How much does it cost to build an app in Saudi Arabia? (2026 guide)

App development cost in Saudi Arabia: the short answer

Published 2026 price guides from Saudi agencies put a simple app or MVP at about SAR 15,000–30,000, an app with its own backend and admin dashboard at SAR 30,000–80,000, and complex platforms at SAR 80,000–250,000 or more. Timelines run from about 2–3 months for a simple app to 6–12 months for a large one.

Those are agency prices, with account managers, designers and overheads built in. A solo developer who builds the app, the API and the release alone costs much less. My own ranges are below, and every project gets a fixed price in writing after a free 30-minute call.

App prices in Saudi Arabia at a glance

Agency ranges come from published 2026 Saudi price guides; my prices are the fixed ranges on my service pages. Your exact price depends on the screens and integrations you need.

What decides the price of an app

Number of screens and user flows. Every flow (sign-up, booking, checkout, chat) is design, code and testing. Osta, a car-services marketplace I led, has 53 screens; a first version usually needs far fewer.

A backend and dashboard. If the app stores data, takes bookings or has staff, it needs an API, a database and an admin panel. That is often half the work.

Payments and integrations. Payment gateways, maps, SMS, notifications and government or ERP systems each add setup and testing.

Arabic and English. Building both languages and right-to-left layouts from day one costs little; adding them later costs a lot more.

Agency, freelancer or solo developer?

An agency suits large projects that need a full team and long contracts. Marketplace freelancers are the cheapest, but quality and follow-up vary. A solo developer with live apps in the stores sits in between: one person who owns the whole build and answers your messages directly.

Whoever you choose, ask to see apps they actually published, and make sure the code, the store accounts and the servers are in your name.

Three example apps and where they fit

A booking app for a salon, clinic or workshop: customers pick a service and a time, staff see bookings in a dashboard, and everyone gets notifications. With online payment and an admin panel, this is a business app, the SAR 3,000–5,000 range with me. Without payments and with a simple admin, it can start as an MVP.

A two-sided marketplace, such as customers and service providers: two kinds of users, matching, ratings, payments and an admin panel. Osta, a car-services marketplace I led, has 53 screens, 78 API routes and 414 backend tests. A first version of a marketplace should launch with far less, then grow.

An internal company app for staff: attendance, tasks or KPIs, with a manager dashboard and Arabic and English. Tech 92 is this kind of app; it went live on both stores in 10 weeks. Apps like this usually fit the business-app range, because they need a real backend but no public marketplace.

What a fixed quote should include

A good quote lists the screens and user flows, the backend and admin dashboard if you need them, the integrations (payments, maps, SMS, notifications), both languages, publishing on Google Play and the App Store under your accounts, and the handover of all source code. If a quote is a single number with no list, you cannot compare it with another one.

Ask what happens when you want something that is not on the list. The usual answer is a small written change with its own price and date, which keeps the original price fixed for everything that was agreed.

How long it takes to build an app

Agencies quote about 2–3 months for a simple app and 6–12 months for a large platform. A focused MVP can be much faster: Osta’s app was delivered in 24 days by a team of 5, and my MVP builds take 1–2 weeks. The biggest delays usually come from waiting: unclear requirements, late content and slow feedback, not the code.

Store review adds a few days before launch, so plan the release date with that in mind, especially for the first App Store submission.

Costs people forget

Store accounts: Apple charges USD 99 a year for a developer account and Google charges USD 25 once. Servers and databases are usually a small monthly fee at the start. Updates after launch, new features and the yearly changes Apple and Google require are part of running an app, so plan a small budget for them.

How to lower the cost of your app

Start with an MVP: only the flows a user needs on day one. Use Flutter so one codebase serves Android and iOS. Use proven services for login, payments and notifications instead of building them. And write down what you need before asking for quotes, so nobody prices in guesswork.

My prices

MVP app: SAR 2,000–4,000 with publishing on Google Play and the App Store, or SAR 1,000–1,500 without store publishing. Business app or platform with its own backend, payments and dashboard: SAR 3,000–5,000. Bilingual company website with a dashboard: SAR 1,800–3,000. You own all the source code, and the final price is fixed in writing after a free 30-minute call.