The short answer
How much does an app cost to develop in Ireland? Search for app development cost Ireland and you will find a handful of published bands and a great many pages that say “it depends”. It does. In 2026 a simple app built by an Irish studio sits in the low tens of thousands of euro, a serious product with a backend and a native app on each platform is a multiple of that, and the running costs after launch are the line most quotes leave out. This post sets out what the price depends on, quotes the published Irish bands and walks through one of our builds.
App development cost Ireland: what drives the number?
Two quotes for the same idea can differ by a multiple. The gap is almost always in one of these eight areas, and a good quote shows where each landed.
Platforms: one, two or the browser
The single biggest decision. Native iOS and native Android are two codebases, two test cycles and two store submissions, which is why one Irish developer prices per platform (more below). A web app runs on every device from one codebase, and a progressive web app sits in between. We wrote about that choice in Native app, web app or PWA.
Design
An app is used with a thumb, in a hurry, often with poor signal. Designing the screens, flows and empty states around that reality decides whether people keep the app. A quote that says “design included” without showing the process is usually pricing a template.
Backend and API
Almost every useful app is a front end to a system: accounts, data, content, bookings, payments. That system has to be designed, built, hosted and secured, and the app talks to it through an API. On most projects the backend is at least as much engineering as the app, and it is the part a buyer never sees in a demo.
Authentication and security
Logins, password resets, roles and permissions, session handling, encryption in transit and at rest, and an audit trail of who did what. None of it is optional once real users and real data arrive.
Integrations
Payments, CRM, accounting, email, calendars, maps, push notifications. Each connection is its own piece of engineering with its own failure modes, so we check an integration is possible before it goes into a quote.
App store release
Getting an app into the App Store and Google Play is a process, not a button: listings, screenshots, privacy declarations, review guidelines, rejections and resubmissions, with rules that change every year. Our web and mobile apps page covers build, review and submission.
Testing on real devices
An app that works on the developer’s phone has been tested on one phone. Real testing covers old devices, small screens, slow networks, interrupted sessions and accessibility settings.
Maintenance
iOS and Android ship major versions every year, and each one breaks something. Libraries need updating, certificates expire, store policies tighten. An app with no maintenance plan has a shelf life, so the running cost belongs in the first conversation.
The hidden costs of app development
These rarely appear on a build quote, and they are the ones that surprise people later.
- Developer accounts. The Apple Developer Program is $99 a year; a Google Play developer account is a one-off $25. Small numbers, but the accounts must be in your name, or you do not own your own listing. There is a timing cost too: Google requires new personal developer accounts to run a 14-day closed test with at least 12 testers before an app can reach production (Play Console Help). An organisation account avoids that gate, one more reason to set the accounts up in the business’s name.
- Certificates, signing keys and provisioning. Expired certificates take apps offline. Someone has to own the renewal calendar.
- Hosting and monitoring. The backend runs on servers that cost money every month, and it needs crash reporting, uptime monitoring and backups from day one.
- Third-party services. Push notifications, maps, SMS, email delivery and payment processing are metered. Usage grows with your users.
- Support. Someone answers the “I cannot log in” emails. Decide who before launch.
How much does an app cost to develop in Ireland?
Two Irish developers publish app price bands openly. Most quote only on enquiry, so treat the numbers below as a map of what you are buying rather than a menu:
- Square Root Solutions states €10,000 to €25,000 for a simple app, with complex custom apps running past €100,000, in the FAQ on their homepage (checked 11 September 2026).
- Tapadoo prices per platform: €25,000 to €40,000 for a small project, €40,000 to €80,000 for a medium one, and over €80,000 for larger work, on each of iOS and Android (checked 11 September 2026).
Read together, those say the same thing. A focused app with a light backend starts at €10,000 to €25,000. Add a second native platform and Tapadoo’s own numbers double, so a medium project across iOS and Android is €80,000 to €160,000. A serious product with a real backend, authentication, integrations and device testing is a six-figure programme more often than buyers expect.
Where Loco sits: app and platform projects at Loco start from €10,000, and every project begins with a short consult that ends in a scoped, costed plan, so you know the price and the timeline before anything is built. The floor buys a scoped web app or a first native release with a modest backend; larger platforms and two native apps sit above it, priced against the scope. Our app development Dublin page sets out how we approach it.
A worked example: the ESMA International Network platform
ESMA International Network is a trade network for packaged consumer goods with more than two hundred member companies across sixty-two countries. We built a custom membership platform: a public website, a member dashboard and native iOS and Android apps, all on the same data and live in both stores.
We do not publish client figures, but ESMA is not an entry-level project. A build of this shape, a custom backend, a members’ area, two native apps and one design system across all three, sits well above that floor and is priced as a programme. Here is where that money goes.
- Backend first. The core is a custom Laravel application with its own data model: a member taxonomy across five axes, a membership lifecycle with real states (applied, screened, approved, onboarded), gated content types and a multilingual front end. The apps are a window onto that system, which is why the backend took the largest share of the effort.
- Two native apps on one API. iOS and Android are native, with push notifications and guest-mode browsing, but both read and write the same platform. One API serving three front ends kept the scope sane.
- Authentication with roles. Members manage their own teams and records, so the permission model had to be right before anything was built on it.
- One design system. The same components carried the public site, the dashboard and the apps, so each design decision was made once and shipped three times.
- Accessibility. Designed and built to WCAG 2.1 AA across the site, the dashboard and both apps.
Had ESMA asked for “an app” in isolation, the quote would have been smaller and the product worse, because the value sits in the platform rather than in the icon on the home screen.
How to reduce app development costs without cutting corners
There are honest ways to bring the number down.
- Start with a web app. A well-built web app works on every phone, needs no store review and ships from one codebase. Many businesses never need to go native, and those that do start with a proven product and a working backend.
- Scope a real MVP. Not a cut-down version of everything, but the smallest product that lets real users do the one thing they came for. Everything else goes on a prioritised list.
- Reuse what exists. An existing website or database, or an off-the-shelf service for payments, email or maps, beats building a new one. Custom code belongs only where nothing off the shelf fits.
- Own your accounts and your code. Store accounts, hosting and source code in your name from day one. It costs nothing and removes the biggest source of expensive surprises.
One thing that does not reduce the cost: a grant. The Local Enterprise Office Grow Digital Voucher funds off-the-shelf software subscriptions, training and IT configuration; custom or bespoke software is expressly excluded. Our Grow Digital Voucher guide sets out what qualifies.
