The honest price bands (India, 2026)
These are working market ranges — what competent, accountable teams actually charge. Below these bands you're usually buying an unmaintainable template; far above them you're paying for the agency's office, not your product.
- Business / marketing website (5–8 pages): ₹30,000 – ₹1.5 Lakh
- Website with accounts, payments or admin panel: ₹1 – 5 Lakh
- Mobile app (Android + iOS from one codebase): ₹2 – 6 Lakh
- Full platform (website + mobile apps + admin + backend): ₹6 – 25 Lakh
- Monthly maintenance after launch: ₹8,000 – ₹30,000
What actually drives the price
Price follows effort, and effort follows features — not adjectives. A quote should decompose your idea into countable pieces:
- Screens and pages — each unique layout costs design and build time
- User accounts — email/password is cheap; OTP, social login and roles add work
- Payments — gateway integration, receipts, refunds and webhooks
- Admin panel — the app behind your app; almost everyone forgets to budget it
- Real-time features — live tracking, chat and notifications are engineering-heavy
- Integrations — every third-party API (maps, SMS, analytics) adds days
Why quotes differ by 10x for the "same" app
Three legitimate reasons. First, scope interpretation: "like Zomato" can mean a menu with a cart, or dispatch logistics with rider tracking — a 10x effort difference hiding in three words. Second, team model: freelancers price low and carry delivery risk; big agencies price their overheads into your invoice. Third, quality floor: automated testing, security hardening and store compliance are invisible in a demo but decide whether the product survives contact with real users.
AI-accelerated engineering is changing this equation: boilerplate that used to take weeks now takes days, which is why modern studios can deliver at the lower end of these bands without cutting the quality floor. The savings come from speed, not from skipping testing.
How to keep your budget under control
- Get a written, component-level estimate — refuse single-number quotes
- Insist on milestone payments tied to working demos (30/40/30 is standard)
- Cut scope, not quality: launch with fewer features, not weaker engineering
- Confirm you own the source code on final payment — no vendor lock-in
- Budget 15–20% per year for maintenance; software is never "done"
Want a number for your specific idea? Our cost estimator gives you an honest range in 30 seconds — no email required.