App development is not a free process. You will need to invest a significant amount of money throughout the development process to make sure the app is successfully developed. But how much is it going to cost you?
The app development cost is not something to be considered first when we are thinking about making an app. What we think about when making an app is the target audience, the features, and functionality of the app. But all this is for nothing if we evaluate the budget for the app development.
The formula to calculate total app development cost looks something like this:
App Development Cost = {(feature 1 development time) + (feature 2 development time) + …} * hourly rate of the developer
So in order to calculate the development cost of an app, you have to add up the development time for each of the app features and then multiply it by the hourly rate of the developer. Once you do that you will have an anticipated cost for the development for your app.
What affects the cost of developing an app? What factors drive those prices up or down?
Let’s take a look into those factors.
Functionality Of App
The first thing that will affect the cost of development is the app type. It all comes down to what kind of app you are making. E-commerce, blogging and gaming apps, each has its own features and the cost of development.
- When compared, you will see that between a social media app and a gaming app, the social media app costs less during development. It is because a gaming app has lots of graphic designing to be done, and that increases the cost.
So remember that the kind of app you will be building is going to affect the cost of development heavily.
Type Of App
There are majorly two types of apps. Web apps and Native apps. Web apps are basically a condensed version of websites. They open on any mobile browsers such as chrome, safari, fox, etc. and native apps are specially designed for a specific platform.
The cost will fluctuate according to the type of app you decide to go with. A web app significantly costs less than a native app. In recent years the popularity of native apps is decreasing compared to web apps. So keep that in mind when you choose the type of app you want for your app.
Platform
Although app development for Android and iOS have similar costs, they can vary depending on the time spent on various aspect of the development of the app.
Depending on the programming language and how much time it takes, the development time can go up or down on both platforms. However, you should keep in mind that whereas you can run Java on any device to develop an Android app, you will specifically need iOS devices to run Swift to develop iOS apps. This might affect the app development cost, as you will need to get iOS devices for the development process.
Features
The features and functionalities are the most important part of any app. And they also happen to be the most important factors when it comes to determining the cost of development. Developing a fully featured app is obviously going to cost more than developing an MVP.
The more complex the features of the app is, the more the cost will increase. Most apps today need the basic functionality to work with the built-in features like camera, GPS, etc. the integration of chatbots, Bluetooth, rich graphics, third-party integration results in an increase in the cost of development. So make sure to chose only the most important features you need for your app at the beginning. You can always add more features on the future updates.
Server And Database
The addition of server and database helps the cost of development to increase significantly. There are apps such as notes or calendar apps that don’t require any server and database, which is why they cost a lot less when apps that require databases will cost you a lot more.
If your app collects user data then it will also need a place to store that data, and that is where the database comes in. however, the cost depends on what kind of database you will be adding and the connection requirements. In any case, if you want a more affordable way of storing all the data, then you should opt for the cloud option, which will cost less and is going to be more convenient.
Design
The design of your app is going to affect the cost of development for your app directly.
An app with simple visuals is not hard to design, and it costs less. But with more complex visuals and designs, the cost is going to go up. Once the design gets too complicated it will include things like HD images, videos, and fonts, animation effects, etc. so it is obvious that to develop all this you will need to invest more into your app.
Third Party Integration
With third-party integration, the users can access third-party data straight from your app. This gives them better shareability between apps. It is a lot like sharing third-party data on your Facebook account.
The development of this feature is definitely going to add to the overall cost of development. In order to integrate the third party integration, you’ll need to take serious security measures as well as develop an external API
Developer Fee
Last but not least, the developer fee is going to be one of the more significant contributors to the increase or decrease in the cost of app development. Whether you are hiring the service of a mobile app development company or a freelancer, the developer fee will depend on that decision. The services of a well-experienced development team are definitely going to cost you more than the service of a freelancer. But at the end of the day, it is the quality of service that you should concern yourself about.
What’s Your Take?
Despite all the factors mentioned above, there are lots of other things that can affect the development of your apps, such as the location you are getting it developed from and the kind of technology you will be using for development. With that being said, when it comes to the development of your app, you should always worry about the quality before the cost and make your decisions accordingly.
Contributed byhttps://www.unifiedinfotech.net/
