Introduction
Mobile phones have become a necessary element for our daily life. From communication to shopping, from travelling to food delivery, now everything is accessed through mobile. So it has become equally important for a business to have their applications on smartphones. There are over 3.48 million apps on google play store and 97% of them are for free and on 202 million apps on iOS for apple users. These applications are created and managed by skilled developers, testers and designers, who are wellwors in programming languages. Lets see more about their cost and alternatives.
App development cost in india
Generally a mobile application costing depends on the type of application you create with the feature, complexity, architectural, project size and required skills in it. In India developers charge on hourly basis with a cost of ₹700 to ₹800 per hour, later the price increases depending on the skills and experience of the team. The Cost of an app on a single platform can be from ₹5000 and can go up to ₹500000 also. Not all apps are costly; it broadly depends on how simple or complex one wants. From the chart below, you can calculate which level your businesses requires and is best
| App Level | Approximate Cost | Development Time |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Apps | ₹10,000 to ₹30,000 | 1-3 Months |
| Standard Apps | ₹40,000 to ₹90,000 | 4-9 Months |
| Complex Apps | ₹100,000 to ₹120,000+ | 10+ Months |
Varieties of apps and their prices
There are millions of apps, and all serve a different purpose. To complete its purpose there are different contexts, technology and requirements to be worked with. Due to these varieties, the cost of the app also changes. Let’s list down a few applications with their price and duration of developing them.
| Type Of App | Approximate Quotation | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Social Media App | ₹50000- ₹300000 | 2-8 Months |
| Education App | ₹10000- ₹300000 | 2-10 Months |
| E-Commerce App | ₹30000- ₹100000 | 3-10 Months |
| Gaming App | ₹15000- ₹500000 | 2-9 Months |
| Streaming App | ₹15000- ₹300000 | 1-7 Months |
| Lifestyle App | ₹10000- ₹550000 | 2-6 Months |
Factors determining app pricing
There are few factors that affect the costing of a creation of applications. Below are the list of 5 important factors that affect app development prices.
● Location
The area or country from which the application is being developed matters. In India the cost is relatively low in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Bangalore and Hyderabad, compared to the USA or UK. If suppose in India the cost is ₹700/hr then in USA the will go upto ₹9000- ₹10000/hr. India has a higher number of engineers and software developing companies so the costing is low because it’s easily available.
● Platform
App’s are made for 2 different platforms Android and iOS. If you develop only for one of
these platforms, it is gonna charge less, either only android or only iOS. The cost and time
increases if the app is developed for both android and iOS.
● No.of Feature
Considering the no.of features you put on the app, can also determine the cost of the app. If you want to just create a blog reading app where users log in and read blogs, this takes less time to develop so it costs less; whereas if you wanna develop an ecommerce app like flipkart or amazon you will need google sign up, payment options, etc. These require to create more API and will increase the work time hence increase the cost. User generated content apps like tik tok where users log in, watch videos, post videos and so on, to generate the videos you require a server. Initially it would be good to rent the server.
● User Interface
This factor plays a huge role in the design aspect of an app. Do you want simple design or do you want morden premium design? The user interface and user experience driven app stand out. The complex visuals need more effort on both back end and front end, and hence
are expensive.
● Team and experience
App developing agencies have different hourly rates based on skills. Each member who is involved in the app development has different hourly rates. There are approximately 4-8 people working on a single project. Is it better to hiring a freelancer or develop from an app agency Getting an app developed from an app developing agency or getting it developed by freelancer has few differences both cost and work efficiency wise. Freelancers cost less compared to dev agencies but there is no contract between them. Freelancers generally complete their project with the submission of the app. For further development or changes they charge according to the hours they work again. App dev agencies usually work under a contract with 1year maintenance and they don’t cost any major amount on a few changes post app submission. There is a team of 4-5 people working behind an app in app dev companies where a freelancer has to handle everything from design to coding.
Cost of maintenance
There are a lot of developing companies who provide free one year maintenance after the release of the application. For the companies who don’t provide this offer you have to pay them extra cost of maintenance. Apps need to be future proof, it has to be up to date with any iOS or android updates. If there are any updates in the operating system, apps have to be compatible for its smooth running. If you fail to update the app might get shut after a certain period of time. This can also be a factor for the rise in costing of an app.
Conclusion
There are two cost-effective ways to build your app- MVP (minimum viable product), start with minimum features, that one feature that provides the maximum value to your users. Start with that and then build slowly as you get in traffic. Popular apps like amazon, facebook, uber they all started as an MVP with minimal set of features. The second is the SAAS- not all apps have this feature. But there are a lot of apps with subscription- based platforms lately. SAAS service providers will run, host, maintain and update your app, in return you have to pay a small fee to set up your account or a small monthly subscription fee according to their monetization strategy. Explore a few options and look at what is the best for your business on the basis of your research and then take action.
