If I ask you- how do you book a taxi to reach your destination? Most probably, you are using an app like Uber, Lyft, Curb, Hailo, etc.
As per info from Business of Apps, over 300 million people use taxi apps globally, and DiDi and Uber make up about half of those users - that's a whole lot of people catching rides on their smartphones.
That's a really a revenue-generating app. Looking at the success of these apps, you might have thought to develop such apps. You might want to know- how much does it cost to develop an app?
The idea of developing an app for any service makes sense in this fastest-growing digital landscape. The app industry is projected to reach a volume of US$673.80bn by 2027.
When you are in or thinking of getting- the first and most common question that strikes to mind is - how much does it cost to create an app?
If you search for this on the web, you get the average cost to build a mobile app with very basic features, costing approx $5,000 $50,000. But you know this is not a fixed range. The cost of developing an app depends on various factors.
After having a meeting with an app developer who is working in a reputed mobile app development company, give a breakdown of what factors actually play a role in determining the exact cost of an app.
That is what, we will see below; just keep reading it.
Factors That Play an Important Role in Calculating Mobile App Development Cost
Mobile application development cost discussion cannot be had without considering the multiple factors that significantly impact the budget. Below, there is a detailed discussion of some of the critical factors that can help businesses estimate the cost to build a mobile app.
1. Location of the app development team
The app developer you will hire, and their location have a role in calculating app development cost. That means hiring app developers in India is different from the cost to pay to hiring them in the countries like USA, UK, etc.
Thus, while outsourcing app development, choosing the right location for your development team is crucial. There are three main options to consider:
1. Onshore outsourcing, the app developers will be in your own country.
2. The offshore app development services allow you to work with an app developer from anywhere in the world,
3. Nearshore outsourcing involves working with an app development country or an individual developer from your neighboring country.
Moreover, at what location, the average cost of app developers are-
India- $20 to $40 per hour
United States- $140 to $160 per hour
Eastern Europe- $30 to $70 per hour
Australia- $100 to $140 per hour
United Kingdom- $120 to $150 per hour
Western Europe- $80 to $100 per hour
2. The technology stack used to develop an app
Another factor in calculating app development costs is the type of technologies that are being used, implemented, or integrated.
For example, if you are using frameworks like React Native to develop a cross-platform app, it could be more cost-effective compared to developing native apps for iOS and Android separately.
Native app development requires different skill sets for each platform, like for Android- you need to hire an Android app development company who have engineers with skill sets in Java, Android Studio, Kotlin, etc.
For the iOS category, the developers should know-
Swift
Xcode
Besides, the integration of technologies such as AR, VR, and AI can also significantly add to the development costs due to the complexity and expertise required.
Whether you are on cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure, can even influence the app cost.
3. The complexity of the app features
The features you decide to include in your mobile app play a significant role in determining the overall cost of app development. Basic features like user registration, profile creation, and simple search functionalities are relatively straightforward and inexpensive to develop.
However, more complex features such as real-time chat, in-app purchases, geo-location services, or integrating third-party services can substantially increase the development cost.
Even, if the UI/UX is somewhere complex, the cost app will go high. If you do more animation, the cost will get high. In fact, opting for a custom-designed interface will require more work and thus, be more costly than a simple, standard design.
Learn more: Cost to Build an Online Dating App
4. App Category
The development cost of an app ranges from a very low to a high number depending on the type of app you are building. Moving from one category to another involves changes in factors like
functionalities
number of users
security criteria
team size
These all lead to varying costs. Here, is the list of app categories that you can consider to develop your own app.
E-commerce/M-Commerce Apps: These apps - for example, Amazon - are appropriate for their powerful feature list, responsiveness in real-time, scalability to support millions of users, and secure cloud environment.
On-Demand Apps: Even simple on-demand apps have three versions: for users, service providers, and businesses. For instance, " Uber" is a service app of on-demand type based on IoT technology that eases driving to users.
Social Networking Apps: These apps require third-party integrations and access to hardware functions like cameras and audio recorders. They are able to reach a large audience without an increase in development cost compared to apps with simple functionality.
Similarly, there are other categories you opt for, but what you choose will be different from the other category.
E-commerce app: $50,000 - $150,000
Social media app: $50k - $300k
Learning app (e.g., Duolingo): $60,000 - $225,000
Dating app (e.g., Tinder): $50k - $350 k,
Gaming app: $60,000 - $250,000
5. App maintenance and update
Last but not least, ongoing maintenance, bug fixes, updates, new feature additions, etc is somewhere the hidden cost that you might have to pay.
Generally, app maintenance can cost between 15% to 20% of the initial development cost per year. This includes server costs, cloud services, updating the app to comply with new mobile operating system updates, and possibly, scaling up the apps capabilities as your user base grows.
Wrapping up
When calculating the cost of building an app, other factors such as marketing costs, third-party integration costs, and multi-platform support costs must be taken into account. So, keep all the above points in consideration to know the answer to your question -how much does it cost to develop an app? Moreover, to have the right figure partner with the best mobile app development company. Yes, they will give the proper breakdown of the cost of developing a mobile app.
