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How much does it cost to develop an app? This is everyone’s question before they step into any app development project. An estimated cost of an app is an elemental component of the budget for a mobile app development project. Though the need for an app has increased since Corona pandemic, and the cost associated with app development has also increased proportionally.

Google Play Store and App Store are the biggest players in the app world where thousands of applications are released every day. Mobile applications have played a crucial role in our daily lives and this need shows no sign of slowing down the applications release count. It is of no importance that there are more than 7 million applications available in app stores, there’s always room for more and better apps. You can always bring something better to the market.
During the third quarter of 2022, app stats on statista were like this:

Mobile App Development Cost Calculation Technique

Let me be clear: nothing can predict the amount you need to spend on app development without knowing the app requirements. Assume a scenario where a client visits a mobile app development company and asks how much amount will it take to get it done. No one can tell it without knowing what that app will do, what features will exist, or how complex the app will be. Even if the client gives a broad outline of the functionalities, that won’t be enough for the price estimation. You need in-depth research about the functionalities of the application to get a clear picture of the amount.

Well, there are different ways you can accomplish your app project. You can hire a mobile app development company, a freelance mobile app developer, or a fixed-price app developer from an app development agency. Read this guide on how to hire a mobile app development company.

You can easily calculate the cost needed to build an app by multiplying the total number of hours used in the project by the hourly rate.

The mobile app development cost may also vary on several factors as well. It may be get affected by the location from where you have hired the resources, the complexity of the features of the app, years of work experience of the resource, etc.

In a nutshell, an app development cost depends on the following variables:

1. App’s functionality: what your app is supposed to do, like it will play online music

2. Platforms and devices supported: which platform the app will support Android or iOS, or it will support both of them?

3. Third-party app integration: will the app be incorporated with another app, like google maps in uber?

4. Technology used: An app developed with Java may cost you different than an app developed with Kotlin.

5. Complexity of features: the complexity of features defines how complex your app will be, is this a basic app of your idea or a fully-featured application it is?

6. Complexity of visual elements: the number and involvement of the visual elements in the app. It considers typography, CTA, images, logos, etc.

7. Use of hardware features: will your app be accessing the smartphone’s hardware features like GPS or camera?

Cost estimation to build an app:

The final cost of an app depends on several factors, that I have already shared with you. But if I try to sum it up and provide you a rough idea of cost estimation then, the cost would range from $30,000 to $170,000 to develop an app.

a. A basic application with minimum viable features will cost around $25000, to $60,000. It will take 12 weeks to 24 weeks to be developed.

b. A medium complex application with notable consumer features will cost around $36,000 to $85,000. It may take 24 weeks to 36 weeks to get accomplished.

c. An advanced application built on an enterprise level will cost you between $60,000 to $170,000. It may take 50+ weeks to get fully developed.

App development requires a whole team of developers, designers, quality testers, product managers, and app promoters. It is not one person’s task to accomplish a full-fledged complex application. Obviously, you can do it if you are an expert in everything from app planning to app promotion. Depending on the number of features in an application, an app development team dedicates 3-6 or more months to create a fully-featured application.

App Development Cost Breakdown Thru Stages:

To understand the app development cost breakdown, it is necessary to realize how much you will be spending on each app development phase. Without knowing it, you can never make a good price estimation for each phase. Each phase grasps a certain piece of the budget.

The app development process can be fractionated into five stages:

1. Analysis & Planning: This stage usually involves brainstorming ideas and market research. It’s the first step in building an application and a better strategy ensures that planning is done with utmost efficiency.

You may need to invest $5,000 to $25,000 for the planning & analysis phase as it will involve a thorough analysis of competitors and market research. It will consume 2-5 weeks of the entire app development time.

Your mobile app development company will include the following tasks while working on this stage:

a. Competitor analysis & market research

b. Identification of targeted users

c. Purpose to build the application

d. Originating prototypes for app visualization

e. Setting up the timelines for the development process

2. UX & UI Design: The UX & UI design phase exclusively invests time and money in creating user flows, defining the interface of the application, and how users will interact with it. This process makes sure that the product is relevant to the user’s expectations and conveys easy-to-use theory.

You may need to invest $5,000 to $50,000 depending on the number of app screens and the complexity of the visual designs. This phase needs a ton of attention as this is what will impress your users at the first sight.

3. Mobile App Development: Here comes the coding phase that will turn out all your app theories into reality. Depending on the mobile app developer’s cost, you can budget this phase in the range of $5,000 to $10,000 for a simple application. The same mobile app developer may ask you to expand the cost limit between $50,000 to $75,000 for a complex application.

4. App Testing & Deployment: The testing phase ensures that the application is accomplished on all industry standards and there are no bugs or errors that may cause a bad user experience. It ensures that the application is ready for customers. This complete phase may take $5,000 to $10,000 of your entire app development budget.
Pre-launch market research is a crucial element in making an app successful. Many businesses don’t pay close attention to it, but you do not have to carry out the same mistake, I am reminding you to analyze the market before your app is launched and is ready for the competition.

5. Maintenance & Updates: As we had already discussed, the app maintenance cost will add up to $21,000 to your budget. This may vary depending on the number of new features you release, or bug fixes. This annually cost makes your application worth standing in the market and ensures that your users face a flawless experience during the whole time.

 Factors Affecting the Cost of a Mobile App Development:

The price estimation may vary on several factors. Not every location, mobile app development company, OS platform, feature, and functionality costs you equally. Let’s see some of the most influencing factors on mobile app development costs.

1. App Development Team: The first thing you would be doing is hiring a team for app development. Either you will hire a team from an outsourced IT company or you will build an in-house development team. An in-house development team has complete control over the work being accomplished while you may lack good talent in the team. An outsourcing company provides boundless talent and a high level of expertise but may lack in matching your time zone.
You need to maintain an in-house development team, it will cost you physical office space, computers, internet, light, water, food, and all other basic needs, while a mobile app development company has already built up and managed properly, you will just need to pay for the actual app development cost.

2. Location of App Development Team: Apart from building a team and hiring an already built team from another company, the location where the team resides affects the cost surprisingly. Let’s say you live in the USA and hire a team from any mobile app development company in USA, then it will certainly cost you different than a company that is established in India or China.

3. App Development Platform: Before you own an application, you will be deciding on its platform. You can never make a budget for your app before determining the platform. Based on the requirements you will go for either a native platform or a hybrid platform.
Native app development entitles building an application for a specific platform. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are the two main mobile operating systems. Android app development would cost differently than iOS app development. If you target to build applications for both OSs, you will end up building two native applications and the app development cost will automatically increase.

Hybrid app development fulfills the requirement of creating an app that will run on multiple operating systems. Hybrid applications cause lower costs in app development than native applications.

4. Visual Design Customization: A visual design will make or break the first impression to attract visitors. The cost associated with app design depends on the number of screens, visual complexity, illustrations, branding, and the need for custom elements. It may cost you in the range of $5000 for 10-20 app screens. Also, know the UX practices that your app designer must follow.

5. App Maintenance Cost: The answer to- How much it costs to build an app, doesn’t end with the cost used till the app deployment. App maintenance is a crucial part of the process to ensure that the application is working perfectly.
According to GoodFirms, app maintenance may add up to $21,000 to your budget. This amount will include bug fixing, code optimization, performance improvement, new feature releases, and upgrade to the latest OS versions, and will maintain the app all around the year. So, whenever you make a budget for building an app, add an additional cost for app maintenance as well.

6. Features & Functionality: Features and functionalities are the most significant cost drivers. This is what your application’s success relies on. The quality and the number of features can upscale the app budget from $50,000 to $150,000. Building hardware features like Bluetooth may take up to 100 hours of app development and this will significantly increase the app cost. A few of the cost-influential features are payments, cross-drive synchronization, geolocation, user engagement, and data encryption.

Wrapping up:

Regardless of every factor that I have discussed here, the app development cost of your application may vary. Each application belongs to a certain industry and carries out specific features and functionalities, is built up in a mobile app development company or by a freelancer in a nation, and inhabits the expertise of an experienced mobile app developer and designer that cause each application to cost differently. If you want to get an estimation for your idea, ask our mobile app development experts to do that for you.

Do not forget to share your comments in the comment box below. In case, you’ve got some inquiries, I will be happy to respond to you at the earliest. Just drop what’s in your mind at info@chawtechsolutions.com.