Fitness App Development Cost: 3 Routes, 3-Year Totals

A custom fitness coaching app costs about $80,000 to $250,000 to build and takes 6 to 12 months, then $2,000 to $5,000 a month to run. HubFit's Branded App skips that development cost: $189 a month on top of your HubFit subscription, no setup fee, built and maintained for you.

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Key takeaways

Custom build: 6 to 12 months of development before launch, then running costs every month after.
White-label: HubFit builds, submits and maintains your app, typically live in 7 to 10 business days once your developer accounts are ready.
Over 3 years, our worked example comes to $140,322 for a custom build, against $7,126 in add-on and store fees for HubFit (your HubFit subscription comes on top).
Quotes leave out yearly store rules, store review and hosting. With HubFit, they're handled.

What does fitness app development cost include?

Fitness app development cost is everything you pay to create an app and keep it running. That means design, development, the backend, store accounts and years of updates. For a coaching business or a gym, it means two apps, not one:

The client app on iOS and Android: workouts, nutrition logging, check-ins, habits, progress, messages, community and challenges.
The coach side, where you write programs, review check-ins and automate messages. Without it, the client app is an empty shell.

Quotes tend to focus on the client app, but the coach side is where your week goes. It sets up each new client with their program, meal plans, questionnaires and check-ins, then shows you at a glance who trained, who ate to target and who needs a message. A custom build has to recreate every one of those screens, and each is a line on the quote.

In HubFit, both sides already run, and a branded app puts them under your name.

Why get a branded app instead of building one?

A branded app gives you everything a custom build would, under your own name, without the build. A white-label fitness app is a ready-built coaching app published under your business's name, icon and colors. Ours runs on the full HubFit platform, the #1 coaching app, so everything a developer would quote you to build is in your app on day one.

What coaching comes built in?

Training, nutrition and habits are the screens your clients open every day, and the most work for a developer to build. In your branded app they already work the way you coach: your programs, your macro targets and your daily habits, all under your logo.

Training. Clients follow the program you write, log every set as they go and see a personal record the moment they hit one.
Nutrition. They log food by search or barcode against the macro targets you set, and follow your meal plans and recipes.
Habits. Daily habits like vitamins, meal prep and water intake come with reminders and streaks, so the small things get done between check-ins.

What keeps clients coming back between sessions?

Community, challenges and workout videos are often the first features cut to fit a custom build's budget. They are also what keeps a client opening your app on the days they don't see you. A personal trainer gets a reason for clients to train between sessions, and a gym owner gets members cheering each other on in the gym's own feed.

On-demand workouts. A library of follow-along workout videos clients stream in the app anytime, at home or in the gym.
Challenges. Milestone challenges with badges to earn, and step challenges with a leaderboard, all tracked automatically.
Community. A private feed in your brand where clients share wins, ask questions and keep each other going.

What else comes with it?

The app is only half of what a developer charges for. The rest is the work of keeping it live:

Built, submitted and maintained for you. We build your iOS and Android apps and prepare the store listings. Store review and your privacy policy are handled for you.
Every feature, kept up to date. Check-ins, progress and messaging sit alongside the features above, and new features and fixes reach your app automatically.
No developers, no setup fee. One monthly add-on replaces the agency and the yearly rebuilds.
An easy move. Clients already on HubFit sign in to your app with their existing details, history included.

How do you get your own branded app?

Getting your branded app takes three steps, and we do most of the work.

Share your brand: your logo, brand color and app name. No brand kit yet? We help you settle the name, icon and color.
We build and submit: your iOS and Android apps, through App Store and Google Play review, from your own developer accounts. You enroll your business with a free D-U-N-S number, and we walk you through it.
Your app is launched: typically live in 7 to 10 business days once your Apple and Google developer accounts are ready. Clients find it by searching your name.

What does a white-label fitness app cost?

A white-label fitness app from HubFit costs $189 a month on top of your HubFit subscription, plus Apple's and Google's own developer fees.

Branded App cost	Amount
Branded App add-on	$189 a month
Apple Developer Program	$99 a year
Google Play account	$25 once
Setup fee	None

That one price covers the build, store submissions, store review, your privacy policy and every update. There's no commitment and nothing to pay to apply. See if your app is a fit and apply here.

How much does it cost to build a custom fitness app?

A custom coaching app costs about $80,000 to $250,000 to build over 6 to 12 months, by our estimate, then $2,000 to $5,000 a month to run. Agency quotes for a basic version can start lower, but they usually stop at launch day.

What moves the price:

Features and complexity: video, payments, wearables, integrations and AI each add cost.
iOS and Android: two native apps cost more than one cross-platform app that shares its code.
No-code instead: cheaper upfront, but you build, submit and update the app yourself, and Apple's guideline 4.2.6 means it goes out under your own developer account.

To reduce the cost, ship an MVP first, go cross-platform, compare developer rates and get the yearly maintenance price in writing.

Fitness app cost over 3 years: a worked example

Over three years, the custom build in our example costs about $140,000. The white-label route costs a small fraction of that. The build is paid upfront, and maintenance never stops.

Custom build: $80,000 for a basic iOS and Android app, the low end of our estimate, live after 6 months. Then $2,000 a month to run it, the low end of our range.
No-code (example figures): a $200 a month plan, plus $3,000 to set it up. Your hours aren't counted.
HubFit: the Branded App at $189 a month, on top of your HubFit subscription.
All three: Apple's $99 a year and Google's $25 once, so $322 over three years.

Route	3-year total	Per month
Custom build	$140,322	$3,898
No-code	$10,522	$292
HubFit add-on + fees	$7,126	$198

HubFit's total is the add-on and the store fees; your HubFit subscription, the coaching software itself, comes on top.

For a business with 60 clients, that's $64.96 per client per month for the custom build, $4.87 for no-code and $3.30 for HubFit's add-on.

For coaches, trainers and gym owners, the choice is simple: if clients pay you for coaching, white-label fits. Build custom only when the app itself is the product.

What hidden costs do fitness app quotes leave out?

The hidden costs of a fitness app come after launch, and the biggest are store rules that change every year.

Yearly store rules: Apple and Google raise their build requirements every year, and each change means a rebuild and a resubmission.
Store review: a rejected update means a fix and another round.
Hosting: servers, video and push notifications grow with your clients. Hosting alone can run $350 to $1,000 a month for a coaching app, by our estimate.
Privacy: both stores need a privacy policy, and Google Play a Data safety form.
Client support: "I can't log in" lands in your inbox.

With the Branded App, the rebuilds, store submissions, store review and privacy policy are all included. Apply for your branded app.

FAQ

Short answers to what coaches and gym owners ask most about fitness app cost.

How much does it cost to build a fitness app?

A custom coaching app costs about $80,000 to $250,000 to build, then $2,000 to $5,000 a month to run. Over three years, even our conservative worked example totals $140,322. HubFit's Branded App is $189 a month on top of your HubFit subscription, plus Apple's $99 a year and Google's $25 once. Personal trainers often start here.

Is it cheaper to build an app yourself?

A no-code builder is cheaper upfront, but the cost moves to your time: design, store submissions, yearly updates and client support. Coding it yourself only pays off if you're a developer. For most coaches, an hour with clients earns more than an hour fixing an app, so a white-label app built for you usually costs less.

How long does it take to build a fitness app?

The timeline for a custom coaching app is about 6 to 12 months. A no-code app takes as long as your own hours allow, plus store review. HubFit's Branded App is typically live in 7 to 10 business days once your Apple and Google developer accounts are ready, because the app is already built and tested.

Do I need my own Apple and Google developer accounts?

Yes, so the app is listed under your business's name. We guide you through enrolling, and putting your fitness app on the App Store explains each step.

The bottom line

If your app serves your coaching, a branded app is the smart route. You get your own app on the App Store and Google Play for $189 a month on top of your HubFit subscription, with the build, store review and every update handled. Applying costs nothing.