"How much does a mobile app cost?" is our most-asked question. The honest answer — "somewhere between AUD $30k and $500k" — isn't useful. So here's the real breakdown for the Australian and New Zealand market in 2026, based on our own quotes, competitor RFP data, and conversations with dozens of clients.

The three price bands

Every mobile app project we've quoted in 2025–26 lands in one of these three bands.

Band 1: MVP · AUD $30,000 – $60,000

Simple, single-purpose apps for iOS + Android. Timeline: 8–14 weeks. Built with React Native, Expo, and a Firebase or Supabase backend.

Examples we've built in this band: a booking app for a hair salon chain, a home-cleaning marketplace MVP, an internal timesheet app for tradies.

Band 2: Mid-market · AUD $60,000 – $150,000

Full-featured consumer or B2B apps. Timeline: 14–24 weeks. Custom UI, more complex flows, real-time features.

Examples: a marketplace with in-app payments, a field-service app with photo capture and offline sync, a health-tracking app with wearable integration.

Band 3: Enterprise · AUD $150,000 – $500,000+

Complex, mission-critical apps. Timeline: 24–52 weeks. Often part of a larger platform.

Examples: a healthcare app with EMR integration, a logistics app for a national delivery fleet, a banking companion app.

What actually drives the cost

1. Number of screens (roughly 20% of budget)

Each screen requires design, development, testing, and often backend endpoints. Rule of thumb in 2026: AUD $3,000–5,000 per custom screen for React Native, $5,000–8,000 for fully native.

2. Backend complexity (30–40% of budget)

Simple apps use Firebase or Supabase — cheap and fast (AUD $8k–20k backend). Custom backends (Node, Python, or .NET) start at AUD $25k and scale up rapidly with integrations, real-time features, and complex data models.

3. Design (10–15% of budget)

Wireframes, high-fidelity Figma, design system, prototyping. Around AUD $8,000–25,000 for a professional design phase. Skipping this is the fastest way to blow the build phase — designs that "look great" but can't be built cheaply.

4. Testing + QA (10% of budget)

Unit tests, integration tests, manual QA on real devices. Non-negotiable. Anyone quoting you an app without QA line items is planning to skip it — and you'll pay in bugs post-launch.

5. Project management (10% of budget)

Weekly demos, sprint planning, client communication. Some agencies bury this in the hourly rate; some list it separately. Either way, someone is paying for it.

6. Store submission + fixes (5–10% of budget)

Apple's App Store review still rejects ~30% of first submissions. Google Play is more forgiving but stricter on data-privacy declarations. Budget 2–4 weeks post-development for review, feedback, and store optimisation.

The hidden costs nobody mentions upfront

How to spot inflated quotes

Red flags we see in RFPs:

How to spot too-cheap quotes

How to actually get a real number for your idea

Before you approach agencies for quotes, prepare:

  1. A one-page vision brief (who's it for, what outcome)
  2. A list of 8–15 core features, prioritised must/should/could
  3. Reference apps (competitors, or apps you like the UX of)
  4. Your budget range (yes, tell them — otherwise they guess and either under- or over-quote)
  5. Your timeline constraints

With those, most competent agencies can give you a ±20% price range within a week — and a fixed price after a 1–2 week paid scoping engagement.

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