How much does an app cost to build in 2026?

That's not a marketing pitch. That's what changed in six months.

And it changes which projects make sense for your business.

What does software cost in 2026?

Let's be concrete. Here's what we see:

Project type	Traditional agency	Soulware
App with 4-5 features	€35,000-50,000	€5,000-10,000
Customer portal + integrations	€45,000-65,000	€10,000-20,000
Complex SaaS platform	€80,000-100,000	€20,000-35,000

Source for traditional prices: Ambrero.nl, one of the largest software agencies in the Netherlands.

Costs are 3-5x lower. Timelines: months vs. weeks.

How long does it take?

Here's what we've seen over the past few years:

• Two years ago: 3-4 months
• One year ago: 1-2 months
• Now: 1-3 weeks

Same app. Same functionality. A fraction of the time and cost.

Why is it cheaper?

Short version: AI tools got good enough to be genuinely productive.

Not as a toy. Not as a demo. As daily gear that takes over whole chunks of work.

What used to take hours or days:

• Designing and setting up a database schema
• Writing API endpoints
• Building frontend components
• Implementing authentication
• Integrating payments

Now takes minutes to hours.

The 80% of software that's standard (login, forms, databases, APIs) is now mostly generated by AI. An experienced developer steers, reviews, and focuses on the 20% that's actually unique to your business.

Example: the FitGen app

Last year we built a fitness app for a personal trainer who wanted to scale his method.

What the app had to do:

• User accounts: signup, login, profiles
• Personalised workouts: based on level, goals, and available time
• Progress tracking: log what you did, results over time
• Stripe payments: monthly subscriptions, trials, automatic invoicing
• Admin dashboard: manage workouts, view users, track revenue

This isn't trivial. It's five systems that have to work together perfectly.

The timeline then (summer 2024): 6-8 weeks of work.

If we built it today: 2-3 weeks.

Same quality. Same functionality. The tools just got better.

But isn't faster worse?

Fair question. If something goes 4x faster, surely quality suffers?

No. Here's why.

The speed is in the boring work.

Setting up a database. Writing standard API endpoints. Building login screens. This is work that's been done thousands of times before. AI is very good at it now.

The quality is in the thinking.

Understanding what you need. Picking the right architecture. Handling edge cases. Testing. A human still does that.

The result: less time on boilerplate, more time on what actually matters.

What this means for projects you've been putting off

This is where it gets interesting.

Most SMBs have ideas they never executed:

• "We want a customer portal, but it costs too much."
• "That integration between systems would be nice, but too complex."
• "An app for our customers? No budget for that."

The business cases have changed.

A project that cost €50,000 and six months two years ago now costs maybe €10,000-15,000 and 3-4 weeks.

Projects that weren't "worth it" suddenly are.

But AI doesn't replace developers, right?

No. And that's an important nuance.

AI doesn't replace developers. It accelerates them.

You still need someone who:

• Understands what your business needs
• Makes the right technical choices
• Checks AI output for mistakes
• Makes everything work as one system
• Knows when AI is not the right answer

But that person can now do 4-8x more in the same time. That translates directly into lower costs and faster delivery.

What will your project cost?

Depends on what you need. But here's a rough guide:

€3,000-8,000: Simple web app, landing page with functionality, small automations.

€8,000-20,000: App with accounts, payments, dashboard, integrations with existing systems.

€20,000-40,000: More complex systems, multiple user roles, custom AI features.

For reference: a traditional software agency usually charges 3-5x more for the same work. And delivers in months, not weeks.

The bottom line

For big companies, not much changes. They already had budget for long projects.

For SMBs, everything changes.

Software that used to be out of reach is now within it. Automations that were "too expensive" are profitable. Custom tools you always wanted are affordable.

The question isn't whether you can do something with software.

The question is: which project are you finally going to tackle?