A focused mobile app MVP built by a senior Romanian team typically costs €25,000–70,000 and ships to both app stores in 2–4 months. A full product — multiple user roles, payments, a custom back-office and integrations — runs €70,000–200,000+. Those are the real ranges we quote at UP2DATE; here is what moves a project inside them.
The short answer: three price bands
- €25,000–70,000 — focused MVP. One core job done well: authentication, two to four key screens, one payment flow, store delivery. This is where most first versions should start.
- €70,000–200,000+ — full product. Multiple user roles, real-time features, payments plus invoicing, a back-office, integrations with existing systems (ERP, CRM), analytics.
- Above €200,000 — regulated or platform-scale. Medical data flows, fintech compliance, hardware integrations (BLE devices, scanners) or products expected to serve very large user bases from day one.
What actually drives the cost
Two apps with the same one-line description can differ by 3× in budget. The drivers are concrete:
- Number of user roles. A customer app is one product; customer + courier + dispatcher + admin is closer to four.
- Integrations. Every external system — payments, ERP, government APIs like ANAF e-Factura, medical devices — adds scope that is invisible in a mockup.
- Platform strategy. Native Swift and Kotlin (our specialty) means two codebases built for maximum performance and platform integration; Flutter or React Native delivers both stores from one codebase at roughly 40–60% less. We recommend per project — a fintech app leaning on biometric security usually justifies native; a standard B2C product often doesn't.
- Compliance. GDPR is table stakes; HIPAA-ready flows, PSD2 or eIDAS add design and audit work that belongs in the estimate, not in a surprise invoice.
- Design depth. A design system applied to your brand costs less than fully custom motion-heavy UI — both are legitimate, but they are different budgets.
Native vs Flutter vs React Native, in money terms
The platform question is the single biggest budget fork. Native (Swift/Kotlin) buys maximum performance, the deepest OS integration and long-term platform safety — at the price of two codebases. Cross-platform (Flutter or React Native) buys one codebase, faster parity and a lower bill. In our projects the cross-platform route lands at roughly 40–60% of a dual-native budget. The honest rule: pay for native when the product depends on what only native does well — BLE medical devices, biometric-heavy fintech, platform-specific features — and take the cross-platform saving when it doesn't.
What should be included (check this in any offer)
- Store delivery for both App Store and Google Play — submission, review handling, re-submission if the first review bounces
- Push notifications, product analytics and crash reporting from day one
- A CI/CD release pipeline — weekly builds you can actually see
- Full code ownership: source, store accounts and infrastructure under your name
The cost nobody quotes: after launch
Apple and Google ship major OS releases every year, and each one can break something. Plan for maintenance from the start — OS-compatibility updates, dependency upgrades, monitoring — either as a monthly retainer or sprint-based evolution. A realistic rule of thumb is 15–20% of the build cost per year for an actively used product.
How to keep the budget under control
- Start with a scoped MVP, not the five-year vision. Ship the one job the app must do; let real usage prioritise the rest.
- Insist on a milestone plan. Fixed price works for well-defined scopes; time-and-materials for iterative builds. Either way, no open-ended budgets.
- Decide the platform with an engineer-grade argument, not a preference — it is the largest single cost lever.
- Use the discovery call. A free 30-minute conversation with a specialist consultant should end with a realistic range and a plan — before you commit to anything.
If you are budgeting a mobile app for 2026, start from the ranges above and pressure-test any offer against them — significantly cheaper usually means junior teams or hidden scope; significantly pricier should come with a reason you can point at. And if you want a number for your specific product: book a free discovery call and you will leave with an estimate, not a sales pitch.
