Most app owners think the hard work ends when their mobile app launches. Wrong! The real financial commitment starts right after you hit publish. Maintaining a mobile app costs between 15-20% of your original development budget every single year—and that's just the baseline. For a £50,000 app, you're looking at £7,500-£10,000 annually just to keep the lights on.
Building apps for clients across different industries has taught me that ongoing costs catch people off guard more than any other aspect of app ownership. You wouldn't buy a car and expect never to service it, yet many business owners approach their mobile app with exactly that mindset. The reality is that your annual budget needs to account for server costs, security updates, operating system compatibility, bug fixes, and feature improvements.
The most expensive app mistake you can make is not budgeting for maintenance from day one
Your mobile app exists in a constantly changing environment where iOS and Android release updates multiple times per year, user expectations evolve, and security threats emerge regularly. This guide breaks down exactly what you'll be spending money on each year and why these ongoing costs are non-negotiable if you want your app to survive and thrive in the app stores.
Understanding What App Maintenance Really Means
After building mobile apps for over eight years, I've learnt that most people think app maintenance is just fixing bugs when they pop up. That's a bit like thinking car maintenance is only about changing the oil—there's so much more going on under the bonnet! App maintenance covers everything from security updates and server costs to keeping your app compatible with new operating system versions.
The Three Types of Maintenance
There are three main types of app maintenance you need to budget for. Corrective maintenance fixes problems that users report or that you discover during testing. Adaptive maintenance keeps your app working when Apple or Google release new iOS or Android versions—and trust me, they do this regularly! Perfective maintenance improves your app's performance and adds new features based on user feedback.
Most app owners underestimate these ongoing costs because they focus on the initial development price. But here's the thing: your app isn't a finished product the moment it launches. It's more like a living thing that needs constant care to stay healthy and competitive. Without proper maintenance, even the best-designed app will become slow, buggy, and eventually unusable on newer devices.
The Core Components That Drive Your Annual Costs
Right, let's get into the meat of what actually costs money when you're maintaining a mobile app. I've seen too many business owners get caught off guard by these ongoing costs—they budget for the initial build but forget about everything that comes after.
The biggest chunk of your annual budget will likely go towards hosting and infrastructure. Your app needs somewhere to live, and that server space isn't free. Then there's the technical maintenance—bug fixes, performance optimisation, and keeping everything running smoothly. Trust me, apps don't maintain themselves!
The Four Main Cost Categories
- Server hosting and database management
- Developer time for fixes and updates
- Third-party service subscriptions
- App store fees and compliance costs
What catches most people out is how these costs scale with your user base. More users means higher server costs, more support requests, and greater demands on your infrastructure. It's a good problem to have, but one you need to plan for financially.
Start tracking these costs from day one—even during development. It'll give you a realistic picture of what your ongoing costs will look like and help you budget accordingly.
The reality is that most apps need around 15-20% of their original development cost annually just to keep the lights on. That's before any major updates or new features.
Platform-Specific Expenses You Can't Ignore
When I'm budgeting maintenance costs for clients, one of the biggest surprises is how differently iOS and Android handle their annual fees. Apple charges £79 per year for their Developer Program membership—that's non-negotiable if you want your app to stay live on the App Store. Miss that payment and your app disappears overnight, which I've seen happen to unprepared clients more times than I'd like to admit!
Google Play takes a different approach with a one-time £20 registration fee, but don't think you're off the hook. Android's fragmentation means you'll spend more on testing across different devices and screen sizes. We're talking about hundreds of device combinations compared to Apple's relatively streamlined ecosystem.
The Hidden Technical Costs
Both platforms push regular updates to their operating systems, and here's where costs can spiral. iOS updates tend to be more uniform—most users upgrade quickly, so you're mainly supporting the latest version plus maybe one or two older ones. Android users are scattered across multiple OS versions, which means more compatibility testing and potentially maintaining separate code branches.
The app store review processes also differ significantly. Apple's stricter guidelines mean more potential rejections and resubmissions, whilst Google's automated system can sometimes flag legitimate updates. Both scenarios cost time and money to resolve.
Security Updates and Legal Compliance Costs
Security isn't something you can set and forget—it's a moving target that requires constant attention and investment. Every mobile app needs regular security patches, vulnerability assessments, and compliance updates to stay protected against new threats. These security measures typically cost between £2,000 and £8,000 annually for most apps, though complex applications handling sensitive data can push this figure much higher.
Legal Compliance Requirements
Data protection laws like GDPR aren't going anywhere, and they're getting stricter every year. Your mobile app needs to stay compliant with privacy regulations, accessibility standards, and industry-specific requirements. This means regular audits, policy updates, and sometimes complete overhauls of how your app handles user data.
Security and compliance aren't optional extras—they're the foundation that keeps your app trustworthy and legally sound
The Hidden Costs of Security Breaches
The real cost of skipping security updates isn't just the annual budget—it's the potential disaster of a data breach. Legal fees, regulatory fines, and the damage to your reputation can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. That's why most businesses view security maintenance as insurance rather than an expense. App stores also regularly update their security requirements, so staying compliant means your app won't get rejected or removed from distribution platforms.
Feature Updates and User Experience Improvements
After working with hundreds of apps over the years, I can tell you that feature updates aren't just nice-to-haves—they're what keep your app alive. Users expect fresh content, smoother interactions, and new ways to solve their problems. If you're not updating regularly, you're basically watching your app slowly die.
The cost of these updates varies wildly depending on what you're building. A simple bug fix might cost a few hundred pounds, whilst a complete redesign of your user interface could run into thousands. Most apps need at least one major update every six months to stay competitive, plus smaller improvements throughout the year.
Common Update Types and Their Costs
- Bug fixes and performance improvements: £500-£2,000
- New features and functionality: £2,000-£10,000
- User interface redesigns: £5,000-£20,000
- Integration with new services: £1,000-£5,000
- Accessibility improvements: £1,500-£4,000
What catches many people off guard is that user feedback drives most of these costs. You might think your app is perfect, but users will quickly tell you otherwise through reviews and support tickets. Smart app owners budget around 15-20% of their original development cost each year for updates and improvements—it's not optional if you want long-term success.
Third-Party Services and Integration Expenses
When I first started building mobile apps, you could pretty much get away with a standalone app that didn't talk to much else. Those days are long gone! Modern apps are like social butterflies—they need to connect with payment processors, analytics platforms, push notification services, and countless other third-party tools to function properly.
The tricky thing about third-party services is that their costs can creep up on you. What starts as a free tier for a small user base can quickly turn into hundreds of pounds per month as your app grows. I've seen clients get quite the shock when their push notification bill jumps from £20 to £200 overnight because they hit the next pricing tier.
Common Third-Party Service Costs
- Payment processing fees (2-3% per transaction plus monthly fees)
- Analytics platforms (£50-500+ monthly depending on data volume)
- Push notification services (£15-300+ monthly based on user count)
- Cloud storage and databases (£20-1000+ monthly depending on usage)
- Customer support chat tools (£25-200+ monthly per agent)
- Social media login APIs (usually free but with usage limits)
Set up billing alerts for all your third-party services. Most platforms offer email notifications when you're approaching your usage limits, which can save you from unexpected budget overruns.
The key is monitoring these services regularly and planning for growth. Your annual budget should account for scaling costs, not just current usage levels.
How App Complexity Affects Your Budget
I've worked on everything from simple note-taking apps to complex enterprise platforms, and there's one truth I can't escape—the more complex your app, the more expensive it becomes to maintain. It's not just about the initial build cost either; complexity has a compound effect that keeps growing year after year.
Simple apps with basic functionality might cost you a few hundred pounds monthly to maintain, but once you start adding features like real-time messaging, payment processing, or machine learning capabilities, those costs can multiply quickly. Each feature doesn't just add to your maintenance budget once—it creates ongoing obligations.
What Makes an App Complex?
Complexity isn't always obvious from the user's perspective. An app might look clean and simple on the surface but have dozens of integrations running behind the scenes. Here's what drives complexity and costs:
- Multiple user types with different permissions
- Real-time features like chat or live updates
- Payment processing and financial transactions
- AI or machine learning functionality
- Offline capabilities and data synchronisation
- Complex backend systems and databases
Each of these elements requires specialist knowledge to maintain, more frequent updates, and additional security measures. The result? Higher annual costs that scale with your app's sophistication rather than its success.
Conclusion
After working with clients for nearly a decade, I can tell you that understanding your mobile app's ongoing costs isn't just about budgeting—it's about setting realistic expectations from day one. Most people think launching their app is the finish line, but that's really just the starting gun.
Your annual budget will depend on several key factors we've covered: platform requirements, security updates, feature improvements, and third-party services. A simple app might cost you £2,000-£5,000 yearly to maintain properly, while complex applications can easily reach £20,000 or more. The complexity of your app, your user base size, and how frequently you want to add new features all play a massive role in determining these costs.
What I always tell my clients is this: don't try to cut corners on maintenance. I've seen too many promising apps fail because founders underestimated these ongoing expenses. Your users expect regular updates, security patches, and new features—and if you can't deliver, they'll find someone who can.
Plan for at least 15-20% of your original development budget annually for maintenance. This gives you breathing room for unexpected costs and ensures your mobile app stays competitive in an ever-changing market.
