DEV Community

Cover image for Building an Airbnb-style Marketplace? Here’s Your Step-by-Step Roadmap
Priyansh Shah
Priyansh Shah

Posted on

Building an Airbnb-style Marketplace? Here’s Your Step-by-Step Roadmap

Thinking of building a marketplace where hosts and guests connect? If you want to build app like airbnb, this post covers everything: business model, must-have features, tech stack, cost, and scaling.

Business Logic First

  • Business model: Two-sided platform connecting property owners (hosts) with users (guests), revenue via service fees, commissions, priority listing, maybe experiences.
  • Market validation: Identify a niche. Is local tourism underserved? Are there regulatory or data security issues? What competitors (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) offer, and how you can differentiate?

Feature Set MVP

To build app like airbnb, start small but strong:

Feature Set MVP

Tech Stack & Infrastructure

  • Frontend/mobile: Flutter or React Native for cross-platform. -Backend: Node.js or Python (Django/Flask) or other scalable frameworks. DB: PostgreSQL or MongoDB. -Cloud: AWS / GCP / Azure to get reliability and global reach.
  • Integrations: Payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal), mapping APIs, messaging, identity verification (KYC).

UX, Design & Trust

  • Prioritize clean, intuitive UX/UI—transparent photos, pricing, hosts’ identity verification to build trust.
  • Use verified badges, ratings and reviews.
  • Support multi-currency, multi-language for scaling.

Cost & Timeline

  • Simple MVP: Core listing, booking, payments ~ US$35,000-55,000.
  • Mid-level: More hosts functionality, dynamic pricing, admin tools ~ US$55,000-85,000.
  • Full-featured: Advanced features like AI recommendations, identity verification, global capabilities ~ US$200,000-300,000+.

Maintenance ~15-20% annually. Time to launch: MVP ~4-6 months; full stack ~9-12 months.

If your goal is to build app like airbnb but with your own twist—niche, design, tech—here’s the full breakdown, detailed features, cost drivers, tech stack: How to Develop an App Like Airbnb

Top comments (0)