3-Year Mobile Development TCO: What US Enterprises Actually Pay 2026

$840,000. That is what the average US mid-market enterprise spends on a mobile app over three years - split roughly $350,000 in Year 1 and $245,000 in each of Years 2 and 3. Most budgets plan for Year 1. Years 2 and 3 arrive as operational surprises that require emergency budget justification or deferred maintenance that accumulates as technical debt. This analysis builds the full three-year picture by vendor model, including where costs concentrate, where AI-augmented staffing creates meaningfu