When people decide to develop their app, the first question that comes into their mind is its cost. There is no specific answer to this question as the cost will depend on your app's specifications. The mobile market will have approx 7 billion users by 2021, globally. Estimated app downloads are going to be 258 billion by 2022. In this blog, I am going to talk about the most common questions of mobile app development. I am going to go in-depth about the various factors that affect the costs of developing an app.

What is the cost of developing an app globally?

App development costs may differ in various places. Locations are an essential factor. I will share with you the cost of making an app in the hourly rates, globally.

• North America: Android - 110$ iOS - 110$
• UK: Android - 70$ iOS - 70$
• South America: Android - 34$ iOS - 43$
• Eastern Europe: Android - 35$ iOS - 35$ 
• India: Android - 26$ iOS - 30$
• Indonesia: Android - 12$ iOS – 11$

Paying a high price doesn't mean better quality, and it is a common misconception in the people. There is also an assumption that new companies cannot deliver good quality products due to their lack of experience. This biased analysis needs to go. A basic application can cost around 25,000$, medium complex apps can cost between 40,000 to 70,000$. It can go beyond that, depending on the complexity of the apps.

App Development: Outsource v/s Local Development

Apart from the standard cost of app development, You will also need a team to develop it for you. If you plan to hire other people to build your app, you have a choice for either going with local development or outsourcing.

The physical presence of a development team is one of the benefits of local development. It makes communication easier. You will be able to meet your team in real and explain your requirements to them face to face.

Outsourcing your app development can make communication hard with your overseas team. Although foreign developers have better expertise, and the cost is reasonable. They will perform better compared to local developers. Finding a proper team overseas is much easier than finding one in the local area.

I have shared with you region wise cost for developing an app. It will guide you in making the right decision whether to go for local development or outsource it.

App development: How much time it takes for developing an App?

Time for developing an App depends on its specifications. Some features may be easy to implement, and some may take time. I will share with you a classification.

• An App with simple functionality will take approx 500-700 hours of development. 
• The medium-sized complex app can take up to 700 to 1000 hours. 
• An App with most complex features may take up to 1200 hours of development time.

Apps are not made equal. Different Apps have different features, specifications, and will take time according to their requirements.

App development stages

There are five stages of app development.

• Planning
• Design
• Development
• Testing
• Deployment

I would like to share with you the cost breakdown for the app development.

What can affect the cost of a Mobile Application?

The cost of Application depends on several factors. 

• Functionality and Features
• Platforms
• App maintenance costs
• Location of the team
• Visual layout customization

These are some of the factors that affect the cost of developing an App. Estimating the entire cost from the beginning can be difficult. The complexity of an App decides the cost of developing it. Buttons, Screens, fields involved, and code logic are some of the examples of the functionalities. For complex solutions, developers either have to create the code from scratch or use a third-party API. The implementation of certain features can be a challenging process. In such situations, the cost of developing Apps can increase.

If you are developing your app on Android or iOS, it is essential to know the cost of creating apps on both platforms. I would suggest taking into account certain factors before deciding which platform to choose in developing your app.

Factors such as: 

• The market share of Android and iOS. 
• Device prevalence and fragmentation. 
• Both platforms have different SDKs, programming languages, and their development tools are different.

The price of developing apps for Android or iOS depends on whether you want to provide support for both the platforms or not. There is not much price difference if you are creating an app for a single platform but be ready to pay more if you want to develop and support your app on both platforms.

The cost of maintaining an app may take 15% to 20% of the initial cost of development. Maintenance includes the following services: 

• Improving performance and stability. 
• Constant bug fixing. 
• Optimization of code. 
• Development of new features. 
• Newest Operating systems support. 
• Third-party services support.

Developers that you hired for developing your app will provide post-launch support for a set time. Cooperating doesn't end once the product is ready for launch. Location matters a lot in terms of the cost of developing your app. The cost of developing an app will be different based on the regions. Your development team will consist of: 

• Business analysts 
• Architect
• Project Manager
• Jr. Developer
• Mid-Level Developer
• Sr. Developer
• Lead Developer
• Junior QA
• Mid-level QA
• Senior QA
• Graphic designer

I would like to share hourly rates according to different regions.

A unique visual design for the user interface will be an additional cost to your app. The quantity of screens is also a cost-determining factor. 

Some of the famous startups that raised funds through seed round for the development of their applications. 

• Instagram received $ 500k in funding for future development. 
• Post-mates raised $750k. 
• Uber got $200k in funding to implement their ideas.
• Dating application Tinder raised approx $485k in 2012. 
• One of the largest social media network, Snapchat, raised $485k in 2012.

A well-developed app will give you high returns on your investments. When developing a mobile application, it is a dilemma to choose either a native app or a hybrid app. I will recommend that you read the blog Native App v/s Hybrid App. It will help you decide which type of app you need to develop.