App maintenance cost in India: what a monthly plan should cover (2026)

Short answer: plan for 15 to 20% of the build cost every year. Cleveroad, an app development company, attributes that range to the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ) for small and medium business products (Cleveroad). For an app that cost ₹5,00,000 to build, that is about ₹75,000 to ₹1,00,000 a year, or roughly ₹6,000 to ₹8,500 a month, before any new features. The real figure depends on who does the work and what the plan covers.

This guide shows where that money goes in India and gives you a checklist to compare maintenance plans.

What maintenance covers

Maintenance is everything a live app needs to keep working:

• Hosting and a database. The server the app runs on and where its data lives, paid every month.
• Domain and https certificate. Renewed every year.
• Bug fixes. Real users find bugs that testing missed.
• Updates. Android, iOS, browsers and the libraries your app is built on keep changing. An app nobody updates slowly stops working.
• Security. Patching, checking who can see which data, and watching logins and payments.
• Monitoring and backups. Knowing the app is down before your customers do, and being able to restore yesterday's data.
• Support. Answering your questions and your users' questions.

New features are not maintenance. Ask any company which of these items its "maintenance" price includes.

The fixed fees

• Google Play developer account: US$25 one time (Google Play Console Help).
• Apple Developer Program: US$99 a year if you are in the App Store (Apple Developer).
• Domain: a small yearly renewal.
• Hosting: small apps can start on free or low tiers; the bill grows with users and data.

What the work costs in India

One experienced developer on salary costs more than ₹90,000 a month, which only makes sense when the app is your whole business. Hourly help is cheaper on a quiet month and expensive on a bad one.

Three ways to pay for maintenance

1. Hire someone when it breaks. Cheap until something breaks. The new developer has to learn your code first, and you pay for that time.

2. Hire a developer. Someone who knows your app well, at a full salary every month.

3. A fixed monthly plan. One company hosts the app, keeps it secure, fixes bugs, keeps it updated and supports you for a known amount each month. For most small businesses this is the easiest cost to plan around.

Checklist: what a monthly plan should cover

Before you sign, get a clear "yes" or "no" in writing for each line:

• Hosting and database included
• Bug fixes included, with a usual reply time
• Android, iOS and library updates included
• Security patches and regular checks
• Daily backups, and a test that they can be restored
• Monitoring, so problems are found before your users report them
• How many changes a month are included, and the price of extra work
• Who owns your users' data, and how you get it if you leave
• What moving the app elsewhere would involve and cost
• Proper invoices for your accounts

If a company cannot answer these clearly, its monthly price is not the real price.

How we do it

At PixelRidge Web, maintenance is the whole offer. Bring an app idea, an app or website you already have, or an app you started with an AI builder. We build it if needed, then host it, keep it secure, fix bugs, keep it updated and support you, all for one monthly maintenance fee. See how it works on our India page. Terms and conditions apply.

FAQ

How much does app maintenance cost in India? A common rule of thumb is 15 to 20% of the build cost per year, which Cleveroad attributes to CISQ. For a ₹5,00,000 app, that is roughly ₹6,000 to ₹8,500 a month, plus fixed fees such as Apple's US$99 a year if you are in the App Store.

Is app maintenance a monthly or yearly cost? Both are common. Many companies in India quote a yearly maintenance contract; others charge monthly. A monthly fee is easier to budget and easier to stop if the service is poor.

What is included in app maintenance? Hosting, bug fixes, updates for new Android and iOS versions, security, backups, monitoring and support. New features are usually priced separately.

Can a different company maintain an app someone else built? Yes. A new company can take over existing code, usually after reviewing it and fixing what is broken first. Ask for that review before you agree a monthly price.

Do I need maintenance if my app works fine today? Yes. Phones, browsers and the services your app depends on keep changing, and security problems are found all the time. An app that works today can break after the next Android update.