Web & App Development Cost in India 2026 — Price Guide
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Key Takeaways
- ✓A basic business website costs ₹15,000–₹50,000; e-commerce sites run ₹60,000–₹3 lakh.
- ✓Mobile apps start around ₹1 lakh for simple MVPs and exceed ₹10 lakh for complex products.
- ✓Freelancers cost 40–60% less than agencies but need more project management from you.
- ✓Budget 15–20% of build cost annually for maintenance, hosting and updates.
Website Development Costs
Basic brochure website (5–10 pages) — ₹15,000–₹50,000
Custom business site with CMS — ₹40,000–₹1.5 lakh
E-commerce store — ₹60,000–₹3 lakh depending on catalogue size and integrations
Web application (dashboards, portals, SaaS) — ₹2–₹25 lakh+
Template-based builds on WordPress or similar sit at the low end; custom design and development at the high end. Content writing, photography and logo design are usually billed separately.
Mobile App Development Costs
A simple MVP app (login, a few screens, one platform) starts around ₹1–₹3 lakh. Mid-complexity apps with payments, notifications and backend APIs run ₹3–₹10 lakh. Complex products — marketplaces, on-demand services, real-time features — start at ₹10 lakh and can exceed ₹50 lakh. Cross-platform frameworks (Flutter, React Native) cost 30–40% less than separate native iOS and Android builds.
Freelancer vs Agency vs In-House
Freelancers charge ₹500–₹2,000/hour or fixed project rates 40–60% below agencies — good for small, well-defined projects. Agencies bring designers, developers, QA and project managers, charging more but delivering end-to-end. In-house developers (₹4–₹15 lakh/year) make sense only with continuous development needs. For most small businesses, a vetted freelancer or small studio is the sweet spot.
What Drives the Cost
The big variables: number of screens/features, custom design vs templates, third-party integrations (payment gateways, maps, SMS), admin panels, and whether you need both website and app. Vague requirements inflate costs — a written feature list gets you accurate comparable quotes. Rush timelines add 20–30%. Ongoing needs like SEO setup, analytics and content migration are often quoted separately.
Hidden and Ongoing Costs
Budget beyond the build: domain (₹500–₹1,500/year), hosting (₹3,000–₹30,000/year), SSL, business email, app store fees (Google Play one-time ~₹2,000; Apple ~$99/year), and maintenance at 15–20% of build cost annually. Cheap quotes often exclude these. Also plan for marketing — a ₹5 lakh app with no promotion budget fails just as surely as a bad app. Pairing development with digital marketing from launch is what actually brings users.
How to Hire the Right Developer
Ask for live links to past work, not screenshots. Get 2–3 itemised quotes against the same written feature list. Insist on a contract with milestones tied to payments (never 100% advance), source code ownership, and a warranty period for bug fixes. Check references from past clients. Find verified web and app developers in Hyderabad or your city on FindService.in. For branding alongside the build, a graphic designer can handle the logo and visual identity in parallel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a simple business website cost in India? ₹15,000–₹50,000 for a template-based 5–10 page site; custom designs start around ₹40,000.
What does an e-commerce website cost? ₹60,000–₹3 lakh depending on products, payment and shipping integrations, and design complexity.
How much does a mobile app cost? ₹1–₹3 lakh for a simple MVP, ₹3–₹10 lakh for mid-complexity, and ₹10 lakh+ for complex products.
Is a freelancer or agency better? Freelancers for small defined projects (cheaper); agencies for complex builds needing design, QA and project management.
How long does development take? 2–4 weeks for a basic site, 2–3 months for e-commerce, 3–6 months for a mid-complexity app.
What ongoing costs should I expect? Domain, hosting, SSL, email and maintenance — roughly 15–20% of build cost per year.
Should I pay the full amount in advance? Never. Use milestone-based payments — typically 20–30% advance, with the rest tied to deliverables.
Do I own the source code? You should — put source code and IP ownership explicitly in the contract before starting.
Is WordPress cheaper than custom development? Yes for content sites — but custom builds win for unique workflows, performance needs or complex integrations.
How do I avoid cost overruns? Freeze a written feature list before signing, and treat changes as paid change requests with agreed rates.
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