How Much Does a Small‑Scale Mobile App Really Cost? A Detailed Breakdown

As an internet professional, the most common questions from outsiders are “How much does it cost to build a website?” or “How much does an app cost?”. This article, from a product manager’s perspective, outlines the work and expenses required to bring a small‑to‑medium mobile app from concept to launch.

Assumed team : architect/backend developer (1), Android developer (1), iOS developer (1), product manager (1), front‑end developer (1), designer (1), plus two floating positions, totaling eight people. Average monthly salary is ¥13,000 per person, plus ¥3,653 for social insurance and housing fund, resulting in ¥133,224 per month for staff.

Office space: a low‑end office in Shenzhen costs about ¥120 per m²; for a 100 m² space plus utilities, budget ¥15,000 per month.

Product positioning, negotiation, early preparation

The product manager works with the boss to clarify requirements and define product positioning, typically taking two weeks. After that, tasks include naming, market research, competitor analysis, domain registration, server provisioning, CDN, SMS, push services, trademark considerations, and logo design, which together cost roughly ¥10,000 per year.

Product version planning and architecture design

Once the product’s scope is clear, the team plans versions and the architect sets up development and production environments. Development can follow native or WebView approaches; native is preferred for better user experience.

Version management is crucial : iOS App Store review cycles require forward planning of several minor versions, and frequent updates can annoy users.

Internal testing and polishing

During this phase, close communication among design, development, and seed users is essential. Issues are collected, fixed, and 1‑3 beta versions may be released while keeping seed users engaged.

Release phase

Publishing the app (iOS and Android) requires a developer account and a $99/year certificate. Security assessments and load‑balancing services are optional and not included in the basic cost.

Estimated six‑month cost breakdown :

Labor: ¥133,224 × 6 ≈ ¥800,000

Office rent: ¥15,000 × 6 = ¥90,000

Office furniture & supplies: ¥10,000

Servers, domain, and basic IT services: ¥20,000

Excluding marketing expenses, the first version of a modest app requires roughly ¥1,000,000. When asked “How much does an app cost?”, you can answer: “A not‑too‑complex app, from zero to a first version, takes about one million RMB in six months.”

Source: 程序员和产品经理 (ID: devpdm)