How Much Does eCommerce App Development Cost?

How Much Does It Cost to Build an Ecommerce App?

It’s really hard to give exact numbers for eCommerce app development costs. How much you have to pay often depends on various factors, including your app’s type, feature complexity, tech choices, integrations, and more. A simple online store is definitely cheaper than a multi-store eCommerce app, right?

That said, you may want to know rough estimates to build an eCommerce mobile app by complexity:

App Type	Common Features	Estimated Cost Range
Basic	– Simple product listings – Basic search – Cart & checkout – Basic payment gateway – User registration & authentication	$10,000 – $40,000
Mid-Scale	– Advanced search & filters – Multi-language & multi-currency support – Multiple payment options – Order tracking with real-time updates – Basic analytics for product and user management	$40,000 – $90,000
Enterprise-Level	– Custom UI/UX – AI product recommendations – Customer support chatbots – Multi-vendor support with separate payments – ERP/CRM integrations – Advanced analytics – Advanced security measures – Omnichannel sales support	$90,000 – $150,000+

When glancing at the table, you may recgonize which typical factors increase the cost. High customization, multiple third-party integrations, and advanced features (e.g., AI-driven chatbots, advanced search, or complex admin panels) often add up your overall cost.

However, in addition to feature complexity and app customization, the total cost is also impacted by your development approach. Whether you choose iOS, Android, or cross-platform app development, the cost may vary as well.

Development Approach	Estimated Cost Range
iOS	$15,000 – $300,000+
Android	$10,000 – $300,000+
Cross-Platform	$20,000 – $250,000+

iOS and Android look like the cheaper option on the surface. But if you decide to build two separate codebases, the cost may double. For example, a basic MVP on both iOS and Android platforms can cost you at least 25,000, while building one cross-platform app that shares a single codebase across platforms lies around $20,000.

That’s why cross-platform development is a favored option for businesses that want fast time-to-market and reduced costs. However, a cross-platform app may perform worse than its native counterparts, especially if you want complex animations, platform-specific behavior, and heavy integrations.

Recommended reading: 6 Best eCommerce App Development Companies in 2022

Factors Affecting eCommerce App Development Cost

Now, we’ll learn what truly affects your eCommerce app development cost.

In reality, no development agency sits down and detail these factors. They just analyze your project requirements and adopt estimation techniques to give possible cost ranges. Any change later (e.g., adding AI features) can influence your cost.

However, knowing the key determinants behind the cost still gives you a clearer picture of where your money goes. These factors include:

App type
Feature complexity
Platform choice
Tech stack
Development phase
Location and hour rate of your development team
Custom vs ready-made solutions
AI features
Hidden expenses, like compliance or maintenance

Now, let’s detail each factor to see how it affects your overall cost:

eCommerce App Development Cost Breakdown by App Type

Ecommerce apps can be divided into various types, typically B2C, B2B, and marketplaces. Each serves different target users.

B2C eCommerce apps: $30,000 – $120,000+

B2C is the most commonly seen eCommerce app. This model allows businesses to sell products or services to individual consumers. In 2026, B2C eCommerce is estimated to reach a global value of $8.97 trillion. This figure doesn’t stop there, but continues to grow by 16.63% annually during the forecast period 2026 – 2031.

B2C eCommerce apps are considered cheaper because they focus on seamless UX, fast checkout, searchable product catalogs, and user accounts.

B2B eCommerce apps: $60,000 – $200,000+

B2B is designed for businesses to sell products or services to others. So, it involves more complex features, like pricing tiers, bulk ordering, custom quoting, approval workflow, invoice payments, ERP/CRM integration, etc. Further, B2B eCommerce apps often exchange crucial business data with other systems. So, high-level security is a must. All these features make their development cost higher than B2C.

Marketplace apps: $80,000 – $250,000+

Marketplace apps, like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy, act as intermediaries between multiple sellers and buyers. So, they need a robust backend infrastructure to serve concurrent activities of various sellers and buyers. Besides, such highly complex features as separate admin panels, real-time tracking, or multi-vendor management dashboards make the cost very high.

eCommerce App Development Cost Breakdown by Feature Complexity

The fact is, you need to pay more for specialists to build more complex features. Because they require more hours of development and testing work, more robust servers, and more expensive API setups.

Simple features: $10,000 – $40,000

A simple eCommerce app often cover basic product catalogs, simple cart & checkout, basic payment integrations, and basic search. It also has a simple UI design that doesn’t require high customization.

Moderately complex features: $40,000 – $90,000

When you move into moderate complexity, the cost starts increasing. A moderately complex store often has push notifications, order tracking, advanced search & filters, various payment options, some analytics tools, and more.

Highly complex features: $90,000 – $150,000+

When it comes to high-complexity features, people often think of AI-powered product recommendations, real-time inventory sync, custom dashboards, custom third-party integrations, visual search, and even AR/VR experiences. They require more development, testing, and even revisions. So, the cost definitely rockets if you add them.

eCommerce App Development Cost Breakdown by Platform Choice

Platforms here refer to operating systems, iOS and Android. Do you plan to build a native or cross-platform app? The choice will then influence team structure, development work, and costs.

Single-platform apps (native iOS or Android): $15,000 – 300,000+

If you build only one native app for iOS or Android, the cost may start at $15,000 for a basic MVP. The eCommerce app gives you full native functionality, hence improving the user experience.

Dual native apps (iOS + Android separately): $30,000 – 600,000+

However, once you decide to build two separate apps for the operating systems, the cost may double. These apps demand two separate development teams with different tech stacks and resources, hence increasing the upfront cost.

Cross-platform apps: $20,000 – $250,000+

To save cost when building an eCommerce app for two platforms simultaneously, many often choose cross-platform development. This time, you only need a single development with one skill set, typically Flutter or React Native, to create a shared codebase that can work across platforms. The cross-platform app may not have full platform-specific behavior. But it, in turn, reduces your overall cost and speeds up time-to-market.

eCommerce App Development Cost Breakdown by Tech Stack

The development project requires different technologies to cover various aspects of your eCommerce app, including frontend, backend, database management, infrastructure & cloud, and third-party services.

Many of them are open-source, requiring no cost to download and use, like React, NodeJS, or Danjo. Meanwhile, proprietary frameworks, premium APIs, developer platforms, and others may charge licensing or monthly fees. Using open-source tech stacks instead of proprietary or premium tools will save you a lot.

Below are the total estimated costs depending on whether you use open-source or licensed tools:

Open-source-heavy apps: $30,000 – $50,000
Modern tech stack with cloud infrastructure & integrations: $50,000 – 90,000
Enterprise-grade stack with licensed tools and custom DevOps: $90,000 – $140,000+

eCommerce App Development Cost Breakdown by Phase

If you wonder how much each development stage costs, this is it. There are no exact numbers, honestly. The total cost depends on the other features we mentioned in this article. But here’s how your budget is distributed to different phases:

Discovery & requirement planning: 8 – 12%

In this phase, your money is spent on market research, competitor analysis, initial meetings to gather requirements, and even technical feasibility checks.

UI/UX design & prototyping: 15 – 20%

What costs more here is creating UI/UX designs with clickable prototypes. Besides, designers must test user flows and make adjustments (if any) based on the client’s feedback. You also need to consider the possible subscriptions of design tools used in this phase, like Figma, UXPin, or Adobe XD.

Core development & third-party integrations: 45 – 55%

This phase accounts for the majority of your budget. Here, your development team uses different technologies to turn static designs into dynamic eCommerce mobile layouts and build core features. You also need to handle backend stuff and implement third-party integrations.

Testing, security & performance: 10 – 15%

Once you’ve finished coding work, it’s time to test the app’s performance, implement security measures, and ensure performance. The cost often falls into bug fixing, load testing, security audits, and edge cases.

App store submission & launch: 3 – 5%

Finally, you have to prepare important legal and technical documents to submit the app to app stores (Apple App Store and Google Play). This phase costs you the least.

eCommerce App Development Cost Breakdown by Location and Hour Rate of Development Team

Where your development team comes from also impacts your overall eCommerce app cost, to some extent. Hourly rates vary across regions mainly because of different costs of living. Most things in the USA are more expensive than in Asia, typically India, Vietnam, and the Philippines, hence increasing the development cost.

Below are rough hourly rates by region:

North America (USA/Canada): $100 – $200+/hour
Western Europe (UK/Germany): $70 – $150+/hour
Eastern Europe (Ukraine/Poland): $40 – $70/hour
Latin America: $35 – $65/hour
Asia (India/Vietnam): $20 – $50/hour

Custom E-commerce App Cost vs Ready-Made App Solutions

Another factor affecting your eCommerce app development cost is whether you adopt custom builds or SaaS/template-based solutions.

Ready-made app solutions: $10,000 – $50,000

Many SaaS service providers and eCommerce builders offer prebuilt templates and essential tools (like visual editors, AI copilots, and customizable UI components) to build storefronts, without worrying much about the backend.

In other words, your team only needs to sign up an account, move components around a visual canvas, integrate some services, and launch. The provider itself handles the codebase, servers, and maintenance for you.

Therefore, it’s not surprising when its cost is that lower. What you truly pay for SaaS solutions is subscription fees. If you want some customization (which is often limited in SaaS platforms), you need to consider developer costs as well.

Custom eCommerce apps: $40,000 – $150,000+

Building a custom eCommerce mobile app means you have to be responsible for everything. From discovery and UI/UX design to development, launch, and maintenance, you cover them all yourself. This definitely demands different specialized skills, tech stacks, and longer timelines, hence making the total cost much higher than ready-made solutions.

This cost difference doesn’t tell that ready-made app solutions are worthwhile all the time, though. Depending on SaaS platforms means less control over your design and functionality. So, customization and scaling are limited, which becomes a big threat when you want to scale or tailor the app to meet specific use cases.

And custom builds? They give you complete ownership of the code, enabling much easier scaling. So, consider ROI, scalability, and other factors to choose a more suitable approach for your eCommerce business.

Cost of AI Features in eCommerce Apps

AI implementation in eCommere is estimated to reach a global revenue of over $11 billion in 2026. Adopting this advanced tech definitely increases your cost, from $3,000 to $500,000+. The added cost depends on which AI capabilities your team integrates:

AI product recommendations: $20,000 – $50,000
Smart search and filters: $10,000 – $50,000
Chatbots & virtual shopping assistants: $3,000 – $25,000
Predictive analytics & inventory forecasting: $10,000 – $60,000

This cost varies depending on the AI model’s complexity, the infrastructure for deployment, and the volume and quality of data used to train. A simple, rule-based AI feature may be cheap, at least $3,000, but the complex, custom AI functionality may cost you hundreds.

Hidden Expenses When Developing Ecommerce App

The final factor you must be aware of when building an eCommerce app is hidden costs. They include:

Maintenance & updates: 15 – 20% of the upfront development cost per year

Many experts advise you to plan such a cost range for annual maintenance. This money often goes to bug fixes, security patches, performance tuning, feature improvements, and even compliance with OS updates.

Infrastructure & scaling: $100 – $2,000/month

When your app’s traffic grows, you have to pay more for infrastructure. This money particularly goes into server hosting, bandwidth, storage, and backups. A small app might demand $100 – $300 per month for infrastructure costs, while a growing eCommerce app may cost from $500 to even more than 2,000 monthly.

Third-party tools & APIs

Third-party services require monthly subscriptions. They include payment gateways, analytics platforms, marketing automation tools, AI services, etc.

App store fees

The Apple App Store costs $99/year, while Google Play requires $25 one-time fee. Besides this app store fee, you need to consider transaction fees on in-app purchases.

Table: Factors Affecting Ecommerce App Development Cost

Factors	Estimated Cost Ranges
App Type	– B2C eCommerce apps: $30,000 – $120,000+ – B2B eCommerce apps: $60,000 – $200,000+ – Marketplace apps: $80,000 – $250,000+
Feature complexity	– Simple features: $10,000 – $40,000 – Moderately complex features: $40,000 – $90,000 – Highly complex features: $90,000 – $150,000+
Platform Choice	– Single-platform apps (native iOS or Android): $15,000 – 300,000+ – Dual native apps (iOS + Android separately): $30,000 – 600,000+ – Cross-platform apps: $20,000 – $250,000+
Tech Stack	– Open-source-heavy apps: $30,000 – $50,000 – Modern tech stack with cloud infrastructure & integrations: $50,000 – 90,000 – Enterprise-grade stack with licensed tools and custom DevOps: $90,000 – $140,000+
Development Phase	– Discovery & requirement planning: 8 – 12% – UI/UX design & prototyping: 15 – 20% – Core development & third-party integrations: 45 – 55% – Testing, security & performance: 10 – 15% – App store submission & launch: 3 – 5%
Location & Hourly Rate of Development Team	– North America (USA/Canada): $100 – $200+/hour – Western Europe (UK/Germany): $70 – $150+/hour – Eastern Europe (Ukraine/Poland): $40 – $70/hour – Latin America: $35 – $65/hour – Asia (India/Vietnam): $20 – $50/hour
Custom vs Ready-Made Solutions	– Ready-made app solutions: $10,000 – $50,000 – Custom eCommerce apps: $40,000 – $150,000+
AI Features	$3,000 to $500,000+
Hidden Expenses	– Maintenance & updates: 15 – 20%/year of the upfront development cost – Infrastructure & scaling: $100 – $2,000/month – Third-party tools & APIs: Monthly subscriptions – App store fees: Apple App Store at $99/year, while Google Play at $25 one-time fee, plus transaction fees on in-app purchases.

eCommerce App Development Cost vs Website Cost

How much does it cost to build an eCommerce website and a mobile app? Does an app cost more than a website? The comparison table below can help you answer these questions:

Project Scale	eCommerce Website Cost	eCommerce App Cost
Basic	$10,000 – $40,000	$2,000 – $20,000
Mid-Scale	$40,000 – $90,000	$20,000 – $80,000
Enterprise-Level	$90,000 – $150,000+	$80,000 – 300,000

The price range table tells you one thing: eCommerce apps often cost more than websites. Why? A website often lives in web browsers, hence requiring one-time development and deployment. Designed with responsiveness in mind, a website can adapt smoothly to desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

But an eCommerce app? It often depends on a device’s operating system and must be downloaded from app stores. In other words, when building an eCommerce app, you have to handle:

Platform-specific behavior & guidelines
App store approval processes
Device integrations
Ongoing updates not only for bug fixes and feature enhancements but also for compatibility with OS updates

Despite these complexities, we can’t deny that apps are more convenient for customers and offer deeper personalization. In the long term, they can ensure better engagement and higher retention. So, many businesses opt for a mobile app over a website.

Why Choose Designveloper for eCommerce App Development?

Designveloper's mobile app development services

Developing an eCommerce app isn’t simple sometimes, and you may need a reliable partner to support you on this journey. If so, why don’t you contact Designveloper, a leading app and web development company in Vietnam?

Located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, our team of 100+ skilled developers has hands-on experience and a solid reputation in building scalable, high-performance eCommerce apps. Whether you want a native or cross-platform app, we have deep technical skills to get you covered. Our team has proven proficiency in working with modern stacks like Swift, Kotlin, React Native, and Flutter to build and deploy successful apps.

Beyond common eCommerce features, we also streamline your eCommerce operations and enhance the user experience with AI integration. Our AI-powered chatbots support your human agents in handling customer inquiries 24/7, suggest products smartly, and more.

Here, we offer a wide range of development outsourcing services to meet your demands:

Custom eCommerce app development
UI/UX design
AI integration
App maintenance and support

With our proven Agile approaches and transparent working, we ensure on-time and within-budget deliveries. Here, we also adopt estimation techniques like analogous estimation or Planning Poker to give you rough estimates for your project.

Reach out to us today to discuss your eCommerce app idea and see how it can turn into a product users actually enjoy using!