The demand for mobile applications is on the rise for numerous reasons. Everyone wants to establish a stronger presence and be where their target audience is. While it’s a great way of garnering attention, it can be somewhat costly too depending upon your expectations from the app.

Since the pros of having an app outweigh the cons by a significant margin, the investment in mobile app development will be worth your time and dollars. Now that we have made up our mind about spending money on application development, let’s see what is the cost of developing an app.

Before we get to decoding app development cost by app type, it is important to be familiar with all the other factors that influence these costs.

App development costs typically depend upon the following factors:

Platform Choice

App development will likely be lower if you choose to develop native apps or web apps. However, if you choose to go ahead with cross-platform or hybrid apps, you will want to reconsider your budget.

App Complexity

A basic app with a limited set of features costs much less as compared to a feature loaded app.

Design Requirements

You’ll have to adjust your budget according to how good you want the app design to be. If you’re looking for customized user interface, be ready to loosen your pocket.

Development Team

The size and location of the development team can also impact the app development cost significantly. While a bigger team may mean faster development and increased costs, you can consider hiring the development team from a cheaper but talented country to compensate.

Understanding App Development Costs by App Type

In addition to the above-mentioned factors, there is one more aspect that significantly impacts the cost of mobile app development – app type. Common categories include:

Basic Functionality Apps - These are simple apps with minimal features that are often created for personal or limited use. Considering how simple and minimalistic these apps are, the development costs are relatively low too.

Data-driven Apps - Any app that needs huge datasets to function properly will be more expensive to develop because of the need for seamless synchronization across multiple platforms.

Read More : Data Driven Discovery

Authentication Apps - Most applications require user authentication these days, and this involves more complex coding in addition to server-side integration, resulting in higher development costs.

E-commerce Apps - If you want to build an e-commerce app, you will want several features, such as payment processing, user accounts, shopping carts, sorting, and more. The complexity of these apps and ensuring secure transactions requires additional effort, and thus, drives the development costs significantly higher.

On-demand Service Apps - Most on-demand apps need to offer advanced features like GPS tracking, payment integrations, user accounts, and robust backend among others, again, resulting in higher costs. Common examples of on-demand service apps are Uber and Postmates.

Social Networking Apps -The number of social networking apps is increasing every day, with every new app trying to be bigger and better than its closest competitor. Features, such as seamless user interaction, content sharing, and real time notifications can be both complex and costlier to develop.

Gaming Apps - The range for the cost of gaming apps varies extensively. There can be simple games with a limited set of features, and games with advanced graphics and multiplayer capabilities – costs increasing significantly with every additional feature.

IoT Apps - IoT apps need to interact with other smart devices through advanced programming, and often need security features and advanced data handling capabilities, contributing to higher development costs.

Utility Apps - Although some utility apps (like flashlight apps) are simple and cheap to develop, others that require integration with phone hardware or operating systems can be more expensive.

Here’s a more convenient representation of app development costs by app type:

Wrapping It Up

There are numerous considerations that need to be paid due attention to when looking to develop an mobile app. While the above guide covers all the important aspects of developing an app, it is important to do your own research and go ahead with an option that suits your requirements and budget the best.

Considering the growing popularity of mobile apps, investing in mobile application development services will be certainly worth your time, money, and effort!