds require two codebases, while cross-platform frameworks trim 20–40% of the cost but still require maintenance. The Bubble AI app builder allows you to build your app visually and share a single backend across web and mobile. However, web and native mobile apps still require separate builds.
• Security and compliance. SOC 2 audits and GDPR requirements add weeks of work.
• Integrations such as linking with payment gateways, social logins, APIs, analytics, or third-party services significantly impact final app costs. Third-party API maintenance typically costs between $3,000 and $20,000 per year for each integration.

Cost breakdown by phase

Nearly half of every budget goes to development labor. The rest covers planning, testing, and deployment that ensure your app works reliably for users. If you are calculating how much it costs to create an app, this phase overview clarifies where the money actually goes:

• Discovery (10%): User stories, stack decisions, early prototypes
• Design (15%): Wireframes, visual mock-ups, interaction specs
• Development (45%): Frontend, backend, integrations
• Quality assurance (15%): Manual and automated testing
• Deployment (5%): Store submission and CI/CD configuration
• Project management (10%): Sprint planning and status updates

Hidden costs of traditional development that impact your budget

Traditional development proposals often focus on the upfront build cost while downplaying ongoing expenses. In reality, your quoted build cost typically doubles before launch, and maintenance costs keep climbing from there.

Maintenance alone consumes 15–25% of the original budget every year. A $120,000 app becomes a $180,000 commitment within twelve months.

Every iOS or Android update triggers additional paid development sprints. Third-party services like map tiles, payment gateways, and AI models charge you per API call, meaning these fees can quickly exceed initial estimates.

How AI development impacts app costs

AI development tools made app building more affordable and accessible by automating tasks that used to require hours of manual work. Platforms like Bubble, for example, allow non-technical builders to generate apps with a simple prompt.

There are also more advanced AI tools that generate code, catch bugs, and optimize features faster, which means smaller development teams and shorter timelines.

The cost savings show up in several areas:

• AI coding assistants help developers build standard components faster and with fewer errors.
• Automated testing platforms detect errors, which reduces the time spent on debugging and fixes.
• Instead of building custom AI features from scratch, developers can integrate pre-built models and APIs for things like language analysis, image recognition, or chatbots.

Plus, AI allows you to launch faster. Industry reports estimate that AI shortens software development cycles by 20–30% on average, while Bubble users ship 3–10X faster than traditional development, saving anywhere from $300,000 to $1 million a year.

How much does it cost to build your app on Bubble?

Bubble offers a free plan that lets you explore the platform and build and preview your app before upgrading to the plan that makes the most sense for your needs and budget.

Here are the different pricing options for mobile and web development:

• Free: Get access to the AI page builder to build and test both web and native mobile apps at no cost. Preview your app in real-time as you build, experiment with features, and validate your concept before spending money. Use this to figure out if Bubble works for your project.
• Starter ($59/month): Includes custom branding, live website with custom domain, 3 live app versions, 5 build submissions per month, and 175 thousand workload units per month.
• Growth ($209/month): Everything in the Starter plan, plus Bubble app API, access to plugins, changelog, 250 thousand workload units, 10 builds per month, and more.
• Team ($549/month): Includes 20-day version backup and restore, 500 thousand workload units, 20 builds per month, and more.
• Enterprise: Our most advanced plan with custom pricing and numerous customizable features.

When to go with traditional vs. AI-powered development

Not every project fits the same approach. Start by listing your non-negotiables: budget, launch deadline, compliance requirements, and any hardware or regulatory constraints. These factors will point you toward the right path.

When traditional development makes sense

Traditional code works best for device-specific integrations or heavily regulated industries like healthcare and fintech. 

If you already have an in-house engineering team working with existing tools and a familiar tech stack, building incrementally might be more cost-effective than switching platforms mid-project.

When AI app development makes sense

AI-powered development works best when you need to move fast, control costs, iterate frequently, or build without learning to code.

It makes the most sense when you're:

• Building an internal app: If you're creating a tool like a custom CRM, you can generate one with AI and polish it over time.
• Testing different product ideas quickly: Generate variations of your core concept and validate ideas without rebuilding everything each time.
• Running a lean team: One person can build production-ready apps, which eliminates the need for a full development team.
• Iterating based on user feedback: When users request changes, you can update the app directly rather than waiting on developer sprints.

Start working on your app idea today

AI-powered visual development has made app building more accessible for non-technical founders, small business owners, and solo entrepreneurs who were previously priced out. What used to require large engineering teams and six-figure budgets can now be built by small teams on modest budgets.

When using Bubble, AI generates the app from your prompt, visual editing lets you refine it, and the platform handles hosting and security automatically. You don’t need a large engineering team or a big round of funding to move forward.