Two onboarding flows
Suppliers and buyers sign up differently and land in different places. Email, Google and Apple sign-in, with the role set at signup.
App costs · 5–8 weeks
How much does a marketplace app cost in 2026?
A two-sided marketplace is two products sharing one database: the side that lists and the side that buys. At Codeks that is a Product Build, $12K–$22K fixed, five to eight weeks. The number here is how that band is reached.
Where the number comes from
A marketplace has at least three roles: the supplier, the buyer and you. Each needs its own screens. A supplier lists, edits, sees orders and gets paid out. A buyer searches, filters, books or buys, and reviews. You approve, refund and watch the numbers. That is roughly three times the surface of a single-sided app, and it is why a marketplace never fits the MVP Sprint.
Payments are the second cost driver. Taking money is easy; splitting it is not. Stripe Connect handles onboarding suppliers, holding funds and paying out with a platform fee, but it brings identity checks, payout schedules and dispute handling that a plain checkout does not have. Budget a week for Connect alone.
The low end of the band is a web-only marketplace with one category, search, listings, Stripe Connect and an admin. The high end adds iOS and Android from the same codebase, messaging between the two sides, reviews, and a vetting step before a supplier goes live. TalentFlow, built here, is the second kind: engineers are screened by an automated code assessment before a company ever sees a profile.
What the price includes
The scope, as it would be written.
Listings with search and filters
Create, edit and pause a listing with photos. Search by text, category, location and price, with results that load fast on a phone.
Stripe Connect payouts
Buyers pay, the platform keeps its fee, suppliers are paid out on a schedule. Refunds and disputes are handled from the admin.
Orders or bookings
The transaction object both sides see: status, messages, receipts, and the notifications that move it along.
Admin and moderation
Approve suppliers, remove listings, issue refunds, read the numbers. The admin is where you run the business.
What moves the price
Four things that change the number.
A second platform
Web only sits at the low end. iOS and Android from the same Expo codebase add store submission, push and in-app flows, and move the number up by about a third.
Messaging
Real-time chat between buyer and supplier, with read states and notifications, is a flow of its own. It is usually the first thing cut from version one and the first thing added after.
Vetting before listing
A manual approval queue is cheap. An automated check, like TalentFlow's code assessment, is a product inside the product and is priced accordingly.
Geography
Location search, maps and radius filters add a geocoding service and a map SDK. Worth it for local services, pointless for digital goods.
Built here
TalentFlow
Developer marketplace · Automated code assessment · Next.js
A developer marketplace where engineers are screened by an automated code assessment before a company sees a profile.
Questions
What people ask about marketplace app costs.
- Can a marketplace be built for $5K?
- Not as a marketplace. The MVP Sprint is one flow for one kind of user. What fits the tier is a single-sided version: you supply, customers buy, Stripe takes payment. That is the right first step for some marketplaces, because it proves demand before the supply side is built.
- Which payment setup do you use for marketplaces?
- Stripe Connect with Express accounts. Suppliers onboard through Stripe's hosted flow, so identity checks and tax forms are Stripe's problem, and the platform fee is taken on each charge. The payout schedule is yours to set.
- How long until the first version is live?
- Five to eight weeks from the signed scope. A web skeleton with sign-up and listings runs by the end of week one, and there is a live demo every three to four days after that. Miss the agreed date and the second half of the price is waived.
- Do I need both sides at launch?
- No, and it is often better not to. Seed the supply side yourself or by hand, open the buyer side, and build supplier self-service once there is demand. The scope can be written that way, and the price drops with it.
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