App Development Costs & Project Estimator
Price Expo/React Native mobile apps and PWAs with backend integrations. Configure scope and review confirmed labour at R850/hour excl. VAT, with unpriced items identified.
Configure your scopeA labour budget to start the conversation
For a limited application planning exercise, assume 80 hours to explore a prototype, key screens and review. A production app may require substantially more work once accounts, data, deployment and support are defined.
80 assumed hours × R850/hour = R68,000 excluding VAT. This is a hypothetical planning allocation, not an approved package or a quote for your project.
App-store accounts, third-party services, production backend, content, hosting and ongoing releases are additional unless included in the agreed scope. Discovery, build and ongoing operation need their own scope. Changing this allowance does not price the activities below or change an issued estimate.
Build a scope you can discuss.
R850/hour excluding VAT. Unapproved hours and fees require custom quotation. Your selections are indicative.
- 1. Context
- 2. Activities
- 3. Delivery plan
- 4. Request
Your indicative scope
Indicative display conversion using Frankfurter reference rates. Charges remain in ZAR.
Scope an uncertain project through discovery
Once-off and monthly charges are separate. Tax, supplier fees, validity and custom milestones need confirmation. Pending items are excluded from known charges.
Discuss this scope by email
Download your brief and attach it to an email, or open a draft with a short summary. Review it in your email app before sending.
Open email draftNo online request is sent by these actions. Contact details and private notes are not included in the email link.
What changes this estimate
Start with what someone needs to do in your app, such as capturing information on site or checking an account. We can then compare an Expo/React Native mobile app with a progressive web app (PWA) and identify the backend integrations each option needs.
Include existing systems the app must use. Displaying information from an existing service has a different scope from creating accounts, data storage and administration tools. These choices help us assess what belongs in the first delivery.
Describe a representative delivery
Bring one real task from start to finish and identify who will approve the result. Include platforms, screen count, login, offline operation and push notifications. Add the remaining constraints in the tool. Quantities describe activities or units of work; they do not establish approved hours for each unit.
For example, a proposed field-capture app might let staff sign in, complete a form and submit it to an existing system. If they must save work offline, explain what happens when they reconnect or two people change the same information. Those decisions can add work beyond the visible screens.
Use the first-delivery option for the smallest useful task. For a broader programme, list dependencies and checks separately. Selecting a plan does not give the work an approved fixed price.
Compare PWA and native delivery responsibilities
A PWA may provide a useful browser-based experience, while native delivery can support a different set of device integrations and store distribution requirements. We compare the task on your target devices before assuming the options offer the same features or cost. Expo and React Native can be implementation options where the agreed requirements fit them.
Screen count is only one input. Offline data, synchronisation, authentication, camera access and payment journeys can materially change architecture and testing. Include that behaviour in the scope, alongside the screens.
Store submission involves external review; approval and timing are not guaranteed. Keep developer-account fees, backend running costs and ongoing maintenance separate from the build estimate. The release plan should name the supported devices, the tasks you will test before accepting delivery, and who will handle future platform updates.
Hours, costs and assumptions
Confirmed labour is calculated at R850 per hour excluding VAT. Each selected quantity is multiplied by an approved hours-per-unit value, then by the hourly rate. Base, discovery and complexity allowances need their own approval. Unapproved items remain Custom quote required and prevent a fixed total; they are never silently priced as zero.
For the hypothetical 80-hour application planning exercise described on this page, the labour arithmetic is 80 × R850 = R68,000 excluding VAT. That assumes the 80 hours are agreed for exploring a prototype, key screens and review. It is not a production-app package: accounts, data, deployment and support may require substantially more work. App-store accounts, third-party services, production backend, content, hosting and ongoing releases are additional unless included in the agreed scope.
The initial ten-hour website allocation is specific to the existing website calculator. It is not automatically applied to this service. Where managed dedicated hosting is selected, the separately stated management allocation applies to the agreed management scope.
Once-off work and monthly commitments are shown independently, so you can distinguish the build budget from the cost of operating the app. Content writing, SEO, subscriptions, platform usage, travel and other external charges are included only when explicitly approved and itemised. International display currency does not change the authoritative ZAR calculation or establish a tax exemption.
Scope boundaries
- We cannot promise fixed iOS/Android parity or store approval.
- Apple/Google developer fees and backend running costs are separate.
- Complex regulatory, financial or offline flows require custom scope.
Use the plan to request an estimate
A few useful answers before you decide.
Review the tool’s PWA and native delivery comparison before requesting a quotation. Check the task, operating dependencies and unresolved amounts. Mark features that can wait for a later release so we can assess the first delivery on its own.
Your contact details stay separate from saved session selections. Payment milestones and quote validity require written confirmation.
Explore the related service or compare the original website calculator. The PDF request becomes available only when the secure quotation backend is configured; the page clearly indicates its current state.
Why does this tool show custom quote required?
Is the result a binding quotation?
Share the scope while you plan
Download a text brief or open an email draft from the interactive summary. Review platform choices and open questions with colleagues, then attach the brief with your preferred contact details. The email action opens a draft in your email app; it does not send an online quotation request. Private PDF issuance remains conditional on a configured quotation service.
Start a conversation
Tell us what you are working towards. We’ll help you find a practical next step.