The short answer. Digital Legates builds native iOS (Swift, SwiftUI), native Android (Kotlin), cross-platform React Native and Flutter apps, customer portals, admin panels, and API integrations. Single-platform MVP ₹5,00,000–₹12,00,000. Cross-platform MVP ₹8,00,000–₹18,00,000. Production-grade with backend ₹15,00,000–₹35,00,000+. Every build ships with a 30-day warranty and full IP transfer.
Three buyer profiles
we see the most.
The startup with validated demand and no engineering team.
You've proven the idea — waitlist, LOIs, or a scrappy no-code prototype pulling signups. You need a real app built by real engineers, on a real backend, with a real launch plan. And you need to stay lean while you raise your next round.
The scaling business drowning in manual work.
Your ops team is running the business off Google Sheets, Airtable, and 12 tabs open at once. You need a customer portal, an admin panel, or an internal tool that automates the workflow — freeing your team for the 20% of work only humans can do.
The established business needing systems to talk.
You have a CRM, an ERP, an accounting tool, a payment gateway, and a website — and none of them talk to each other. You need proper integration work: middleware, webhooks, sync jobs, and data-quality checks that stop the copy-paste labour costing your team hours a day.
Every stack
we ship in-house.
iOS
(Swift, SwiftUI).
For apps that need best-in-class performance, deep platform features (ARKit, HealthKit, Passkeys, CoreML, Camera API), or a polished UX following Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. SwiftUI-first for new builds, with UIKit fallbacks where needed.
What ships
- SwiftUI + UIKit hybrid architecture
- MVVM or TCA (The Composable Architecture)
- Async/await with Swift Concurrency
- Passkeys, Sign in with Apple, biometric auth
- Push notifications via APNs
- StoreKit 2 for subscriptions & IAP
- WidgetKit, Live Activities, App Intents
- App Store submission & ASO
Android
(Kotlin, Compose).
Kotlin + Jetpack Compose for modern Android builds. Material Design 3, edge-to-edge display support, and the platform-specific polish that separates a well-built Android app from a cross-platform port.
What ships
- Jetpack Compose UI
- MVVM with Hilt / Koin DI
- Coroutines & Flow for async
- Room / DataStore for local persistence
- Retrofit + OkHttp for networking
- Firebase or Google Cloud Messaging for push
- Google Play Billing for subscriptions
- Play Store submission & ASO
React
Native.
The right cross-platform choice when your team already knows React, when you're building for both iOS and Android and don't have OS-specific requirements, or when time-to-market matters more than platform-native polish. Expo for most builds; bare workflow when we need custom native modules.
What ships
- Expo SDK (managed or bare)
- TypeScript throughout
- React Query / TanStack Query for data
- Zustand or Redux Toolkit for state
- React Navigation for routing
- EAS Build & EAS Update pipelines
- Native module integration when needed
- Cross-platform CI/CD via EAS + GitHub Actions
Flutter
& Dart.
The other cross-platform contender. Better performance than React Native for graphics-heavy apps and a more consistent look across platforms. We pick Flutter when the app is visually distinctive, animation-heavy, or when the client team already has Dart familiarity.
What ships
- Flutter 3.x with sound null safety
- Riverpod or Bloc for state management
- Dio for networking
- Hive / Drift for local persistence
- Firebase integration & push notifications
- In-app purchases via in_app_purchase
- Custom design-system implementation
- Flutter Web / Desktop where relevant
APIs
& integrations.
REST, GraphQL, or gRPC — pick the right shape for the problem. Backend in Node.js (Express, Fastify, NestJS), Python (Django, FastAPI), or Go depending on team preference and workload. Deployed on your infrastructure or ours.
What ships
- REST API with OpenAPI spec
- GraphQL with Apollo or Yoga
- Third-party integrations (Stripe, Razorpay, Twilio, SendGrid)
- Webhook handling & retry logic
- Rate-limiting & API keys
- Postman collection & developer docs
- SDK generation for client apps
- Middleware for legacy-system sync
Customer
portals.
Self-serve portals where your customers can log in, view their data, submit requests, upload documents, download invoices, and manage their account — without your team having to answer another email. Usually the highest-ROI internal build for growing service businesses.
What ships
- Authentication (email, SSO, SAML, magic-link)
- Role-based access control
- Account & profile management
- Document upload & management
- Invoice / billing history
- Request / ticket submission
- Notification centre
- Admin-side view for your team
Admin panels
& internal tools.
The unglamorous engineering that turns a scaling ops nightmare into a business that runs quietly in the background. Retool, Refine, or custom Next.js panels — the choice depends on how far the workflow needs to go beyond off-the-shelf tools.
What ships
- Retool app builds for internal workflows
- Refine.dev / Next.js custom admin
- Database-connected CRUD interfaces
- Approval workflows & role permissions
- Audit logs & version history
- Bulk operations (imports, exports, updates)
- Scheduled jobs & report generation
- Slack / email notification hooks
DevOps
& deployment.
The infrastructure layer that keeps everything running. AWS, GCP, Azure, or DigitalOcean depending on your existing setup. CI/CD via GitHub Actions or GitLab. Monitoring, alerting, and disaster-recovery baked in — not an afterthought.
What ships
- Cloud infrastructure setup (AWS / GCP / Azure)
- Docker containerisation
- Kubernetes when scale justifies it
- CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi)
- Monitoring (Datadog, New Relic, Grafana)
- Alerting & incident response
- Disaster recovery & backup strategy
How we actually scope.
Two contracting models. We recommend the one that matches the maturity of your requirements.
Fixed price — for well-defined work.
Written spec, agreed milestones, defined acceptance criteria, and a fixed total price. Predictable for both sides. Change requests estimated separately. Best when the product is clear and the requirements are stable — MVP builds, well-scoped portals, established feature sets.
Time-and-materials — for evolving products.
Monthly engineering retainer with agreed team composition (say: 1 tech lead, 2 engineers, 1 QA). We work against a rolling backlog you prioritise. Best for products still finding fit, complex platforms, and ongoing engineering partnerships. Transparent hours reporting.
Milestones & acceptance criteria.
Every scope is broken into 3–6 milestones with dated deliverables and written acceptance criteria. Nothing counts as "done" until you sign off. This is why our timelines rarely blow up — the milestones catch drift early instead of surprising both sides at project end.
30-day warranty.
Any bug in the delivered scope is fixed for free within 30 days of go-live. After that, you're on an engineering retainer or on your own — but never abandoned. We do not ship something and disappear on invoice day.
Ranged, published,
no theatre.
MVP — single platform.
₹5,00,000–₹12,00,000. iOS or Android only, 10–15 screens, auth + core flows, integrations with 1–2 third parties, App Store submission. 8–14 weeks. For startups validating a hypothesis with real users.
MVP — cross-platform.
₹8,00,000–₹18,00,000. iOS + Android via React Native or Flutter, same scope as A, plus dual-store submission. 10–16 weeks. For startups needing both platforms at launch on a lean budget.
Production-grade with backend.
₹15,00,000–₹35,00,000+. Everything above, plus custom backend, payments, notifications, admin panel, deep integrations, scale-ready architecture, and monitoring. 16–28 weeks. For real products going to real users at real scale.
Ongoing engineering retainers from ₹80,000/month (part-time coverage for maintenance and small features) up to ₹4,00,000+/month (full-time team for continuous product work). Internal tools and portals typically ₹3,00,000–₹12,00,000 depending on complexity. Integration projects quoted at ₹75,000–₹4,00,000 per integration.
App questions without the spin.
How much does an app cost to build in India?
Single-platform MVP ₹5,00,000–₹12,00,000. Cross-platform MVP ₹8,00,000–₹18,00,000. Production-grade with backend ₹15,00,000–₹35,00,000+. ₹50,000 quotes are lies or a WebView template.
How long does an app take to build?
MVP 8–14 weeks. Production with backend 16–28 weeks. Complex platform 20–36 weeks. Assumes weekly reviews, designs by week 4, integrations documented pre-development.
Native or cross-platform?
Native for best-in-class performance or deep platform APIs. Cross-platform (React Native or Flutter) for faster time-to-market and one codebase. 70% of businesses should go cross-platform; we'll tell you which 30% you're in.
How do you handle scope changes?
Fixed-scope: change-request process, hours estimated, priced against retainer or as change order. T&M: flexes naturally, documented decisions. Never silent scope creep.
Do you also design the app?
Yes — UX research, wireframes, prototypes, hi-fi design, Figma library. If you have designs we work from them. We do not use UI kits as final design.
Do you handle App Store optimisation?
Yes — listings, keyword research, screenshots, video preview, category, reviews solicitation, post-launch ASO iteration. It's SEO for the app stores.
Do you offer maintenance after launch?
Yes. 30-day warranty on delivered scope. After that, retainers from ₹80,000/month for updates, OS-version support, patches, and feature additions. Native apps especially need attention around annual iOS / Android releases.
Will I own the code?
Yes. Source code, backend config, developer accounts, custom libraries. Under your GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket. Another team can build and deploy from the README on day one.
Ready to brief us on an app or engineering project?
45-minute scoping call. Bring wireframes if you have them, a description if you don't, and the business problem you're solving — we'll come back with a written scoping brief within 5 working days.