What Does a React Native App Cost?

React Native is today the most common way to build an app for both iOS and Android without paying for two separate development tracks. In price terms, most React Native projects in Sweden land between SEK 400,000 and 2.5 million – and where in the range you end up is decided by scope, not by the framework. Here’s the price picture and the logic behind it.

Price ranges by level

The ranges assume both platforms – that’s the whole point of React Native. Hourly rates at Swedish agencies usually run SEK 900–1,400; what separates the levels is the number of hours.

Where in the range a project lands is driven by the same factors as for apps in general: the scope of the backend, the number of integrations, the design ambition, and the security requirements. React Native doesn’t change those factors – it changes how many times you pay for them.

Why a shared codebase lowers the price

In a native setup, every feature gets built twice: once in Swift for iOS, once in Kotlin for Android. With React Native, the interface and business logic are written once and run on both platforms. The typical saving is 25–40 percent compared to double native development.

Why not 50 percent? Because some work stays duplicated: store releases, platform testing, and occasional per-OS adjustments. But the saving doesn’t stop at the build – it repeats every year. Maintenance is usually estimated at 15–25 percent of the development cost per year, and with one codebase, both the base is lower and the work is simpler: one update instead of two when Apple and Google release their annual OS versions.

A worked example

Picture a booking app with accounts, a calendar, Swish payment, and push notifications for both iOS and Android. Built as two native apps: in the range of SEK 1.4–1.6 million. Built in React Native: often SEK 900,000–1,100,000. Same features, same stores, one codebase.

Add maintenance on top. With the 15–25 percent rule of thumb per year, the native version comes with an annual cost of around SEK 210,000–400,000, while the React Native app lands around SEK 135,000–275,000. Over three years, the total difference grows to several hundred thousand kronor – money that can go toward new features instead of parallel duplicate work.

When React Native doesn’t save money

Honest disclosure: there are projects where the savings shrink or disappear.

• Many native modules. A few platform-specific features are solved cheaply with native modules, but if half the app consists of special cases – unusual sensors, heavy SDKs, deep OS integrations – a lot still gets built twice.
• Extreme performance requirements. Games, real-time audio, and advanced image processing want to talk directly to the platform. There, native is right from the start.
• Heavily platform-specific UI. If the iOS and Android versions are meant to deliberately look different and follow their own design philosophy in detail, the benefit of a shared interface disappears.

If you recognize your app here, it’s not React Native’s fault – it’s the wrong tool for the job, and a serious vendor will say so before the quote gets written.

Getting an accurate quote

The price is driven by scope, so the best thing you can do is nail it down: which flows are in version one, which integrations are required, and what can wait. A short discovery phase or requirements review nearly always pays for itself in fewer surprises.

Good input for a quote has three parts: a list of flows in priority order, an honest description of the existing systems the app needs to talk to, and clarity on who’s responsible for design and content. With that, a vendor can give you a range that holds up – without it, you either get padding in the price or extra invoices.

React Native is our main stack for app development at Weapp, so we’re happy to give you a concrete price range for your idea – read about our services or get in touch with a short description.