Did you know WhatsApp invested around $250,000 in its initial development phase? This may be a bit disappointing to you when you have only a couple of thousand dollars in your budget. But don’t stop here! The good news is that only complex apps are costly. You can build an app even for $10000. Why is this so? What affects the mobile app development cost? In this blog post, you will get an answer to these and other questions related to the app development cost. Read through and get prepared for your app development journey.
App development cost
The cost to build an app from scratch may vary from $10,000 to $500,000 depending on the application's requirements and complexity. Here is what to consider:
Simple apps (4,5-11 weeks) - $25,000 to $60,000
Complex apps (7-16 weeks) - $36,000 to $85,000
Advanced apps (11,5 -16 weeks): $59,000 to $137,000.
Following from this estimate, you can have an idea of how much an average app costs. For example, if you have a super simple app with a few features, you might hope for less than $25,000. But if you have a super advanced app, then the cost might be more than $137,000.
Alternatively, you can consider this breakdown.
| App Type | Estimated Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Simple App Development | $10,000 to $40,000 | Within 3 months |
| Mid-Level App Development | $40,000 to $150,000 | Within 6 months |
| Complex App Development | Starting from $300,000 | More than 10 months |
Let’s look at some app development cost statistics.
App development cost statistics
Here are some statistics related to the app development cost.
- There are over 7 million mobile apps available for download on the app store.
- The number of new apps on Google Play each month is over 100,00 (Statista)
- The most popular apps in the market are free apps. They apply a free and freemium pricing strategy.
- The total revenue of the mobile app industry was $581.9 Billion in 2020. According to Statista, this trend will reach almost $ 1 trillion in 2023.
- It’s amazing to learn that people spend 90% of their time on apps.
- 66% of smartphone users download games. At the same time, over 95% of all users download messaging, communication applications, web browsers, etc. (Statista)
Cost of app development by region
The app development cost depends on the location of the developers. Some of the most expensive developers are from North America and Australia ($15-$200). The developers with the lowest rate are from India, Indonesia, and Pakistan ($11 - $70). The developers in Eastern Europe also charge affordable rates compared to the USA, Canada, and Australia. For example, in Belarus, Ukraine, and Armenia developers will charge an average of $50 per hour.
The next question is whether it’s worth hiring developers from Eastern Europe, India, and Pakistan. Does the cost undermine the quality? In fact it doesn’t. You can find a lot of top talents in the Eastern regions as well. The following chart shows not only the hourly rate but the ease of doing business and political stability in a particular region. As you can see, Eastern Europe is relatively stable and a better option to work with.
| Region | Average software development hourly rate | Ease of doing business* | Political stability** |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | $80 | 84 | 0.3 |
| Western Europe | $75 | 80.3 | 0.7 |
| Eastern Europe | $55 | 73.7 | 0.4 |
| Latin America | $55 | 65.7 | -0.1 |
| Asia Pacific | $28 | 65.5 | -0.7 |
| Africa | $31 | 66.1 | -0.9 |
Cost of app development by type
The app type is another factor that determines the cost of an app. Below is a list of the estimated cost by app type together with the required time.
Examples of App Development Cost
Let’s look at some cost estimates of popular companies. This will give you an idea of how much you can expect for building a similar app.
- Careem- and Uber-like app development costs start at $25,000 but may be as high as $150,000.
- The initial cost of an app like Spotify music streaming app starts from $16,000. The total cost may be more than $100 000.
- The average cost to develop an app like Instagram is somewhere between $100,000 to $300,000.
- Facebook would take $500,000 and nine months of development and design time.
- WhatsApp will cost $150,00-$192,000.
- To build a TikTok sort of MVP app, Appventiv estimates somewhere in the region of $80,000 to $100,000 for development costs.
Sum up
Several aspects affect the cost of an app:
- Complexities
- Features
- Developers
- Type
We have detailed the main factors that will give you an idea of what to expect from your own app development. The easiest thing to do is to consult some app cost calculators. Although we did not cover many other factors. Please note that app development is not only about the development phase. It includes factors like marketing and advertising, human resources, and more.
Now that you have a basic idea of what to expect, it’s time to take concrete steps towards app development. Big things start from small steps! Good luck!
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