Breaking Down Monthly & Annual App Maintenance Costs

Realistic Numbers on App Maintenance Budgets

If you’re asking for monthly and yearly app maintenance costs, you’re likely in one of two camps:

• You already own an app and suspect you’re being overcharged for upkeep.
• You’re planning to build an app and want to budget realistically.

Let’s start by giving you what you came for: Some numbers!

Based on our experience building and maintaining apps across dozens of industries, a realistic ballpark would be:

• 5–10% of initial app development costs per month for routine maintenance.
• USD 5,000–10,000 for major updates (such as brand new features)

While major updates are unpredictable, once a year is quite typical.

So, if an app costs USD 100,000 to build, a theoretical annual maintenance budget would be:

• USD 5,000 per month or USD 60,000 per year for routine maintenance.
• At least USD 5,000, anticipating one major update.

So does this mean any developer who quotes you more than this must be ripping you off?

Nope!

Now comes the part you won’t like–in practice, the only answer to app maintenance costs is “it depends”!

Why “It Depends” (No, That’s Not a Cop-Out!)

Maintenance costs vary wildly from app to app–so please don’t take our 5–10% estimate as law.

Sure, if your developer is asking for significantly more than 10% for routine maintenance on a simple brand-new app, it might mean you’re being overcharged. 

But it could just as likely mean your app is more complex and requires more care.

After all, look at what affects costs:

• App complexity
• Number of users
• Integrations with other services
• Quality of the initial build

No two apps share the same specs, so you’d be comparing apples to oranges.

Also, as an app grows—more users, more features, more integrations—maintenance gets more expensive, and eventually, you’ll need code refactors or rewrites to handle requirements nobody predicted at the start!

If you feel sceptical about that, then we’re sorry for sounding harsh–but sounds like you might not have a clear understanding of app maintenance–so let’s fix that!

What Is “App Maintenance” Anyway?

We cover this in full detail in our app maintenance explanation, but what do you really pay us developers to do when we ‘maintain an app’? 

Well, in addition to the usual (and very important) bug fixes, we are also responsible for:

• Keeping the app listed and updated in app stores.
• Updating payment systems (in-app purchases, subscriptions).
• Security patches to protect user data.
• Making sure the app works on new devices and OS versions.
• Replacing/adjusting third-party services as they evolve or close down.
• Staying compliant with privacy laws and app store guidelines.
• Removing or updating outdated features.
• Cleaning up messy code to prevent future issues.
• Monitoring performance and user behavior to catch problems early.

Even simple apps need constant attention to stay functional, secure, and competitive.

Neglect maintenance and we’d give your app a couple of months until it gets taken down from the app stores for too many damn crashes!

Bottom line: The only way to accurately evaluate maintenance costs is on a case by case basis.

How to Get Accurate Estimates

Talk to multiple developers and ask each for an estimate for the same app or app idea.

Of course, different developers will prefer different technology stacks, so don’t expect identical answers–but ask enough and you should get a ballpark tailored to the needs of your app.

Now you’ll be able to tell with more certainty if you’re getting overcharged.

If you’d like a starting point, the Upstack Studio team would be happy to help, and remember the more specific you are, the closer we can get to an accurate estimate!

If you’re looking to build a mobile application, check out our portfolio of past projects and contact us if you like what you see. Also, consider joining our mailing list for a one-stop resource on everything from micro-SaaS validation all the way to execution and promotion. Get a nifty list of questions to ask app developers when you sign up!