Price bands by type of app.
All amounts are in rand. Ask every supplier whether VAT is included before you compare quotes.
| Type of app | What SA agencies typically quote, once-off | How Eyona prices it |
|---|---|---|
| Simple appA few screens, one main job, little or no admin side. Think a booking form, a price list or a staff directory. | R70,000 to R200,000Full spread across the guides: R15,000 to R250,000 | Priced per appAfter a short written brief. |
| Business appUser logins and roles, an admin side, a database behind it, often on the web plus iOS and Android. | R200,000 to R480,000Full spread across the guides: R60,000 to R900,000 | From about R10,000 a monthOne monthly fee for the build, fixes and agreed changes. What it covers is written down before work starts. |
| PlatformPayments, links to other systems, devices or hardware, many kinds of user, or a lot of data. | R430,000 to R1,000,000+Full spread across the guides: R180,000 to R1,500,000+ | From about R20,000 a monthSet after a written brief, because the scope decides the number. |
How we got the market column. We read six public South African cost guides and agency price pages in October 2026, matched each one's tiers to the three types above, and took the middle of the low ends and the middle of the high ends. Single quotes can sit well outside these bands, which is why the full spread is shown. Treat every figure here as a guide, not a quote.
How we got the Eyona column. These are the monthly fees on our own live client work, not a price list we made up for this page. Where we have no live example of a size, we say so and price it after a brief.
What it costs to run an app after launch.
The build is not the whole bill. An app that people use needs hosting, fixes and updates for as long as it lives.
Yearly upkeep
of the build price, every year, is what the guides we read budget to keep an app working and secure.
Hosting and database
a month is the range one guide lists, depending on how big and how busy the app is.
Hourly rates for extra work
an hour: about R400 to R950 for freelancers and small studios, about R800 to R1,800 for agencies.
With Eyona, fixes and agreed changes are part of the monthly fee. Hosting can be part of it too, and the agreement says exactly what is in. Store accounts, payment-gateway fees and message costs are set by those providers, not by us.
What drives the cost.
Two apps that look alike can cost very different amounts. These are the things that move the price.
Screens and features
Every screen is design, build and testing. An app with ten screens and one with fifty are different jobs.
Who uses it
A customer, a staff member and an administrator each need their own view and their own rules. More roles means more to build and more to test.
Links to other systems
Accounting packages, payment gateways and other apps each need their own connection. Every link means learning someone else's rules and planning for when it fails.
Working offline
An app that must work with weak signal has to store data on the phone and sync it later. That is harder than an app that is always online.
Taking payments
Money adds security checks, refunds, reconciliation and gateway fees. It is usually the point where a simple app becomes a business app.
Hardware
Scanners, readers, gates, sensors and other devices add device testing and sometimes the supply of the hardware itself.
iOS, Android and web
Three targets cost more than one. Tools that share code between them lower the cost, but they do not remove the testing on each.
Personal information
If the app holds customer or staff details, POPIA applies. That shapes how data is stored, who can see it and what is logged.
Once-off quote or a monthly fee.
Both are honest ways to pay for software. They suit different situations.
Once-off quote
- You pay a large amount before launch, often in stages.
- After launch, the guides we read budget 15 to 25 percent of the build price a year for upkeep.
- It can suit a small app that will not change much.
Monthly fee, the way Eyona works
- One fee a month covers the build, fixes and the changes you ask for within the agreed scope. Hosting can be included. What is in and what is out is written down before work starts.
- You start with the first month's fee instead of paying for the whole build up front.
- Where a job needs a lot of set-up work or hardware, we may agree a once-off setup fee plus the monthly fee. You get both numbers in writing before work starts.
- The trade-off is that you keep paying for as long as you keep the service. Whoever you choose, ask what happens to the code and the data if you stop paying.
Why we work monthly. Software is never finished. Phones update, rules change and your business changes. A monthly fee pays for that work as it happens, so nobody has to argue over a change request or wait for a new budget. Our model is monthly, not once-off.
The arithmetic. At R10,000 a month you pay R120,000 in the first year and R360,000 over three years. A once-off business app at the middle of the market costs about R200,000 to R480,000 up front, plus yearly upkeep. Which is cheaper depends on how long you keep the app and how much it changes.
How building with AI changes the bill.
Said plainly, with no multiples and no made-up percentages.
Eyona builds with AI coding agents. A senior engineer decides what gets built and signs off before anything goes live for a client. The agents write the routine code: screens, forms, database tables, tests and documentation.
That means fewer paid hours go into typing routine code. Hours are what an hourly rate or a large once-off price is built on, so this is where a saving can show up.
AI does not remove the need to decide what to build, to design it so people can use it, or to test it on real phones and in the app stores. Those steps still take time, and they are part of the price.
We do not put a percentage on the saving. It differs from job to job, and a number we have not measured would not be honest. Be careful with any supplier who quotes a fixed multiple, including us.
If you want AI inside the app, for example reading documents, WhatsApp messages or voice notes and acting on them, we scope that as its own piece after a short written brief.
Questions we get asked.
Short answers, with the same numbers as above.
How much does it cost to build an app in South Africa?
South African agencies typically quote about R70,000 to R200,000 for a simple app, about R200,000 to R480,000 for a business app with logins and an admin side, and about R430,000 to R1,000,000 or more for a platform with payments, integrations or hardware. Eyona Software Development works on a monthly fee instead, from about R10,000 a month for a business app.
Why do quotes for the same app differ so much?
Because the scope is rarely written down the same way. One quote may include design, testing and both app stores, and another may not. Hourly rates also vary widely: public guides put freelancers at about R400 to R950 an hour and agencies at about R800 to R1,800. Ask every supplier for the scope in writing before you compare prices.
What does an app cost to run after it launches?
The guides we read budget 15 to 25 percent of the build price a year to keep an app working and secure. One guide lists hosting at R300 to R15,000 or more a month, depending on size. Store fees, payment fees and message costs come on top. With Eyona, fixes and agreed changes are part of the monthly fee, and the agreement says whether hosting is too.
Is a monthly fee cheaper than a once-off quote?
It is cheaper to start, and it is not always cheaper in total. At R10,000 a month you pay R120,000 in the first year and R360,000 over three years. A once-off business app at the middle of the market costs about R200,000 to R480,000 up front, plus yearly upkeep of 15 to 25 percent of that. The monthly fee also pays for fixes and agreed changes, so choose by how long you will keep the app and how much it will change.
What hidden costs should I budget for?
Apple charges USD 99 a year for a developer account and Google charges USD 25 once. Payment gateways charge per transaction: PayFast lists 3.2 percent plus R2.00 for cards and 2.0 percent (minimum R2.00) for Instant EFT, both excluding VAT. Also budget for hosting, SMS and email sending, and maintenance when new phone software breaks something.
Does building with AI make an app cheaper?
It cuts the hours spent typing routine code, and that is the part of a quote that grows with hours. It does not remove design, testing on real phones, or the decisions about what to build. Eyona builds with AI coding agents, and a senior engineer decides what gets built and signs off before anything goes live. We do not quote a fixed percentage saving, because it differs from job to job.
How do I get a price from Eyona?
Email info@eyonasoftware.co.za with a short brief: what the app does, who uses it, which devices it must run on and what it has to connect to. We reply by email with questions or a written price, so the whole conversation stays on record.