Ever thought of creating a mobile app for your business? Today investing in the app is a go-to strategy for any business to gain popularity and engage with customers. As the mobile app market continues to grow, one question remains constant. How much does it cost to create a mobile app?
From selecting the platform and complexity of the app to the expertise of the developer team. The development of a mobile app is influenced by many factors. The truth is, there’s no universal price tag. The cost is as unique as the app itself, shaped by its specific requirements and goals.
As businesses continue to realize the potential of making their services available through unique, easy-to-use mobile apps. Understanding the financial investment involved becomes more important. This understanding is vital for not just planning and budgeting. But will help make strategic decisions for innovation and growth.
Factors Affecting the Cost Of Mobile App Development:
App Complexity:
The amount of work that goes into developing a mobile app plays a big part in how much will it cost. Based on the complexity the apps can be put into three categories simple, medium, and complex.
Simple Apps
A minimum viable product MVP falls under the category of simple apps. These apps only include the necessary features of your app that are a must for the initial release of the app. Although, simpler apps may sometimes be complex. The complexity depends on the features you want to include in the app. Simple apps include a basic user interface and some necessary security features that can cost you in the range between $5,000 and $35,000.
Medium Complex Apps
Creating a mid-level app, which includes service, social media, or other related apps, costs between $35,000 and $75,000. The development of these apps involves complex work handled by multiple developers. These apps also include more features to engage users such as different ways to make money, social media integration, and payment options.
Complex Apps
Building a complex app, like gaming, augmented reality, or virtual reality app, requires a lot of expertise and advanced features. These apps usually start at $75,000 and can cost more depending on the technologies utilized. Complex apps use advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, genrative AI, and much more. It offers high-level security and advanced features.
App Complexity | Development Cost |
Simple App | $5,000 – $35,000 |
Medium App | $35,000 – $75,000 |
Complex App | $75,000+ |
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Platform (chart)
Choosing the right platform for your app has a big impact on your development costs. Let’s break down how different platform choices influence your budget.
Native Apps
Native apps are specifically built for one platform, either iOS or Android. This approach can provide the best performance and user experience. But it also comes with higher costs.
iOS App
Developing an iOS app involves expertise in Swift or Objective-C. It also requires an Apple developer account, which costs $99 per year. iOS developers typically charge between $45-$85 per hour.
Android App
There are multiple languages that an Android developer can utilize for development including Java, Kotlin, and more. For the development, it requires a one-time fee of $25 for a Google developer account. Android developers usually charge between $35-$75 per hour depending on their experience in the field.
Cross-Platform Apps
Cross-platform allows the development of one app that is compatible across iOS and Android utilizing a single code base. This can help save time and cost of development. For this, you can use frameworks like React Native or Flutter. These frameworks use a single codebase that operates on both platforms making them a cost-effective solution. This approach involves fewer hours spent on development and maintenance. Resulting in cheaper expenses.
Hybrid Apps
Hybrid apps have parts of both mobile and web apps. They are made with web tools but run in a native container. This can make them cheaper than fully native apps because they use the same codebase for multiple devices. This method can lower the prices of development and maintenance. Even though hybrid apps can be cheaper, they might not work as native apps and might not let you use all of the features that are specific to a particular device.
Platform | Cost |
Native apps (Android & iOS) | $20,000+ |
Cross-platform apps | $15,000+ |
Hybrid apps | $10,000 to $150,000+ |
Design Requirements
The design of your app plays an important role in determining the development cost. Basic design elements include things like the layout, colors, and fonts used in your app. These are important because they make your app look nice and user-friendly. Simple designs, like basic layouts and ready-made templates, can help keep costs down. Investing in a good custom UI/UX design can be costly. UI focuses on how the app looks and interacts with users, while UX is about making the app easy and user-friendly. Although custom UI/UX design can increase development costs. But it usually leads to a better app that users will like, making it worth the investment.
Integration with Third-Party Services
This factor solely depends on your app’s need. These services payment systems, social media connections, analytics tools, and messaging features. It involves connecting your app with external services through their provided tools or API’s. The cost of integrating is based on the service price. It can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, covering setup fees, usage costs, API fees if included, and more. Choosing and integrating the right third-party services contributes greatly to your app’s success. It makes sure your app provides ease to users and accomplishes your business goals.
Development Team Location(North America, Europe, Asia)
The location and size of the development team also affect how much it costs to make an app. You can choose between a local team of developers within your country or outsource your app internationally. Hiring developers from regions with low-paying rates can help you cut the cost of your app. Developers from Asia and Africa region typically charge much less than those from Europe and the United States.
Choosing a local development team means working with professionals in your own country or region. But, local teams may come with higher development costs depending on your region. While this may increase upfront development costs, it can also provide benefits like quicker response for updates and support.
On the other hand, outsourcing your app to developers in different regions can lower your labor cost. This approach reduces development expenses making it a cost-effective choice. While working across different time zones reduces cost it comes with some drawbacks like communication hurdles and more.
Region | Cost |
North America | $50 – $75 |
Western Europe | $50 – $75 |
Eastern Europe | $58 |
Latin America | $40-60 |
Asia | $28 |
Africa | $33 |
Popular Apps and Their Cost Of Development (Chart)
All of these apps contain many features that are quite specific and complex in design and development. We can not specify a particular figure but listed below is a general scenario of the development cost.
The approximate cost of a social networking app is between $30,000 to $100,000. When Facebook was first launched it had a few features such as news feeds, profiles, messaging, and a complex management system to support multiple users. They developed an MVP first to get the users feedback before moving further.
TikTok
TikTok is a versatile video-sharing application that has a lot of features such as editing tools, the ability to moderate the content that is being shared, real-time analytics, and others. The cost of developing an app that works like TikTok will be costing around $30,000 to $100, 000.
The cost estimates for creating a messaging app fall within $22,000 -$70,000, which is relatively cheap as compared to the others. This cost may include features such as end-to-end encrypted messages, file sharing, voice calls, and more.
Netflix
When it comes to streaming media, no company competes with Netflix. People can watch their favourite programs right on their mobile phones. OTT platform development takes about $25,000 to $95,000 on average.
App | Approximate value |
$30,000 – $100,000 | |
TikTok | $30,000 – $100,000 |
$22,000 – $70,000 | |
Netflix | $25,000 – $95,000 |
How Much Does It Cost To Create An App:
Design
Cost Range: $5,000 – $20,000
The design phase includes the creation of the app’s visual elements and user experience. Here you plan the look and feel of the app, including including graphics, icons, and user interface elements. Initial sketches and interactive layouts is also prepared by the design teams through wireframing and prototyping. A good design is important for keeping users engaged, and, based on the level of complexity and detail, it can have a big effect on the cost of development.
Development
This is the stage where developers start writing the code for your app. For complex apps, developing an MVP first is a good approach. An MVP is a basic version of the app that includes only the most important features. This lets you quickly get a working app, which gathers feedback from users. This helps you figure out if the project is worth continuing before adding all the extra features.
The development phase is divided into frontend and backend stages. With each necessary for a fully working app. The frontend part includes the client-side application while the backend involves server-side development to manage data, user authentication, and business logic. The development stage can take from $5000-$50,000+ depending upon the features and per-hour developer charges.
Testing Cost Range: $2,000 – $25,000
Testing makes sure your application works as intended and is bug-free to offer smooth user experience. The QA (Quality Assurance) team handles the testing responsibility. They right different scripts that check the performance of the app under various conditions for smooth operations. There are various testing methods used to test an app, including:
- Functional Testing
- Performance Testing
- Security Testing
- User Testing
Launch
The launch phase involves deploying the app to app stores and making it available to users. Fees for publishing on platforms like Apple’s App Store is $99 per year and Google Play is a $25 one-time fee. But the work just does not end here you need to check on regular updates of the OS and update your app accordingly as per the requirement. This maintenance work could cost you around $5,000-$10,000 per year.
Cost-Saving Strategies
There are multiple factors that you can consider to reduce the development cost to create application. Some of the most effective strategies include:
- Cross-platform development.
- Outsourcing your app to developers in regions of Asia and Africa.
- Focusing on a Minimum Viable Product.
- Early Testing and bug fixes.
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Conclusion:
Zenkoders, an expert mobile application development company, provides you with professional individuals to develop and design apps using cost-effective strategies that help maintain your budget.
The cost of developing an application in 2024 depends on several factors, such as app complexity, platform, and the developers’ region. Apps that are easy to built cost around $5,000 to $35,000, while complex apps can cost up to $75,000 and more depending on the features and technologies used. Cost-saving strategies can help you maintain your budget by cutting down overall app expenses.
