Exactly how much does it cost to develop an app? Perhaps one of the first questions that app companies and developers ask when they launch an app development project. App development cost estimate is what lies at the very bottom of any app development budget. Most of the time a business owner finds themselves trying to answer these two questions- how much does it cost to make an app for my business and how to manage the app development cost of your first project.
Businesses find it difficult to introduce a mobile app strategy into their current business model. Already available modes of thought, legacy systems, development theories, and even underestimating the value of mobile app development overall are just a few reasons why companies are lagging behind the requirement of mobile app innovation. This possibility is to build a new course of scalable business, which is a blind spot for many entrepreneurs, founders, and enterprise administrators.
In addition to that, the cost associated with transitioning from existing processes and launching a successful mobile application, register heavy on management. It's natural to make miscalculations, and when companies are estimating investments such as app development, dodging the errors that can let development costs rise is a good idea. So, the question for many people is how much does it cost to build a mobile app and how to manage it?
What is included in App Development Cost?
Before we get into the biggest hidden costs of app development, you must understand the mobile app architecture. This is critical when you are looking for a vendor or talking to your IT department for help in developing, hosting, and supporting your app. This way, you will understand what they are and aren’t providing.
Remember that for most popular custom app solutions, these services need to be purchased and assembled individually. They can be divided into four divisions :
- Infrastructure services (Content delivery network, servers, etc.)
- Administrative services (to update your app, manage user accounts, etc.)
- Functional services such as SMS and Push Notifications
- IT support services (updates to your app, bug fixes, changes, etc.)
What affects mobile application costs?
The corporation model in software development represents the client and the developments team's responsibilities. The model is called the project management triangle which signifies constraints of project management that are time, finance, and project scope.
Let's break them down one by one.
- Time constraints refer to the amount of time prepared to complete the project
- Cost constraint refers to the estimated amount prepared for the project
- The scope constraint refers to all that must be done to deliver the project's result
The important question you need to ask is how do those constraints influence the project's final costs? These three constraints are usually competing constraints:
Increased scope translates to increased time and increased cost
Tight time constraints could translate to increased costs and reduced scope
A Tight budget on the other hand could translate to high time and reduced size
An alternative approach to project management is considering your three constraints as finance, time, and human resources. If you need to finish the job early, you can get more people working on the project, which will increase the project’s total cost. Developers tend to develop a mobile application faster if you increase the budget or cut down the scope. Just like that, if you increase the scope, the development team will need similar increases in funding and schedule. By doing this, if you cut down the budget without altering the schedule or scope, it will lead to inferior quality. But if you need to get a product to the market under tight deadlines and minimum budget, plan to build its Minimum Viable Product(MVP). The project’s MVP has minimum functionality to authenticate your business idea without expanding the app development price.
Managing Mobile App Development Costs
Planning and managing app development costs adequately is crucial in battling scope creep and assures you to accomplish your expected return on investment (ROI). There are three main areas to manage from early concepts to the release of your mobile application. Maintaining these three areas give you a grasp of the cost of your project:
- Comparing product features and functionality to user concerns during the product design and discovery stage
- Ensuring those features are built with any errors during development
- Managing the necessary changes that occur in the development for obtaining the fundamental product goal.
Mobile app owners who actively supervise these three areas of development are in the ideal position to meet user requirements and maintain contentment with a time of development are in the best position to fulfill user needs and maintain contentment over time. Also, this way of product management helps preserve development costs while delivering on the entire business end of the application.
Connecting Features To User problems
In the initial product discovery phases, there are two situations you can get into over-conceptualizing and under-conceptualizing. Naturally, you would want to avoid these situations, so it is vital to establish clear product goals and define business outcomes.
You need to be considering the problems your users have and how your app will solve them, and what are the basic features required to deliver an app? If you are strategically planning on developing only the fundamental features your app requires. you put more money on the line for additional functionality that doesn't deliver value. Few features may go unused because they are not useful in serving users' needs, and the app concept moves forward in the app development process for no reason. For instance, you may already see a need for several user flows, but realize you only need one to deliver the app's value promise.
From a different viewpoint, and hazy requirement details can cause a lack of functionality to address user demands. The possibility of developing more or less than what you need is the reason why validating your product assumptions is a must. Beginning with a core feature, determining how users respond to that feature and building under user feedback is very important in managing enough functionality your product might need to acquire and retain users.
Utilizing the minimum viable product (MVP) development approach allows your organization to learn how your end-users experience and react to the app’s core features. you can allot your budget to areas that fully accomplish your overall business objectives. You can allot your budget to areas that fully accomplish your overall business objectives, with this insight. Creating an MVP is an iterative process intended to recognize user pain points and figure out the right product functionality to address those needs with time.
Keeping things under budget with Change management
Change is unavoidable in mobile app development and without the appropriate planning, it’s very easy for change requests to cause your organization to lose track of the original product concept. External factors like user requests, emerging technologies, and pressure from the competitors can all come up at the time of app development leading to a reevaluation of the product requirements. Internal factors such as test results and user research can also have an impact on your change management approach.
To put it simply, a slight change in products can cause costs to rise but some changes are inevitable. Obstructions appear when unexpected change is done without taking the impact on the original purpose of the mobile app into consideration. One solution is to build flexibility into the process and redirect change towards achieving the initial product goal. Designing a product requirements document (PRD) during the early discovery stages of a project gives a reference point for app development teams from which product owners can thoughtfully consider the necessity of change concerning product goals.
App Development Cost
When hiring an app development company for your mobile app, You do not have to pay for features implemented, nor for technologies used. Your app development cost includes project development services that are provided by the app development company and the responsibilities your team shares.
While the cost of mobile app development is different for every project, planning helps draw a more specific price range. The aim is to minimize inconsistencies between initial product requirements and what’s created in the development stages. The cost of app development also depends on the number of functions, the app’s complexity, and the team planning your project requires. Not to mention the Project Management Triangle - time, cost, and scope. So you need to conduct thorough research, accurately define your app requirements, carefully choose your team, and keep track of the progress. Moving towards the cost, it can be estimated only when all the requirements are clear. In other words, you should have a conversation with an app development company, to get the precise quote. You can also head down to our website and use our app cost calculator to get an estimate.
Evon Technologies is one of those offshore software consulting companies that provide custom app development solutions. We will help you develop an interactive, feature-rich app that can help you accomplish your business goals and might help you rank at the top of app stores. From validating a concept, implementing mobile app accessibility, UI/UX design to selecting the appropriate mobile platform, and several other factors, Evon can help you design and develop the best app while keeping your budget and timeline in mind. We have been consistently ranked among the top app development companies by multiple sites, such as Topdevelopers, Selectedfirms, Topfirms, Softwareworld, etc. Reach us here or Email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to share your requirements with us.