Shopify App Development Cost in 2026: Private, Custom & App Store Apps

A Shopify app costs $1,500–4,000 for a simple private app or integration (40–80 hours), $4,000–12,000 for a custom app with its own admin UI and webhooks (120–250 hours), and $15,000–35,000 for a public App Store app (400–800 hours). A Shopify Function or checkout extension is $1,200–3,000. Every figure is hours × our $30–50/hr Shopify rate — a US or UK agency billing $90–150/hr charges $3,600–12,000 for the same mid-range app. MILEDEVS is a Shopify Select Partner working 100% on Shopify since 2019, across 50+ brands.

Most "Shopify app development cost" pages quote a single meaningless range like "$5,000 to $100,000" and stop there. That number is useless because it hides the only two things that actually move the price: whether the app is private (yours alone) or public (listed in the App Store), and how much of Shopify's own plumbing — OAuth, Billing API, GDPR webhooks, App Store review — you are forced to build. This page gives the hours behind each figure, the ongoing costs nobody quotes, and the section most agencies leave out: when you should not build an app at all.

What Shopify app development costs in 2026

The jump from custom to public is not a jump in features — it is a jump in obligations. A private app serves one store you control. A public app must handle any store on any plan, survive Shopify's App Store review, implement the Billing API, respond to three mandatory GDPR webhooks, and carry a support burden forever. That is why the same business logic costs three times more once it goes public.

Private vs public: what actually changes the price

If your goal is to fix your own operations — not to sell software — a private app is almost always the right answer, and it is the cheaper half of this table.

What pushes the price up

• Real-time sync instead of scheduled. A nightly export is a script. Keeping inventory correct in both systems within seconds means queues, retries and conflict handling — typically +40–80 hours.
• Catalogue size. Under 5,000 variants most things work naively. Above 50,000 you need bulk operations and pagination discipline, and that is a rewrite, not a tweak.
• The other system's API. Shopify's API is documented and stable. A legacy ERP with SOAP endpoints, no sandbox and a 90-second timeout is where budgets actually die — we scope that side first for exactly this reason.
• Checkout logic on non-Plus plans. Checkout is locked outside Shopify Plus. Some rules are only possible via Functions, some are not possible at all, and finding out late is expensive.
• Ongoing costs. Hosting $20–200/mo, plus roughly 15–20% of the build cost per year for API version upgrades — Shopify ships quarterly API versions and deprecates old ones on a fixed schedule.

When you should not build an app

We turn this work down often, and it is worth saying plainly:

• An existing app already does 80% of it. A $29/mo app beats a $6,000 build unless that last 20% is the actual business.
• It is a theme problem, not an app problem. Section logic, custom layouts and metafield-driven blocks belong in the theme — see our Shopify theme work. Building an app for that adds cost and a permanent dependency.
• You want to sell it, but have not validated it. A public app is a software product with a support obligation, not a one-off project. Validate with a private app for your own store first.
• The need is occasional. If it runs four times a year, a documented manual process or a one-off script is cheaper and easier to hand over.

How we build apps

We are a Shopify Select Partner, working only on Shopify since 2019, across 50+ brands — see our portfolio and the CARBON case study.

• Scoping first, fixed number second. We scope the integration side before quoting. A 4–8 hour paid discovery turns a $4,000–12,000 range into one number, and it is credited against the build.
• You own the code and the app. Repository, Partner account and hosting are in your name from day one. No lock-in to us.
• Staged delivery. The first working slice ships in 2–3 weeks, so you can check the assumption before the rest of the budget is committed.
• Maintenance is optional and priced separately — see maintenance plan costs. For ongoing development without a product, hiring a Shopify developer by the hour is often the better structure, and Shopify Plus agency pricing covers larger engagements.

FAQ

How much does it cost to build a Shopify app?

Between $1,500 and $35,000, depending on type. A simple private app or integration is $1,500–4,000 (40–80 hours), a custom app with its own admin interface is $4,000–12,000 (120–250 hours), and a public App Store app is $15,000–35,000 (400–800 hours). A Shopify Function or checkout extension is $1,200–3,000.

How much does a custom Shopify app cost compared to a public one?

Roughly three times less for the same business logic. A custom private app is $4,000–12,000; the same functionality released publicly is $15,000–35,000. The difference is not features — it is OAuth per shop, the Billing API, three mandatory GDPR webhooks, App Store review and an ongoing public support obligation.

How long does it take to build a Shopify app?

1–3 weeks for a Function or checkout extension, 2–4 weeks for a private integration, 6–12 weeks for a custom app with an admin UI, and 4–8 months for a public App Store app. The public timeline includes 2–6 weeks of App Store review, which frequently takes more than one round.

What are the ongoing costs of a Shopify app?

Hosting is $20–200/mo depending on traffic and background jobs. Budget roughly 15–20% of the build cost per year for maintenance: Shopify ships quarterly API versions and deprecates older ones on a fixed schedule, so an app left untouched will eventually break.

Do I need a developer to build a Shopify app?

For anything touching orders, inventory or checkout, yes. No-code tools can automate simple flows, but they cannot implement Shopify Functions, handle bulk operations on large catalogues, or satisfy App Store requirements. If an existing app covers 80% of the need, buying it is cheaper than building.

Can you work with our existing ERP or CRM?

Yes — that is the most common request we get. We scope the non-Shopify side first, because that is where the cost risk sits: Shopify's API is documented and stable, while legacy systems vary enormously. After scoping we quote a fixed number rather than a range.