What should a fixed-price app quote include?

Apple rejected 1,931,400 of the 7,771,599 app submissions it reviewed in 2024, according to its App Store Transparency Report. That is roughly one submission in four sent back. Most app quotes we see in Lebanon never say who pays for the second attempt.

That silence is the trouble with the word fixed. A quote is only fixed when it answers that question and seven others like it, in writing, before you sign. Below is the list we use for mobile app development at Voxire. Hold any quote against it, including ours.

What does a fixed app quote need to say in writing?

A fixed app quote needs eight lines in writing: scope, platforms, payment triggers, the change rate, third-party charges, VAT, an expiry date and what happens after launch. Without them, the total is an estimate with a fixed label on it. Every gap becomes a negotiation later, usually at the worst moment.

Source: Apple Developer Program, Google Play Console help, PwC Lebanon tax summary, read 2026-10-23

We moved our own proposals to this shape in September. One client proposal had grown into a menu of options with price ranges, and every conversation drifted toward which option was the real one. We replaced it with one package and one number, the value of each part itemised, third-party fees passed through at cost, a revision stamp listing what changed since the last version, and a date the offer expires. Voxire now returns a fixed-scope quote within 24 hours of a brief.

When is a fixed quote the wrong model for an app?

A fixed quote is the wrong model when you cannot yet list the screens. If the product is still an idea, pay for a short discovery phase first. Then fix the price of the build once the scope is written down and both sides have signed it.

Hourly billing suits work where the list changes every month: maintenance, growth features, experiments after launch. On a first build it moves the risk onto you, because every unclear requirement becomes billable time. The 36 app firms GoodFirms lists in Lebanon bill a median of $37 an hour, so a vague month can cost more than a precise quote.

Fixed moves that risk to the team quoting. That is why a serious fixed number arrives after questions, not before. Our scope runs on a 15-question discovery form. A firm that quotes a fixed total from one WhatsApp message is guessing, and you pay for the guess later in change requests.

What is the typical cost of app development?

A first version of a business app usually lands between the high four figures and the low five figures in Lebanon. At the GoodFirms median of $37 an hour, a $10,000 quote implies roughly 270 hours of work. That is a quick test of whether the scope and the number belong together.

Our own published price for a Voxire mobile MVP starts from $8,000, quoted as one fixed figure with the scope attached. What that buys, screen by screen, is in MVP App Development in Lebanon: What $8,000 Buys. For how Lebanese firms compare on rates and process, see App Development Company in Lebanon: Rates, Vendors, Checks.

Budget past launch too. Business of Apps puts annual maintenance at roughly 15 to 25% of the original build cost. A quote that ends on launch day has priced only part of your first year.

How should payments be split across an app build?

Split payments against things you can test yourself. A deposit starts the work, a second payment follows a working beta on your own phone, and the last one waits for approval in both stores. Dates and phrases like design complete are not milestones, because nobody can test them.

Our proposals use half at signing, a quarter at beta and a quarter at store approval. The last payment sits behind approval, not submission, for a reason Apple publishes every year. Of the 7,771,599 submissions it reviewed in 2024, 1,931,400 were rejected, and performance was the most cited section with 1,235,471 rejections, per its App Store Transparency Report. A team paid in full on submission has little reason to hurry the fix.

What counts as a change request, and what is a defect?

A defect is anything that fails the written scope; a change request is anything the scope never mentioned. Defects get fixed free during the warranty period. Changes get a price in writing before anyone writes code, at a day rate the quote already states.

This is where most fixed projects go wrong. Without a written scope, every disagreement is a change to the vendor and a defect to the client, and both are right. The fix is boring: a numbered feature list, acceptance notes for each item, and the change rate on page one. Our proposals carry one promise in plain words: fixed means fixed. If something the scope lists was missed, we absorb it.

Ownership belongs in the same contract. Who holds the source code, the signing keys and the store accounts is covered in App Developers in Lebanon: What to Check Before You Sign.

Which third-party charges should a quote list separately?

Store accounts, hosting, paid APIs and VAT should sit outside the build fee, at cost, in your company's name. Apple charges $99 a year for its Developer Program, and Google charges a one-time $25 registration fee.

Bundled fees hide two problems. You cannot see the markup. Worse, the accounts often end up registered to the agency, which then controls your listing. Apple's fee also renews every year on an international card, and paying foreign subscriptions by card is still not a given for Lebanese companies. Decide whose card carries it before launch.

Lebanon's standard VAT rate is 11%, and exported services are zero-rated, according to PwC's Lebanon tax summary. The same build can therefore carry two totals: one for a Beirut company and one for a client abroad. A quote that does not say whether VAT is inside the number is really two different quotes.

What should you actually do this week?

Put every quote you hold through the eight lines above and mark each line that is missing. A quote with three gaps cannot be compared with one that has none, whatever the totals say. Ask for the missing lines in writing before you compare prices.

• Ask the hourly vendor for an hours estimate per feature, then multiply by their rate.
• Ask every vendor for the change rate and the warranty period.
• Check whether VAT sits inside each total.
• Open the Apple and Google accounts in your company's name now.
• Ask when each quote expires, and ask for a revision stamp on every new version.

None of this needs a lawyer. It needs one page, read slowly.

Sources

• Apple, 2024 App Store Transparency Report, read 2026-10-23
• Apple Developer Program membership, read 2026-10-23
• Google Play Console: register for a developer account, read 2026-10-23
• GoodFirms: mobile app development companies in Lebanon, read 2026-10-23
• PwC tax summary for Lebanon, VAT section, read 2026-10-23
• Business of Apps: app development cost, read 2026-10-23

Want one fixed number for your app?

Send us the screens you have in mind, even as a rough list. We send back one fixed-scope quote within 24 hours, with the payment triggers, the change rate, the VAT line and every third-party charge written out. Hold it against the eight lines above.

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