How much does it cost to start a consumer app?
About $149,000 all in for a small one, opened by one founder in an American city: $89,900 to open the doors and $58,800 to keep going for the 2 years it typically takes to pay its way. Below, every item at low, typical and high with where it comes from — and your own quote, for your country, your town, how you start and the money you have.
To open: $89,900
App build, iOS and Android (contracted): $60,000 ($25,000–$120,000). Clutch Mobile App Pricing Guide (2026): average app project $90,780; most common budget $10,000-$49,999; ~11 months; separate native iOS and Android apps 'double the overall price'
Product design (UX/UI): $8,000 ($3,000–$20,000). Our estimate: 60-160 hours of a contract product designer
App store accounts, first year: $124 ($124–$124). Apple Developer Program $99 a year; Google Play one-time $25 (current SparkTower lean note)
Landing page and brand: $3,000 ($1,000–$8,000). SparkTower header note: small business website $2k-$10k (Clutch/UpCity)
Privacy policy and terms: $2,000 ($500–$5,000). Our estimate: app-store-required privacy policy and terms from a startup lawyer
Test phones: $1,000 ($0–$2,500). Our estimate: one recent iPhone and one Android test device
Launch user acquisition: $15,000 ($2,000–$40,000). Our estimate: current SparkTower figure $20,000; a few thousand installs at a few dollars each
Forming the company: $800 ($150–$2,500). An LLC's state filing is $50–$500 (state fee schedules), plus an EIN (free) and a registered agent; the World Bank measured the procedures at about 1% of income per capita, about $850 (Doing Business 2020); a lawyer's formation package $500–$2,000.
To keep going until it pays its way: $58,800
Running costs while sales build: $58,800 ($6,570–$373,000). Backend hosting, Analytics, crash reporting and design tools, Contractor maintenance retainer, User acquisition, Tech E&O and cyber insurance, until it breaks even; sales are taken to grow evenly to cover them, so about half is needed. Break-even: Our estimate: SaaS guides give 12-36 months (mean.ceo; dojobusiness); ad-funded consumer apps usually take longer and most never break even
All in: $149,000
About $149,000 all in ($38,300–$571,000): $89,900 to open and $58,800 to keep going for the 2 years it typically takes to pay its way.
With $10,000 of your own you are $139,000 short: borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, about $3,020 a month.
The trade's published range, before the months it takes to pay its way: $25,000–$120,000. Current SparkTower figure: a consumer app MVP $40k-$120k (Clutch); Clutch Mobile App Pricing Guide (2026): average app project $90,780; most common budget $10,000-$49,999; ~11 months; separate native iOS and Android apps 'double the overall price'
How much does it cost to start a consumer app?
About $149,000 all in ($38,300–$571,000) for a small one, from home, in an American city. To open: App build, iOS and Android (contracted) $60,000; Product design (UX/UI) $8,000; App store accounts, first year $124; Landing page and brand $3,000; Privacy policy and terms $2,000; Test phones $1,000; Launch user acquisition $15,000; Forming the company $800 — $89,900. To keep going for the 2 years it typically takes to break even: running costs while sales build $58,800 — $58,800. The trade's published startup range is $25,000–$120,000 (Current SparkTower figure: a consumer app MVP $40k-$120k (Clutch); Clutch Mobile App Pricing Guide (2026): average app project $90,780; most common budget $10,000-$49,999; ~11 months; separate native iOS and Android apps 'double the overall price'), which leaves the months before it pays its way out.
What does SparkTower's simulator pay to open it?
The simulator pays the one-off opening costs before the first customer — the running costs and the founder's living it plays month by month: App build, iOS and Android $60,000; Design $8,000; Tools, store accounts $2,000; Incorporation and legal $3,000; Launch marketing $20,000. A consumer app MVP: $40k–$120k (Clutch app-development cost survey).
How much of that do you keep?
None of it is kept as an asset: a build is spent, and what it made shows in the product, not on the books.
What if my own money doesn't cover it?
With $10,000 of your own you would be about $139,000 short. Borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, that is about $3,020 a month. Most founders borrow the rest. A small-business term loan runs about 11% a year over 5 years (SBA 7(a) loans are the prime rate plus 3 to 6.5 points), repaid every month from the start — before the business has found its customers. In SparkTower's consumer app simulator the founder starts with $15,000 of their own money; the launch costs come out of it and leave $14,000 to trade on, with nothing borrowed.
Can you start a consumer app with no money?
Not in full: lenders want the owner to put in about 20% (the SBA's own floor for a start-up is 10%), and lend against the kit, fit-out and stock a launch buys, not its marketing or a software build. What a founder with nothing does is open smaller — a first version the founder builds — on about $1,000 of essentials (store accounts and tools $500; incorporation $500), borrowed as a microloan (the SBA's are up to $50,000, at 8–13%) or, for a few thousand dollars, on a card at about 22%. The rest is bought once the business can afford it. Apple's developer programme is $99 a year and Google Play's $25 once (Apple, Google); the founder builds it.
Will it earn the money back?
That depends on what you charge, how many customers you win and what your rivals do. The free consumer app simulator pays these costs before it opens, borrows what the founder's cash doesn't cover, and plays the business forward against real rivals, so you can see whether it earns them back before you spend them.
What it costs to start others like it