How much does it cost to build a Mobile App?

• Basic app price – from $15,000 to $25,000 per platform
• Complex, custom (multi-feature) app cost – $300,000+

The factors which determine the final cost to build an app are:

1. Application development source (freelancer or development company)

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• Lower development cost i.e. low as $20/hour
• But other aspects such as Competitor analysis, UI design & UX, timeline management, look out for team discipline, in-budget project planning will go to the product owner’s account.

• Quality assurance
• Efficient project management
• All-inclusive services
• Schedule and discipline
  Deep involvement
• Ease of communication
• Accountability

Complexity	Feature Inclusion	Estimated Time	Cost of Freelancer	Development Company Cost
Simple	Standard UI elements with simple back-end	3-4 Months	$15k – $25k	$40k – $60k
Moderate	API Integration, custom design, standard design	4-5 Months	$30k – $40k	$70k – $100k
B2B focus	Limited external integration	B2B focus	B2B focus	B2B focus
Mid-Level	Professional design, pro-features, high quality animation	6-7 Months	$50k – $70k	$110k – $200k
Fully Customized	Custom professional front-end design and integration	8+ Months	$80k+	$200k+

2. Location of the App Development Partner:

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Region	iOS ($/hour)	Android ($/hour)
North America	150	168
Australia	110	110
UK	70	70
South America	43	34
Eastern Europe	35	35
India	30	26
Indonesia	11	12

3. The Size of Your Development Team to Build an App:

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Scope of Your Project helps deciding the development team size,

• Programmer
• Project Manager
• UI/UX Designer
• QA Engineer

• Project Manager
• Two to four App Developers
• One Back-end Developer
• One to Two UI/UX Designers
• A QA Engineer
• A System Administrator
  

Person	Responsibilities
UX/UI Designer	Design the app layout, look and feel of different screens, perform optimization tasks
Developer	Write the code to create app functionalities, perform data integration, fix bugs
Back-end Developer	Ensure smooth communication between the application, the server, and the database
QA Engineer or Tester	Check every functionality of the app, check the quality of code, design quality, and ensure the app fulfills the main purpose
Project Manager	Efficiently handle the project, ensure deadlines are followed by everyone, ensure there is discipline and proper communication within the team

4. Native App Vs Hybrid App:

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Native App	Hybrid App
Chooses individual languages w.r.t to the selected platform iOS(used languages) Swift,Objective-C) , Android(used languages Java,Kotlin)	Chooses single code across the multiple platforms with the binding of native code
Security is the most promising.	The main drawback of hybrid apps is to use in-device third-party features, requiring download of data as users navigate the feature, security is a concern here.
Expensive across multiple platforms as code is individual.	Cost effective across multiple platforms as single code can be used for multiple platforms
Best user experience	Faster speed to market when launch in short time
Basic app development cost starts from $15k-$25k	Basic app development cost starts from $5000-$10k

Learn more: What are the top technology trends to build a mobile app?

5. Cost to Build an App Based on the Key Features & Complexities:

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Basic features like user sign-in, push notifications, and primary navigation are less time consuming.However, features like credit card payment, online streaming, offline mode consumes time.

• log-in/Sign-up Module using in-app registration
• Additional sign-in option using social media credentials or google account

• App navigation defines development of user flow throughout the app
• It is a flow how users will navigate to different modules/screens of an app.
• It is important that the whole user flow needs to be derived with a complete analysis before the development phase.

• Push notifications have become the must-have feature in today’s mobile applications.
• It helps businesses to share real-time updates with their customers.
• There are multiple options you can try – simple text notifications or the ones with images and action buttons.
• If you are developing a chat application like Whatsapp, then the implementation of push notifications needs to be done carefully.
• The notifications should be delivered to the appropriate person.

• Media content is an essential asset for any mobile application.
• Your app should have attractive images, videos, and audio to optimize the overall user experience. Depending on the scope of your app, you might also need to integrate certain filters, effects, smileys, and so on.

• Google Map has become an obvious feature of every mobile app now.
• Routing locations, track locations are crucial features for business mobile app.
• This requires Map API integration.

• If you are planning to build a complete ecommerce app this feature is crucial.
• By integrating payment gateways, adding a purchase option you can allow users to buy products/services from the app.

• To protect users data & business information hacked by cyber crimes,adding up data security can prevent security attacks.

• Business Analysis
• UI/UX design
• App development
• Project management
• App testing and deployment
• Ongoing support and maintenance

• Consider various facets before development stage.
• A business model of mobile app needs to be run through competitive analysis.
• It needs Software requirement documentation & app verification.

• Usually, the business analysis phase could cost in between $1,200 to $11,000 with a timeline of 2-4 weeks which is 10% of the allocated budget on mobile app development.

• When it comes to your app, you will want a flawless UI/UX design to create that exceptional first impression.
• Userflow defines mobile app success, at this stage it’s a great idea to get an interactive prototype.

You can get your click-through prototype with tools, such as:

• Adobe XD
• Marvel
• InVision
• Proto.io

• The design costs in mobile app development range from $2,500 to $10,000.

• The costs associated with programming and coding are more than other mobile app development phases.

• The app architecture and functionality development costs range from $2,000 to $60,000.

• Another critical phase in the app development process is project management.
• A project manager controls the development process from start to finish. The manager’s efforts take up to 10-15% of the total app budget.

The project management stage in app development costs ranges from $1,200 to $12,000.

• Testing is a crucial facet of your app development.
• It defines the quality of your product. You will need to incorporate precise testing protocols throughout your app development process.
• it contains multiple iterations and stages of testing the app code.

Costs at App Testing and Deployment Phase:

• Usually, the app testing and deployment phase costs less than $5,000.

• Developing and releasing your app on Google Play Store and App Store doesn’t mean your expenses are over.
• It’s essential to consider the cost of maintaining your mobile application in the overall development cost.

• Fixing bugs
• Updating your app to the latest OS versions
• Upgrading app to make it compatible with new technologies
• Code optimization
• Improving app stability
• Scale up the server infrastructure as the number of users grows
• Mobile app development is an ongoing process, and you should keep upgrading your app to reap the benefits of advanced technologies.

• Based on our experience of developing and maintaining mobile apps for several businesses, the app maintenance cost is typically 10-20% of the development cost.

Final Words:

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