Software Development Cost in India: The 2026 Price Guide

Most Indian software companies will not put a number on a page. We will.

Custom software in India in 2026 runs from about ₹15,000 for a template website to ₹80 lakh for a large SaaS platform. A business web application typically costs ₹6–14 lakh, a mobile app ₹8–15 lakh for one platform, and an AI assistant ₹2–5 lakh. Maintenance runs 15–25% of build cost per year, every year.

This page is the master table. Every row links to a detailed guide for that product, and the same tier language is used throughout so nothing contradicts anything else. If you want a figure for your own scope right now, the project cost calculator does it in about a minute.

The four tiers, in plain terms

We use the same four tiers across every product type:

• Starter — one core workflow, a handful of screens, a single user role. Proves the idea works.
• Growth — multiple roles and workflows, reporting, integrations, payments. This is where most SMB projects actually land.
• Scale — heavy data, many roles, compliance requirements, high traffic, or real-time features.
• Enterprise — multi-entity, audit and SLA obligations, custom infrastructure. Quoted individually, because at this size an honest number needs a conversation rather than a table.

What software costs in India, by type

All figures are build cost in Indian rupees at competent Indian agency rates, roughly $25–60 per hour blended. Metro agencies quote materially higher for the same scope. Freelancers quote lower and usually discover the rest later as change requests.

"I need web, Android and iOS" — what does all of it cost?

This is the most common question, and the honest answer is that you probably need fewer of them than you think.

A web application is responsive by default, so it already works on phones. A separate mobile app earns its cost when you need push notifications, offline use, camera or GPS capture, or app-store presence. Field teams usually need one. Office teams usually do not.

If you do need everything, price it as a base plus a modifier rather than one bundled number:

The companion app adds ₹2–4 lakh because a cross-platform codebase ships to both stores at once. Building genuinely native apps for each platform instead costs roughly 40% more than cross-platform, and is worth it only for graphics-heavy or deeply platform-specific products.

Our advice for most SMBs: build the web application first, add the mobile app once you know which five things people actually do on their phones. It is cheaper, and the app you build second is always better than the one you would have built first.

By industry

The tiers above still apply — this table points you at the guide written for your sector, where the modules and compliance details are covered properly.

What the price always includes

Every project we quote includes discovery and process mapping, design, development, testing, deployment, and handover of the full source code and infrastructure into your own accounts. You own 100% of the code.

What is quoted separately

These are real costs that belong in your budget but not in a build quote, because they are billed by third parties at whatever they charge:

• Hosting and infrastructure — ₹2,000–50,000 a month depending on load
• Domain, SSL and email
• Payment gateway fees — roughly 2% on cards and wallets, near-zero on UPI
• WhatsApp Business API — per-conversation charges plus provider fees
• SMS, telephony and mapping APIs — at actuals
• App store accounts — Apple and Google developer fees
• Content — photography, copywriting, translations

Maintenance: the number nobody quotes

Budget 15–25% of build cost per year, every year. On a ₹10 lakh build that is ₹1.5–2.5 lakh annually.

That covers security patches, dependency and OS updates, third-party API changes that break integrations, and small enhancements. Software is not a purchase, it is a relationship — our maintenance cost guide and AMC guide explain what should and should not be inside a support contract.

What moves a quote up or down

1. Number of user roles. A system where everyone sees everything is cheap. Distinct visibility rules per role touch every screen.
2. Integrations. Each external system — accounting, ERP, payment, logistics, telephony — adds secure API work and failure handling. The other side's documentation quality is the single biggest variable.
3. Data migration. Getting years of spreadsheets into a clean schema is real work, and it is on your critical path, not the developer's.
4. Compliance. GST e-invoicing, DPDP obligations, RBI norms for lending, audit trails — these are build requirements, not paperwork.
5. Design ambition. Template layouts are cheap. Distinctive design that builds trust is designer time.
6. Your process clarity. The cheapest projects are the ones where you can describe the workflow on one page. If five staff do the same task five ways, that gets resolved during the build at your expense.

How to read any software quote

• Is it fixed price or time-and-materials? Both are legitimate; the difference matters for who carries the risk.
• Who owns the code and the data? The answer must be you, in your own accounts, in writing, before work starts.
• What is explicitly out of scope? A quote without an exclusions list is an invitation to argue later.
• What does year two cost? If they have not thought about maintenance, they have not run software for long.
• Can they show you a working system, not screenshots? A login beats a slide deck.

A quote dramatically below these bands usually means one of two things: the vendor misunderstood the scope, or they intend to discover it later as change requests. Hidden costs in software projects covers how that plays out.

Should you build at all?

Often, no. Off-the-shelf software is excellent until your process stops matching its assumptions. Buy the subscription when your needs are standard, your team is small, and per-seat pricing is still cheap.

Build when the workflow is your competitive advantage, when per-seat costs have crossed what a one-time build costs over three years, or when you need integration and data ownership a SaaS product will not give you. Our guide to custom software vs off-the-shelf walks the decision properly.

We will tell you when buying beats building. It is a shorter conversation than an unhappy project.

Get a number for your scope

Use the project cost calculator for an instant range, or describe what you're building and we will come back with a scoped, fixed-price proposal — including an honest view on whether it is worth building at all.

All prices on this page are indicative ranges for planning, valid for 2026, and inclusive of GST. A firm quote follows discovery, because the only accurate estimate is one made after understanding your actual process.