Andrei Kasyanau, cofounder and CEO at Glorium Technologies. Startup advisor and an expert in health and real estate tech.
Take your smartphone and count how many applications are on it. Now, think how much it costs to develop and maintain these helpful little squares. Spoiler: It's a lot.
Apps have become integral to our lives, from ordering food to managing finances. However, the costs of app development can sometimes leave startups perplexed. So, what factors drive the high cost of app development? Let's break down the costs and shed light on the intricacies of app development pricing. So, what are the secrets behind those numbers?
Average Cost To Develop An App: Breakdown
Developing an app involves various components contributing to overall expenses. There are the fees of the back-end and front-end developers, quality assurance testers and project managers. Additionally, there are costs of research, design, user interfaces, visual elements and user experience optimization.
Cost Of The Team
Why the cost to build an app is so high? Simple. Developers are expensive. And to make an app, you will need more than one. A skilled team of developers that can bring your vision to life will include back-end and front-end developers, quality assurance testers, project managers and more.
The demand for competitive salaries of highly skilled professionals impacts the overall cost. With the average developer's wages at $100,000 a year, you can count the team you'll need, multiply by this number and get the approximate cost of the developer's work. Taking a period of a year here is not an exaggeration, as apps, in my experience, take at least four to six months to get to the MVP (minimal viable product) phase and about a year to get running with all features.
Snapchat, with its unique disappearing photo feature, required a team of engineers proficient in image processing algorithms, augmented reality and real-time data synchronization. The specialized skill set of the team members likely contributes to higher development costs.
Cost Of Research
Have you seen how many apps are on the app store? You will need thorough market research and analysis to differentiate and deliver a product that stands out and sells. Startups must identify user needs, study competition and define their unique value proposition.
This stage involves investing in market research tools, conducting surveys and gathering feedback, contributing to the overall cost. Another stage where you'll need extensive research is user experience architecture and planning, where it is crucial to collect insights from all types of people in your target audience, conduct in-depth interviews, ask respondents to run diaries and run focus groups, all of which take time and money.
David Darmanin, Hotjar's CEO, launched two startups before Hotjar, but both companies crashed and burned due to a lack of understanding of the market's demand. With Hotjar, they surveyed their beta users right after the beta launch and discovered that nearly half were agencies. It was unexpected, as the team did not consider agencies' potential interest at all.
Cost Of Design
Speaking of ease of use, the attractive user interface and pleasant experience are crucial factors for an app's success. Designers are responsible for this and work closely with developers to create intuitive interfaces, eye-catching visuals and seamless navigation. The cost of hiring experienced designers who can do the required footwork and create a captivating experience is a significant contributor to the overall development cost.
App design costs vary greatly, but design is not something you should save on. When investing a lot of money into the back end and the innovative features, you wouldn't want users to open your app once and then delete it just because the design is ugly or misleading.
App Development Pricing In Different Eras
During the early 2000s, the limited availability of development frameworks and tools and a smaller pool of developers were why even basic functionality cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Later, more advanced languages and a larger developer community appeared.
App development costs vary depending on the complexity, features and target platforms. Open-source frameworks and developer resources have decreased prices for more simple apps, but complex projects, particularly those with emerging technologies like AI, still demand substantial investment. Low-cost mobile app development is, unfortunately, a myth.
How To Reduce App Development Costs
Consider what you are prepared to sacrifice. While quality should always be a top priority, you can play around with the time-to-market and set of features. Here are some approaches to consider.
• Prioritize the core functionalities essential to the app's purpose, avoiding unnecessary bells and whistles that may drive up development costs.
• Consider utilizing open-source frameworks, libraries and tools that offer cost-effective solutions without compromising quality.
• Explore outsourcing specific development tasks to regions with lower labor costs while ensuring a reliable and skilled development team.
• Outsource the bulk of development to the larger team for prompt product creation and hire the smaller unit you need in-house for product maintenance and marketing.
• Incorporate all the revisions by stakeholders, compliance experts, lawyers and more into the process to avoid costly mistakes and re-works.
Conclusion
App development costs encompass many factors, from research and team composition to design and overhead expenses. Besides, you always have to consider the risk factors and unexpected expenses. That is why Glorium Technologies always prefers to give clients estimates ranging from optimistic to pessimistic scenarios.
Your chances to save on app development increase with each new app you make. Still, app-making is not a dime-for-a-dozen business. By recognizing it and comprehending the reasons behind the high app development cost, startups can allocate resources efficiently on their path to creating innovative, user-centric applications.
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