How Much Does an iOS App Really Cost? (Honest Breakdown for Spain, 2025)

The Question Everyone Asks Wrong

"How much does an iOS app cost?" is the wrong question. It's like asking "how much does a building cost?" without specifying whether you want a garden shed or a skyscraper.

The right question is: what does your app need to do, and what can you skip?

We build iOS apps from Spain. We've quoted everything from single-screen utility apps to full-stack systems with real-time backends, admin dashboards, and subscription billing. The range is enormous -- but the breakdown is not mysterious. Here are real numbers for iOS app development cost in Spain in 2025, and what drives each price point.

Tier 1: The Entry App -- Around €690

This is a single-purpose native Swift app. It does one thing, it does it cleanly, and it ships to the App Store.

What you get:

• A native iOS app built in Swift
• Template-based UI kit (clean, professional, not custom)
• App Store submission handled for you
• Basic analytics integration
• One round of revisions

What you do not get:

• Backend or API (the app works locally or with a third-party service)
• Push notifications
• In-app purchases or payment processing
• Custom animations or complex UI
• Ongoing updates after launch

Who this is for:

Solo founders testing an MVP. Local businesses in Spain that want a branded app on the App Store -- a restaurant menu, a booking link wrapper, a simple portfolio. You're not building a product here. You're establishing presence and testing whether users care.

Who this is not for:

If your app needs user accounts, login systems, payment processing, or real-time data, you're looking at the next tier. There's no backend at this price point. No server. No database. The app lives on the device and talks to nothing -- or talks to someone else's API that you've already set up.

At €690, you're getting engineering time, App Store expertise, and a clean native build. That's genuinely valuable. But be honest about what you need.

Tier 2: The Growth App -- €2,900 to €5,500

This is where most serious business apps land. You're building a real product with a backend, user-facing features, and the infrastructure to grow.

What you get:

• Custom UI design (not a template -- your brand, your flows)
• 3 to 5 core features built out properly
• Backend API (your data lives on a server you control)
• Push notifications
• Analytics dashboard
• App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy
• Two rounds of revisions

What you do not get:

• Complex third-party integrations (payment gateways, CRM sync, etc.)
• Real-time features (chat, live updates, WebSockets)
• Multi-platform builds (this is iOS only)
• Ongoing content management

Who this is for:

Businesses building a core product around a mobile experience. A booking platform for a service company on the Costa del Sol. A members-only app for a club or community. A customer-facing tool that replaces manual processes. You need users to log in, interact with your data, and receive notifications. This tier handles that.

Who this is not for:

Enterprise platforms requiring multi-team coordination. If you're building something that needs a web admin panel, complex role-based access, real-time collaboration, or subscription billing -- keep reading.

The €2,900 to €5,500 range depends on feature count and backend complexity. A simple API with user authentication and a few endpoints sits at the lower end. Add image upload, search functionality, and notification logic, and you're moving toward €5,500. The honest answer is always in the scope document.

Tier 3: The Full-Scale System -- €7,000 to €18,000+

This is a complete iOS product with everything behind it. The app, the backend, the admin tools, the billing, the post-launch support.

What you get:

• Fully custom app, designed and built from scratch
• Complex backend with database design, API architecture, and server infrastructure
• Real-time features (live updates, chat, sync)
• In-app purchases or subscription billing via StoreKit
• Admin dashboard (web-based, so you can manage your app's content and users)
• Three months of post-launch support
• Full ASO strategy and launch plan

What you do not get:

• Ongoing feature development (that's a separate retainer agreement)

Who this is for:

Companies building their primary product as a mobile app. This is the tier where the app is the business. A fintech tool. A marketplace. A SaaS product delivered through iOS. A health and wellness platform with subscriptions. You need everything to work together, you need it built properly, and you need someone accountable after launch.

Who this is not for:

Simple utility apps. If your app doesn't need a backend, don't pay for one. That's what Tier 1 is for.

The plus sign after €18,000 is real. Some apps genuinely require €30,000 or €50,000 of development -- typically when there's regulatory compliance, complex security requirements, or integration with legacy enterprise systems. But most apps that feel like they should cost €50,000 actually need a tighter scope, not a bigger budget.

What Actually Makes Apps Expensive

The app itself -- the screens, the buttons, the animations -- is rarely the expensive part. Here's what drives cost up:

Backend and API development. Every feature that requires server-side logic adds cost. User accounts, data storage, search, filtering, file uploads, email sending -- each of these needs API endpoints, database tables, and server infrastructure. A "simple" backend is never as simple as it looks.

Push notifications. Not the sending part -- Apple's APNs handles that. The expensive part is the logic: who gets notified, when, why, and how do you manage preferences? Notification systems that feel simple to users require careful engineering.

In-app purchases and subscriptions. StoreKit integration is technically straightforward but operationally complex. You need to handle receipt validation, subscription status management, grace periods, refunds, and Apple's 15-30% commission structure. This is a week of development, minimum.

Real-time features. Chat, live updates, collaborative editing, real-time sync -- all of these require WebSocket connections or similar persistent communication channels. They're architecturally different from standard request-response APIs and cost significantly more to build and maintain.

Admin dashboards. If you need to manage your app's content, moderate users, or view analytics beyond what Apple provides, you need a web-based admin panel. This is essentially a second application. Budget accordingly.

App Store Optimization. A proper ASO strategy -- keyword research, screenshot optimization, description copywriting, localization -- takes time. Most developers skip it. The ones who don't charge for it, and the results justify the cost.

Spain vs. The World: How Pricing Compares

iOS app development pricing in Spain is competitive by European standards. Here's how it stacks up:

Spain vs. United Kingdom. Development in Spain typically runs 30 to 50% cheaper than equivalent UK studios. A £15,000 app in London is roughly a €10,000-12,000 app in Spain. The engineering quality is comparable -- Spain has strong computer science programs and a growing tech sector. The cost difference is primarily overhead: office space, salaries, and cost of living.

Spain vs. United States. The gap widens. Spanish studios are 50 to 70% cheaper than US-based development. A $50,000 app in San Francisco could be built for €15,000-20,000 in Spain. Same timezone convenience for East Coast clients, similar work culture, fraction of the cost.

Spain vs. offshore (India, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe). Offshore development is cheaper on paper -- often 60 to 80% less. But the hidden costs are real: timezone misalignment, communication friction, higher revision counts, and architectural decisions that save time now but cost you later. We've rebuilt apps that were "finished" offshore. The total cost, including the rebuild, exceeded what it would have cost to build properly the first time.

Offshore works for well-specified, commodity features. It rarely works for product-stage development where decisions need to be made quickly and the person writing code needs to understand the business context.

The sweet spot for Spain is this: you get EU-quality engineering, Western European work culture, reasonable timezone overlap with both European and American clients, and pricing that reflects Spain's cost of living rather than London's or New York's. For iOS app development cost in 2025, Spain offers one of the best value-to-quality ratios in the market.

Myths That Cost You Money

"My nephew can build it." Maybe. If your nephew is a professional iOS developer with shipped App Store apps, a solid understanding of Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, and experience with backend architecture, then yes. If your nephew took a Udemy course and built a to-do app, you'll spend more fixing the result than building it right the first time.

"I'll use a no-code tool." No-code platforms (Adalo, FlutterFlow, Bubble) are excellent for prototyping and validation. They are not suitable for production iOS apps that need to perform well, scale, or do anything non-standard. The moment you need custom functionality, deep OS integration, or performance optimization, no-code tools become a ceiling, not a shortcut. Use them to validate your idea. Then hire an engineer to build the real thing.

"It should only cost €500." At €500 you can get a website template installed on WordPress. You cannot get an iOS app. Apple charges €99 per year just for the developer account. The App Store review process alone requires specific technical knowledge to navigate. If someone quotes you €500 for an iOS app, they're either building something that won't pass App Store review, or they're planning to charge you for "unexpected" additions later.

"Cross-platform will save me money." Sometimes. If you need iOS and Android simultaneously and your app is content-focused, React Native or Flutter can be cost-effective. But if you only need iOS, building native is usually faster, cheaper, and produces a better result than wrangling a cross-platform framework for a single platform.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

Beyond the development invoice, budget for these:

Apple Developer Program: €99 per year. Non-negotiable. You need this to publish on the App Store. Your developer can use their account during development, but you'll want your own account for the published app.

Maintenance: 15-20% of build cost per year. iOS releases a major update every September. Each update can break things. Screen sizes change. APIs get deprecated. Privacy requirements evolve. If you don't budget for annual maintenance, your app will degrade. Plan for at least two maintenance cycles per year.

Server costs: €20-200+ per month. If your app has a backend, the server doesn't run for free. Early stage, you're looking at €20-50 per month on a cloud provider. As traffic grows, so does the bill. This isn't development cost -- it's operational cost, and it never stops.

App Store fees: 15-30% of revenue. If your app makes money through the App Store (in-app purchases, subscriptions), Apple takes a cut. 30% for the first year, 15% after that for subscriptions. Factor this into your business model before you build.

Design assets. App icons, screenshots for the App Store listing, promotional graphics -- these need to be professional. Budget €200-500 if you don't have a designer on hand.

How We Structure It at QPC8

We built our pricing around these three tiers because they match how apps actually get built:

App Launch (€690) -- for founders testing ideas and businesses establishing App Store presence. Single-purpose, native Swift, clean and shipped.

App Core (€2,900-5,500) -- for businesses building real products. Custom UI, backend API, push notifications, analytics, ASO. This is the tier where most of our clients start.

App Scale (€7,000-18,000+) -- for companies where the app is the product. Full backend, real-time features, in-app purchases, admin dashboard, three months of post-launch support.

Every project starts with a scope call. We'll tell you which tier fits your needs -- and if your idea is better served by a simpler approach, we'll say so. We'd rather build the right thing at the right price than sell you complexity you don't need.

Practical Advice: Choosing the Right Tier

Ask yourself these questions:

Does your app need a backend? If no, Tier 1. If yes, Tier 2 or 3.

Does your app process payments? If yes, you're in Tier 3 territory. StoreKit integration is not a Tier 2 feature.

Do you need an admin panel? If you need to manage content, moderate users, or view data outside of Apple's App Store Connect analytics, budget for Tier 3.

Is this an MVP or a product? MVPs belong in Tier 1 or low Tier 2. Validate first, scale second. The most expensive mistake in app development is building a full system for an idea that hasn't been tested.

What's your timeline? Tier 1 ships in 2-3 weeks. Tier 2 takes 4-8 weeks. Tier 3 is 8-16 weeks depending on complexity. If someone tells you they can build a Tier 3 app in two weeks, find someone else.

The best app you can build is the simplest one that proves your idea works. Start there. Everything else is iteration.