Mobile Application Development: 5 Factors That Impact The Pricing

Our lives are as much online as offline, and the primary intermediary between the user and that Web world is the smartphone. A tiny device with a collection of applications lets us do anything – search for information, work, study, consume the content and produce it, sell, and buy. Focusing on smartphone users is inevitable for any business. And, if your business wants to make a success, you need to consider having a dedicated mobile application of your own.

The good news is, it is easy. Mobile app development is one of the most popular trends in the modern IT sphere. There are thousands of specialists, from individual freelancers to large companies that will create any tool for you. You might be a school asking how to build a language learning app, an online hobby shop, a pizzeria, or literature coach, etc. The promotion strategy won’t be complete without having a mobile app. You can check out jatapp.com they will tell you more about app development.

Why is it so helpful? A mobile application gives you everything you want from that business in one place. If you are using a smartphone, it is much more convenient than a website, even with a mobile version. So, it is not a question of whether you need a mobile application for your business. It is a question of where to get it and how much it will cost you. Indeed, how expensive can it be?

Developing A Dedicated Mobile Application from Scratch: The Pricing Factors

Assume you want to enhance your business with the dedicated mobile app. First, you, most likely, conduct small research to evaluate the price you’d pay for that job. Here, the first question arises: the price may vary from $5,000 to $150,000. It’s a pretty big difference, isn’t it?

Briefly, $5,000 is not the price for a fully-functional small application. In most cases, it is for the minimum valuable product (MVP) that only has basic functionality for the target group to understand the customers’ reactions. For instance, if you want to make your own language app of medium complexity, it might cost you from $50,000 to $70,000.

The more functionality you need, the more it will cost. Apps like Duolingo require a lot of work from many professionals and a lot of time. These are the weightiest pricing factors, and there are several more that influence the final price most of all.

The Platform

The world market of mobile devices is shared between Android and iOS. This or that OS may prevail in the market depending on the region, however, most popular modern applications have their versions in both App Store and Google Play. Even if you target the region where iPhone prevails, ignoring Android-based devices will be a huge miss.

Native applications are those developed specifically for this or that mobile platform. They perform flawlessly on them. Hybrid and cross-platform apps can work on both iOS and Android devices, but they may lag behind native apps in performance. Also, technologies vary depending on the target platform, requiring different qualifications from the developers. All these circumstances will influence the price.

The Functionality

This is the most critical factor in pricing. The more robust functionality you need, the more time and effort it requires. Consequently, it suggests additional costs. On the other hand, you may not expect success without it. You have plenty of competitors who invest in mobile app development too. Yours must overplay them, offering everything your users have already got used to, and killing features making them choose your offer.

Every feature must be tested thoroughly to make sure it won’t fail. When users see Duolingo leaderboards down, it definitely won’t make them happy, but Duolingo is an undoubted leader in this area. If you target the same sector, you can’t afford failures. The more complex and customized functionality you require, the more expenses it involves for the development, UI design, and testing.

The Design Complexity

Design is a crucial factor in user experience success. Your application may have all the excellent features and can literally do anything, but it won’t matter if it is inconvenient for the user. If you are researching how to make a learning app, you need to ensure a handy and appealing design, where it will be easy to do the exercises, track the progress, use the networking options (if any), and do all other tasks easily.

One helpful thing is that there are lots of templates and ready elements of UI for iOS or Android that one can apply. The advantage of this approach is that it ensures a familiar look and shortens the learning curve. However, if you need an individual design, the process will become more prolonged. Thus, the price increases.

The Backend and Hosting

The application infrastructure, data storage, manipulation, and hosting are vital for the correct work. By using such cloud platforms as Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS, it is possible to cut costs because these services are provided at a reasonable price and also ensure excellent infrastructure and security for the application. Still, it also involves additional money to pay.

One more essential factor is software maintenance. Here, it will depend on whether you leave the maintenance, support, and updates to the team that developed the application or your own team will do that task.

The Development Team

The price depends on the size of the team and the qualifications of its members. Besides, it depends on the developers’ geographical location. The hourly rates of experts from different areas vary according to their level of expertise. However, the software development area is truly borderless, and hiring experts abroad is a great option to save money as they deliver excellent quality with costs lower than in the USA or Canada.

Conclusion

If you decide to create your own language app or any other digital tool to enhance your business opportunities, you will have to invest. It is impossible to develop an excellent product free of charge or at $5,000. Quality has its price. However, the benefits of having a mobile app representing your business for users are much superior to such expenses.

The pricing will always be individual, but the rules are the same: the more complex, polished, and beautiful your application must be, the more it may cost. But it is worth that.