Today, as the world increasingly adopts mobile devices, business is going mobile too. Mobile apps are increasingly used by companies for internal day-to-day operations as well as for doing business with customers. Often, business owners are concerned about how much it might cost to create a mobile app. Let us see in detail how you can calculate the cost of creating an app for your business.

Cost ranges quoted by various sources

As per a Clutch survey, the average cost for creation of an app by expert agencies is $ 171,450. An app having dozens of features is usually estimated to cost between $ 200,000 – $ 350,000 by online cost calculators. However, a simple app can be made at a fraction of that price, possibly around $10,000. The cost can be even less, if development starts with a proof of concept (POC) version. It all depends on the features that you wish to have in the app for satisfying your business needs. App development cost is thus, highly variable.

Factors to consider while calculating cost of making a mobile app

There are various factors to consider while calculating the cost of making a mobile app. These are:

• Complexity: Mobile apps can be classified as simple, moderate and complex on the basis of complexity.
  • Simple apps are characterised by absence of API integration and backend. They have standard UI components and simple features like email subscription, social login etc. They take an estimated 400 hours for development and might cost around $ 20000 – 40000 to develop.
  • Moderate apps have custom UI features, API integration, payment capabilities and backend server. They typically take 500-800 hours for development and cost around $ 40000 – 80000 to develop.
  • Complex apps have third party integrations, custom animations, complicated backend and professional design. They take 800-1500 hours for development and cost around $ 75000 – 150000.
• Type of app: The cost of development also depends whether you are developing a native app or hybrid app. To read more about the difference between these two types, click here to go to our article that gives a detailed explanation.
  • Native apps are usually large and heavy. They use various features and APIs. These apps can be expensive if you want to develop them over multiple platforms.
  • Hybrid apps are usually less expensive to develop as they are suitable for usage across platforms. However, you need to decide based on the business needs which of these two types would be suitable, rather than focusing only on the cost.
• Who develops the app: Another factor that decides the cost is who develops the app: in-house team, freelancer or an app development vendor company. Choosing between these three options must be done based on the business need and weighing the pros and cons of each option. You can read the below articles to help you decide on the different app development options:

Benefits of a Dedicated Team Model in Software Development

App/Software Development: Outsourcing vs In-House Development – A Detailed Comparison

• Platforms: You need to decide on which platform is the app going to be built: iOS or Android. iOS platform development is usually cheaper than Android. But Android has higher market share, which could mean higher reach for the app despite the higher development cost. Hence, it is necessary to calculate the ROI for both platforms before choosing one or both.
• Backend integration and testing: Handling the backend of an app is difficult and costly. If the app depends on data, then there must be a database for storage. Then you need to decide whether to go with cloud database servers or in-house database servers. In-house is more expensive than cloud. Various third party apps might also need to be integrated with the app. At various stages of the development process, testing must be done to ensure bugs are dealt with swiftly.
• Geographic location of app development: The cost also depends on which geographic region is your development taking place. Usually, developers in US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand charge the highest, whereas those in India charge the lowest. This applies to both freelancers and app development firms.

Now you must have a fair idea of how to calculate the cost of making a mobile app. If you need to engage a trusted app development company, we at Acropolis can be your trusted advisors and provide you with our services to take care of your app development needs. Contact us right now to have our technology experts at your service! All you need to do is have a detailed discussion with us about your needs, and upon your approval of our recommendations, we will help you achieve your business goals! And at affordable rates too! Even better, our services are available to businesses anywhere in the world! We cater to clients from US, UK, Australia, Germany, France and many more countries!