Are you unsure about your startup idea because you think it is too costly to build an app? Then, wait. You came so far to research the costs, and here is the actual breakdown that will make you rethink your decision. The cost of developing an app significantly depends on the software development company you choose to work with. In addition, extracting some helpful information about the technical implementation is not enough. Did you plan a budget for the same? Have you analyzed the long-term financial benefits of building an app that can serve a cause?
Well, if several questions about costs keep you pondering, you are not alone. The app market is bustling with millions of apps on Google and Apple app store platforms. So, as an entrepreneur, getting confused with such questions is expected and makes sense. In this blog, we will take you through some crucial aspects that you must consider while determining the exact cost of your mobile app development project. We are sure this will help you in taking meaningful decisions.
Mobile App Development Cost Breakdown
Working relentlessly for more than 13 years on building various mobile applications, we found that the cost of creating a mobile app remains between $10000 and $250000 or more. These figures are just estimates, and the final cost may vary considerably based on different project requirements. When clients consult a mobile app development company, they may be unaware of the factors that play a vital role in determining the mobile app development cost estimation. They know what kind of app they need; however, when it comes to creating one, several factors influence finding the actual cost. The following factors determine the overall mobile app development cost:
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App Complexity—Are you building a simple app with minimum features, a mid-level app with more than standard features, or a high-end app with complex logic? This is where the cost differs.
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App Functionality - What kind of functions does your app perform specifically that is way different than others?
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App Feature Complexity - What kind of special or unique features does your app provide? And if they are regular, are you using third-party APIs to create a difference?
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App Platform—Will it be a native app for Android and iOS or a platform app development? Here, too, the cost gets differentiated.
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App Maintenance—After deploying the app, do you need ongoing support and maintenance to keep it relevant and robust?
Considering all these factors in detail will help you finalize the cost of developing a mobile app in 2024. Your kind of engagement model will also give you a better idea.
So, let us head over to a detailed breakdown of the costs of building your dream mobile app.
What is the cost of building an App in 2024?
No one can ever give you the exact number of the costs involved in developing a mobile app. There is no fixed price. What you need to understand is the nature and vision of your app, and then, slowly, you will get an accurate picture of the costs involved. So, let us understand each aspect in detail.
Cost of Research and App Discovery
Finding a purpose to build a mobile app requires rigorous research and in-depth reasoning. It includes various stages like ideation, planning, and discovery, all leading to a conclusion of building one such unique product. In this phase, you will realize your ultimate business goal, the tech stack you need, build a team, set project deadlines, and much more. Going through all these phases needs expert consultancy from mobile app development experts. Hence, 20% of your mobile app development budget goes into this phase. The cost may range in between $5000 to $25000 based on the client’s preferences. Generally, it takes 2-4 weeks to complete this phase.
App Complexity
With the rising complexity of the app, the costs also rise. Concept, design, architecture, platform choice, etc., will influence the cost structure. Complexity refers to the features, functionalities, amount of screams, programming language, buttons, business logic, etc. that app has. The app development costs are categorized based on the complexity in the following manner:
| Type of App | App Concept | Feature and Functionality | Development Cost | Development Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Simple App |
Includes to-do apps, basic manual tracking apps, content editors |
-User profile
-Dashboard
-Login system
-Confined administration
|
$5000-$50000 |
1-3 months |
|
Medium App |
-Email management apps
-Entertainment apps
-Productivity apps
-Project management apps
-Ecommerce apps
-Fitness tracking apps
|
-Social media integrations
-Audio/video streaming
Payment gateway
User Privacy
Other advanced features to engage users
App monetization |
$10000-$150000 |
3-6 months |
|
Very Complex App |
-Gaming Apps
-ERP systems
Hotel management system
-Financial Trading apps |
- Multi-language support
- High-end data logic
Advanced technologies like AR/VR, AI/ML, technology upgradation
|
$50000-$300000 or more |
More than 6 months to 1 year. |
App Architecture Planning
You need a well-organized and fully strategized architecture for your app. This is because it will be the element that will directly fulfill the requirements of your audience. And to allow it to scale efficiently in the future, you must initially invest a considerable amount in building a solid foundation. To be precise, it is a sort of technical planning that you must make with the help of your best tech experts. It involves some research, insights, and rigorous planning to create a blueprint. A well-crafted app architecture will help you, the tech experts, to understand tools and technologies quickly. They will appreciate the functional implementations and the need of API integration as per customization.
Spending money for this stage is crucial as it will help you find out your app’s true purpose in terms of the actual output. You can also consider the target audience, technical constraints, and core features here. During this stage, you must also define the kind of architecture you want to use, for e.g., monolithic, microservices, event-driven, or client-server. Again, for this decision, you can always seek guidance from your mobile app development partner, who will help you select the right technology stack and do further planning. Based on the app’s complexity, the estimated cost for this stage will be around $5000 – $20000.
App Designing
The next area where you will need to spend money is app design. This is an integral part of your app development, and you cannot ignore it. The cost of designing your app is totally based on the amount of customization you need. Make sure you include user experiences, visuals, UI/UX design service, and branding. Your mobile effectiveness is mostly based on the design you choose for your app.
Branding
Well, branding is not just about creating a logo. Whatever color palette you select resonates with your company image. What is important is your brand must look unique and outstanding from competitors. Designing your app branding also comes with a cost. There are categories here, too:
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If you choose basic branding services, the cost may be around $2000 - $10000 or more, depending on the logo design complexity.
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Choosing an extensive branding service that includes logo design, brand guidelines creation, color schemes, typography selection, and marketing material design will cost you around $5000 - $30000.
The other cost centers in branding include expertise, licensing, timeline, geographical location, etc.
App UI/UX Design
When you design an outstanding app, it will definitely captivate users. It will be visually stunning, easy to navigate, and will be perfect in every sense, reducing the user’s time to understand the app. So, clearly, the UI/UX design services play a crucial role here, and that, too doesnt come for free. It takes a lot of research and hard work to create something unique that is offered in the exact manner that the user would want it to be. You need a creative eye, a lot of industry experience, and a creative design mindset. The cost for all this would be around $5000 – $50000 and more.
App Development Platform
Choosing the kind of app development platform also determines your overall app development cost. You must decide whether you want to go for native or cross-platform app development. As an entrepreneur, deciding on either of these two is always a challenge until you are very clear from day one. You can create your app for any of the following platforms or for multiple platforms:
Android App Development
If you are planning to build an Android app, the cost depends on the technology you choose. It can be Kotlin or Jetpack with UI toolkits. For simple Android app development, the cost can be around $50000; for high-end, feature-rich apps, like education app development, it can be around $75000 or more.
iOS App Development
If you want rich interfaces and robust products, you need a reliable iOS app development company, and that will cost you around $10000 to $300000 or more. The cost for simple iOS app development can be $10000, and for moderate to complex apps, it can be $300000 or more.
Cross-platform app Development
You can use the best cross-platform mobile app development frameworks here to build dynamic apps that can be offered at multiple platforms through a single codebase. With this, you will save 30-40% of time and cost. Simple apps will cost you around $20000, and moderate to complex apps cost around $20000 – $75000.
Size and Location of Development Team
The next element that determines the actual cost of building a mobile application is the size and the exact location of your app development team. Considering the regional cost breakup of hiring a dedicated developers team on an hourly basis, the scenario would be as follows:
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North America: $30-$120/hour
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From East America region: $20-$50/hour
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Western & Northern Europe: $30-$70/hour
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Middle East: $40-70/hour
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Africa: $25-$40/hour
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South, Central & Eastern Europe: $30-$60/hour
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Eastern Asia: $20-$60/hour
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Southeast Asia: $20-$50/hour
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Oceania/Australia: $40-$70/hour
You can always choose the top software development company in India or any other reliable organization if you have a very tight budget.
Hiring Dedicated Mobile App Development Team
If you are hiring a dedicated developers team for a particular project, you must consider what kind of roles you will give them. For a dedicated hiring model, you need to see whether certain skill sets exist in the developers for building your unique product. Choosing a dedicated hiring model will need a certain skill set that may cost you:
| Skills/ Position | Hiring Cost (hourly basis) |
|---|---|
|
Project Manager |
$40 to $150 |
|
Business Analyst |
$25 to $100 |
|
Software Architect |
$25 to $150 |
|
UI/UX Designer |
$25 to $100 |
|
Mobile App Developer |
$25 - $150 |
|
Backend Developer |
$30 to $100 |
|
QA Engineer |
$20 to $100 |
App Features and Functionalities and API Integrations
Another aspect is the kind of features and functionalities you integrate into your mobile app. They are the main cost factors and are unavoidable. They are the ones that will play a significant role in grabbing the user’s attention. It is not just about integrating features from scratch but also about directly integrating them with third-party APIs. The cost of implementing some of the basic to complex features can be as follows:
| Features | Avg. Development Cost |
|---|---|
|
User Login |
$500 - $5000 |
|
User Profile Manager |
$8000 - $5000 |
|
In-app Chat and Calling |
$3000 - $20000 with an added cost of TPI of API, which will be $500 - $10000 |
|
Push Notification |
$500 - $5000 |
|
Simple Admin Panel |
$1500 - $8000 |
|
Payment Gateway Integration |
$1500 - $7000 |
|
Map and Location Integration |
$1500 - $7000 |
The above features and other complex features decide the total cost.
Cost of MVP Development
Your budget may not be too high, and you still want to launch a decent mobile app that gives your business an excellent start. You can always create an MVP that can have minimum features. You can only focus on the core features to check your mobile app’s market popularity and future stability. In that case, the cost of developing an MVP varies again. It depends on the app development type, designers’ expertise, and the team’s location. However, generally, it costs around $10000 – $50000 to create an MVP.
Full App Development
After the success of the MVP, you can now create a full-fledged mobile app that can have additional features and is ready to use across all types of target audiences. In that case, you will now have to consider the various costs that are involved in developing a full-cycle mobile application. The costs may be as follows:
Security Implementation and Compliance Cost: $ 5000 – $50000
App Testing and Quality Assurance: $5000 – $10000
App Publishing: 15 to 20% of total development cost
Support and Maintenance: $5000 – $20000
Store Optimization and App Marketing Cost – $1000 – $25000
Conclusion
Now that you are on the verge of deciding to create a fantastic mobile application for your business, we hope the above information will help you estimate the costs. If you want to make a robust mobile application that can help your users live a better life, you can get in touch with us. We can help you hire dedicated developers for your project. At Whitelotus Corporation, we are well-equipped with an extensive team of mobile app developers, project managers, and business analysts who will help you create cross-platform applications for various industries like telemedicine apps, etc. We have multiple clients worldwide who have been working with us since the establishment. Contact us to learn about our services.
