Mobile & web apps · Kenya

App development in Kenya.

TheNodeNest builds mobile and web applications for Kenyan fintechs, logistics operators, edtech platforms and SaaS founders. From zero-to-one MVPs to V2 hardening for teams hitting Series A.

Our stack is React Native for mobile (shared codebase iOS + Android + web), Next.js for web apps, Node or Python on the backend, Postgres everywhere. M-Pesa Daraja plumbing that actually works in production.

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< 22 MBTypical RN app install size
10–14 wkMVP timeline
5 clientDaraja integrations shipped
100%Code owned by you

App development in Kenya is a small world — most teams either hire one freelancer who disappears after the MVP, or an offshore shop whose code you can't maintain six months later. We sit in the middle: a Nairobi studio of senior engineers and designers who ship in two-week sprints, in your GitHub, on your infrastructure.

The strike zone is the MVP-to-Series-A window. You have product-market fit (or are racing for it), every sprint has to earn its keep, and technical debt compounds faster than revenue. We've shipped Daraja STK flows that survive the 3am callback-never-arrives bug, React Native apps that install under 22 MB on a Safaricom data-capped user, and internal admin tools that replace 17 Google Sheets with a proper role-based dashboard in four weeks.

We don't take every project. We take the ones where a senior can lead, where the scope is clear enough to sprint on, and where the founder wants an actual partner — not a body shop. If that's you, we'll write a proposal within 48 hours.

Why teams choose us

What you get.

React Native, Flutter, native — we pick what fits

Default is React Native because most Kenyan tech teams are React on web. Flutter when the team asks. Native Swift/Kotlin when performance demands it.

M-Pesa Daraja done right

STK push, C2B, B2C with retry, idempotency and reconciliation. Wrapped server-side so the API key never sits in the mobile bundle and you can swap providers without an app-store update.

KCB Buni, Equity Jenga, Pesapal, Flutterwave

We've shipped every major Kenyan payment integration and know the edge cases — timeouts, partial failures, callback-never-arrives — each one has.

Observability day one

Sentry for errors, PostHog or Amplitude for product metrics, Datadog or Grafana for infra. You see what users are doing, where they drop off, what breaks.

Embedded or standalone

We can build your app end-to-end OR slot one designer and two engineers into your existing sprints. Whichever fits your team shape.

Code ownership from day one

Everything in your GitHub. Copyright assigned in the contract. Every third-party account registered to you. You are never locked into us.

Pricing · in KES

Honest numbers.

PrototypeKES 250,000 – 650,000

A clickable Figma prototype tested with real users, plus a roadmap.

  • 2–6 week design sprint
  • User interviews
  • Clickable Figma prototype
  • Scoped MVP proposal
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MVP buildKES 1,500,000+

Design + build + launch of a single-platform MVP.

  • 8–14 week timeline
  • Single platform (web or mobile)
  • 50-user private beta
  • Analytics + observability
  • Production-ready code
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Embedded teamFrom KES 800,000 / mo

Designer + 2–3 engineers plugged into your sprints.

  • Monthly invoicing
  • 30-day exit clause
  • Works in your repo
  • Attends your stand-ups
  • Fractional CTO available
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FAQ

Questions we hear often.

What kind of apps do you build?
Fintech (with or without M-Pesa at the centre), e-commerce consumer apps, logistics / field-ops tools, SaaS dashboards, internal admin panels, edtech platforms. We're not a good fit for AAA games, heavy-canvas creative tools, or anything requiring ML research — we ship the engineering product around those, not the research.
How long does it take to build an app?
A clickable Figma prototype is 2–3 weeks. A first MVP is 8–12 weeks for web, 10–14 weeks for mobile (accounting for App Store review). V2 hardening work — refactor, test coverage, observability, scale — typically runs 10–16 weeks. Every project has a sprint plan the founder sees weekly.
How much does it cost to build a mobile app in Kenya?
A prototype costs KES 250,000 – 650,000. A single-platform MVP runs KES 1,500,000 – 4,500,000 depending on feature depth. An embedded product team (one designer + 2–3 engineers) starts at KES 800,000 per month. Every quote is in KES, written, with the scope broken down by sprint.
Can you integrate M-Pesa?
Yes — STK push, C2B, B2C and the lesser-used Lipa Na M-Pesa Online variants. We wrap Daraja server-side so your API key never ships to the client. For aggregators we've shipped Pesapal, Flutterwave and Cellulant integrations.
Will you help with App Store and Play Store submission?
Yes. EAS Build or fastlane for uploads, metadata, screenshots, privacy-nutrition labels for iOS, data-safety forms for Android. We handle the review cycle and respond to reviewer questions. You own the developer accounts.
Do you support the app after launch?
Yes, via a retainer (from KES 300,000 / month). Covers bug fixes, minor features, observability monitoring, monthly performance reports, and Play Store / App Store compliance updates.
React Native or Flutter — which is better for a Kenyan startup?
Default is React Native because React is the dominant web framework locally, and the same team can contribute to web and mobile. Flutter wins if the team is already Flutter, or if pixel-identical rendering across iOS and Android is critical to the brand. We wrote a full comparison — link below.
Keep exploring

Related pages.

Services

Further reading

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