How Much Does It Cost To Build An Mobile App?

Do you want to develop your own mobile app? It usually doesn’t cost a fortune to build one.

So what’s the cost?

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all, as it’s like asking how much it costs to build a house. It depends on the design, where it’s built, and who builds it.

Similar factors affect the cost of your app too.

And we are here to take you through each step so you can rest assured, that by the end of this blog you will decide what are the best options for you.

Mobile App Development Pricing

The estimated cost of building a mobile app in the UK is shown below.

Understanding the development process and its technical aspects can help you make informed decisions about how to spend your time and resources.

The cost of a mobile app varies depending on the developer’s location, features, design, type of app, etc.

Let’s dig deeper one by one.

Major Factors Influencing The Cost of App – Mobile App development

1. Location

There are a number of great app development services in the UK, USA, and all over the world but there is a significant difference in cost depending on where you go.

The average cost of mobile app development in the UK is £5,000 to £250,000. The highest rate is in countries like the USA and Canada with the lowest being in Asian countries like India.
The average hourly rate of various regions is shown below:

However, it’s important to note the hourly rate will change in the country depending on the following:

● Programming language required for build (swift, objective-C, Flutter, react native etc.)
● Staff resources involved such as project managers, programmers, business analysts etc, and their qualifications.

2. Features and functions

The number of features and their complexity increases the cost of your app significantly. What number of screens, buttons, and functions will it have? The cost increases with the number of additional features.

Here, we’ve put together a list of some common basic and advanced features, along with an estimation of their price and completion time.

3. Design

Providing users with a smooth and engaging experience while using your app is an integral part of its success. Despite this users today put the highest emphasis on attractive design and a user-friendly experience.

Components influencing app design cost are:

● Visual design: The looks and feels of your app.

● UX design: It provides an engaging user experience.

● Branding: does the look and feel of the app match your company

4. Native and Hybrid

Another decision you need to make is if your app should be a native or a hybrid. They both differ in terms of the cost of development and how customisable they are.

● Native apps: They can only run on one platform. As a result, they are quick, dependable, and highly secure. But the cost of development is higher than the hybrid apps.

● Hybrid apps: They work on multiple platforms and have a low development cost compared to native apps.

But that is just half the story. The ease of development comes with a lack of customisation, a tricky user experience, and unstable performance.

5. App Testing

App Testing is a critical part of the development process.

The app needs to be thoroughly tested for metrics such as performance, UI experience, privacy, compliance, scalability, stability, mobile app security, power consumption and many other guidelines set by Apple.

The testing process for mobile apps is concise and simplified compared to android apps.

In most cases, you will need to pay between £3000 to £12000 for QA and application testing services. The final cost would be depended on the functionalities and scope of the project.

6. API Integrations

API integration is a valuable feature that smoothly connects a mobile app to other organizations or data providers to automate various app functions.

Different kinds of API integrations are:

● Payment integration: which cost roughly £1000-£2500. Eg. PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, AuthorizeNet, Braintree, 2checkout.

● Third-party API integration like Google maps, Facebook API,Carbon Footprint, AQI API, WeatherAPIs,NewsFeed, Ingress0 API, Expedia, Skyscanner, VIPrental, Bookmytable API, Hotelspro API, Twillio/SendGrid, NHS APIs, GMT(Gold Money Transfer), TrueLayer, ShuftiPro API, Yielders API, IWOCA, Unisure, Company House API etc. costs between £2000 – £8500. And similar integrations with varying costs.

7. Maintenance Cost

There’s more work to be done after the app is launched. According to one study, the industry average cost to maintain an app is 15-20% of its original development cost.Its cost depends on the projected duration and the number of hours required for proper support and fix the bugs in the production. Maintenance costs include services like

● Troubleshooting bugs
● Changes in app design
● Code optimisation
● Improve stability and performance of your app
● Support for the latest operating system versions
● Mobile App development and extensions
● Scale up the server infrastructure as the number of users grows

Therefore it is important to allocate costs for this ongoing expense which is often overlooked in budgets.

8. Deployment cost

We have covered a range of costs that would incur but the list wouldn’t be complete if you don’t add the deployment cost of your app.
It might not be a major factor in our list of costs but definitely adds up. To launch your app deployment could cost from £2,000 for a single-platform app, while a two-platform app can reach £5,000.

Now It’s Time To Decide On Your team

Your options when it comes to choosing the right people to develop your app should structure around quality and budget.

It’s important to choose your team wisely if you want the best return for your investment. As they can influence all the above-mentioned factors and can make expenses go either way.

Your options when it comes to hiring the right developers are:

1. Work With freelancers

You can hire them on an hourly basis or a contract basis. Their average price again varies depending on the geographical location. The rate of freelance app developers is between £25-£60/hour. Similarly in other countries are:

● USA: £40-£80/hour
● Asia: £15-£40/hour
● Ukraine: £20-£40/hour

Pros and cons:

It’s the cheapest method and you can easily hire app developers in the UK, USA, India, etc through online platforms but it comes with its share of downsides.

Even though you get more control to dictate the prices, you will have to find freelancers for all different aspects of your project from designers, programmers, software test engineers, etc.

It becomes difficult coordinating them and they may even drop off at any time showing zero accountability to the project.

2. Build An In-house Team

This is for people who want more transparency and who can recruit and create a dedicated team. It’s quite a laborious task. This is often more expensive than contracting a freelancer.

Pros and cons

Here you can handpick your team, have full control over resources, and have direct communication.

However, it comes with a very high cost of interviewing and acquiring qualified professionals, training them and shouldering the entire responsibility.

Without easy access to a large talent pool, this is a very draining and expensive process.

3. Outsourcing It To A Development Company

It gets effortless and efficient if you outsource the task to an mobile app development company. Because they have comprehensively built ecosystems that can develop and design apps for you.

There are many mobile application development companies in the UK that provide extensive resources of top programmers, business analysts, designers, etc at your disposal.

Pros and cons:

They are accountable and adhere to strict guidelines and usually, it’s the most cost-effective way.

They have specialists and well-built systems at each stage in the process of mobile app development. Giving them a seamless workflow to easily scale your team up or down at your will.

And there is no worry about providing workspace or equipment. Overall reducing your cost by a great margin.

However, there are drawbacks, such as the risk of communication issues and time zone differences.

Over To You

App development is a complex and long journey.

We here at Ficode provide one of the finest mobile app development services in the UK. Our skilled team of specialists is committed to guiding you at every step to make your journey in app development smooth and cost-effective.

Let us take you across so you can have the finest market-ready product at the best possible price. Book a free consultation with us to know how we can help you.