A transparent breakdown of real web app development costs — from simple MVPs to complex platforms. Includes pricing factors, common traps, and how fixed-price models actually work.
You've Googled this question. You've seen the answers: "It depends." Ranges from $5,000 to $500,000. Helpful, right?
The truth is, web app development costs do vary wildly — but not for the reasons most articles give you. The difference between a ₹3L project and a ₹50L project isn't just "complexity." It's about who you hire, how they work, and what you actually need versus what someone convinced you to build.
This guide breaks down real numbers from real projects. No vague ranges. No "contact us for a quote" cop-out at the end. Just honest pricing from a studio that builds web apps every week.
For most businesses and founders reading this, here's what you're likely looking at:
| Project type | Typical range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page with CMS | ₹50K – ₹2L | 3–7 days |
| Simple web app (MVP) | ₹3L – ₹8L | 1–3 weeks |
| Medium web app (full product) | ₹8L – ₹20L | 3–6 weeks |
| Complex platform (marketplace, SaaS) | ₹20L – ₹50L+ | 6–12 weeks |
| Enterprise / custom ERP | ₹50L+ | 3–6 months |
These are fixed-price ranges, not hourly estimates. The distinction matters enormously, and we'll get into why.
Scope isn't just "number of features." It's the sum of every decision, screen, interaction, edge case, and integration your app needs.
A login page sounds simple. But does it need:
Each of these adds time. A "simple login" can take 4 hours or 40 hours depending on the requirements behind it.
The lesson: The more precisely you can define what your app needs to do on day one, the more accurately anyone can price it. And the more features you cut from v1, the less it costs — and the faster you learn whether the idea works.
There's a spectrum:
For most MVPs and business apps, template-based UI with minor customization is the right call. You can always invest in design after you've validated the product.
Every third-party service your app talks to adds cost:
Integrations are often underestimated. A "simple Stripe integration" might mean basic checkout. Or it might mean subscriptions, trials, metered billing, invoicing, webhooks, and a customer portal. Those are very different things.
This is where costs diverge most dramatically:
| Builder type | Typical rate | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer (India) | ₹500–₹2,000/hr | Cheapest | Unreliable, no process, communication gaps |
| Freelancer (US/EU) | ₹5,000–₹15,000/hr | Quality varies | Expensive, still one person |
| Agency (large) | ₹3,000–₹10,000/hr | Process, team | Slow, expensive, layers of management |
| Studio (small, focused) | ₹2,000–₹5,000/hr | Fast, direct, ownership | Smaller capacity |
| In-house team | ₹1.5L–₹8L/month per person | Full control | Recruitment, management, benefits, slow to start |
A freelancer at ₹1,000/hr taking 400 hours costs ₹4L. A studio at ₹3,000/hr finishing in 80 hours costs ₹2.4L. Hourly rate is meaningless without knowing speed and quality.
Your app needs to live somewhere. Monthly costs:
For most early-stage apps, you're looking at ₹2K–₹15K/month in infrastructure. It scales with usage, not upfront.
Software isn't "done" when it launches. Budget for:
A reasonable maintenance budget is 10–15% of the initial build cost per year. A ₹10L app needs roughly ₹1L–₹1.5L/year in maintenance.
This one's invisible but real. Every month you spend "perfecting" your app before launch is a month of:
If your MVP costs ₹8L and takes 3 weeks, but you spend 6 months building a "complete" product for ₹25L, you've lost 5 months of market learning — plus ₹17L. And the "complete" product might be solving the wrong problem.
How most agencies and freelancers work:
The problem: The incentive is misaligned. The longer it takes, the more the builder earns. There's no reward for efficiency and no penalty for scope creep.
How we work at Hunchbite:
Why this works: The incentive is aligned. We're motivated to be efficient because our margin depends on it. You know the exact cost before we write a single line of code. No surprises.
The catch: Fixed pricing only works if scope is clearly defined upfront. If you say "build me an app" with no specifics, no one can give you a fixed price. That's why our process starts with a discovery call to nail down exactly what you need.
You don't need to write technical requirements. You need to answer:
Make three lists:
Build list 1. Quote list 2. Ignore list 3 for now.
Talking to 10 vendors is a waste of everyone's time. Pick 2–3 that seem like a good fit based on:
The cheapest quote is almost never the best value. Look at:
Building too much for v1. You don't need user profiles, notifications, admin analytics, and an API — all at once. Ship the core, learn, iterate.
Choosing the wrong tech. A React Native mobile app when a responsive web app would work. A microservices architecture for a product with 50 users. Over-engineering is expensive.
No clear decision-maker. When five stakeholders have opinions and no one can say "yes, build this," development slows to a crawl. Decisions that take 5 days should take 5 minutes.
Changing scope mid-build. "Can we also add..." is the most expensive sentence in software development. Changes are fine — but they cost time and money. Batch them for v2.
Skipping the discovery phase. Jumping into development without a clear spec is like building a house without blueprints. You'll pay for it in rework.
Building a web app in 2026 costs between ₹3L and ₹50L+ depending on complexity. For most startups and businesses, a well-scoped MVP falls in the ₹5L–₹15L range and can be live in 1–3 weeks with the right team.
The biggest cost savings come from:
Don't optimize for the cheapest quote. Optimize for the fastest path to a live product that works.
Have a project in mind? Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll give you an honest assessment of scope, timeline, and cost — no strings attached. Or send us a message describing what you need.
If this guide resonated with your situation, let's talk. We offer a free 30-minute discovery call — no pitch, just honest advice on your specific project.
The real process of turning a product idea into working software — from napkin sketch to production launch. Written for non-technical founders who want to understand what happens and when.
14 min readBuilding ProductsMost MVPs are over-scoped and over-built. This guide helps you identify the core functionality that validates your idea — without wasting months and money on features nobody needs yet.
11 min read