In the first meeting about a mobile app, the question usually comes within ten minutes: roughly how much? Our honest answer is somewhere between Rp60 million and well over Rp1 billion, which helps nobody. So we ask a few questions back. How many types of users are there, what does the admin side need to do, which outside services does the app talk to, and does it have to work without a signal? Those answers move the price far more than the choice of framework. This article walks through the same reasoning, with the ranges we see in Indonesia in 2026.
The App You See Is Maybe Half the Work
Clients tend to picture the screens on the phone. Behind them sits a backend with an API and a database, an admin panel where staff manage users, orders, and content, and a set of integrations. On a typical medium-sized project, the mobile app itself is around 40 to 50 percent of the effort. The rest is backend, admin, design, testing, and getting the app through store review. A quote that only counts screens is missing a large part of the job.
We covered the general mechanics of software pricing, effort times rate and the different contract models, in a separate article on custom software cost. Here we stay with what is specific to mobile.
What Pushes the Price Up
- Number of screens and user roles. A customer-only app with 15 screens is a different project from a customer app plus a driver app plus a merchant app. Every role brings its own flows, permissions, and testing.
- Admin panel. A basic CRUD admin is cheap. Reports with filters, exports, approval steps, and role-based access for staff can take as long as the app.
- Payments. Midtrans or Xendit integration with virtual accounts, QRIS, and e-wallets is routine work, but refunds, split payments, and reconciliation are not.
- Maps and location. Showing a pin is easy. Live tracking, route calculation, and geofencing need background location handling, which both Android and iOS restrict tightly.
- WhatsApp and notifications. Sending OTPs or order updates through the WhatsApp Business Platform means template approval and per-message fees from Meta. Push notifications through Firebase Cloud Messaging are free to send but still need setup per platform.
- Offline mode. If field staff must keep working without signal and sync later, you need a local database and conflict rules. This alone can add 20 to 30 percent to the app effort.
- Design. Adapting a ready UI kit costs a fraction of a custom design system with illustrations and motion.
Flutter or Two Native Apps
With Flutter you build one codebase for Android and iOS. With native you build two apps, Kotlin for Android and Swift for iOS, usually with two developers or two small teams. In our experience the mobile part costs 30 to 40 percent less with Flutter. Backend, admin panel, and design cost the same either way, so the saving on the whole project is closer to 15 to 25 percent. For most business apps, such as ordering, booking, membership, and internal field tools, Flutter is the sensible default. Native is worth the extra when the app leans hard on hardware, background processing, or brand-new OS features.
Indicative Price Ranges by App Type
The table below shows indicative ranges for a Flutter app built by an established software house in Indonesia, including backend, admin panel, design, testing, and store release. They are starting points for a budget conversation. A real quote needs a scope.
| App type | Typical scope | Indicative cost | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | One user role, 10 to 20 screens, login, catalogue or booking, basic admin, push notifications | Rp60 million to Rp150 million | 2 to 3 months |
| Medium | Two or three roles, 25 to 50 screens, payment gateway, maps, WhatsApp notifications, admin with reports | Rp150 million to Rp450 million | 3 to 6 months |
| Complex | Several apps (customer, driver, merchant), real-time tracking, offline sync, many integrations, high traffic | Rp450 million to Rp1.5 billion or more | 6 to 12 months |
Freelancers can come in well below these numbers, and sometimes that is the right call for a prototype. Just check who will fix the app when Android or iOS ships a breaking change next year.
Team and Timeline
A typical team for a medium app is a project manager, a UI/UX designer for the first months, one or two Flutter developers, one or two backend developers, and a QA engineer. Five or six people for four months is a common shape. Adding more people rarely makes it much faster, because the work has a natural order: design before screens, API before integration, testing before release. Store review also takes time. Google Play requires new personal developer accounts to run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before going to production, so plan for it.
Costs That Keep Coming After Launch
- Apple Developer Program: USD 99 per year. If it lapses, the app disappears from the App Store.
- Google Play Console: USD 25, paid once.
- Servers and database: from about Rp1 million a month for a small app on a VPS or managed cloud, to tens of millions for high traffic.
- Third-party usage: WhatsApp messages, SMS OTP, Google Maps calls beyond the free monthly quota, email, and payment gateway fees per transaction.
- Maintenance: budget around 15 to 20 percent of the build cost per year for bug fixes, library updates, security patches, and small changes.
- OS updates: Google Play requires apps to target a recent Android API level every year, and Apple requires new uploads to be built with a recent Xcode and SDK. An app nobody touches for a year may be blocked from updating.
A mobile app is closer to a vehicle than a building. It needs servicing every year, or it stops being allowed on the road.
How to Read a Quote and Compare Vendors
- 1Check that the quote names the backend, the admin panel, and the store release. If it only lists app screens, ask where the rest is.
- 2Ask for the breakdown per module or feature, with effort in days. This shows you where the money goes and what you can cut.
- 3Check how many revision rounds the design includes and how change requests are priced.
- 4Ask about the warranty period after launch. One to three months of free bug fixes is common.
- 5Confirm that you own the source code, the developer accounts, the cloud account, and the domain.
- 6Ask to see an app they built that is still live in the stores, and who maintains it now.
Ways to Spend Less Without Cutting Corners
Start with one platform. If your users are mostly on Android, which is the case for most consumer apps in Indonesia, release there first and add iOS a few weeks later from the same Flutter code. Start with one user role and handle the others through the admin panel. Use a ready UI kit. Replace live tracking with status updates if users do not truly need the moving dot. And consider a web app or PWA for internal tools, where store distribution adds little.
At Salamun Teknologi we build Android and iOS apps, mostly in Flutter, with a dedicated team from Bandung that covers backend, admin panel, and release. If you have a rough idea and want an honest range before you commit, we are happy to go through the scope with you.
Key takeaways
- The mobile app is often only 40 to 50 percent of the effort. Backend, admin panel, design, testing, and store release make up the rest.
- User roles, payments, live location, and offline mode move the price more than the framework does.
- Flutter cuts the mobile part by roughly 30 to 40 percent compared with two native apps, and the whole project by around 15 to 25 percent.
- Indicative ranges: Rp60 to 150 million for a simple app, Rp150 to 450 million for medium, and Rp450 million upward for complex.
- Plan for yearly costs: USD 99 for Apple, servers, third-party usage, and about 15 to 20 percent of the build cost for maintenance.
