How much does it cost to develop a web app or mobile app in 2023?

In today's world, the web and mobile apps are becoming the backbone of all businesses. The mobile and web app cost of developing an app will eventually make or break points in deciding its outcomes. The app development budget will depend on the specifications you decide to go ahead with for your app. In this article, we will break down the factors for a detailed insight into the cost of developing an app.

How Much Does It Cost To Make An App?

Considering that developing an app is not a simple process, there are numerous factors that must be taken into account when estimating the cost of developing your app.

The price of developing your project will vary depending on what you intend to build, similar to any type of software development. 

For an approximate idea, the price to create an app can range from $5,000 to $500,000.

That's a wide range, and the final cost will depend on a variety of factors, such as the type of app you want to make, the features it requires, and the developer you choose.

What decides the cost of an app

The cost of developing an app is not determined by an isolated factor, but rather by multiple factors. According to a report, the mobile app development market is set to increase at a rate of more than 14% by the end of 2023 from what it was five years ago.

Then again, each app varies in terms of complexity. This also heavily determines the cost of an app. Let’s look at each of these points in detail, which you must consider as a large company, an entrepreneur, or even a start-up while deciding to develop an app.

Factors influencing the cost of the application

Types of business

Your business model is the starting point for figuring out the kind of app you want to develop. Your business could be based on any industry, be it gaming, healthcare, entertainment, lifestyle, food, shopping, or finance industries. It could even be B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to customers). It's crucial to understand the type of business before developing any web applications or mobile applications. It is beneficial to thoroughly analyze the features and functions you want to include in your app to satisfy the needs of your customers. 

Types of app

The web and mobile app cost of developing an app varies significantly depending on the category. Based on the logic, functions, and purpose an app serves, there is a list of different types of apps. When we move from one category to another, a lot of things change, like the users, features, security criteria, the visual aspect of the app, etc. This ultimately results in varying app development cost.

Most applications fall into different categories, which are:

E-commerce app

Today, e-commerce apps like Amazon, Nykaa Fashion, Flipkart, and Myntra have become increasingly popular due to their expansive feature sets that allow for real-time performance, millions of concurrent users, and robust security.

Social media apps

Social media apps are built with third-party integrations and have access to hardware features like cameras and audio recorders. They can support millions of users at once and are also very scalable. The cost of social media apps is often higher than the cost of simpler mobile apps because they require more time and effort to develop.

game app

Today's selection of game apps serves a variety of target markets. Arcade games, role-playing games, and even frivolous games like angry birds are among them. People use a variety of mobile apps and web apps to play games. Some are played alone, while others are played live with virtual friends. For the best user experience, game apps should have a clear and simple user interface, reliable performance, quick loading times, customer support, and device compatibility.

Entertainment apps

The only reason there are entertainment apps is for entertainment. These apps ought to have features that guarantee content accessibility everywhere. Entertainment apps like Netflix and Hotstar offer live streaming of videos, the ability to download videos to watch them offline, support for multiple languages, and other features.

App Platform

If you've chosen to develop an application for your company, you can choose from three development approaches:

Native app platform:

A native app is built using OS-specific programming languages, development environments, and software development kits. If you strive for the best app performance, develop a native app for each platform. These kinds of apps are expensive but offer excellent user experiences across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. They’re known for their high performance since they're specifically built for a particular platform. Language-wise, iOS app development happens on Swift and Objective C, while Android app development is done on Java and/or Kotlin.

Hybrid app platform:

Hybrid apps are developed in HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. They are installed like a native app via the app store, but they run as a Webview component like a PWA, so they combine the features of native apps and cross-platform apps. In a hybrid development approach, apps exhibit high performance and enable enhanced user experiences similar to those of native mobile apps. The cost of hybrid app for multiple platform is low as compared to the cost of native apps, but an hybrid app product also wont offers best performance.

Cross platform:

Cross-platform software runs on multiple platforms. It is a viable alternative for startups and small businesses because it avoids the challenge of creating an app for every mobile platform compared to native development. The platform comes with a series of benefits, like single code use and less development effort.

Web platform:

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are the most affordable kind of app, but they are only appropriate in certain circumstances. They are web applications created especially to offer users a simple user interface. Development costs for web apps tend to be much lower.  They lack the sophisticated features that you would anticipate in a native or cross-platform app. But they can effectively deliver information and put your website on the desktop of your customers' mobile phones.

Features and functionality

You must be aware of the full scope of the features you intend to add to the app to estimate how much money it will cost to develop. The amount and complexity of features will have an impact on the type of app you end up with, as well as the number of development hours. The mobile app pricing and web app pricing vary based on the features you want to prioritize and also depend on the kind of app you are about to develop. When you are curating the list of features, it’s better to consider the long-term business objectives and choose the ones that are of interest to your audience.

Basic features to implement

User profile

How an app is customised depends on the user's profile. Although access to site logins can also be granted via phone or email, users are more likely to register using social media accounts like Facebook or Twitter.

Navigation

User navigation describes how and what users do while using the app. A user interface architecture includes menus, icons, menu scrolling, and screen switching.

Chat

Today, many apps come with in-app messaging capabilities as standard features. There are several other features, including file transfer, message saving or auto-deleting, history, offline mode, notifications, emojis, and more. These days, integrating chat SDKs from the open market is more common. Even with the added expense, it is still significantly less expensive than creating a unique chat module.

Search

enables users to find information within the app quickly. Time and cost vary greatly depending on how the index is created and indexed. You must also choose whether or not you want features like filtered search, predictive search, etc.

Push notification

Push notifications are essential in today's apps for engaging users, communicating with them, and providing them with up-to-date information.

complex features are to be included in your app

Payment integration

Apps like stock apps and e-commerce apps must be able to accept payments. To offer a variety of payment options, you can integrate payment systems like Google Wallet, Apple Pay, PayPal, or credit cards directly through a payment gateway API.

Geolocation/GPS tracking

Applications for food delivery, transportation, travel, dating, businesses, and locating user devices all require geolocation to function. It tracks users using GPS and real-time permissions.

Video or audio streaming

It is utilized in on-demand content apps like Hotstar, Amazon Prime, and others. When and how much it will cost to develop an app will depend on its logic, file format, server settings, processing speed, and other settings.

Analytics

The user experience of the app can be improved by analyzing user activity to identify app performance or user pain points. It is possible to enable this feature on the app and integrate it with outside services like Google Analytics to enhance user interaction and experience.

Data encryption

Security is crucial, especially given the extent of digitization taking place right now across numerous domains. All apps that protect private data and messaging while preventing unauthorized access must be extremely secure. The time and cost to implement this feature will vary depending on whether the encrypted data is text, image, audio, or video.

Connectivity

Frequently, a device's built-in capabilities are necessary to ensure an app's compatibility. Access to Bluetooth, video calls, sensors, etc., may be needed by an app. These features will come at an additional cost.

Multi-language support

Applications that serve users from multiple nations must offer multilingual support. User engagement can be increased in this way.

You can prioritize your features to fit your budget, and after launch, you can make improvements based on user feedback. During development, a project's requirements may change suddenly. Therefore, it is preferable to draw attention to the most crucial details first.

In addition to the factor we discussed, there are many more factors that have an impact on the app development budget. In spite of the fact that app development is an expensive endeavor, it is still one of the most effective ways to increase business growth.

Codezee Solutions is a skilled web and mobile app development company located in the UK. With years of experience in software development, our team has built expertise in multiple domains. Our web and mobile app development service helps to build a secure and scalable app on an affordable budget.