How Much Does a Web Application Cost in 2026?

Building a web application in the Hungarian market in 2026 prices out roughly like this: an internal company tool (a register, a job sheet manager, a calculator) runs between €5,000 and €12,500, a customer facing portal between €12,500 and €30,000, and a complex system with many integrations and roles between €38,000 and €75,000. Add yearly maintenance on top, 15 to 20 percent of the build cost. These are nearshore rates, which is why building with a Hungarian team is attractive for Western European and US companies. Let us see where the numbers come from.

First, what counts as a web application?

A web application is any software that runs in a browser and that the user works in: they record data, start a process, manage lists. It is not the same as a brochure website, which mainly presents information. We cover the dividing line in a separate article: website or web application. Typical web applications are a booking admin, a customer portal, a warehouse register, or a quote builder.

Price bands by task type

Task	Typical scope	Price band
Internal tool	1 core flow, few users, simple permissions	€5,000 to €12,500
Customer portal	registration, customer accounts, documents, statuses	€12,500 to €30,000
Booking / ordering system	calendar or stock, payment, admin, notifications	€15,000 to €38,000
Complex system	multiple roles, several integrations, reports, large data	€38,000 to €75,000
Yearly maintenance	bug fixes, updates, small changes	15 to 20% of the build cost

What moves the price most?

Five factors decide almost everything:

Roles and permissions. As long as everyone sees the same thing, life is simple. The moment there is a customer, an agent, and a manager view, the number of screens and test cases multiplies.
Integrations. Invoicing, CRM, bank payment, mail system, an existing company database. In our experience each integration means 1 to 3 weeks of work, depending on how well documented the other system is.
Data migration. If data has to come over from current spreadsheets or an old system, that is a separate project part: cleaning, mapping, trial loads.
Reports and statistics. The “just one report” is usually the most underestimated item, because it always turns out to be needed in five different breakdowns.
Load and availability. Serving twenty internal users and twenty thousand customers are two separate technical worlds.

Worked example: a booking system with admin

To show what sits behind the numbers, here is the hour breakdown of a typical mid size project. As a client, it is worth asking for a breakdown like this on every quote.

Work item	Hours
Specification, process design	40
UI/UX designs	60
Booking interface (customer side)	90
Admin interface (calendar, services, staff)	110
Payment integration and invoicing hookup	50
E-mail notifications, reminders	25
Testing, bug fixing	60
Go live, onboarding	15
Total	450 hours

450 hours at a Hungarian agency rate of €30 to €65 per hour gives a band of €13,500 to €29,000. Exactly the customer portal category in the table. If a quote for the same thing says €5,000, hours are missing, usually the specification, the testing, or the admin interface.

Off the shelf SaaS or custom build?

Many tasks have rentable software (for CRM, for example, there is MiniCRM and others), and it is worth looking at that first. The rule of thumb is total cost of ownership: a €125 a month subscription is €4,500 over three years, €7,500 over five. If the off the shelf software covers most of your process, it is the cheaper and faster route. It is worth switching to a custom build when your processes really are unique, when several systems need connecting, or when the license fee grows with headcount and you can already see it running away. We walk through this decision in detail in beyond Excel.

For a custom build we also recommend starting with a narrow first version. What that means exactly is shown in our article on the MVP.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a simple web application cost? An internal tool serving one process is built for €5,000 to €12,500 in the Hungarian market. The bottom of the band has few roles and minimal design, the top has several user types and a connected external system.

Why does a customer portal cost more than an internal tool? Because customers use it. It needs registration, password handling, data protection, a polished interface, and it has to serve heavier load. The same function facing outward always costs more than facing inward.

How much is monthly upkeep for a web application? Server, backups, monitoring, and small fixes together typically run €75 to €250 a month for a mid size system.

How long does it take to build? An internal tool in 6 to 10 weeks, a customer portal in 3 to 5 months is realistic. The most common cause of slippage is not development, it is late content and late decisions, so we plan time for that up front.