Understanding App Development Costs: What You Need to Know

How much does it cost to make an app? There’s not a fixed price for building a mobile application.

Think about some of the most recent products or services that you’ve bought. Whether it’s a car, cell phone, or cleaning service, there are different price points depending on certain elements.

The same goes for your mobile app. So how much does it cost to make an app? The app cost is going to depend on what you’re trying to accomplish.

Just like most things in life, you get what you pay for. You can’t expect to build an amazing app for just a few dollars. But at the same time, spending a ton doesn’t automatically translate to success.

Here’s an analogy that you can probably relate to.

Spending a fortune on kitchen supplies won’t make you a professional chef if you don’t know how to cook. You’ve got to know what you’re doing to be successful.

So just because you want to spend as much money as possible to develop your app, won’t make it an automatic hit if you don’t know how to run a business.

App Development Cost Breakdown

What’s the average cost to make an app? You’ve got to take quite a bit into consideration when you’re looking at different price tiers for app development.

Here are a few of the main factors that affect the app development cost:

• who builds your app
• how your app gets built
• what you need your app to do
• your app budget
• mobile app design
• maintenance cost
• app complexity
• operating system (Android and iOS apps)

Each of these points will impact how much you’re going to pay. I’ll discuss these factors in greater detail throughout this guide.

You can use this article as a reference to help determine the major differences between spending $1,000, $100,000, or somewhere in the middle for your app idea.

Here’s what you need to know about app cost:

Identify What Type of App You’re Building

Different types of apps are priced at varying levels.

If you just need to build something basic, you can get it done for a few thousand dollars.

Some examples of these device or functionality apps may be pre-installed on devices. I’m referring to app functionality like a calculator, stopwatch, or timer.

It’s really easy to develop these because there isn’t much to it. You’ve just got to write the basic programs for the functions to work and that’s really it.

In fact, these simple apps are some of the best apps to build for first timers.

But if you’re building a complex app, expect the cost to build to increase as well. App complexity has a direct impact on the overall app development price. So if you need your mobile application to do things like process payments, sync with the Internet, process in app purchases, use real-time GPS, push notifications, or link with other app users, it’s going to be more expensive to build. Adding new features also contributes to app complexity.

There’s another reason why complex apps are more expensive to build. Not only is the development more complicated, but there are other factors that come into play as well.

In addition to coding, you’ve got to consider:

• design costs
• back end development (which is necessary for certain apps)
• security
• architecture
• testing

The design for a social media app, gaming app, or e-commerce app is going to be much more expensive than the design elements of a calculator or flashlight app.

Later on I’ll go into further detail about other factors associated with development.

Your app should have a clear category. The Apple App Store has you select a primary category for your app based on how it can be described the best.

Some examples of these categories include:

• music
• navigation
• news
• books
• education
• photo & video
• lifestyle
• kids
• health and fitness
• travel
• sports
• social media

According to Statista, these are the most popular apps available in the App Store in terms of availability.

Once you clearly identify which type of app you’re going to build, you need to stick with it. Otherwise, the costs will quickly rise.

Your $10,000 app could easily turn into something that costs $50,000 if you start adding app features like push notifications, geolocation, or app design elements that change its category.

So don’t try to come up with a social media app that has games and will also help you file your taxes. That’s way too much going on in one app. It’s going to be nearly impossible to build, and the costs will be through the roof. Furthermore, it will confuse your audience.

Consumer apps or dating apps might be more expensive than app development for internal business use. This could definitely impact the average cost to make an app.

Understand the App Development Process

In order to fully grasp the development between different apps, you’ve got to understand the development process. This comes before you start thinking about your app budget, target audience, app maintenance, Android app vs. iOS app, app stores, and more.

Ask yourself this, can you write code? If not, expect your app development cost estimate to increase right away. You’re going to need help to build an app. You’ll have to hire a developer or potentially several app developers, depending on the complexity of what you’re building.

This is going to cost you money and add to the total development cost. Obviously, the more developers you bring on board, the more you’re going to have to pay.

So, how much does it cost to hire a mobile app developer? Again, it depends. One of the factors that goes into this cost has to do with the location of your mobile app developer.

So if you want to build an app in the $1,000 range, your best bet is to outsource development to India.

You could still get away with building an app for a few thousand dollars in the United States. But it would have to something simple, which I talked about earlier.

In the US you could also build a prototype or MVP for less than $10,000, but I’ll discuss that in greater detail shortly.

If you’re outsourcing product development overseas, you’ll definitely find a cheaper hourly rate, but you’ll get what you pay for. There are some risks associated with this approach.

It’s possible that you will have to overcome a language barrier with your developer based on their country of origin.

Working with a developer that’s not local means you won’t be able to keep tabs on them as much to see if they are on track with certain deadlines.

It’s much easier to do this if you can have face-to-face interactions with whoever you hire or can pick up the phone and directly communicate with them.

If the mobile app development process isn’t on schedule, the cost can change.

For the most part, the longer it takes to build an app, the more expensive it’s going to be to develop.

As you can see from the graphic, different types of apps have varying timelines, which ultimately impacts the price.

Comparison of App Development Options

Option	Cost	Pros	Cons
DIY App Builder	Low	Cost-effective, no coding knowledge required, quick start with templates	Limited for high-level custom development, may not suit large businesses
Independent Contractor or Freelancer	Varies, potentially low	Affordable, flexible	Risk of divided attention, variable quality, potential delays
Small App Development Company	Moderate	Specialized in niche apps, more reliable than freelancers	Limited scope, may not handle complex apps
Large Scale App Development Company	High	Top-level talent, reliable, comprehensive services	Expensive, may exceed budget for simple apps

Functional Services

Functional services are those needed to execute the functionalities and features of your app.

While your developer may provide you with a certain functionality, it will not work unless you subscribe to a service that will provide a delivery mechanism. These services may cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month, and the number of such services you may need is almost endless.

Here are some most common examples of app development cost based on real features and services. You can use this information to help estimate the cost of your own app development project.

Service	Description	Annual Cost Estimate
Push notifications	Essential mobile capability to increase user engagement and encourage actions like purchases.	$2,400
Social and chat	Encourages sharing and upvoting content through social networking, requiring services like chat and bot integration.	$1,200
SMS	Integration of SMS messaging using services like Twilio.	$500
Email	Integration of email features with a marketing service subscription or CRM software.	$1,000

Mobile App Development Cost: Hybrid vs. Native Mobile Apps

Another decision you’ll have to make is whether or not you’re going to develop a hybrid or native app. These different types of mobile apps are not priced equally.

App Type	Cost	Platform	Development Time	Features
Native App	Closer to $100,000	iOS or Android (separate apps needed)	Longer	Enhanced user experience, easier access to device hardware
Hybrid App	Much less expensive	Both Android and Apple simultaneously	Faster	Lower development and maintenance cost

If you’re going to develop a native app, you’ll have to make another decision right away as well. Are you going to build for iOS or Android?

Since native builds have to follow certain guidelines for specific platforms, they typically enhance the user experience. It’s also easier for native apps to access certain hardware within the user’s device, such as the GPS, camera, or contacts list. All of this contributes to the mobile app cost.

If you’re going to develop a native app, you need to be prepared to spend closer to $100,000 as opposed to $10,000. If you want to build an iPhone app for the Apple App Store and an Android app for Google Play Store, you’ll need to create two separate native apps for this.

Native mobile apps are expensive. On the other hand, hybrid mobile apps are much less expensive to develop.

Hybrid apps also allow you to launch on both Android and Apple platforms simultaneously. The development time for cross-platform builds are faster, which means you get your app to the consumer market quicker as well.

This relates back to what I said earlier about leveraging technology to build your app.

If you use a hybrid platform, this process is going to be much easier and less expensive for you. It also lowers the development and maintenance cost.