Fabricate

Cost guideUpdated

How much does it cost to make an app?

Four ways to make an app in 2026 and what each costs: an AI app builder, a no-code builder, a developer's time and the app stores, with what a month of building costs on Fabricate.

With an AI app builder, from $0 to try and $20 to $25 a month on a first paid plan: Fabricate's Pro is $25 a month for 350 credits, enough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes. No-code builders' first paid plans cost $25 to $65 a month, a software developer's median wage in the US is $65.38 an hour, and a store app adds Apple's $99 a year and Google's $25 once.

By the Fabricate teamWe make Fabricate6 min readPrices checked

One app, one month

On Fabricate
First build
about 23 credits
30 changes in chat
about 267 credits
People visiting the live app
Not billed

About 290 credits

Pro at $25 covers it

350 credits a monthEnough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes

Medians from real Fabricate builds: a first build uses about 23 credits and a change about 9.

The short answer: four ways to make an app

  • From a sentence

    Build it with AI

    A web app you describe in plain words

    Fabricate's Pro is $25 a month for 350 credits, enough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes, and Free's 60 credits a month need no card. Other AI app builders start at $20 to $25 a month.

    From $0The details on Build it with AI
  • Drag and drop

    Use a no-code builder

    An app you lay out screen by screen

    First paid plans cost $25 to $65 a month: Softr and Glide $25, Bubble $39, and Adalo, which publishes to the app stores, $65. Your own time in the editor is the other cost.

    From $0The details on Use a no-code builder
  • Custom code

    Hire a developer

    Native apps, or code a person writes and keeps up

    Software developers in the US earned a median $65.38 an hour in 2025, about $2,615 for a 40-hour week before taxes and benefits. Freelancers and agencies set their own rates.

    The details on Hire a developer
  • Native apps

    Put it in the app stores

    An app people download from a store

    Apple charges $99 a year for its developer program and Google $25 once for Google Play, on top of building a native app. Fabricate builds web apps instead.

    The details on Put it in the app stores

What a month of building costs on Fabricate

Each plan's price and month of credits from our live plans, with what a month builds as the plan cards put it. Building uses credits; the people using your live app use none.

Free: 60 credits a month, no card
$0
Free: 60 credits a month, no card
Pro: 350 credits a month
$25
Pro: 350 credits a month
A first build on Free, median time
2 minutes
A first build on Free, median time
A first build on Pro, median time
6 minutes
A first build on Pro, median time
  • Free
    Price
    $0
    A month's credits
    60 credits a month
    What a month covers
    Enough for about 1 new app or 6 changes. 1 app online at a time.
  • Pro
    Price
    $25 a month
    A month's credits
    350 credits a month
    What a month covers
    Enough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes. Any number of apps online, up to 5 of your own domains.
  • Max
    Price
    $100 a month
    A month's credits
    1,750 credits a month
    What a month covers
    Enough for about 75 new apps or 195 changes. Any number of apps online, up to 20 of your own domains.

Every Fabricate plan comes with a month of credits, and building is what uses them: the first build of an app, each change you ask for in the chat and, on paid plans, the AI inside your app. Serving the live app to its visitors uses none.

Free costs nothing and needs no card: 60 credits a month, enough for about 1 new app or 6 changes. Pro is $25 a month for 350 credits, enough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes. Each paid plan also comes in bigger sizes, with more credits a month.

How long a build takes depends on how hard it thinks. From October 1 to 25, 2026, a first build that finished took a median of about 2 minutes on Free, which thinks at Low effort, and about 6 minutes on Pro, which thinks at Medium effort unless you change it. A change took about 1 minute on Free and about 2 minutes on Pro.

Most of an app's credits go on changes, not the first build, which is why the example month below is one app and 30 changes.

Price your month on Fabricate

Most of a month's credits go on changes, not the first build. Here is an example month on one app, drawn against Pro's 350 credits, and a way to price your own.

An example month: one app and 30 changes

First build
about 23
30 changes
about 267
People using the live app
Not billed
In all
Inside Pro's 350, with about 60 to spare
about 290

One exception: on Pro and Max, when your app uses AI for its visitors, answering them or reading documents they upload, each use is paid from your credits. Serving the app itself never is.

Estimate your month

New apps1
Changes30

New apps: 1, Changes: 30. About 290 credits a month

Pro at $25 covers it

See every planBuild my app

What other AI app builders charge

First paid plans, billed monthly, as each pricing page showed them on October 26, 2026.

  • FabricateWe make this one
    First paid plan
    Pro
    Price, billed monthly
    $25 a month
  • Base44
    First paid plan
    Starter
    Price, billed monthly
    $20 a month
  • Emergent
    First paid plan
    Standard
    Price, billed monthly
    $20 a month
  • Replit
    First paid plan
    Core
    Price, billed monthly
    $20 a month
  • Lovable
    First paid plan
    Pro
    Price, billed monthly
    $25 a month
  • Bolt.new
    First paid plan
    Pro
    Price, billed monthly
    $25 a month

Each of these builders meters its plan in credits, messages or tokens, and each counts them its own way, so the same $20 to $25 buys a different month on each. The pricing guides price a month on each tool and set Fabricate's plans beside them.

Base44 pricing, explained

Base44's Starter plan is $20 a month.

Read the pricing guide

Emergent pricing, explained

Emergent's Standard plan is $20 a month.

Read the pricing guide

Replit pricing, explained

Replit's Core plan is $20 a month.

Read the pricing guide

Lovable pricing, explained

Lovable's Pro plan is $25 a month.

Read the pricing guide

What no-code app builders charge

Free plans and first paid plans, billed monthly, as each pricing page showed them on October 26, 2026.

  • Softr
    Free plan
    Up to 5 app users and 5,000 records
    First paid plan
    Basic, $25 a month
    What it adds
    Your own domain, 10 app users and 50,000 records
  • Glide
    Free plan
    Builds apps, but publishes none
    First paid plan
    Basic, $25 a month
    What it adds
    2 published apps
  • Bubble
    Free plan
    A development version only, with no live app
    First paid plan
    Starter, $39 a month
    What it adds
    A live app on your own domain; $32 a month billed yearly
  • Adalo
    Free plan
    Test apps with up to 500 records each
    First paid plan
    Builder, $65 a month
    What it adds
    2 apps published to the App Store, Google Play and the web; $30 for the first month

A no-code builder charges for the plan rather than for each change: you lay out the screens and the data yourself in a visual editor, so the hours you spend there are the other cost. Most cap published apps, app users or records by plan, so check the plan that fits your app, not only the first one.

What a developer's time costs

onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00, checked (opens in a new tab)
An hour, median wage in the US, 2025
$65.38
An hour, median wage in the US, 2025
A year, median wage
$135,980
A year, median wage
A 40-hour week at that wage
$2,615
A 40-hour week at that wage

When a person writes the app, their time is the cost. Software developers in the US earned a median $65.38 an hour in 2025, or $135,980 a year, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data that O*NET publishes. At that wage, a 40-hour week of one developer's time is about $2,615 before taxes and benefits.

A freelancer or an agency sets its own rate, and how many weeks an app takes depends on what it does, so ask for a quote against a written list of the screens, the data and who signs in. A first version built with an AI app builder is a quick way to show a developer what you mean.

What the app stores charge

A year, Apple's developer program
$99
A year, Apple's developer program
Once, to register for Google Play
$25
Once, to register for Google Play

A native app in Apple's App Store needs the Apple Developer Program, $99 a year, and Google Play has a $25 one-time registration fee. Both come on top of whatever builds the app.

Fabricate builds web apps, not store apps: they open in any browser, on a phone too, from their link or your own domain, with no store fee. If you need a store app, Adalo's Builder plan publishes to both stores from $65 a month, plus the two stores' fees.

Costs after launch

The build is one cost. These decide what an app costs to run.

Hosting and visitors

On Fabricate, serving a published app is part of the plan and its visitors use no credits. Elsewhere, check whether hosting is billed on its own or draws on the credits you build with.

Your own domain

Buying a domain is a yearly cost of its own. On Fabricate, Pro connects up to 5 domains you own and Max up to 20, with the secure padlock set up for you.

Taking payments

Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents for each successful payment with a US card, plus 1.5% for an international card and 1% when a currency is converted, with no setup or monthly fees. On Pro and Max, Fabricate writes Stripe Checkout into your app, so payments go to your own Stripe account.

AI inside your app

On Pro and Max, each AI answer your app gives and each document it reads is paid from your credits, and "Where your credits went" lists them for each app.

Store fees

Only for store apps: Apple's developer program is $99 a year and Google Play's registration $25 once. A web app pays neither.

Running out of credits

On Pro and Max, extra credits start at $10 for 100 and never expire, and your apps stay online when credits run out.

Questions people ask

Other tools' answers come from their own pages, with the day we read them. Fabricate's come from our live plans and our own measurements.

How much does it cost to make an app?
It depends on who builds it. With an AI app builder it starts at $0 to try and $20 to $25 a month on a first paid plan; Fabricate's Pro is $25 a month for 350 credits, enough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes. No-code builders' first paid plans cost $25 to $65 a month. A developer is paid for their time, a median $65.38 an hour in the US. A store app adds $99 a year for Apple and $25 once for Google.
Can I make an app for free?
Yes. Fabricate's Free plan has 60 credits a month and needs no card, enough for about 1 new app or 6 changes. Most no-code builders have a free plan too, each with its own limits on what goes live.
How much does it cost to build an app with AI?
The plan, and the credits your builds use. On Fabricate, the first build of an app and each change you ask for use credits, and the people using your live app use none; Pro is $25 a month for 350 credits, enough for about 15 new apps or 40 changes. Base44, Emergent, Replit, Lovable and Bolt.new start at $20 to $25 a month, each counting credits its own way.
How long does it take to make an app?
A first version takes minutes with an AI app builder. On Fabricate in October 2026, a first build that finished took a median of about 2 minutes on Free, at Low effort, and about 6 minutes on Pro, at Medium; a change took about 1 minute on Free and about 2 minutes on Pro. Getting it right takes longer: most of an app's credits go on the changes after the first build.
How much does it cost to put an app on the App Store?
Apple's developer program costs $99 a year, and Google Play has a $25 one-time registration fee, on top of building a native app. Fabricate builds web apps, which open in a phone's browser from a link and need neither.
How much does a developer cost to build an app?
Software developers in the US earned a median $65.38 an hour in 2025, $135,980 a year, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data O*NET publishes: about $2,615 for a 40-hour week before taxes and benefits. A freelancer or an agency quotes its own rate, so ask for a quote against a written list of the screens, the data and who signs in.
What does an app cost after it launches?
Hosting, a domain, payment fees and any AI it uses. On Fabricate, serving a published app is part of the plan and its visitors use no credits, a domain you buy is a yearly cost of its own, and AI your app uses for its visitors is paid from your credits. Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents for each successful payment with a US card, plus 1.5% for an international card and 1% when a currency is converted, with no setup or monthly fees. A store app adds Apple's and Google's fees.

Sources

The pages this guide quotes, each with the day it was read.

  1. base44.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  2. emergent.sh/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  3. replit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  4. lovable.dev/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  5. bolt.new/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  6. softr.io/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  7. glideapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  8. bubble.io/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  9. adalo.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  10. O*NET OnLine: software developers (15-1252.00) (opens in a new tab), checked
  11. Apple Developer Program (opens in a new tab), checked
  12. Play Console Help: get started with Play Console (opens in a new tab), checked
  13. stripe.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  14. fabricate.build/pricing, from our live plans
  15. Fabricate's credit medians, measured from real builds, September 1 to 18, 2026; build times on each plan, October 1 to 25, 2026

About this guide

Fabricate wrote this guide, and we make one of the ways in it. Other tools' prices are copied from their own pages with the day we read them; Fabricate's come from the same settings that bill you, and what a build uses comes from our own measurements.

The pages we read about each tool and each fee are listed here, each with the day we read it. We compared the tools from their own pricing pages and documentation, not by signing up for them. Spotted something out of date? Write to info@fabricate.build.

Keep reading

All guides

Guides

Before you build

Try your app on Free first

60 credits a month, free, with 1 app online at a time.

Build free. No card needed.