In focus
What an app actually costs to build in Dhaka, honestly
The number one question I get on WhatsApp is "app banaite koto taka lagbe?" There is no honest one-line answer, because "app" can mean a Flutter shell around a website (50,000 BDT, two weeks, looks like an app on the Play Store) or a multi-screen ride-sharing platform with live tracking, two user roles, payments, and an admin panel (3,00,000 BDT and up, real engineering).
The reason Dhaka quotes vary from 25,000 to 25 lakh for the "same" app is that nobody is talking about the same thing. The 25,000 BDT quote is a college student wrapping a WebView. The 25 lakh quote is an agency loading 18 months of office rent into your invoice. Neither is what most small businesses in Dhaka actually need.
Here is how I price it. The 50,000 BDT entry tier covers a single-purpose app: catalog browser, simple booking, content app, or a clean Flutter wrapper of your existing website with push notifications and offline caching. The 90,000 BDT tier adds user accounts, a CMS-driven backend, and a bKash or Nagad checkout. The 1,50,000 BDT tier is your real MVP: multiple user roles, full backend, payment, push, admin dashboard, Play Store and App Store launch.
Anything custom — live tracking, video, chat, machine learning, marketplace logic — starts at 3,00,000 BDT because that is where serious engineering time begins. I take 50% advance and 50% on launch, and your design is approved by you before a line of code is written so you are never surprised at the end.