What is the cost of building a mobile app in 2020?

When you have an idea to develop a mobile application you probably wonder how much it will cost, how long it will take and how you can reduce costs without losing the quality of the final product.

Let’s make these questions clear.

Time and Money

The time on the mobile app development depends on the complexity of the project:

• 500-700 hours for the creation of a simple application that has only the key features

• 700-1000 hours for a medium complexity solution

• 1100-1300 hours for a complex app with rich functionality

To calculate an app development cost you need to know the hourly rates of different specialists. They quite differ from country to country.

E.g., the average hourly rate of an iOS developer in the USA is $100, and a median rate for engineers in Ukraine is $45.

Thus, development time depends on the complexity of your app, and its cost depends on developers’ hourly rates and location.

Factors that the cost of creating a mobile app depends on

1. IT provider

When deciding on the developer for your mobile application, you can choose between a company specializing in the development of mobile applications and hiring freelancers.

Freelancers offer lower prices for services but third-party contractor, in turn, has a professional, interchangeable team, tailored to your project. Plus legal guarantees of cooperation with such a company are many times more reliable.

2. The complexity of the app

An application with 2-3 simple functions (e.g., user contacts, a product description, etc.) will take less time than a project of medium complexity, which includes 4 or more functions.

In order to keep within the existing budget, identify only the key functions and begin to implement them.

3. Android or iOS

The average development cost for iOS or Android varies between $ 37,913 and $ 171,450, the budget for launching a native solution on both platforms will be about 2 times higher, or about $ 75,826 - $ 342,900.

The choice of platform for creating an app will largely due to the smartphones your target audience is using.

4. An app design

The more screens and handcrafted components you want for your mobile application, the more complex the design is, and ultimately the higher the end price will be.

5. The team

The team for a cross-platform application development usually consists of such specialists:

• iOS developer

• Android developer

• designer

• QA engineer

• project manager

• business analyst

The hourly rate of a senior engineer is higher compared to a junior specialist. The salary of a business analyst is generally lower than a developer with the same years of experience.

In case the project is not very large-scale, one person can combine the duties of both a business analyst and a project manager.

How to reduce the cost of mobile app development?

These recommendations will help you reduce the costs of creating a mobile solution.

1. Outsource application development

IT outsourcing is one of the best is one of the alternatives to an in-house team and one of the best options to reduce costs with no loss of product quality.

Moreover, Clutch analysts found other positive aspects of outsourcing, such as an ability for enterprises to pay attention to their technical problems in order to:

• increase efficiency (24%),

• gain access to expert knowledge (18%)

• free up time for internal specialists (15%)

2. Make a detailed technical specification

A clear SRS makes it possible for each team member to have a complete understanding of what to implement and how.

This also allows the client and engineers to spend less time on communication during the project, and make fewer changes in the requirements.

The more details you provide, the faster the product development will be.

3. Cooperate with a trusted development company

Choose engineers who have extensive experience in the required field and technology. Trusted platforms like Clutch and GoodFirms can be good sources for getting comprehensive information about the professionalism of a vendor company.

4. Start with an MVP development

A minimum viable product (MVP) is an application with the minimum functionality, which is necessary for completing the main task.

It helps to collect user feedback, measure reaction, and improve or extend the product so that it meets customer needs and expectations.

Here you will read more on how much does it cost to build a mobile app, how to reduce the costs, and how to estimate different apps’ development on the example of well-known applications.

Serial entrepreneur with over the 7 years of experience in providing high-quality software engineers for web and mobile projects.