Nobody loves this topic, so I will be direct: if you can't afford to maintain an app, you can't afford an app. The build is the start of the spend, not the end. Here are the real numbers and what you actually get for them.
The quick answer
Plan for 15 to 20% of the build cost per year. On an $8,000 app, that is roughly $1,200 to $2,000 a year. Simple apps can run less. Payment-heavy or integration-heavy apps can run more.
What you are actually paying for
1. Operating system updates. Apple and Google ship a major OS release every year. Each one can break things: permissions change, background rules tighten, UI components shift. Your app needs testing against every release and small fixes after.
2. Store compliance. Both stores tighten requirements constantly: privacy declarations, account deletion rules, payment policies. Miss one and your app update gets rejected, which means every fix is stuck behind it.
3. Third-party drift. Your app probably uses external services: push notifications, analytics, payments, maps, crash reporting. They deprecate things on their schedule, not yours. Someone has to update your app when they do.
4. Small bugs. Not the dramatic kind. The "button overlaps the text on this one Samsung model" kind. Stable apps accumulate a handful of these per quarter and they are cheap to fix in a planned session, expensive to rush.
5. Compatibility. New iPhone screens, new Android foldables, new tablet sizes. Layouts that were perfect in 2024 need attention by 2026.
What maintenance does NOT include
- New features
- Redesigns
- New integrations
- Marketing or ASO work
Anyone bundling "unlimited features" into maintenance is selling you a retainer padded with work you have not scoped. Keep them separate and you keep the pricing honest.
Two ways people get this wrong
Way one: skip it. Everything works, why pay? Because the bill does not disappear, it compounds. I get rescue requests every year from owners who skipped maintenance for 2 years and now need a $4,000 overhaul: OS updates, dependency migrations, broken checkout, rejected store submission. Planned maintenance would have cost maybe $3,000 over those 2 years, without the month of angry users.
Way two: overpay. The $2,000/month "app care plans" from some agencies are built for enterprise apps with live infrastructure. If your app is a $10,000 tool for your customers, that plan is 10x oversized. Solo developers and small studios typically maintain small business apps for $100 to $250/month.
How to keep the cost down without neglect
- Keep the tech simple. Every third-party integration is a future maintenance line item. Add only what earns money or saves time.
- Batch small fixes. A quarterly fix session is cheaper than monthly panic tickets.
- Test before OS releases. Apple and Google betas come out months early. An hour of testing during beta season prevents emergency work in fall.
- Choose a developer who explains the bill. You should be able to see what was updated and why each month, even if it is a 5-line summary.
The mindset shift that saves money
An app is closer to a car than a painting. It runs on an operating system you don't control, talking to services you don't control, on hardware you don't control. Maintenance is not a scam attached to the build. It is the fuel and servicing that keep the thing running.
Budget it from day one. If the math only works without maintenance, the project is not viable yet, and it is much better to know that before you build.
I maintain apps I built and apps other people built. If you want a straight answer about what your app would cost per year, send me the details and I will give you a number, not a sales call.