With the world getting confined to smartphones, the mobile apps have become a secret sauce to sustain in the market. May it be a retail brand, a restaurant, a finance agency or a mobile app development company itself, every business vertical is heading towards investing in mobile app development and reap the perks of being in the market of $189 billion.
However, one major challenge that most of the brands, if not all, are facing is determining the app cost. Being novice to the app market and having lesser knowledge of technical aspects, the startups and established brands are finding it hard to determine how much budget they need to develop an app and boost their business growth.
If you too belong to this class of entrepreneurs and are eager to know how much does it cost to make an app, this article will guide you to understand and determine the app cost.
But, before we dive deeper into the context of mobile application development cost, let me share that there’s no such thing as a fixed app development price. The app cost varies based on the development time required for integrating all the app features and making it ‘market ready’, implying the total app cost can be calculated by estimating the time required for each individual factor. Keeping the same into consideration, here we will look into the factors that you need to consider for estimating your app development cost and the time required to implement all:-
Factors Influencing the Cost to Make an App
- Market Research
The Market research plays a pivotal role in the app price estimation. The more resources you spend on validating your app and gaining a heap of data for mobile app development planning, the more will be the app cost.
This phase, as per the top mobile app development companies, take around 40-80 hours, if done extensively.
- App Platform
The mobile app development cost also differs for the platform and technology you opt for your development process. If, let’s suppose, you decide to create an app for both Native platforms (Android and iOS) via native app development process, it would cost you more than twice than the cost to build the same app using React Native app development procedure. Similarly, developing a web app will cost you around $15,000-$30,000, which is quite lower than developing a native mobile app.
Furthermore, the technology you add to your mobility solution also affects your app budget. For example, if you consider Blockchain app development, the cost will be around $30,000-$1,80,000. Whereas, integrating IoT into your app development project will cost only $30,000-$40,000.
- App Design
Depending on how interactive and engaging app user interface you want, the cost to design and develop a mobile application will also differ. If you build a simple and standard mobile app design, it will take around 150 hours, whereas an interactive mobile application design will demand more than 400 hours of time and efforts.
- App Category and Complexity
The answer to how much does it cost to make an app also depends on the app category and the complexity of the platform. If, let’s suppose, you are building a standalone app. It will cost you less than a social media app where the real-time interactions are recorded, since a standalone app requires hardly 600-900 hours while social media app development needs 1800-2500 development hours.
Correspondingly, the complexity level of your mobile app also affects the mobile application development cost. The more the features you want in your application, the more complex it would be, and so, the more will be its costing. Besides, the kind of app features you embed into your process and the type of hardware required also bring an impact on the app development time and cost. Just like above, the time required for building a simple app needs 600-900 hours, whereas a complex application demands more than 1600 hours.
- Location
Surprisingly, the location of the team you hire also make a difference in your app budget. As shown in the image, moving from West to East countries will help you get top-notch mobility solutions at lower prices. This is one of the reasons why outsourcing the app development needs is highly considered in the market.
- App Development Team Size
The number of app developers dedicated to your project and the size of the overall company also bring an impact on the overall app cost. If you hire a freelancer, he would charge the minimal optimal value (like $2,000-$25,000) in the app market to add one more name in its portfolio. Whereas, a mobile app development company with 300-500 employees will ask for comparatively high app price (somewhere between $25,000-$150,000) to manage their infrastructure, employment acquisition, payroll, and other expenses. Similarly, a well-established company with 1000+ tech nerds will quote you more than $200,000 for providing exceptional mobile application development services.
- App Testing and Deployment
When it comes to how much does it cost to make an app, the efforts invested in the App testing phase also add to the total app cost. Furthermore, the development time and cost required for app testing also differ based on the app complexity, the third-party integration, and the number of A/B testing tools employed. Higher the efforts and cost you put into the quality assurance process, the higher will be your app development cost.
In addition to these factors, the app maintenance and update will also contribute to the cost to make a mobile application. As per the market norm, the process of app maintenance takes around 20% of the time and cost of that of the complete app project. While the cost to launch an app update depends highly on the features and factors involved.
As already described in the article, there is no direct answer to how much does it cost to make an app. The app cost varies based on different factors and the efforts required for each particular factor. To get more clarity on this concept, have a discussion with a reputed app development company or someone having sound knowledge of the app market.
