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App development cost · checked 11 November 2026

An AI app builder costs a monthly subscription; a simple MVP from an Indian agency runs $10,000 to $25,000, and scope moves the price most.

Lovable is free to start with paid plans from $25 a month and Replit Core is $20, while Indian development firms charge $25 to $49 an hour. A native app in the stores adds a one-time US$25 for Google Play and 99 USD a year for Apple. Get three quotes on the same one-page spec with hours per feature, own the code repository from day one, and put IP assignment in the contract.

Every question on it 14 answers

  1. How much should an MVP realistically cost to build in India? Starting Up
  2. How do I hire a developer without a warm network or startup connections? Starting Up
  3. How much should I spend building an MVP as a bootstrapped founder in India, and where does the money actually leak? Starting Up
  4. Is no-code cheaper than hiring a developer? Starting Up
  5. Should I hire an agency or a freelancer to build my MVP? Starting Up
  6. How do I evaluate a developer's skill if I can't code? Starting Up
  7. What's a fair way to structure a milestone-based contract with a dev agency? Starting Up
  8. How do I make sure I actually own the code my freelancer writes? Starting Up
  9. When should I stop using an agency and hire my first in-house developer? Starting Up
  10. How do I keep an offshore or remote dev team accountable across time zones? Starting Up
  11. What are the warning signs a developer is building the wrong thing? Starting Up
  12. Is it a mistake to hire one developer to build my whole product alone? Starting Up
  13. How do I evaluate the code quality of a build I inherited from an agency? Starting Up
  14. When my technical hire and I disagree on the tech stack, whose call is it? Starting Up

Tools that do it for you

The readingMost used across these answers

The terms

Minimum Viable ProductIP AssignmentNo-Code

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