E-commerce app development cost
Catalogue, checkout, inventory and the peak that decides it all. Priced as a branded retail app with its own checkout and inventory, at US rates and launch scope.
Planning range, not a quote. Every figure comes from the same engine the calculator runs on.
What makes it expensive
Retail load is not the average, it is Black Friday, and the architecture has to be sized for the peak. Inventory truth across channels is more backend work than the storefront itself, and returns and support are where these products get expensive after launch.
What is in scope
- Catalogue with variants and media
- Checkout, tax and shipping
- Inventory across locations
- Promotions, returns and support
Where the money goes
The six largest disciplines in this build. The calculator shows all 10, itemised down to individual features.
| Discipline | Hours | Share | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backend engineering | 1,300 | 31% | $190,000 |
| Cross-platform mobile | 810 | 18% | $115,000 |
| QA & testing | 760 | 12% | $75,000 |
| DevOps & cloud | 340 | 8% | $52,500 |
| Project management | 380 | 8% | $50,000 |
| Integration engineering | 270 | 6% | $40,000 |
The same product at four standards of finish
Identical answers, four levels of depth. This is usually the most useful comparison on the page, because it is the decision you actually control.
Standard is highlighted because that is what this example is configured at.
What it costs to keep running
Separate from the build, because operating cost scales with usage and development cost does not.
per month at 45,000 monthly users
20% – 27% of build cost
468 peak concurrent users