App development cost in Saudi Arabia follows the scope: platforms, screens, languages, user roles and the backend. At TecnoStack, a focused app on one platform starts from SAR 20,000, a bilingual iOS and Android app with a small backend from SAR 40,000, and a larger connected product from SAR 70,000, before VAT. Store accounts and hosting are extra.
Your proposal confirms the final scope and price. Use the checklist near the end to brief any developer, including us.
Each plan fixes the platforms, screen count, roles and integrations, so you can compare them line by line. Our mobile app development page publishes the same three plans, and our published price list puts them next to our other services.
| Criterion | Focused app | Cross-platform app | Connected product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | SAR 20,000 | SAR 40,000 | SAR 70,000 |
| Platforms | iOS or Android | iOS and Android, shared codebase | iOS and Android |
| Screens | Up to 6 | Up to 12 | Up to 20 |
| Languages | One | Arabic and English | Arabic and English |
| Users | One role | Login and notifications | Up to 3 roles |
| Backend and admin | One existing API, no custom backend | Small backend and basic admin | Admin dashboard |
| Integrations | The one API | Up to 2 | Up to 3, with documented APIs |
| Release | Core-flow testing, store submission preparation | Testing and submission to both stores | Release pipeline, acceptance tests, handover |
Every plan includes defect fixes on the delivered scope for 30 days and one 60-minute handover session.
Six choices account for most of the difference between a SAR 20,000 app and a SAR 70,000 one. Settle them before you ask for a quote.
One platform or two
The focused plan covers iOS or Android. If your users are split across both, the cross-platform plan builds them from one shared codebase, so you design and test one set of screens. Shared or native code depends on the device features you need and who will maintain the app. If you are not yet sure people need to install anything, start by testing PWA capabilities on your users' devices.
Screens and their states
Design and build time follows the screens, and each screen has several versions: empty, loading, error and success. A booking flow that looks like four screens can become a dozen once you count those states. List the screens of the main journey, then add sign-up, settings and help. That count is a better estimate than a feature list.
Languages
A bilingual app needs Arabic typography and right-to-left layouts designed alongside the English, and every message, notification and error checked in both. That is why the focused plan covers one language and the larger plans are bilingual.
Users and roles
One role means everyone sees the same app. A customer, a driver and a supervisor each need their own screens, permissions and test cases, which is why the connected product plan allows up to 3 roles. Count the roles before you count the features.
Backend and admin
The app is often the smaller half of the project. Something has to store the data, send the notifications and let your team manage content and orders. If you already have an API with the endpoints the app needs, the focused plan connects to it. If you do not, the backend and admin become part of the scope, as they are in the two larger plans.
Integrations and device features
Payments, maps, a CRM or an ERP each add a connection to build and test. An undocumented system takes longer, because someone has to work out how it behaves first. Offline use, the camera and location add work too, so we scope them task by task instead of promising them across the whole app.
Store accounts, hosting, usage fees, ongoing maintenance and changes to an existing backend sit outside our plans. Read the exclusions in any quote before you compare totals.
- App store accounts. As of October 2026, the Apple Developer Program enrolment page lists an annual fee of USD 99, charged in local currency where available, and the Google Play Console registration help page lists a one-time fee of USD 25. Both accounts stay in your name.
- Hosting and usage fees for the backend, notifications, maps and any other service the app calls. If you want us to run the servers, our cloud migration and operations plans start from SAR 399 a month for one managed server in an agreed international region. Hosting inside Saudi Arabia is quoted separately.
- Personal data handling. If the backend stores customer data, the consent and privacy-notice questions in our guide to PDPL rules for forms and cookies apply to your sign-up screens as well. Settle them before you choose where the data is hosted.
- Ongoing maintenance: bug reports, new iOS and Android versions and your next release, after the included 30 days of defect fixes.
- Backend changes to an existing system that lacks the endpoints the app needs.
If you plan to sell digital goods inside the app, read each store's current in-app purchase rules before you set your prices.
For a bilingual iOS and Android app on one managed cloud server, the first year starts from about SAR 44,788 before VAT, plus the store fees. That figure is an illustrative sum of our published starting prices, a lower bound and not a quote.
- Cross-platform app: from SAR 40,000, paid once.
- Managed cloud server: SAR 399 a month, or SAR 4,788 over 12 months.
- First-year starting point: about SAR 44,788 before VAT.
- Store accounts: USD 99 a year for Apple and USD 25 once for Google Play, as of October 2026.
In the second year the build cost is gone. You budget for hosting, the Apple membership, updates for new operating system versions and the features you add next. If you also need a site, our breakdown of a first-year website budget uses the same method.
The fastest, most accurate quotes come from briefs that answer these eleven questions. Copy them into a document and fill them in.
- The main task. What is the one thing people open the app to do?
- Users and roles. Who uses the app, and does each group need different screens?
- Platforms. iOS, Android or both? What do your current customers use?
- Languages. Arabic, English or both, and who writes the copy?
- Screens. List the screens of the main journey, then sign-up, settings and help.
- Backend. Do you have an API today, and is it documented?
- Integrations. Payments, maps, a CRM, an ERP or something else?
- Device features. Camera, location, notifications or offline use, and for which tasks?
- Admin. What does your team need to manage after launch?
- Accounts. Who holds the developer accounts, the source code and the signing keys?
- Date. Is there a date the app has to be in the stores, and why?
If the answers add up to a long feature list, decide what the first release needs. Starting with a modular monolith for your MVP keeps the backend simple now without forcing a rewrite when you grow.
Compare quotes line by line on scope before you look at the totals. Two quotes for "an app" can describe very different projects.
Put them side by side on platforms, screens, languages, roles, backend, admin, integrations, testing devices, defect-fix period, handover and ownership. Ask who submits the app, under whose account, and what happens when Apple or Google ask for changes. Our guide to choosing a software development company in the GCC lists the evidence to ask for before you sign.
Count platforms, screens, languages and roles first; they decide which plan fits. Then add the costs outside the build: store accounts, hosting and maintenance. When your brief answers the checklist, send it to us and we will reply with a scope and a starting price for your app.
The TecnoStack prices in this article are the starting prices published on our service pages on 21 October 2026, in SAR and before VAT where it applies. Apple and Google set the store fees; we checked their official pages on 21 October 2026.
