How Much Does It Cost to Convert a Website into an App in 2026? (Real Numbers)
Search for the cost of turning a website into an app and you will get answers ranging from $99 to $50,000. Both numbers are real. They just describe completely different products. In 2026 there are four routes, and the price gap between them is roughly 200x — so the useful question is not "what does it cost" but "which of these four am I actually buying." This guide puts published prices next to each other, including the fees nobody quotes you upfront.
Every figure below is a published price, not an estimate. Where a number is a range or a third-party report, it is labelled as such.
The Short Answer
Converting an existing website into a native Android and iOS app costs between $0 and about $20,000 in year one, depending entirely on route. Here is the whole market on one screen.
| Route | Year-one cost | What you are buying |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | ~$800 of your time (40 hrs @ $20/hr) | A wrapper you build, debug, and fix after every rejection |
| One-time conversion service | $49 – $99 once | A built, native-featured app you own outright |
| Subscription builder | $179/yr – $20,288/yr | An app you rent, plus ongoing management |
| Custom agency build | From ~$10,000 | A product rebuilt natively from scratch |
| Plus, on every route | $99/yr Apple $25 once Google | The developer accounts you publish from |
Most businesses reading this need the second row and get quoted the fourth. The rest of this guide explains why that happens and how to tell which one you genuinely need.
Why Quotes Vary So Wildly
"Convert my website into an app" describes two different jobs, and the industry uses one phrase for both. Almost every confusing quote you receive comes from this ambiguity.
Job A — wrap the site you already have
Your website already works on mobile. It already has your products, your login, your checkout, your content. Job A puts that site inside a native container and adds the things a browser cannot do: push notifications, offline handling, biometric login, a native splash screen, a store listing. Your backend does not change. Your code does not change. This is what a WebView app is, and it is a solved, standardised problem.
Job B — rebuild the product natively
Job B throws away the web layer and rebuilds every screen in Swift and Kotlin, against a new API surface, with its own release cycle and its own bugs. You end up maintaining two or three codebases instead of one. That is a genuine software project with genuine software project costs, and it is what an agency quotes when you say "I want an app."
Job B is the right call when your app needs to do something the web genuinely cannot — heavy offline data processing, continuous background location, tight hardware integration, or performance beyond what a web view can deliver. For a store, a course platform, a booking system, a publication or a SaaS dashboard, it is almost never the right call. The difference between WebView and fully native apps is worth understanding before you accept a five-figure quote.
Diagnostic: if your website already does the thing on mobile Safari and Chrome, you need Job A. If it cannot do the thing in a browser at all, you may need Job B.
Route 1 — Custom Agency Build
Agency development commonly starts around $10,000 and climbs from there. That figure buys discovery, design, native development for two platforms, QA, store submission and a support window.
The price is not unreasonable for what it is. A team is writing original code, and original code takes time. The problem is that a large share of businesses who pay it are buying Job B when they needed Job A — paying to rebuild screens that already exist and work.
What pushes an agency quote up
- Two platforms. Separate Swift and Kotlin codebases roughly double the build, unless the agency uses a cross-platform framework.
- Design from scratch. If they are not reusing your existing web design, expect a separate design phase.
- Backend work. Native apps usually need an API your website did not have to expose.
- Ongoing retainer. The build is the start of the cost, not the end. SDK deprecations and OS releases force updates whether or not you changed anything.
Take the quote if your app is a product in its own right. Do not take it because you want your existing website on a home screen.
Route 2 — Do It Yourself
Building the wrapper yourself has no invoice, which is exactly why people underestimate it. A realistic first build runs around 40 hours — at even $20 an hour, that is $800 of your time, and most people doing this bill considerably more than $20 an hour.
Forty hours is the optimistic case, where nothing goes wrong. It covers installing Android Studio and Xcode, building the WebView shell, wiring push notifications, generating icons and splash screens at every required size, configuring signing keys, and preparing two store listings. Our Android Studio WebView walkthrough covers the full sequence if you want to see the actual scope before committing.
Where the hidden cost lands
Rejection loops
Apple's Guideline 4.2 and Google Play's WebView policy both reject apps that are just a bookmark. First-time DIY builders hit this constantly, and each round trip is days of waiting plus more of your hours.
The things a browser blocks
Google OAuth refuses to run in an embedded WebView. File uploads, camera access, downloads and session persistence all need explicit native handling. None of it is hard; all of it is unbudgeted.
Maintenance forever
Target SDK deadlines and iOS SDK requirements are enforced by the stores on their schedule, not yours. A DIY app is a small permanent obligation.
DIY genuinely is the cheapest route if you are a developer, you enjoy this, and your time has low opportunity cost. For everyone else it is the most expensive route measured honestly.
Route 3 — Subscription Builders
Subscription services are the fastest-growing segment and the most expensive over time. You pay monthly or annually, and the app stops being yours if you stop paying.
| Service | Published pricing | Notable limit |
|---|---|---|
| MobiLoud | Business Plan from $1,499/mo, or $1,274/mo at the annual rate, plus a $5,000 setup fee | 10,000 monthly active users included; $50 per additional 1,000 |
| Median (GoNative) | ~$229 license activation, then from ~$179/yr | One reviewer reported paying around $490/yr on their plan |
| Appy Pie | $16 – $60/mo | iOS publishing requires the $60/mo Platinum plan ($720/yr); download limits of 500–2,000/mo |
| WebViewGold | ~$35 – $60 per platform (CodeCanyon template) | Self-service template; Cloud Builder or Full Service upgrades run $349 – $399 |
The spread inside this category is itself large, and it tracks how much work the service does for you. MobiLoud is a managed service with a team attached. Appy Pie is a self-serve builder. WebViewGold is a source-code template you build yourself, which makes it closer to Route 2 with a head start. If you are weighing these against each other, the MobiLoud vs Median vs AppOfWeb breakdown runs the full arithmetic, and the Appy Pie alternatives comparison covers the lower end.
What the monthly fee is actually paying for
This is the question worth asking, because the honest answer is narrower than the pricing implies. The build happens once. The hosting cost of a WebView app is near zero — your website is already hosted. What recurs is rebuilds: regenerating and resubmitting the binary when your icon, splash screen, bundle ID or native configuration changes, and when Apple or Google move a deadline.
That is a real service. It is not a $1,499-a-month service for most businesses, and the moment you notice that most months contain zero rebuilds, the subscription model starts to look like insurance you are heavily overpaying for.
Route 4 — One-Time Conversion
One-time services charge a single flat fee for the build and hand you the app. AppOfWeb's published pricing is the clearest example of the model:
| Plan | Price | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Free demo | $0 | Forever |
| Android | $49 | One-time |
| iOS | $69 | One-time |
| Android & iOS | $99 | One-time |
Note that the bundle costs less than the two platforms bought separately, so if you expect to want both, buying both up front is the cheaper path. Every tier includes unlimited revisions, app icon, splash screen, customisable bottom tabs, pull-to-refresh, status bar customisation, pinch-to-zoom, an offline screen, dark mode and language handling, and a custom package name. Store publishing and push notifications are available as add-ons.
The free tier is worth using before you pay anyone anything, including us. Build the demo, load your site inside it, and check the things that actually break: does your login survive being backgrounded, does your checkout complete, does your file upload work. If your site misbehaves in a native container, you want to discover that at $0 rather than after a five-figure invoice.
On updates: your website updates itself. Change a product, a price or a page and the app shows it immediately with no resubmission, because the app is loading your live site. Resubmission is only needed when the app's own native configuration changes — and AppOfWeb charges $9 per rebuild per platform, with revisions free and unlimited before launch — so you pay when something changes rather than every month in case it does.
The Costs Everyone Forgets
Two store fees apply on every route, including the free one, and neither is optional. No builder, agency or service can waive them, because they are charged by Apple and Google directly to you.
Apple Developer Program — $99 per year
Annual and recurring. If it lapses, Apple stops distributing your app. Budget it as a permanent line item for as long as you want to be on the App Store. Our Apple Developer account guide walks through enrolment.
Google Play — $25, once
A one-time, non-refundable registration fee. You pay it at signup and never again. Worth knowing: a terminated account forfeits it. The Play Console setup guide covers the process.
Rebuilds — the variable nobody quotes
Every native configuration change means a new binary and a new submission. Subscription services bundle this into the monthly fee. One-time services charge per rebuild — $9 per platform at AppOfWeb, and only after launch. Over three years this is usually the difference between the routes, not the build price.
If your app will sell anything digital, there is a fourth consideration: store commission on in-app purchases. That is a separate topic with its own rules, and our guide to what it costs to publish on the App Store covers commission tiers in detail. This post is about the cost of getting the app built and listed; that one is about the cost of running it once it earns.
Three-Year Total Cost
One year flatters subscriptions. Three years is where the models separate. The table below assumes a business that publishes on both platforms and keeps the app live, using each service's published rates.
| Route | Year 1 | Years 2–3 | 3-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| MobiLoud (Business, annual rate) | $20,288 | $15,288 × 2 | ~$50,864 |
| Appy Pie (Platinum, iOS-capable) | $720 | $720 × 2 | ~$2,160 |
| Median (activation + annual) | ~$408 | ~$179 × 2 | ~$766 |
| AppOfWeb (both platforms) | $99 | $0 + rebuilds at $9 | ~$99 + rebuilds |
Store fees are excluded because they are identical on every row — add $99 per year for Apple and $25 once for Google to whichever line you are looking at.
Two honest caveats. First, MobiLoud's number buys a managed service with a team, ongoing optimisation and enterprise support; you are not comparing identical products, and for a large retailer that team may be worth it. Second, these are list prices — annual commitments and negotiated deals move them. What does not change is the shape: subscription costs compound and one-time costs do not.
Which Route Fits You
Pick by what your app has to do, not by budget. The budget follows from the answer.
| Your situation | Route | Realistic spend |
|---|---|---|
| Store, course site, booking system, publication or SaaS dashboard that already works on mobile web | One-time conversion | $99 + store fees |
| You are a developer, you enjoy this, and your time is genuinely free | DIY | ~40 hrs + store fees |
| Enterprise retailer wanting a managed team and ongoing optimisation | Managed subscription | $15,000+/yr |
| App needs heavy offline processing, background location or deep hardware access | Custom native build | $10,000+ |
If you are still deciding whether an app is worth building at all, that is a different question and worth settling first — mobile app vs mobile website covers it properly. And if you have decided and want the mechanics rather than the money, the full conversion process guide walks through the build end to end.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends entirely on which route you take, and the spread is enormous. A custom agency build commonly starts around $10,000. A managed subscription service like MobiLoud starts at $1,499 per month plus a $5,000 setup fee. A one-time conversion service like AppOfWeb costs $49 for Android, $69 for iOS, or $99 for both, paid once. Building it yourself is technically free but costs roughly 40 hours of your time. On top of any route, you also pay Apple $99 per year and Google a one-time $25 registration fee for the developer accounts you publish from.
Because "convert a website into an app" describes two very different jobs. The first is wrapping an existing website in a native container with real native features — push notifications, offline caching, biometric login, a native splash screen. That is a well-understood, largely solved problem, and it is what the $49 to $99 range buys. The second is rebuilding your product natively from scratch, with its own backend, its own screens and its own codebase. That is a genuine software project and it is what costs five figures. Most businesses searching for this are describing the first job and being quoted for the second.
Three, and only one of them is optional. Apple charges $99 per year for the Developer Program and stops distributing your app if you let it lapse. Google charges $25 once, non-refundable, and never again. The third is rebuilds: every time you change your app icon, splash screen, bundle ID or native configuration, someone has to regenerate and resubmit the binary. Subscription builders fold this into the monthly fee, which is the main thing the monthly fee is justifying. AppOfWeb charges $9 per rebuild per platform, and only after your app is live — changes before launch are free and unlimited, with no time limit afterwards. Updating your website never triggers a rebuild, because the app loads your live site.
Over any timeframe longer than a few weeks, yes, and the gap widens every month. MobiLoud's Business Plan at its annual rate of $1,274 per month plus the $5,000 setup fee comes to $20,288 in the first year and $15,288 in year two. Median combines a license activation of around $229 with an annual plan starting around $179. AppOfWeb is $99 once. The arithmetic is not close, and it is the single strongest argument against subscription pricing in this category — a subscription only makes sense if you are buying something a one-time build genuinely cannot deliver.
No. You can publish to one store and add the other later, and plenty of businesses start with Android because the barrier to entry is lower — Google's $25 registration is one-time, while Apple's $99 is annual. With AppOfWeb, Android alone is $49 and iOS alone is $69, but both together are $99, so the bundle costs less than buying them separately. If you are reasonably sure you will want both eventually, the bundle is the cheaper path.
Usually a working app you cannot publish. Free tiers are almost always demo tiers: you can see your app running, test the layout and confirm it does what you expect, but store submission, push notifications or code ownership sit behind a paid plan. AppOfWeb's free tier works this way — a full demo at no cost, with publishing as a paid step. This is worth using deliberately. Build the free demo first, confirm your site behaves correctly inside a native container, and only then decide whether to pay.
Not by itself, but a thin wrapper will fail review on both stores. Apple's Guideline 4.2 and Google Play's WebView policy both require an app to offer functionality beyond a bookmark to your website. The fix is native features — push notifications, offline handling, biometric login, native navigation — not a bigger budget. This matters for cost because it is the most common reason a cheap DIY wrapper ends up costing more than a paid service: rejection, rework and resubmission consume far more of your time than the price difference saved.
Key Takeaways
- Agency builds commonly start around $10,000 because they price rebuilding your product, not wrapping it.
- Subscription builders front-load convenience and back-load cost — $20,288 in year one at MobiLoud's Business Plan rate.
- One-time conversion is $49 Android, $69 iOS, $99 both, paid once.
- DIY is not free: roughly 40 hours of your time, plus every rejection you have to fix yourself.
- Store fees are unavoidable on every route — $99/year to Apple, $25 once to Google.
- The real long-term variable is rebuilds. Subscriptions bundle them; AppOfWeb charges $9 each.
- Start with a free demo before paying anyone. If your site misbehaves in a native container, you want to know that for $0.
See It Before You Pay for It
Build a free demo of your website as a native app — no card, no commitment. If it works the way you want, publishing is $49 for Android, $69 for iOS, or $99 for both. Once.
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