What does it cost to build an app like TikTok?
Sample range · freelance
$44k–$101k
An agency would be $78k–$200k for the same scope. This is a pre-computed sample, not your estimate. Your version is probably smaller.
Where the money goes
Why this kind of app is expensive
Video is the expensive medium everywhere: capture, on-device editing, and transcoding to multiple resolutions happen before a clip is ever watched.
A recommendation feed that keeps strangers watching is a standing machine-learning system, not a sort order someone edits by hand.
Moderation has to run at upload time on every clip, because the platform is public by default the moment someone posts.
Sound, effects, and duet or stitch tooling multiply the editing surface well past a basic upload button.
The cheapest honest version of this idea is square video only, chronological feed instead of ranked, no duets or effects at launch. That lands nearer $29k–$66k.
Your app is not TikTok. Get the range for what you are actually building.
Not open yet
Launching this weekend.
The free range, the $79 spec and the $199 execution pack all open then. Nothing to sign up for — come back and paste your idea.
Same maths, other archetypes