"How much does it cost to build an app?" The honest answer: it depends, and the range is wide, from tens of millions to billions of rupiah. But "it depends" doesn't help you set a budget. This article explains where the numbers come from, what range is reasonable in Indonesia in 2026, and how to work out whether an app is worth it for your distribution company.
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Figures published by several Indonesian software houses in 2026 look roughly like this:
| Type of app | Typical build cost | Example at a distributor |
|---|---|---|
| Simple internal tool, one flow | Rp15–40 million | An automatic daily sales recap |
| Operations system for one department | Rp40–120 million | A tiered price list, factory order planning |
| Cross-department system with integration | From Rp120 million | A sales app reading orders, stock and receivables from the ERP |
| Company-wide system | Hundreds of millions to billions | An ERP replacement, many branches, audit rules |
Every vendor counts differently, so treat these ranges as a guide, not a fixed price.
Where the numbers come from
Almost every software house uses the same formula: the number of working days times the day rate. The rate for developers with three to seven years of experience in Indonesia averages Rp750 thousand to Rp1.5 million per working day. So what really decides the cost is how many working days are needed, and that depends on:
- The number of workflows. One automatic report is far smaller than an app used by salesmen, admin staff and managers with different access rights.
- Integration. Reading data from an ERP or accounting system can be simple or complicated, depending on the system.
- Users in the field. An app on a salesman's phone has to work with a weak signal and a small screen.
- Business rules. Price tiers, stacked discounts, credit rules per shop: each rule has to be built and tested.
- AI features. Summarised voice reports or per-shop analysis cost money to build, plus a monthly fee for using the AI model.
Costs after the app is built
This is the part most often forgotten when comparing quotes:
- Maintenance: usually 15–25% of the build cost per year, for bug fixes, security updates and small adjustments.
- Servers and hosting: from a few hundred thousand to millions of rupiah a month, depending on users and data.
- Third-party services: the WhatsApp Business API, maps, email or payment gateways.
- AI model fees: charged by usage. Usually small per transaction, but still worth budgeting for.
- New features: extra requests after the app is live are usually priced separately from maintenance.
If a quote doesn't mention these costs, ask before you sign.
How to work out whether it's worth it
Don't compare the cost of an app with zero. Compare it with the cost of the way you work now. A simple example for a sales recap and analysis app:
- Three admin staff and supervisors each spend 10 hours a week on recaps and analysis in Excel. That's 30 hours a week, or about 1,500 hours a year.
- Assuming salary and benefits of about Rp12 million per person per month, or about Rp75 thousand an hour, that work is worth about Rp112 million a year.
- That's before the extra sales from shops nobody had time to analyse, like the example in AI for sales analysis per shop.
If an Rp80 million app, plus 20% a year for maintenance, removes most of that work, it pays for itself within the first year. If the work it replaces is only two hours a week, it may not be worth it yet, and ready-made software or a tidier Excel file is enough.
How to keep costs down without hurting the result
- Start with one job. A small first app that gets used is worth more than a big system that's half finished. How to choose it is in how to use AI in your company.
- Don't replace the ERP unless you must. An app that reads ERP data is far cheaper than replacing it. The trade-offs are in ERP or a custom app for distributors.
- Pay per stage. Split the project into stages, each ending with something the team can already use.
- Have an owner inside the company. One person from operations who decides priorities will cut out many rounds of changes.
- Choose builders who understand distribution. You also pay for the time spent explaining how a distributor works to builders who don't know yet.
A quick rule of thumb: a mid-sized distributor's first app usually makes most sense at the size of one department, scoped to the one job that takes the most time. Once it's proven, the next apps are faster and cheaper to build because the data is already connected.
Questions for every quote
Before comparing prices from several vendors, make sure every quote answers:
- What's included in each stage, and what isn't?
- What is the yearly maintenance cost, and what does it cover?
- Who owns the source code, the data and the server accounts?
- How long until the first version can be used by the team?
- How will the app read data from the systems you already have?
Who should build the app is covered in choosing a software house, a freelancer or an in-house IT team. If you're costing out your own team, also look at the salaries, hiring time and key-person risk discussed there.
Work it out for your company
The ranges above are only a guide. The real cost can only be worked out once it's clear which job you want to automate and where its data comes from. In a free consultation, we help you map that job, so you can ask for quotes with a clear scope, from us or from anyone else.