What It Really Costs to Maintain an App After Launch

The Cost Nobody Warns You About

You built your app. It launched. Users are signing up. Congratulations! Now here's the part nobody mentioned during the sales pitch: app maintenance cost is an ongoing expense that doesn't stop.

Industry standard is 15-25% of the original build cost per year in maintenance. An app that cost $50K to build will cost $7,500-12,500 annually to maintain. This isn't optional — it's the cost of keeping your product alive and functional.

What App Maintenance Actually Includes

1. Hosting and Infrastructure ($100-2,000/month)

Your app needs servers, databases, CDN, and storage. Costs scale with users:

Using platforms like Vercel, Railway, or AWS with auto-scaling keeps costs proportional to actual usage.

2. Third-Party Services ($100-1,000/month)

Modern apps rely on paid services:

• Authentication (Auth0, Clerk) — $0-500/month
• Email (Resend, SendGrid) — $0-100/month
• Payments (Stripe) — 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• Monitoring (Sentry, Datadog) — $0-200/month
• Analytics (Mixpanel, Amplitude) — $0-300/month
• Search (Algolia) — $0-200/month

3. Bug Fixes and Patches (5-10 hours/month)

Every app has bugs that surface in production. User-reported issues, edge cases you didn't test, browser compatibility problems. Budget 5-10 hours per month of developer time for ongoing bug fixes.

4. Security Updates (2-5 hours/month)

Dependencies need updating. Security patches need applying. SSL certificates need renewing. GDPR compliance needs maintaining. This is non-negotiable — one unpatched vulnerability can cost you everything.

5. OS and Platform Updates (10-20 hours/year)

When iOS, Android, or browser versions update, your app needs to be tested and potentially modified. Major OS releases can require significant development work.

6. Performance Monitoring and Optimization (3-5 hours/month)

As your user base grows, you'll need to optimize database queries, add caching, improve load times, and scale infrastructure. Neglecting performance means losing users.

The Annual Maintenance Budget

Here's a realistic annual breakdown for a $50K app:

That's roughly 29-58% of the original build cost in year one. In subsequent years, it typically stabilizes at 15-25% as the app matures and bug rates decrease.

How to Reduce Maintenance Costs

Choose the Right Tech Stack

Modern frameworks like Next.js with TypeScript catch errors at build time rather than in production. The upfront investment in a solid tech stack pays dividends in lower maintenance costs.

Write Tests During Development

Apps built with good test coverage (80%+) have significantly fewer production bugs. Insisting on tests during development saves multiples in maintenance costs later.

Use Managed Services

Every managed service you use (authentication, payments, email) is a system you don't have to maintain yourself. The monthly cost of Stripe is far less than maintaining your own payment infrastructure.

Invest in Monitoring

Set up error tracking (Sentry), uptime monitoring (Better Uptime), and performance monitoring (Vercel Analytics) from day one. Catching issues early is cheaper than fixing them after users complain.

Plan for Maintenance in Your Budget

The biggest mistake founders make is budgeting for the build but not for maintenance. When budgeting for your app, add 20% of the build cost as your annual maintenance line item.

Maintenance Retainer vs Ad-Hoc

You have two options for ongoing maintenance:

Monthly Retainer ($1,500-3,000/month)

• Guaranteed availability
• Includes hours for bug fixes, updates, and small improvements
• Typically 15-30 hours of developer time per month
• Better for active apps with regular users

Ad-Hoc (Pay per fix)

• Only pay when something needs attention
• Higher hourly rate ($80-150/hour vs retainer rates)
• No guaranteed response time
• Better for apps with low traffic and minimal changes

At Soatech, we offer maintenance retainers starting at $1,500/month that cover hosting, monitoring, bug fixes, security updates, and small feature improvements.

The Bottom Line

App maintenance isn't an if — it's a when and how much. Budget for it from the start, choose technologies that minimize maintenance overhead, and find a reliable partner who knows your codebase.

Need a maintenance plan for your app? Talk to us — we'll put together a plan that keeps your app running smoothly without breaking your budget.