Recent studies show that 86% of customers’ mobile time is spent on applications. To keep up with the times, small and big business owners are investing more and more in mobile app development.
Most people have no idea of which criteria affect the cost of the app development and don’t know how to plan the budget and set right priorities. The main driver of the app development costs is a work rate.
There are several things to consider – the location of the app developers (the lowest rates are in India and the highest ones are in the US), freelancers or app development company, etc.
Due to a wide range of variables, the price of a custom mobile app may range from $6,000 to $600,000. The average price ranges from $100,000 to $300,000 in case the development process takes about 10-12 weeks.
Obviously, investing in the app development will bring you lots of benefits and ease your work process or boost up the sales.
Before developing an app, define your priorities.
App functionality
Mobile apps are extremely broad, and the purpose of the app is the thing to rate the budget. For example, a small app such as calculator used for a particular business niche will cost less in comparison with Uber or Tinder.
Basic app features to consider
- Control
Menu and button options and the way they appear on the screen plays a vital role in app development. The next comes design issues such as theme and logo. In short, take care of app identification and differentiation features. - Storage
The app functionality depends on the storage volumes. The more functions, the more storage. And you should strive to optimize cell phone resources for a flawless work of your app. - 3rd party integration
There is hardly an app development project that doesn’t need any 3rd party integration. The various systems need to be united for a harmonious whole. - Access to data
In case you need an enterprise-wide support application, consider the capability of the mobile app to access business data. - Data encryption
Security and accessibility of mobile applications are core issues to consider when developing an app. - Scalability
Scalability helps to maintain the app integrity. Consider the following issues taking into account the scalability aspect – good user experience, user traffic, efficient resource utilization, higher ROI.
Platforms supported
Defining a platform -iOS, Android, Windows Mobile or Web will help calculate the average time required for development and as a result the costs. Each platform is different and requires a particular set of skills and knowledge.
For example, iOS is used on a few different Apple devices – iPhone, iPad, iPad Pro, and iPad Mini, and this significantly eases the process of development while there a large number of Android devices with different screen sizes. So, it will take much longer to ensure a flawless work on all Android devices.
There are lots of devices available on the market, and you should consider what types of them will support your app. Do you want to develop an app only for phones or tablets? Or may it be a good idea to create a universal app for all screens?
Native vs. Hybrid App
A native app is an application developed specifically for a smartphone and OS (Objective-C or Swift for iOS and Java for Android). The native apps have not only the advantage of faster performance but of feeling right since it’s a mature ecosystem strictly following the guidelines for technical and user experience.
Native apps are premium products and hence, they require more time and money to be built.
Hybrid apps are part native, and part web apps with a code deployed to different platforms. They look like native apps, but outside the basic control/navigation frame, they’re fueled by a website.
Native apps in comparison with hybrid ones deliver the best performance, highest security, and best user experience. But if your time or funds are limited, consider building a hybrid app.
Maintenance Plan
Once your app is deployed, it’s high time to think about a maintenance plan. In fact, it’d be better not to shelve the maintenance issues and factor the costs of the maintenance into the initial cost estimate.
You should specify the new features and their launch date in the maintenance plan. It’s of vital importance to keep the apps up to date because there is a severe competition between apps as well as platforms.
Schedule the updates at least once a year otherwise the app will become outdated, irrelevant and hence deleted by users. The maintenance plan should be inextricably connected with your marketing strategy.
We hope that you understand know how the costs for app development are estimated. Since there are lots of features and functions to consider before developing, don’t hire developers if you can’t define the app purposes and your target audience.
Useful article!Thanks!