'How much for an app?' is like asking 'how much for a building?' — without saying whether it's a garage or a hospital. But honest ranges do exist. Here's how pricing really works.
Typical ranges (indicative, 2026)
Paid discovery and specification: a fixed fee that produces a buildable scope. Focused internal tools: tens of thousands of rand. Departmental systems with integrations: low-to-mid six figures. Multi-module platforms and SaaS products: phased programmes priced per milestone. Monthly maintenance: scaled to system size and response needs.
Treat any quote far outside these bands — in either direction — as a signal to ask harder questions.
What actually drives price
Scope clarity (vague scope = risk pricing), user roles and permissions, integrations (each vendor is a mini-project), data migration and cleaning, offline and mobile needs, compliance and audit requirements, and the quality bar for testing and documentation.
How to get comparable quotes
Write one page: the problem, the users, the must-have workflows, the systems it must connect to, and your timeline. Send the same page to every vendor. Quotes against the same scope are comparable; quotes against a phone call are fiction.
The cheapest quote warning
The cheapest quote usually omits something: testing, documentation, data migration, training, or post-launch care. Ask every vendor what happens after launch day — the answer reveals what's really included.