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How much does it cost to build an app?

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These days, the world is taken over by the internet and smartphones. Therefore, if you want your business to be successful in this digital world, you need to build a mobile app that can give people access to products and services you offer with a tap of a finger. However, you need to spend time, efforts, and money on the same and this app must generate you the benefits worth the money you are putting in its development. So, how much does it cost to make an app? Well, it depends upon several factors. Let’s have a look at how much you will have to pay for your mobile app depending upon various factors.

Business model – Before you start estimating the cost of building the app, you will have to check which app will fit perfectly into your business plan. How it will work towards bringing value to your business model? Will it provide you the direct benefits by distinguishing yourself from your rivals? Your unique business needs will decide what type of app will be suitable for you, the scope of the project, and technologies required. These factors will be considered in the cost of the project.

Type of the app

The type of app and technology you choose for developing your mobile app determines who is required to hire for the process. This choice affects the overall cost of building an app.

  • Web App- It is not a mobile app, but a mobile-friendly website. It is the cheapest option and hence used by most of the small businesses.
  • Native App- This type of app is built with a language native to the specific operating system. This type of apps performs the best; however, their major drawback is that they cannot run on multiple platforms. You need to develop the app exclusively for each and every platform. This duplication adds to the development cost.
  • Hybrid App- This type of apps is developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaSript and frameworks like Ionic. They are mainly the websites entrenched in mobile app covering. They can be considered as the compromise between the performance and productivity of the programmer done for lowering down the development cost.
  • Cross-platform app- These are the apps developed in one language with a single source code that can be compiled as native code around multiple platforms.
  • Apps developed using next-generation component-oriented JavaScript framework- These apps are developed using next-gen components oriented JavaScript frameworks like React Native. They offer the benefits of cross-platform and hybrid apps.

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Platform – There are two platforms for which you need to develop the mobile app; iOS from Apple and Android from Google. It is recommended to build an app with the platform suitable for your business needs, but you must consider the pros and cons of both of them in detail and then take the decision. Both can cost you around the same, so it is better to take the suggestions from the developer before taking the decision, says an expert an app development company Maryland

Functionality – Functionality is the most important factor to consider while estimating the cost. The more features you add to the app, the more will be the functionality as well as the cost. The typical features added to an app are Login accounts, Chat or messaging, Payment schemes, Search, Location, Notifications, and Synchronizations.

Design and development- The overall cost of building an app depends upon the hourly rates of design and development team and time required for the development. The design of the app is crucial as the audience gets attracted initially by the appearance of the app and then checks the functioning. The developer is responsible for generating the code that makes your app work smoothly. Their rates mainly depend upon the quality of their work, type of app you want, and time required for the development. Your way of hiring them also directly affects the cost. Hiring a local app developer or a freelancer can cost you less, while a highly-professional agency will cost you more.

Conclusion:

Putting all these factors together with the approximate cost you will have to pay for building an app considering the rates charged by freelancers for at least 40 hours of time per week for at least six months can be as follows:

  • Native Apps- US Dollar 34000 to US Dollar 145000
  • Cross-Platform Apps- US Dollar 15000 to US Dollar 53000
  • React Native Developer- US Dollar 20000 to US Dollar 145000

These costs are estimated based on a few assumptions mentioned above. The actual cost can differ from this based on the rates charged by developers in different areas, the time required to complete your projects and a few other factors.