Building an app for your business in Switzerland, step by step

The short answer

Building an app for your business takes six steps: check that an app is the right answer, describe what it must do, design every screen, choose the technology, develop and publish it, then keep it running.

Among the Swiss studios that publish their figures, a first version costs CHF 10,000 to 50,000 and takes two to six months. Upkeep then runs at 5 to 20% of the initial cost every year. The details, studio by studio: how much a mobile app costs in Switzerland in 2026.

The first three steps involve no code at all. Yet they are the ones that set the budget.

1. Check that you need an app

Three tools meet three different needs:

• a website, to get found and present what you offer. A visitor who drops by once a year will not install anything;
• an installable web app, which opens from the browser and can be added to the home screen without going through the app stores. On iPhone, it has been able to send notifications since iOS 16.4 (WebKit), and its price is often three to five times lower than that of an equivalent mobile app;
• a mobile app, published on the App Store and Google Play.

A mobile app makes sense when one of these conditions is met:

• your customers or your staff come back every week: to order, book, track a delivery, fill in a report;
• it needs the phone itself: the camera, location, Bluetooth, working offline;
• the service relies on notifications: an appointment reminder, an order that is ready, a changed route;
• your customers look for you in the app stores.

For a tool meant only for your staff, the app can be distributed privately, without appearing in the stores.

2. Describe what it must do

One page is enough, if it answers five questions:

1. The main tasks, one sentence each: “order a meal and pay with TWINT”, “book a slot and get a reminder”, “photograph a building site and send the signed report”.
2. The users and their roles: customer, staff, administrator. Each role adds screens.
3. Connections to your tools: calendar, till, business software, payment. A complex integration takes three to eight days of work, according to Swiss studios.
4. The languages: in Switzerland, often two or three. Each language adds text to write, translate and test on every screen.
5. The personal data the app processes, and the country where it will be hosted. It falls under the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP), in force since 1 September 2023.

Then decide what goes into the first version: whatever serves the main task. The rest can wait until real users tell you what they are missing. The scope can multiply the budget by five to eight: it is the decision with the biggest impact on the price.

3. Design every screen before any code

The mockup shows every screen and the flow between them, as a prototype you tap through on a phone. Moving a button on a mockup takes a few minutes. Once the screen is built, the code has to be reworked, then everything tested again.

• Have three or four future users try it, without guiding them: wherever they hesitate, that screen needs rework.
• Make it the basis of the quote: the price covers the designed screens, one by one. Two quotes based on the same mockup can finally be compared.

Design accounts for 15 to 20% of the budget, according to Swiss studios.

4. Choose the technology

• Cross-platform (React Native, Flutter): a single codebase for iPhone and Android, 30 to 50% cheaper than two native apps, according to the studios. It is the most common choice for a booking, loyalty or field-service app, or a business tool.
• Native (Swift for iPhone, Kotlin for Android): two apps, so a higher budget. It pays off when the app pushes the phone hard: live video, Bluetooth, augmented reality.
• Installable web app: the lightweight option from step 1.

Behind the app, there is almost always a server and a back office: the accounts, the data, the notifications, and the screens where you change the menu or the opening hours yourself. This invisible part often makes up half the cost of a large project.

Also decide where the data lives, in Switzerland or in the European Union, and in whose name the hosting account is opened.

5. Build, test, publish

Development proceeds through test versions: you install the app on your phone while it is being built, and adjust it as the weeks go by.

The store accounts are opened in your company’s name, from the very start of the project:

• Apple: the Developer Program costs 99 US dollars a year. An organisation must provide a D-U-N-S number, which is used to verify its identity, legal status and address (Apple).
• Google Play: a one-time registration of 25 US dollars (Google). An organisation account also requires a D-U-N-S number (Google).
• The D-U-N-S number is free to request from Dun & Bradstreet, and getting one can take up to 30 days, according to Google (Google). Request it before development begins.

With a personal Google Play account opened after 13 November 2023, the app must be tested by at least 12 testers, opted in for 14 days in a row, before it can be published (Google). Google applies this requirement only to personal accounts (Google). An account opened in your company’s name also keeps the app’s store listing and its reviews with you, even if you change provider.

App review: Apple says it usually reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours, and 90% in under 48 hours (Apple). A rejected app comes back with the guideline at issue, and is resubmitted once fixed.

6. Keep it running

• Upkeep: 5 to 20% of the initial cost per year, according to Swiss studios. It covers the updates new iOS and Android versions require, fixes and monitoring.
• Server hosting: CHF 50 to 200 per month for a light infrastructure.
• The store commission, if the app sells digital content such as a subscription: 15 or 30%, depending on the case. A meal order or a physiotherapy booking is paid by card or TWINT, and no commission applies.
• Measurement: how many users come back, which screens get used, where they drop off. These figures decide the second version.

Timelines and budget

According to the Swiss studios that publish their figures, checked on 9 October 2026:

• a first version costs CHF 10,000 to 50,000, in two to six months; the fastest quote six weeks;
• a business app, with user accounts, a back office and connections to your tools, CHF 30,000 to 100,000;
• a complex project starts between CHF 50,000 and 100,000 depending on the studio, with no upper limit.

A studio that counts in hours plans 450 to 600 hours for a medium app on iPhone and Android with its server, about four months.

Plan for two more lead times: the D-U-N-S number, up to 30 days, and the store review. To compare quotes over three years, upkeep and hosting included: how to read an app quote.

The mistakes that cost the most

1. Putting everything in the first version. Every feature you add delays the day real users tell you what matters.
2. Store accounts in the provider’s name. The day you switch providers, getting the app back depends on their cooperation.
3. Forgetting the back office. Without a screen to change the menu or the opening hours, every change goes through the developer, and gets billed.
4. Not planning for upkeep. Operating systems change every year, and an app nobody updates ends up working poorly on recent phones.
5. Comparing quotes that price different things. Insist on the scope screen by screen, the server, hosting and upkeep, each priced separately.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to build an app for a business?

Among the Swiss studios that publish their figures, a first version costs CHF 10,000 to 50,000: the essentials of the app, to test it with real users. A business app, with user accounts, a back office and connections to your tools, costs CHF 30,000 to 100,000. Then allow 5 to 20% of the initial cost per year for upkeep, plus server hosting and the store accounts: 99 US dollars a year at Apple, a one-time 25 US dollars at Google.

How long does it take to build an app?

Allow two to six months for a first version, according to the Swiss studios that publish their timelines; the fastest quote six weeks. Describing what you need and designing the mockup take a few weeks, and development takes most of the time. Also plan for the D-U-N-S number, which Apple and Google require for a company account and which can take up to 30 days, then the store review: at Apple, 90% of submissions are reviewed in under 48 hours.

Do you need a mobile app or a website?

A website helps you get found and present what you offer; it is enough when your customers rarely visit. A mobile app makes sense when they come back every week, to order, book or track a case, or when it needs the phone itself: camera, location, notifications. In between, an installable web app can be added to the home screen without going through the stores, and often costs three to five times less.

Can you build an app yourself, without coding?

No-code tools let you assemble a simple app from templates, usually for a monthly subscription. They suit an internal tool or a first trial. Their limits show when the app has to connect to your till or your business software, when the data must stay in Switzerland, or when you want to leave the tool without rebuilding everything. Before you start, check who hosts the data and what you will be able to take with you.

Who owns the app once it is delivered?

Whoever the contract names: read it before you sign. It should hand you the code and the access credentials on delivery. The App Store and Google Play accounts should be in your company’s name, which keeps the app’s store listing, its reviews and its statistics with you. Server hosting should be in your name, or transferable with no hidden fees.

At Voren

For an app, we first design its complete mockup, every screen and the flow between them, for free: you go through it and change it before you decide. The quote prices what you approved, and the price is fixed before we start.

Request the mockup of my app

See how we build a mobile app, with three example apps designed down to the last screen.

A mobile app in Geneva: the same approach for Geneva businesses, with neighbouring France in mind.

How much does a mobile app cost in Switzerland in 2026: the prices published by six Swiss studios, the store fees and upkeep.