What a Custom Med Spa App Actually Costs, and Who Is Allowed to Publish It

Published quotes for building a med spa client app run from $8,000 to more than $300,000, and the spread is not agencies disagreeing about the same job. It is agencies quoting different jobs. The cheap end is a booking and loyalty app with no clinical data in it. The expensive end is anything that touches identifiable health information, which one agency prices at roughly twice a comparable consumer app.

The cost question is also not the important one. Before a clinic spends anything, there is a rule that decides who is permitted to put the app on the App Store at all, and it quietly determines who owns the listing, the installs and the reviews if you ever change vendors. Most clinics never hear about it until they are already committed.

Every figure and every policy quotation on this page was read from Apple, Google or the agency's own website on 26 July 2026. App Store policy changes and agency pricing pages go stale; the guidelines quoted here carry Apple's "Last Updated: June 8, 2026" stamp.

We sell a branded app add-on, so we have an interest here. We have tried to write this so a clinic could read it and decide to build their own, or to use a competitor, and still get the right answer.

What does it cost to build a med spa app from scratch?

Here is what five development agencies publish on their own websites. The bands are not comparable to each other, and the reasons they are not comparable matter more than the numbers.

Captured 26 July 2026 from each agency's own published page. Bands are quoted as published and are not adjusted or averaged.

Why the quotes range from $8,000 to $300,000

Three things explain almost the entire spread.

Most of the cheap bands are not clinical. RaftLabs is pricing a loyalty app: points, tiers, referrals and a treatment gallery. Even at its mid tier, appointments appear as a request feature rather than a booking system. That is a genuinely different product from something that holds treatment records.

HIPAA scope roughly doubles the number. Topflight is blunt about it, putting health apps at "roughly 1.5x to 2x a comparable consumer app" and pricing them at $150,000 to $300,000 and up. On the same page it warns that "Anyone quoting you a HIPAA-compliant build at $30k is either subcontracting compliance to a vendor you'd want to vet, or assuming you'll add it post-launch." It also costs compliance separately from the build: a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis at $1,000 to $10,000 for a small organisation, a policy package at $1,000 to $5,000, and annual staff training per user.

Worth noting that CodeSol claims HIPAA-compliant storage, encrypted transmission and secure access controls inside an $8,000 to $15,000 band, which is roughly a quarter of Purrweb's HIPAA-inclusive figure and far below Topflight's stated healthcare floor. We are not saying it cannot be done at that price. We are saying that if you get a quote in that range, the compliance question is the one to ask in writing.

The build is not the bill. Every agency that publishes a maintenance figure puts it in the same place: Topflight at 25% of build cost per year, Wildnet Edge at 15 to 20%, Purrweb at 15 to 25% in its body copy and 15 to 20% in its own FAQ. On a $60,000 build that is $9,000 to $15,000 every year, forever, before hosting.

The store fees nobody puts in the quote

Read from Apple and Google's own pages, 26 July 2026.

Apple charges the $99 against the membership rather than against the app, so a clinic with one app and a clinic with three pay the same. Google's $25 is one-time rather than annual, which is a real difference worth knowing when you are budgeting.

Ignore anyone who suggests the Apple Developer Enterprise Program at $299. Apple states it "is only for the internal use and distribution of proprietary apps," it does not include App Store Connect access, and it requires the organisation to "Have 100 or more employees." It cannot publish to the App Store at all.

What the words actually mean

Every phrase in this category is used for both models, which is why a feature list cannot tell you what you are buying. This is the vocabulary translated.

That fourth row catches more clinics than any of the others. Five of the six platforms we checked that have no client app at all still use the word "branded" about their web booking surface, and in a feature list "branded booking website" and "branded app" sit one word apart.

Who is allowed to publish your app?

This is the part that decides everything else, and it comes down to one paragraph of Apple's App Store Review Guidelines. Guideline 4.2.6, in the version last updated 8 June 2026, reads in full:

"Apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service will be rejected unless they are submitted directly by the provider of the app's content. These services should not submit apps on behalf of their clients and should offer tools that let their clients create customized, innovative apps that provide unique customer experiences. Another acceptable option for template providers is to create a single binary to host all client content in an aggregated or 'picker' model, for example as a restaurant finder app with separate customized entries or pages for each client restaurant, or as an event app with separate entries for each client event."

Read that carefully, because it is more permissive than it first looks. Apple names two acceptable shapes, not one.

Apple's test is who submits, not whose account it is. The account conclusion is ours rather than Apple's: the guideline says the app must be submitted directly by the provider of the app's content, Apple separately states that "Your organization's name will be displayed as the seller name of your apps on the App Store," and guideline 5.1.1(ix) says apps in "highly regulated fields (such as banking and financial services, healthcare...)" should be submitted "by a legal entity that provides the services, and not by an individual developer." Put together, the clinic is the content provider and the regulated service provider, so on a per-clinic app the clinic is the party that should be enrolled and named as seller.

One thing not to overstate, since you will read it elsewhere: the only consequence 4.2.6 itself states is rejection. It does not say a clinic gets removed from the App Store or expelled from the Developer Program.

The two shapes Apple permits, and what each costs you

Compiled from App Store Review Guideline 4.2.6 and Apple's enrollment documentation, read 26 July 2026.

Neither shape is a loophole. Apple names both. The picker model is how RepeatMD's patient app works, with each practice themed inside a single listing called MyRepeat, and that is a legitimate Apple-sanctioned design rather than a workaround. What differs is not compliance, it is who owns the install base at the end.

The practical test when a vendor tells you they will give you "your own branded app": ask which of these two things they mean. Both are real products. Only one of them is yours.

What Apple requires to open an Organization account

If the app is going under your clinic's name, you need an Organization enrollment rather than an Individual one. Apple publishes five requirements:

• Legal binding authority. The person enrolling must be "the organization's owner/founder, executive team member, senior project lead, or an employee with legal authority granted to you by a senior employee." If you are not the owner, Apple may ask for a reference to confirm it, and may ask for notarised business documents.

• Legal entity name and status. Apple states: "We do not accept DBAs, fictitious business names, trade names, or branches." If your clinic trades under a name that is not its registered entity, this is where that surfaces.

• A D-U-N-S Number, which Apple describes as free in most jurisdictions.

• A work email address on your organisation's own domain.

• A public, functional website on that same domain. Apple explicitly rejects "Links to social media webpages or websites that contain minimal content."

Google's requirements are lighter and its guidance is softer. For apps built by one developer for many clients, Google writes that it "strongly recommends" a decentralised account approach, which is a recommendation in Help documentation rather than a Developer Program Policy requirement.

Does Apple take 30% of memberships sold in your app?

No, and the rule runs the opposite way from what most clinic owners assume. Apple does not merely permit you to take payment outside In-App Purchase for treatments and memberships redeemed in your clinic. It requires you to.

Guideline 3.1.3(e), "Goods and Services Outside of the App," reads: "If your app enables people to purchase physical goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than in-app purchase to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry."

Because there is no In-App Purchase transaction, there is nothing for a commission to attach to. Apple's commission applies to paid app downloads and In-App Purchases of digital goods and services. A clinic charging a membership, a package or a deposit through its own card processor pays its normal merchant processing fee and nothing to Apple.

Two honest caveats. Apple publishes no sentence saying "we take no commission on physical goods and services"; that conclusion follows from the two published rules rather than from an Apple soundbite. And the exemption turns on where the thing is consumed. If a membership tier unlocked digital-only features inside the app, that is a different rule, and it is worth confirming with any vendor whether any part of what you sell would fall on the other side of that line.

Build, shared app, or branded add-on: the three-year picture

For a clinic under roughly four locations, the custom build almost never makes sense, and not because of the build cost. It is the maintenance. An app is not a thing you buy, it is a thing you keep paying for: two operating systems ship breaking changes every year, and a clinic that stops paying an agency ends up with an app that eventually stops working on new phones.

Where a build does make sense is when the app itself is the business rather than a channel for it, or when the clinic needs something no platform offers and has the scale to carry an ongoing engineering relationship.

Our own numbers, for completeness: every Velarya clinic on our Essentials plan gets the shared Velarya app at no extra cost, on a plan that is free, and a clinic-branded app under your own name is what our Signature plan adds, at $499 a month covering the first location, plus $199 a month per additional location, published under your clinic's own Apple Developer Organization account with our team doing the build, the submission and every update after. There is a one-time $1,500 build fee, waived on annual billing. The two are described on the client app page. Vagaro is the only other platform in this category that publishes a branded app price: $100 one-time, $100 a month, and $10 a month per additional location, with customisation limited to the app icon, splash screen, button colour and external links.

What happens to the app if you leave

This is the question the pricing conversation never covers, and it is the one that costs the most later.

If the app is published under your clinic's enrollment, the account, the listing, the install base and the reviews are yours. A new vendor can be granted access to the same account. Your clients do not have to do anything.

If the app is the vendor's aggregated listing, none of that is yours. Your clients have the vendor's app on their phones, your reviews are entries in the vendor's listing, and moving means asking every client to download something new. That is not a criticism of the model, which Apple explicitly permits and which is genuinely simpler to launch. It is just the trade, and it should be made knowingly.

The same logic applies to your clinical data, which we cover in switching med spa software without losing your client data, and to the subscription arithmetic in what med spa software actually costs.

Four questions to ask before you sign

1. Whose Apple Developer Organization account will my app be published under, and which legal entity appears as the seller name on the listing? Apple states the account holder's organisation name is displayed as the seller, so this one answer tells you who owns the app.

2. If it is your account, how do you satisfy guideline 4.2.6? The only alternative Apple names is the single aggregated binary. If a vendor is submitting per-clinic apps from its own account, ask them to explain that.

3. If it is my account, who is Account Holder, who pays and renews the fees, and what happens to the listing if we end the contract?

4. Do memberships, packages and deposits run through my own card processor rather than In-App Purchase, and does any membership tier unlock digital-only features inside the app? The first should be yes under 3.1.3(e). The second is the edge case that changes the answer.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to build a custom med spa app?

The agencies that publish timelines alongside prices give 6 to 8 weeks for a basic loyalty app, 8 to 12 for a mid-tier build and 12 to 16 for an advanced one. Those are development timelines and do not include App Store review, your own content and testing, or the time it takes to get a D-U-N-S Number and an Organization enrollment approved.

How much does the Apple Developer Program cost, and is the fee per app or per account?

Apple states "The Apple Developer Program is 99 USD per membership year." The fee is charged against the membership rather than against each app, so publishing a second app under the same enrollment adds no Apple fee. Nonprofits, accredited educational institutions and government entities can request a waiver.

What is a D-U-N-S Number and do I need one?

It is a nine-digit business identifier issued by Dun and Bradstreet. Apple requires one for any Organization enrollment other than a government entity, in order to verify your legal entity status and address. Apple describes obtaining one as free in most jurisdictions.

What is the difference between a branded app, a shared app and a white label app?

A branded app is published under your clinic's name as its own listing, so the installs and reviews are yours. A shared or aggregated app is one listing under the vendor's name containing many clinics, which Apple explicitly permits. "White label" is a marketing term rather than a technical one and is used for both, which is why the useful question is whose name appears as the seller on the listing.

Can I put my med spa's booking app on the App Store under my own business name?

Yes, with an Apple Developer Organization enrollment in your clinic's registered legal entity. Apple does not accept DBAs, trade names or branches, so the name on the listing will be the name on your incorporation documents. You will also need a D-U-N-S Number, a work email on your own domain and a functional public website on that domain.

Does Apple take a commission on treatments and memberships sold in the app?

No. Guideline 3.1.3(e) requires that purchases of goods and services consumed outside the app use payment methods other than In-App Purchase, so there is no In-App Purchase for a commission to apply to. Payments run through your own card processor at your normal merchant rate.

Is a cross-platform build cheaper than separate native iOS and Android apps?

Agencies generally price a single cross-platform codebase below two native ones, but none of the pages we checked publishes a specific saving for a med spa app, so we are not going to invent a percentage. Ask any agency quoting you to price both options explicitly.

Does RepeatMD give me my own app?

RepeatMD's patient experience is themed to each practice but delivered inside a single App Store listing called MyRepeat, and RepeatMD's own FAQ states it is the merchant of record. That is the aggregated model Apple names as acceptable in 4.2.6. It is a real product; it is not a listing under your clinic's name. RepeatMD also does not offer appointment booking.

Is a custom app worth it for a single-location med spa?

Rarely, and the reason is maintenance rather than build cost. Published agency maintenance figures run 15% to 25% of the build every year, and both mobile operating systems ship changes annually that an unmaintained app will eventually fail. A single location is usually better served by a platform that includes the app, whether that is ours or someone else's.

How much does a branded med spa app cost as a platform add-on?

Two platforms publish a price. Velarya's branded app is not sold as a standalone add-on; it is what our Signature plan includes, at $499 a month for the first location plus $199 a month per additional location, with a one-time $1,500 build fee waived on annual billing. Vagaro charges $100 one-time, $100 a month after publishing, and $10 a month per additional location, with customisation limited to icon, splash screen, button colour and external links. Zenoti and Mindbody both offer clinic-branded apps and publish no price for either.