Mobile App Running Costs: What Push, Deep Links and Analytics Bill Each Month

What each third-party service bills on

The list below gives the short answer. Providers change their pricing often, so check each pricing page before you commit. The billing model changes less often, and it's the billing model that decides your future bill. The app store fees come from the official pages. The Apple Developer Program costs "99 USD per membership year", and Apple notes that prices may vary by region. Google Play Console charges "a US$25 one-time registration fee". We checked both pages on 10 October 2026. There's a pattern here. Almost nothing charges you just for existing. Most services charge you for growing. That's good news for an MVP, as long as you know where the limits are. Here is what each service bills on:

• Push notifications. What it does: sends alerts to the phone. Free option at launch: Firebase Cloud Messaging, Expo push service. What makes the bill grow: paid platforms for segments, A/B tests and in-app messages, usually priced by subscribers or monthly active users.
• Deep links. What it does: opens a link straight to a screen in your app. Free option at launch: Universal Links (iOS) and App Links (Android), built into the OS. What makes the bill grow: attribution platforms, usually priced by monthly active users or attributed installs.
• Product analytics. What it does: shows what users do in the app. Free option at launch: Google Analytics for Firebase, free tiers of product analytics tools. What makes the bill grow: event volume or number of tracked users.
• Crash reporting. What it does: tells you when and why the app crashes. Free option at launch: Firebase Crashlytics, free tiers of error monitoring tools. What makes the bill grow: error volume, seats, data retention.
• In-app subscriptions. What it does: handles App Store and Google Play billing. Free option at launch: RevenueCat free tier. What makes the bill grow: a share of tracked revenue above a threshold.
• Backend. What it does: database, login, file storage. Free option at launch: Supabase free tier. What makes the bill grow: database size, storage, bandwidth, number of projects.
• App stores. What it does: lets you publish. Free option at launch: none. What you pay: Apple, 99 USD per membership year. Google Play, US$25 one-time registration fee.

Push notifications: what's free

Sending a push notification costs nothing at the platform level. Apple's push service and Firebase Cloud Messaging don't bill per message. If your app is built with Expo, Expo's push service sits on top of both and is free to use at the time of writing. For a v1 that sends reminders, order updates or "someone replied" alerts, that's enough.

Push notifications: when you start paying

You pay when you move to a marketing platform for push. These tools add audience segments, scheduled campaigns, A/B tests and in-app messages. Most charge by the number of subscribers or monthly active users. So your bill grows with your user count, not with the number of messages you send.

Push notifications: how to keep it low

Three ways to keep push costs down:

• Send transactional pushes (the ones triggered by something the user did) from your own backend. You don't need a campaign tool for those.
• Wait for a real need before you add a campaign tool. A growth hire who will run campaigns every week is a good example.
• Store push tokens in your own database. If you switch provider later, you keep your audience.

Deep links: what a deep link is

A deep link is a URL that opens a specific screen inside your app, like a product page or an invite, instead of the home screen. On iOS these are Universal Links. On Android they're App Links. Both are part of the operating system and cost nothing.

Deep links: the trap in old tutorials

Many guides still tell you to use Firebase Dynamic Links. Google shut that service down in August 2025. If a developer or a tutorial points you there, the advice is out of date.

Deep links: when you start paying

Paid deep linking platforms add two things the OS doesn't give you. Deferred deep links send a new user to the right screen after they install the app. Attribution tells you which ad or campaign brought in each install. These platforms usually bill by monthly active users or attributed installs, and many have a free tier with a cap.

Deep links: who actually needs it

A paid deep linking tool is worth it in some cases, not all:

• You run paid install ads and need to know which ad works. Attribution is worth paying for.
• Your growth depends on invites or referrals, and the new user must land on a specific screen after install. Deferred deep links help.
• Neither of the above. Universal Links and App Links are enough for v1.

Analytics SDKs: what's free

Google Analytics for Firebase is free and covers screens, events, retention and basic funnels. Several product analytics tools also have free tiers that fit an early-stage app.

Analytics SDKs: when you start paying

Product analytics tools usually bill on events or tracked users. The mistake that inflates the bill is tracking everything: every tap, every scroll, every screen. You hit the free limit early, and the data is too noisy to read.

Analytics SDKs: how to keep it low

Write down the five to ten events that answer your launch questions. Add events when you have a new question, not before. Not sure which events your v1 should track? Book a call. It's a free 30 minute call. For a booking app, this list is enough to see where users drop off:

• 1. Account created
• 2. Onboarding completed
• 3. First booking started
• 4. First booking paid
• 5. Second booking paid

The services founders forget

Push, deep links and analytics get most of the attention. These four end up on the monthly bill too. For more on what happens after the app is live, see our post-launch guides.

• Crash reporting. Firebase Crashlytics is free. Error monitoring tools with richer data often have free tiers capped by error volume.
• Subscriptions. If you sell in-app, RevenueCat handles App Store and Google Play billing. It's free up to a revenue threshold, then takes a share of tracked revenue. Apple and Google also take their own commission on each sale. Our app store fee calculator shows what that leaves you.
• Backend. Supabase has a free tier, but free projects can be paused after a period of inactivity. Move to a paid plan before launch day so your app doesn't go offline while you wait for users.
• Email and SMS. Password resets, receipts and verification codes go through an email or SMS provider. SMS is usually billed per message and per country, so it can grow faster than you expect.

Three example setups, from lean to ad-driven

Running costs are separate from the build. Our MVP package is Fixed at $3,460 for your app on the web, iOS and Android. You get a fixed quote before we start. Our feature cost guides go through what each feature involves, one by one. Here are three setups for running costs:

• Lean v1. Expo push, Universal Links and App Links, Google Analytics for Firebase, Crashlytics, Supabase. Almost everything sits on a free tier. Your fixed costs are the Apple fee of 99 USD per membership year, the one-time US$25 Google Play fee, and a paid backend plan once you go live.
• Subscription app. The lean setup plus RevenueCat. You pay nothing extra until you earn. After that, the cost follows your revenue.
• Ad-driven launch. The lean setup plus a paid attribution platform and a product analytics tool. This is the first setup where you pay every month from day one, because ads without attribution waste money faster than the tools cost.

What the build price covers, and what it doesn't

Running costs and build cost are two separate bills. This article is about the first one. For the second, see our app development cost page or try the MVP cost calculator. Our MVP Development package is Fixed at $3,460. You get a fixed quote before we start. It covers:

• Your app on the web, iOS and Android
• Design included
• Progress shown every week
• 100% of the code on your GitHub
• 2 weeks of fixes after launch

Before any build starts, ask for three things

Third-party services are separate. Each provider bills every month, and the bill goes to whoever owns the account. Before any build starts, with us or with anyone else, ask for three things. Sorting this out before the build takes an hour and saves a lot of trouble later. For what else to check before hiring a team, read our guides to hiring an MVP agency.

• 1. A list of every third-party service in the app and what each one bills on.
• 2. Every account opened in your name, with your payment card.
• 3. Admin access for you on each account, so nobody can lock you out.

Find out what your app will cost to build and to run

Want to know what your app will cost to build and to run? Book a call. It's a free 30 minute call.

How much does it cost to run an MVP app each month?

It depends on your services and your number of users. A lean v1 that uses free tiers for push, deep links, analytics and crash reporting mostly pays for a backend plan, plus the Apple Developer Program at 99 USD per membership year. Google Play is a one-time US$25 fee. The bill grows when a service goes past its free limit on users, events or revenue.

How much are the Apple and Google developer accounts?

According to their official pages, the Apple Developer Program costs 99 USD per membership year, and prices may vary by region. Google Play Console charges a US$25 one-time registration fee.

Do I need a paid deep linking tool for an MVP?

Usually not. Universal Links on iOS and App Links on Android are built in and free. A paid tool makes sense when you run paid install ads and need attribution, or when new users must land on a specific screen after installing.

Are push notifications free on iOS and Android?

Sending them is. Apple's push service and Firebase Cloud Messaging don't charge per message, and Expo's push service is free at the time of writing. You pay when you add a marketing platform for segments, campaigns and A/B tests.

Can I switch analytics or push providers later?

Yes, if you plan for it. Keep push tokens and key user data in your own database, and track a short list of named events. Then switching means swapping an SDK, not rebuilding your data.