Mobile App Development Cost in 2024: A Detailed Guide
Nowadays mobile app development and web app development trends are booming like never before. Today we have an app for everything. For any of needs we search Apple Store or Play Store. With this increase, there is still more room for impactful and innovative mobile apps.
Mobile App Development: Enhancing Business Value
Your business can get significant boost and it can help you generating good value by ensuring faster time-to-market. Now the point to be thought here is: What is the cost of mobile app development? To plan and budget it is very important to understand how to calculate the app development costs.
Estimating Mobile App Development Costs
Mobile app development costs can range from somewhere around $300,000 max and $25,000 minimum.
Now you must be wondering what are the factors that influence the custom mobile app development cost?
From app complexity, features, functionalities, and the development approach, the development for e.g. flutter web development is affected by all.
Factors Influencing App Development Costs
From payment gateway development cost to app maintenance cost there are several costs that are to be combined to determine mobile app development cost. Let’s glance them some of the important ones.
Outsourcing vs. In-House Development
- In-House Development: It requires notable initial investments. It helps in direct communication and control but may lack local talent.
- Outsourcing: Choose from a huge talent hub, offers flexibility, lower rates but there can be time zone risks and lower personal control.
Location and Structure of the Development Team
- Nearshore outsourcing: With minimal time differences this type offers proximity.
- Offshore outsourcing: This type involves challenges due to time zone differences but can provide financial advantages
Native vs. Hybrid App Development
- Native Apps: Needs separate development for each specific platform (iOS or Android)
- Hybrid Apps: You can suffer from performance and user experience issues while working across multiple platforms.
Android vs. iOS Development
- Development costs for iOS and Android are similar, but targeting both platforms simultaneously can increase the budget.
Customization of Visual Design
- Designing a user-friendly interface costs around $5,000 and up, depending on the number of screens and visual complexity.
App Maintenance Costs
- You can face significant expenses in the first year and maintenance can cost around $30,000 annually.
Code Reuse
Code reuse is a significant factor in reducing the cost of mobile app development. When businesses opt to reuse the code from an existing app, making only branding changes, the development costs can be significantly lowered.
However, experts at PSSPL advise that businesses should only reuse common elements like “Contact Us” and “Login” screens, while developing the rest of the app from scratch. This approach ensures the maintenance of a distinct brand identity.
Reusing existing code can reduce app development costs by 20-30% compared to developing an app entirely from scratch.
Size and Location of Development Team
The total cost of mobile application development largely depends on the development team you choose.
Options include a proficient app development company, a local team, an in-house development team, or a freelance developer.
An experienced mobile app development company can create high-end applications with top-notch features and functionalities, offering a great return on investment. Here is a rough estimate of the costs associated with different types of app development teams:
- App Development Company: $50,000 – $200,000
- Local Team: $40,000 – $150,000
- In-house Development Team: $60,000 – $250,000
- Freelance Developer: $20,000 – $80,000
Choosing the right team is crucial for achieving the desired quality and functionality in your mobile app.
Features and Functionality
- Features like user login, hardware integration, geolocation, and payments significantly influence development costs.
App Development Costs Based on Technology
If we bifurcate application based on technology, it will be as follows:
React Native App Development
React Native app development involves using the React Native framework to build cross-platform applications for iOS and Android. The cost to build React Native apps ranges from $20,000 to $150,000.
Flutter App Development
The average Flutter app development cost ranges from $15,000 to $200,000, depending on project scope, target audience, and budget.
A Flutter app with simple and basic features costs around $8,000 to $60,000. A Flutter app with mid-level complexity costs around $60,000 to $120,000. For a high-complexity Flutter app with multiple integrations, the cost ranges from $140,000 to $200,000.
Swift App Development
Swift app development focuses on developing native iOS applications using the Swift programming language. The cost for Swift app development typically ranges from $10,000 to $250,000 or more for sophisticated apps with advanced functionality tailored for iOS devices.
How to Estimate App Development Cost?
Now that you know the cost to build apps in each development stage, let us walk through three basic yet crucial factors to consider while estimating your app development cost.
What is Your App Type?
Choosing the right type of app for your business goals significantly impacts your development cost.
- Basic Apps: Basic or simple apps cost between $20,000 to $60,000 as they do not require heavy front-end and back-end development. Costs vary depending on the platform (iOS, Android, or both) and developer rates. Examples include basic games, watches, and calculator apps.
- Data-Driven Apps: Creating data-driven apps might cost from $25,000 to $80,000 as they rely heavily on data processing and analysis. Examples include calendars, weather forecasting, and maps. Costs increase with the complexity of data handling and integration.
- Social Network Apps: Developing a social network app can range from $30,000 to $100,000. They require user profiles, social interactions, messaging, and media sharing. Examples include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Pinterest.
- On-Demand Services App: On-demand services apps connect users with services or products in real-time, costing between $60,000 to $120,000. Costs depend on features like geolocation, payment integration, and service provider management.
- E-Commerce Apps: Developing eCommerce apps can cost between $80,000 to $150,000, with costs escalating due to functionalities like inventory management, secure transactions, and multi-platform support. Examples include Alibaba, eBay, and Amazon.
- Gaming Apps: The cost of gaming apps varies from $30,000 to $200,000, depending on design requirements from simple 2D games to complex 3D experiences with multiplayer functionality.
- Enterprise Apps: Enterprise apps are meant for in-house purposes such as sales and marketing, CRM, and HRM. The cost ranges between $50,000 to $300,000, depending on the complexity of business processes and integration requirements.
- Healthcare Apps: Healthcare apps typically cost between $45,000 to $250,000, with potential higher costs due to compliance with healthcare regulations, secure data handling, and integration with medical devices.
- eLearning Apps: eLearning apps cost between $60,000 to $300,000, allowing for online learning and educational resources such as virtual classrooms and training. Costs may increase with features like multimedia content and user engagement tools.
- Video Streaming Apps: Creating a video streaming app costs anywhere from $50,000 to $350,000 or more, depending on bandwidth requirements and server infrastructure.
The Most Popular Global Apps and Their Development Costs
Below are examples of a few popular apps that have redefined and transformed the concept of customer experience and are currently leading the app market. We have also mentioned the average application development costs of these apps.
WhatsApp is an instant messaging app that allows users to exchange messages along with instant video/audio calls, photo and video uploads, etc. The average cost to build a messaging app like WhatsApp would range from $30,000 to $70,000.
Netflix
Netflix is the world’s leading media streaming platform. It allows users to stream shows and movies at their convenience. The average cost of developing an app like Netflix is around $25,000 to $200,000.
Uber
Uber is a popular ride-sharing app that connects drivers and riders around the globe. Using the app, customers can request a car instantly or on schedule. Those requests are received by drivers nearby. The average cost of developing an app like Uber can range between $30,000 – $100,000.
Snapchat
With over 300 million daily active users, Snapchat has become a game-changer in the world of social media apps.
This popular messaging app has been a pioneer in bringing augmented reality to its users through filters and interactive lenses.
The app also allows you to share multimedia messages that will “self-destruct” in up to 10 seconds. The cost to build a Snapchat-like app can be somewhere around $45,000 to $100,000 for one platform and up to $200,000 for both platforms.
Holafly
Holafly, an innovative eSIM app, facilitates seamless global connectivity for travelers. The development cost for an eSIM app like Holafly can range from $30,000 to $300,000 or more depending on the app’s intended features, complexity, and the development team’s expertise.
TikTok
This video-sharing app has become inescapable and a major revolution in the entertainment world. TikTok allows users to lip-sync dialogues and re-enact their favorite scenes from different movies and music videos.
The app also offers several filters and effects to enhance your videos and images. The average cost of developing an app like TikTok will be somewhere around $60,000 to $100,000 for one platform and up to $150,000 for hybrid development.
Coursera
Coursera is an e-learning app that has gained amazing popularity among students and teachers due to the exceptional benefits it offers.
The app offers a range of distance learning programs that include skill development courses to university degrees across the globe. The Coursera-like mobile app development cost might settle between $60,000 and $120,000.
How to Reduce the Mobile App Development Cost
Your company may undergo a complete transformation with the creation of a high-quality mobile app, but controlling the cost of app development is essential to keeping costs down and optimizing return on investment.
The following strategies will assist you in lowering the price of developing a mobile app:
- Start with a Well-Defined Scope
Before beginning the mobile app development process, ensure you have a clear and well-defined scope. This helps prevent scope creep and reduces the app development time and cost. Defining the scope early ensures that the mobile app development services you choose can work efficiently.
- Outsource Development
Think about hiring a third-party company to handle all or part of the development of your mobile app. IT outsourcing can be a financially advantageous choice, particularly if you select an overseas supplier with reduced labor expenses. You can cut your overall costs for mobile app development by using this method.
- Choose the Right Development Team
Hire a mobile app development team with experience in producing goods similar to yours if you want the best mobile app development services. An expert group such as PSSPL can steer clear of typical blunders and economize on important resources, guaranteeing that your mobile app development services are economical and successful.
- Use Open-Source Technologies
By reducing licensing costs, open-source technology can help you optimize the cost of developing mobile apps. By using these technologies, you can make sure that a larger portion of your cash goes toward improving the user experience and adding necessary features.
- Prioritize Features
Prioritize the development of the most crucial elements. This allows for a quicker launch and helps you save money on superfluous features. You can cut expenses and expedite the mobile app development process by giving features priority.
- Test Early and Often
To find defects and problems as soon as feasible, conduct early and frequent testing. Long-term cost savings from early testing can be achieved by avoiding expensive fixes later in the development cycle.
- Leverage App Development Tools
To streamline development and cut expenses, make use of frameworks and app development tools. With the use of these technologies, developing mobile apps can be done more quickly and effectively, producing excellent outcomes with less work.
- Pay attention to user experience
Enhanced user experience can result in higher income and engagement. During the mobile app development process, investing in user experience design guarantees that your app is entertaining and easy to use, which increases its marketability.
- Make Use of Agile Development Techniques
Using agile development approaches, you can create your software in brief iterative steps. This methodology can aid in decreasing the mean expense of developing mobile applications by permitting ongoing enhancements and modifications in response to user input.
Average Cost to Develop an App
The average cost to develop an app range from $20,000 to $200,000, depending on factors such as the app platform, features, functionalities, user base, and complexities. In some cases, the cost can go up to $350,000. Generally, developing native iOS and Android apps is more expensive than cross-platform app development.
According to Business Apps, the cost for developing an app with simple features is up to $32,000, while an app with medium complexity costs up to $48,000. The cost for developing complex applications starts at $72,000.
GoodFirms conducted a survey on app development costs, revealing that feature-rich and complex applications like Tinder, Uber, or Instagram range from $100,000 to $185,000.
UpCity also released a survey report on “How much does it cost to develop a mobile app?” outlining the average costs for each development phase:
- Discovery Phase: $10,000 – $15,000
- Design Phase: $10,000 – $15,000
- Development Phase (with advanced features like notifications and analytics): $5,000
- Testing, Maintenance, and Support Phase: $5,000 – $10,000
How PSSPL Can Assist You in Estimating Mobile App Development Costs
Well, I hope the above content helped you in determining the cost of creating an app. Although it can be complex and depends on various factors. There is no definitive answer to this question, but considering all influencing factors can provide a more accurate estimate for bringing your innovative app idea to life.
If calculating the final cost of mobile app development in locations like Australia, Singapore, Europe, US, etc. seems daunting, you can rely on a trusted mobile app development company such as PSSPL. We offer top-notch mobile app development services to guide you through this process effectively.
Happy Reading!!
