One of the quintessential things for an online e-commerce business is a mobile app and that is why we are going to talk about mobile app development costs in 2023.
This blog will help you plan your budget if you want to understand mobile app development pricing in 2023 and plan your budget accordingly.
So, How Much Does It Cost on Average to Create an App?
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If you search this question on the internet then the average app development cost estimation is going to be somewhere between $5000 and $10000 with $5000 being the lowest.
But things are a little more complicated than that and there are a lot of factors that determine mobile app development costs.
Before we look at the mobile app development cost factors, let us look at some of the mobile app budgeting in 2023 so that you can get an estimate of the kind of app and the cost involved.
Let us break this down into 3 simple categories. We are also going to break it down into different parameters for you later on.
App Development Costs Based on Complexity
Small Apps
In the first classification, we are going to talk about small or simple apps that do not need a lot of development.
They are mostly offline apps that are meant to do a simple task such as currency conversion or maybe a calculator app or a notepad app.
If you want that kind of an app then you are looking at an average cost of $5000. Now if you want to do that as a phone manufacturer then your app is going to cost a little bit more because that app is going to be more polished.
Then you are looking at spending roughly $10k to $50k. But it all depends on your desires because you can spend thousands of dollars on it if you want.
Medium Apps
In our app classification, this is the medium complexity app because these kinds of apps consist of most of the apps that you use on a daily basis.
They are not complicated apps but they are not just a calculator app. They can be anything from a simple food delivery app or they can be the app that comes with your fitness tracker.
They can also be small social media apps or even streaming apps. It is slightly more costly to develop these kinds of apps in the current market.
If you want an average then these kinds of medium-complexity apps will cost you about $30k to about $90k. Although the cost can be greater as well.
You must understand that we are just telling you the cost to get an app like this up and running. We are not talking about the cost of some of the most popular social media or food delivery apps because they can be in the thousands and millions.
Large Apps
Now we come to the most complicated of apps in our app development cost breakdown blog. These are the kind of apps that consume the most space and need the most RAM as well as GPU and that is how you know they are complicated.
They can be anything from gaming apps to medical diagnostic apps or maybe AR apps. They can also be proprietary financial trading apps or anything that is complicated and requires a lot of time to develop.
When we are dealing with these kinds of apps then the development time is a lot and that is why the cost of developing such an app is a lot. We are looking at anything between $100k to maybe a million.
There is no upper limit to development costs for these apps and they are well above the average app development cost of 2023.
Native And Hybrid App Classification and Costs
Let us now look at a different type of classification based on app development type and technique.
Let us now look at iOS app development cost in 2023 as well as Android app development cost in 2023 and hybrid solutions and understand how much it costs to develop these kinds of apps.
This is a classification based on native apps as well as hybrid apps. When we talk about native apps we mean apps that were specifically designed for that platform.
For example, if you talk about native iOS apps then they had to be developed using Swift or Objective-C. If you talk about native Android apps then they are made with Java or sometimes Kotlin.
The thing with native apps is that they are specifically created for that platform and do not have to be ported or converted. We will also talk about hybrid apps as well that are created using Flutter that are cross-platform and do not take a lot of development time and costs.
Now that we have a basis of native as well as hybrid apps let us look at how much they cost and since this is a general blog we will not take mobile app development pricing trends into consideration.
Native iOS Apps
iOS apps in general cost a little bit more than Android apps and if we are talking about native iOS apps then they can be expensive.
It all depends on the type of app but it is actually worthwhile to spend a lot on iOS apps because they are extremely well optimised when they are made in the native technique.
If you want to develop an iOS app then it can cost you anywhere between $50k to about $400k. There is actually no upper limit because there are iOS games that took millions to develop as well.
Native Android App
When we talk about native Android app development things can become a little bit more complicated. This is because there are at least a few hundred types of Android phones.
Each of these phones has different screen sizes and different specifications with different processors and RAM. This makes it extremely difficult to optimise the native Android app.
But still, native Android app development is going to cost a bit less compared to native iOS app development. You can look at the figure between $40k to $150k.
Hybrid App
When we talk about a hybrid app it is a budget option because, with a hybrid development, you can create apps for multiple platforms not just for Android and iOS.
You can utilise a single code and do a little bit of optimisation in order to make it work with different platforms. Although you can’t expect the highest quality with hybrid apps and they cannot guarantee the best performance. However, they reduce app development costs by industry a lot.
For a hybrid app, you can spend anywhere between $20k to $100k. Although hybrid app development costs rarely reach $100k.
Sometimes hybrid app development is outsourced because it does not require a lot of work and the outsourcing app development costs are not a lot.
Let us now look at some of the other important factors that can dictate the development cost of an app whether it is Android or iOS or any other platform.
Important Factors That Dictate App Development Costs
The Kind of Work the App Has to Do
This is one of the most important factors that determines development costs because complexity is the primary factor for how expensive an app can be.
If you are developing just a simple calculator app then there are not a lot of functions that you have to include or let’s say you might develop an app that needs to connect to the internet from time to time.
These kinds of apps are simple and easy to create and do not require a lot of hours of development.
But if you want to create a gaming app that always needs to have internet access and deal with graphics engines then the complexity gets a lot higher which means more hours for the developers.
The Kind of Features the App Has
It all depends on what kind of features the app has and what kind of sensors the app utilizers and what kind of benefits the app provides.
Let’s say for example that you need to develop a compass app. It does not provide a lot of features and it only makes use of a few sensors and does not need an internet connection. That is why it is going to cost a lot less than for example a social media app.
If we take the example of a social media app then it has a lot of features which include chats as well as video playback and live broadcasting and so much more.
The more features and complexity you add to the app to the more it is going to cost.
The Development Style of The App
When we talk about development style, there are primarily two types of development styles out there.
The first type of style is the native development style where the app code is written for a particular platform with a particular programming language.
There is no conversion involved and there is no cross-platform compatibility because this kind of development is done only for a single platform. That development cost is usually higher but you are going to get the best-performing app.
The second type of development style is the hybrid style where one code is optimised for different platforms and it is usually done when development budgets are small. While you do not get the best performance but you will get working apps for multiple platforms.
The Platform of The App
Now we come to the platform of the app because with the different platforms, you are going to get different development costs.
The usual market trend is that iOS apps cost more to develop compared to Android apps but iOS apps are generally of higher quality and are best optimised. This is because there are only a handful of iOS device types in the world.
Compare that to Android devices and you have at least a few hundred Android devices in the world. The general market trend is that Android app development usually does not cost as much as iOS app development.
The Level of App Security
If you want to create an app just for recreation purposes then you do not need the highest level of security for that app. That means you do not have to hire the best app developers and you can do with mediocre app developers as well.
That also means the developers do not have to spend time with encryption and any other kind of security measures and protocol. That kind of app will cost less compared to a banking app.
With a crypto or banking app or any kind of financial app, you are going to need a lot of security which will dramatically increase the development costs.
The Additional Costs
The money spent on an app is not just about creating the app and its initial development costs but there are a lot of other costs associated with the app.
One of the major costs associated with an app is the maintenance cost because some apps may require daily or even hourly maintenance.
Let’s say for example you have an eCommerce app. That kind of app is going to require hourly maintenance and that is why the initial development costs of the app may not be a lot but the maintenance cost might add up to be a lot.
The Location of The Developers
One of the other important factors is the location of the developers because a lot depends on where you are hiring your app development team.
If you get your team from the US then it is going to be the most expensive but expensive does not necessarily mean the best quality.
You can also hire your team from India and get the best results for a fraction of the spending and apply the rest of your budget to something even more important which we are going to talk about in the next point.
The Promotional Costs
It is not just enough to develop the app and spend money on app development because if the app has no users then it is not worth it.
That is why a lot of development costs need to be allocated to app marketing and promotion which means sponsoring ads on all app stores.
It also means allocating some of the development cost to promoting the app on social media with this something of a necessity nowadays.
What Are the Things You Should Keep in Mind When Hiring an App Developer and Designer?
Experience Of the App Developer
The first and most important thing you must keep in mind whenever you hire an app designer or developer is to check their experience.
You should ask them for app samples so that you can understand their capabilities and you can even ask them for links to their developed apps in the app store.
This means doing deep research into the company portfolio and you must also make sure to have personal meetings with them before you give them the project.
Your Requirements and Budget
You can get lost in the selection of f developers and full-service companies but you must always keep your budget in mind.
There is a reason why you have that budget and you should not go over budget simply because you see a company with more bells and whistles.
There are hundreds of good companies to choose from and you are never stuck with a single company no matter how good it looks.
You must also be very clear on what your requirements are because if you do not understand your requirements then you cannot expect the developer to fulfil your requirements.
Here Are Certain Popular Apps with Their App Development Costs
If you want to create an app like WhatsApp with all its features and video calling options then it can be quite expensive to do so.
But it is not as expensive as you think because it is not in the millions. You can expect to spend somewhere around $50k if you want to develop WhatsApp and get it into a running condition.
We are not including maintenance costs and upgrade costs. Because if you keep adding all the costs and all the upgrades and the server costs etc. then it is going to be in the tens of millions.
Uber
If you talk about the most popular taxi app then it is definitely Uber. If you want to develop an app like that with the level of bandwidth for thousands of drivers and features then it can cost a pretty penny.
We can estimate that in order to get an app like that up and running you might need to spend somewhere around $140k. This is definitely not including all the platforms and it is for a single platform minus the additional costs of maintenance and promotion.
If you go and search how much Facebook has spent till now on the app and on the platform then you can find figures such as 500 million dollars etc.
But when we tell you the development cost we are simply talking about creating an app like Facebook with all its features and functionality.
In order to create an app like that you need to spend somewhere around $200k. This is a very generous figure because you can even create an app for as low as $50k that will be functional.
Netflix
If you want to create your own version of Netflix that is functional and has good performance then you do not need to spend a hundred million dollars as some estimates will tell you Netflix has spent.
If you want to get an app like Netflix up and running then it will be possible within $200k. We are definitely not including operation cause and maintenance costs as well as the costs of licensing fees etc.
This is just the amount to get the app up and running.
X(Twitter)
We had to mention X. In order to get an app like Twitter up and running and functional you do not have to spend billions like Elon Musk.
You can get a very working app with all the features like timelines, headlines, pop-up notifications etc. for a mere $500k. And of course, the more you spend the more features you get.
How Do You Keep App Development Costs Down?
Planning Is the Key
If you do proper planning with includes the present requirements as well as the future requirements and if you study the market and then revise your plans accordingly then we have good news for you.
You will always be at the top of your game and you will always know when to spend your budget on the app and when to expand the app’s capabilities and when not to overspend.
Try The Hybrid Approach
One of the best ways to save money on app development costs is to simply go for the hybrid approach because you do not need native apps unless they are high-performance apps like gaming apps.
If you simply want an app that will function like your website then you do not need all that performance and you can very well try the hybrid approach with Flutter.
You will get functional apps for all your platforms for a much lower cost.
We hope this blog has been helpful for you to understand everything about app development costs in 2023 and if you are interested in a reliable app designer and developer then we are here for you.
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We do app designing for nearly all types of platforms which definitely includes Android and iOS. You do not even need to spend thousands of dollars with us.
Along with that, we are also among the most renowned names when it comes to web designing and development and everything IT-related.
We welcome you to visit our website and check out all we have to offer.
Common FAQs Regarding App Development In 2023
Is app development in demand in 2023?
If you look at app development demands then it is probably at its highest right now in 2023 with estimates that it is only going to rise.
The app market is estimated to be nearly 800 million dollars by the end of 2023 and it is evidenced by the fact that there are nearly 7 billion smartphone users around the world.
We are only going to see a rise in smartphone users numbers with nearly every kind of company and every educational institution as well as government entity having their own app.
That is why app development is definitely high in demand.
How much does it cost to make an app in 2023?
It really depends on what kind of app you want because app development costs can vary by a lot depending on the type of app.
You can get a simple app up and running just for $5000.
And if you want to develop a complex app then development costs can even reach a million dollars if you keep on spending.
That is why it is impossible to put an average figure on the type of app because a gaming app will be vastly different from a calculator app and a social media app will be different from a stock trading app.
We would request you to go through this entire blog to get an in-depth understanding of app development costs in 2023.