The mobile application industry is constantly accelerating due to its ease of use and increased number of smartphones in the market. We use mobile apps in several daily activities such as cab booking, ordering favorite food, banking transactions, and shopping online, etc. Mobile apps are the basic needs when you use personal electronic devices such as a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, etc. Consequently, the app market is growing rapidly which eventually has given rise to a lot of mobile app development services providing companies in the market. Nevertheless, converting an app idea into the optimized technical application is not a piece of cake even for the top mobile application development companies in the market. Because users are demanding complex and feature-rich applications day by day. But the primary thing that hit them is how much does it cost to make an app?
Due to the high demand and cutthroat competition in the industry; it is very easy for end-users to find the replacement of an app. Hence, companies are under immense pressure to engage the customers with their app design and animation. Furthermore, every potential client of any app development company asks for a high-quality mobile app at a reasonable price. Hence, developers are looking for some economically viable solutions to develop the apps for their clients. However, mobile app development cost varies widely as it is easier to find the app developers in Asian countries at a lower cost as compared to the developers of the western nation. Before connecting with a technological partner you can get a prior estimate using the app cost calculator. You can find app developers in Asian countries at an average rate of USD 20 per hour. While for the same work the charges in western nations can be as high as USD 100 to USD 350 per hour. (We will see it in detail further in the article).
That was just an approximation. Because mobile app development cost is a combination of multiple factors such as:
- Who is developing your app?
- Where is it getting developed?
- What process you are going to follow during the development?
- What are the features and functionalities of the mobile app?
Therefore, in this guide, we are going to take you through the step by step process as well as every possible factor that can affect the app development price and can help you in understanding the factors that will determine how much does it cost to make an app?
Pre App Development Activities: Pre-planning is always essential and perhaps one of the important cost-determining factors of an app development project. You have to compete with over millions of applications on the play store/app store to stand out from the crowd. Based on your platform having a perfect strategy can help you to stand out and reduce the android and ios app development cost. Therefore, it is necessary to pre-plan development activities.
A successful pre-launch of a mobile app consists of the following:
The Objective of the Mobile Application: Before starting the development process, the custom mobile app development team has to be crystal clear with the objective of the mobile application. It will help them to create a roadmap as well as give an idea of all the necessary features and functions of the app. Our team of developers makes sure to answer the following questions before taking the next step of the development process:
- What is the purpose of this app?
- Who will be the target customers?
- How this app is going to benefit the end-users?
- What are the technical limitations this app is going to face?
- What will be the various challenges during the development as well as a post-launch phase?
Research the Market and Competitors: The second step after unfolding the app objectives is to conduct a thorough market and competitor research. Analyzing the existing apps, apps related to your idea, their features and functions, and how these apps can be improved, etc. can greatly help you in making your whole development journey smooth and can help in optimizing the mobile app development cost. Since the estimated cost using the app cost calculator may vary depending upon the features and functionalities you will include in the application. Market analysis and the overall study of end customers’ will also deepen the understanding of the ‘why’ behind your app idea. And the more you are clear with your app objectives and technical functionalities, the better the price estimation you can do for the entire app development project. According to 2019 stats, market research, and competition analysis are required to determine the application cost as well as to ensure the profitability of your app idea. People who have been wondering about how much does it cost to build an app need to prepare thorough research of their competitors and market.
Wire Framing: This is the step where app developers decide how will the end-users interact with the app? How many screens should this app contain? Where should the options/features be kept; on top of the page or the side? Etc. You can find several wireframing tools in the market which will make the app development process easier.
Although, there are multiple stages in app development wireframe tools can certainly help developers in understanding the navigation flow of the application’s functionality which ultimately gives them a clear idea of overall app development cost. While evaluating the ios app development cost, it can put some additional cost but it will be worthy for sure.
Monetization Strategy: Post completion of the wireframing, market research, and app objectives; driving revenue is the topmost priority of app developers. After all, the main objective of a mobile app is to generate more and more revenue for the business. Since the concern behind how much does it cost to make an app is the revenue factor. Thus, you need to be ready with effective monetization strategies when your app goes live.
Furthermore, app monetization strategy includes:
- ‘How to’ of in-app purchases?
- How to generate advertising revenue?
- Which channel will drive the most revenue for your app?
- What will be the best subscription model as per the app?
- How to bring more and more traffic to the mobile application?
All in all, several activities need to be accomplished before starting with the actual app development. And as far as the costs are concerned the above-mentioned activities won’t cost you much. But these 50-60 hours of activities will make your development ride smooth to a great extent. Prefer to hire mobile app developers from Asian countries as the development charges are low compared to western nations. This can be better understood using the app cost calculator.
Factors affecting the Mobile App Development Cost:
Application Platform: This is one of the most important cost deciding factors in the overall mobile application development project. The mobile app development cost varies as per the chosen app platform. E.g. the iOS app development cost is going to be a little more than its Android counterpart. The most common application platform which is currently used by a large number of companies can be seen below:
Platform Specific Native App: This type of apps is only specific to a certain mobile platform, such as iOS, Android, and Windows mobile applications. App developers keep the specific platform in mind while developing these kinds of apps and such applications are built with the help of respective programming languages like objective-c and swift for an iOS app, Java for Android and Dot net for Windows apps is used most commonly. Find a custom mobile app development company that can offer an affordable price.
- Native apps are more secure
- Native apps have the best performance
- Native apps are more interactive and intuitive
- Native apps have fewer bugs during development
- Native apps allow app developers to access complete features on a mobile device
Cross-Platform Native App: Cross-platform apps share the same Software Development Kit and developed in HTML and CSS. You can find several cross-platform application development tools that can be used to develop such apps without any trouble Although, cross-platform native apps do not have the same privileges as native apps still it is the most cost-effective approach when you are on a limited budget. Top app development companies are working on this framework to achieve faster and effective development. Since these frameworks offer cost-efficient development and can lower your concern regarding how much does it cost to make an app? Moreover, cross-platform native apps come with a variety of benefits like single code use and fewer development efforts.
The most widely used app development framework for cross-platform native apps are as follows:
React Native: React Native is an open-source framework for mobile application development created by Facebook. It is used for writing real, natively rendering mobile applications for Android and iOS. It uses Facebook’s JavaScript library to react to develop excellent user interfaces. React native app development is comparatively simple, quick, and cost-effective. The main benefit of using this framework is that react native apps can be developed via using a single codebase for both of the platforms simultaneously. Based on app development cost 2019 trends this can be counted as the best framework for the development of cross-platform apps.
Flutter: Flutter is another popular cross-platform app development framework, which is created by Google. It also allows app developers to build high performance, high-fidelity apps in one codebase and compile to both iOS as well as Android operating system. It comes with a modern react-style framework, ready-made widgets, a 2D rendering engine, and various other development tools. These components help in designing, building, testing, debugging apps and make Flutter app development an efficient development framework for building mobile applications. The mobile app development cost in this development framework varies based on the features and functionalities required.
Web App: Web applications are usually written in HTML5, CSS or JavaScript and mostly run in a browser. These types of applications require a minimum of device memory and resources, therefore, much cost-efficient as compared to any other app type. Web apps are medium to low cost and can be built within 30-60 days. Moreover, they might not be like real mobile applications but in many ways, they look and feel like native applications. Users have to navigate to a specific web page URL to install the web apps. All the web app related data is saved on the server consequently, users need an internet connection to get access to the app and poor internet speed will result in bad user experience.
Hybrid App: A hybrid app is a combination of both native as well as a web app. Such apps are developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and then wrapped inside a native app platform. Hybrid app development is much faster, simpler, more rapid and easy to maintain. Application development framework like Cordova lets you build the applications for more than one platform in a hassle-free manner. Therefore, the app development cost is drastically reduced in the case of hybrid app development. However, hybrid app development losing its charm due to the cross-platform app development frameworks.
Blockchain App: Blockchain is a database of blocks that simultaneously runs on thousands of computers and each computer has the most up-to-date information. Blockchain app development has transformed the mobile app security as it is one of the most important parts of a crypto wallet app. The cost of Blockchain app development can be around USD 25000 to USD 150000 depending upon its functionalities. Generally speaking, the platform of a mobile application can greatly influence the cost of an app development project. iOS app development cost as compared to android will be much higher. Since app development cost is different for each app platform. You need to decide as per your requirements which platform is most suitable for the kind of app which you are going to develop.
App Design & Complexity: Another important cost deciding factor in an app development project is the features and designs of a mobile app. An app cost calculator will tell you that the cost of a customized mobile app is higher than a standard mobile app. The impact of designs and complexity on app development can be seen as follows:
App Complexity: The more complex an app is, the more time app developers will take it to create and the more money they will charge to develop it. Hire mobile app developers that can value your time.
The below-mentioned checklist will help you to determine the overall app development cost about its complexity.
Simple Mobile Application:
- Standalone app with little or no backend
- Simple user interaction
- Mostly static content
- Limited user action
Mobile applications of this category can cost you around USD 5000 to USD 10000 and they are suitable for an MVP due to its faster development.
Medium Complexity Application:
- Search functionality
- Messaging features
- Limited backend
- Simple user content generation
The price for such medium complexity apps is around USD 10000 to USD 50000 according to app cost calculator evaluation. Such mobile apps can help you in attracting new customers with its rich features and functions.
High Complexity Application:
- User-generated content
- Complex business logic
- Personalized feeds
- User profile & settings
- Heavy backend logic
- Cloud synchronization
A complex app can cost you from USD 50000 to USD 150000 and these highly secured and easy to navigate apps have the potential to transform your business.
UI/UX Design: A great design for your app is essential in the overall success of the application. App design is the main factor in getting more traffic and increased ROI. Moreover, the better the design, the more engaged a user will feel and the more engaged a user is higher the chances of conversion into a permanent customer. So make sure to pick one of the top mobile app development company, that can ensure effective results. Furthermore, data suggests that more than 90% of the first impressions of a mobile app are entirely based on its design. Thus, it is always a good idea to hire a professional designer who has relevant experience and knowledge. As far as the app design cost is concerned, there is no general rule as it is a combo of many factors like the app’s size, designer’s level, and geographical location, etc. But on an average, it will cost you between USD 5000 to USD 50000 depending upon its functionalities. To sum up, mobile app design and complexity is a vital part of app development in terms of the costs involved. So, it is necessary to spend the required time and money on it to make your app succeed.
App Development Process: The right app development strategy sets the roadmap for your mobile application so that you can shorten the app development time in a great manner. It helps you to define its category, select efficient development tools, protocols, and mobile app policies which eventually lead to a successful mobile app business. A lot of startups end up failing due to the lack of a clear app strategy. Hence, to ensure that the mobile app has good usability and performance, determining the effective development strategy is the most crucial part. Try to take each aspect of the development process into consideration for building a wonderful mobile app. A better roadmap for development can ensure efficient development with low mobile app development costs.
Application Testing: Testing a mobile application as early as possible is always a good idea in mobile application development. It will help you to keep the final costs low. Whether you are concerned about the Android or iOS app development cost, the deeper you go into the development process the costlier it becomes to fix the bugs. Although app testing is an on-going and vast process but makes sure to cover the below-mentioned aspects of it.
- Test if the app performs well in the background.
- Performance testing is the key to your app’s success.
- Security and data privacy for authenticated app usage.
- Run a functional test to check if the app meets its purpose.
- Boost the Look and Feel of the application with UI testing.
- Run usability tests to ensure customers’ comfort in your app.
App Deployment: This is the phase when your app is ready to submit to the respective store. Once the deployment process has finished, the mobile app becomes publicly accessible to the end-users. Several times mobile apps fail to pass the store approval stages and get rejected due to the unfulfillment of the respective store criteria. Moreover, the policies of app launching are different for each store, hence, you must have the entire application ready before deploying the application. Surprisingly, deployment is not the end of the app development journey. It is the beginning of a new development cycle. Because once the app is live, feedback will pour in and you need to incorporate those changes in the form of application updates.
App Monitoring/Support: As stated above that the mobile app development process doesn’t end with the deployment. The application has to go through further performance improvement, changes, and new features addition, etc. these cases are included in the app development cost 2019 trends. This is the stage where you will get to see the actual results of all your hard work. The major things to monitor in this phase are:
End-User Feedback: When your app lands into the hands of the end-user; you will start receiving their feedback regarding app usage and performance. You will get to know how app UI is responding, how is the technical performance of the app, and are there any user actions that result in the crashes, etc. as far as the cost of this step is concerned, you need to improve all these faults in the form of subsequent application updates. Thus, the cost of this step cannot be determined as it is solely a factor of the app performance. The custom mobile app development team can ensure better productivity based on the feedback received.
Marketing & Promotion: Perhaps, this is the most important step in making your app successful in the market. In such a highly competitive market you must create effective marketing campaigns and branding strategies. Because there are several apps available in every industry segment on each store. Therefore, no matter how good your application’s features and functionalities are if it is lacking up to date marketing strategies then it is most likely to sit in the corner of the store and nobody is going to install it. Hence, it is always a good idea to allocate a separate budget for this particular step. To sum up, there are many phases even after the application deployment which might cost you a significant part of the overall budget. And this can be a huge investment in achieving your business goals.
Other Important Factors: We have already discussed most of the cost deciding factors. However, there are a couple of more elements that can affect the overall app development cost.
Geography: The geographical location of app developers and app development companies can drastically affect the prices. The per-hour charges of mobile app developers are highly variable across the globe. This can be seen below:
- North America Region – USD 100 to USD 150
- Australia & Europe Region – USD 60 to USD 100
- South America Region – USD 30 to USD 60
- Russia – USD 20 to USD 50
- Asia Pacific Region USD 15 to USD 40
Thus, an app developed in the Asia Pacific region will cost half of what it is going to cost in the USA.
Market Outreach & Company Size: Another important factor that affects the app development cost is the size of a company and its outreach. If any company does not have in house facility to develop certain special features of an application then it is most likely to outsource it and outsourcing is going to cost much. Furthermore, the size of a company also determines how much does it cost to make an app because an app development startup will cost you way lesser than a fully established company. Though, there might be the disparities in their work process as well as the output. But a small company will always try its best to fulfill all your requirements to make a good reputation in the market. So, the chances are very less that there will be a significant difference in the final deliverables.
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