The cost of creating a mobile app can be as low as $ 1000 or as big as $ 100 K, so the general answer to the question “How much does it cost to develop an app” is “It Depends”. For the uninitiated, An App MVP is generally developed in between $ 5000 to $ 15000 and within 8 to 12 weeks. If it takes more than this time and cost then we don’t call it an MVP, because it is more of a full-fledged product with all bells and whistles.

Almost all successful Apps need continuous development, feature enhancements, and localization etc and such projects should be done on a monthly fee model rather than fixed price. The monthly fee for continuous development can start from as low as $ 2900 per month and can go upward if you use more than 1 App developer in the team. You can find out cost of App Developers on Monthly basis using this App Development Team rates calculator.

Hidden Mobile App Development Costs That You Must Know?

1) Cost to publish Apps to their respective Stores

Apple charges $ 99 yearly for their App publisher program enrollment so that you can publish and sell things via your App. Google charges one time $ 25 for the same process for their Google Play store.

2) Server and Infrastructure Cost

Server cost for a new app can be as low as free for an year or may be $ 10 to 30 when you have some good thousands of the users. The cost of server and infrastructure increases when you have large number of active users (say 50 K or more) who are exchanging data regularly on the app. The cost of server actually depends more upon the “interactions users have with the app frequently” than just the number of users on the app. You can always use a cloud hosting service that you can upgrade when the number of users and their usage increase. Nothing much to worry about unless your app is successful.

3) App Marketing Cost

Not a very hidden cost, however we’ve seen many first time entrepreneurs don’t factor it in the way it demands. There are only a few Apps in the world that may have gotten famous without marketing, otherwise you have to spend on marketing and App promotion in order to gain more users. The marketing efforts can be free or paid channels but they do involve human resource and cost nevertheless. As a rule of thumb, you need to spend $ 1 to $ 3 to acquire a new App user who installs and uses the app. So if we need 10,000 users then marketing cost can be $ 10,000 $ 30,000. Depending upon how users take your App, the marketing cost in the long run can be lesser per user or more.

Fixed Price vs Continuous App Development Cost :-

Fixed Price App Development Cost

Continuous App Development Cost

Now take an example of a Social Media App like Tiktok or any other App where there are more than one core features and when they compete in a highly competitive space. In such cases, you need to add new features, enhancements, updates on your App on regular basis and also the demand of maintenance would be higher because of large number of users, features, inter-operability of features, algorithms, server demands and what not. So you can’t predict a fixed price cost for these kind of apps (which means “most of the consumer apps”), and that is why a “Continuous development model” fits best here. You hire a team of developers to continuously work on your app. You add more number of developers, Tech leads, testers, designers depending upon your business need.

Different App Development Pricing Models 

1) Fixed Price App Development Model :- 

Clients articulate precise requirements, and the total project cost is determined based on these specifications.

Ideal for small projects with well-defined scopes and minimal chances of scope changes during development.

Particularly effective for MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development, offering clarity and predictability in project costs.

2) Offshore Dedicated Development Team:- 

Recommended for scenarios with multiple projects or sizable sub-projects, each equivalent to an individual project.

Ideal for large tech, ecommerce, and industrial clients requiring substantial resources.

Offers the advantage of having a dedicated offshore development team working exclusively on your projects.

Suitability for Large Clients:

Particularly well-suited for large-scale clients with diverse project needs.

Efficient for managing multiple concurrent projects or substantial sub-projects within a comprehensive development framework.

Customized Resource Allocation:

Allows for customizing team size and composition based on project requirements.

Tailored to meet the specific needs of clients with varying project scopes and complexities.

Source :- https://www.costtodevelopapp.com/