App Development Cost
App development has a reputation for being eye wateringly expensive. In this article we’re aiming to help you understand the different options available for your app development and what their likely costs will be in 2023.
To do this, you’ll first need to learn a little about the different ways custom apps get built. It’s necessary if you want to survive the app development costing process. This way you can compare apples with apples, when it comes to ‘what you need’ vs ‘what you’re getting’ and what the trade-offs are.
APP DEVELOPMENTS COSTS
Comparison Summary
We will be considering five broad methods of developing an app in 2023. The following table provides a summary of our conclusions. Don’t worry if you don’t understand exactly what each method is, we will be going through them one at a time.
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For
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Startups and Companies
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Traditional Businesses
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Method |
Native |
Cross Platform |
Platfio Platform |
Cookie Cutter |
Platfio Templates |
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Example |
XCode and
Android Studio |
Flutter or
React Native |
Platfio
Platform Builds |
Mindbody
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Platfio Starter
Templates |
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Build Cost Range |
$500,000 -
$10m |
$100,000 -
$2m |
$3,000 -
75k |
$0
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$0 -
$5,000 |
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Maintenance Cost Range |
$20,000/mo +
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$10,000/mo +
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$200 -
$1,000/mo |
$300 -
$1,000/mo. |
$100 -
$1,000/m. |
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Timeframes |
52 Weeks +
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26 Weeks +
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4 Weeks +
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6 Weeks +
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2 Weeks +
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Features |
Unlimited
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Virtually
Unlimited |
Very
Powerful |
Limited
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Very
Powerful |
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Chances Of Success |
Low
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Medium
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High
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Guaranteed
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Guaranteed
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These are simplifications and real world estimates to work with a reputable App Development company on an App of moderate complexity.
Introduction
The purpose of this article is not to convince you that one method is better than the others. It’s to provide a fair comparison between each method so you can decide which one is right for your business.
Every single method has App Development Cost trade-offs. So, which of those trade-offs are right for your business. It’s not just about finding the right App Development solution… It’s about finding the right development solution for your business.
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Tradeoffs
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Build Cost |
What can you afford to spend upfront? What is necessary for your MVP?
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Maintenance Cost |
Don’t underestimate this. This is where you iterate on your app based on the feedback of customers.
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Delivery Timeframe |
How quickly do you want and/or need to get to market?
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Flexibility |
Can the method you are considering actually build what it is your business needs technically speaking?
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Chances of Success |
How sure are you that your assumptions about the market are correct? How much experience do you have? Some methods are more complex than others.
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Factors
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Upfront Budget |
Do you have the budget to get your App built?
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Ongoing Budget |
Do you have the ongoing cash flow to maintain and iterate on it once it's built?
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Opportunity Urgency |
Are you looking to be first to market? Do you urgently need to catch up with competitors?
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Complexity |
Is your proposed app extremely complicated to create?
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Established Demand |
How confident are you that users will come to your app? What evidence do you have to support this? How much do you want to risk based on how confident you are?
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Tradeoffs
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Build Cost |
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What can you afford to spend upfront? What is necessary for your MVP?
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Factors
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Upfront Budget |
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Do you have the budget to get your App built?
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Tradeoffs
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Maintenance Cost |
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Don’t underestimate this. This is where you iterate on your app based on the feedback of customers.
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Factors
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Ongoing Budget |
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Do you have the ongoing cash flow to maintain and iterate on it once it's built?
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Tradeoffs
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Delivery Timeframe |
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How quickly do you want and/or need to get to market?
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Factors
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|---|---|
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Opportunity Urgency |
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Are you looking to be first to market? Do you urgently need to catch up with competitors?
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Tradeoffs
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Flexibility |
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Can the method you are considering actually build what it is your business needs technically speaking?
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Factors
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Complexity |
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Is your proposed app extremely complicated to create?
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Tradeoffs
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Chances of Success |
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How sure are you that your assumptions about the market are correct? How much experience do you have? Some methods are more complex than others.
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Factors
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Established Demand |
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How confident are you that users will come to your app? What evidence do you have to support this? How much do you want to risk based on how confident you are?
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METHOD #1
Native Development
The officially recommended ways of building Android and iOS apps are using Android Studio and XCode.
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Positives
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Negatives
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Gives you early and unlimited access to native functionality
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Three separate codebases. One using XCode, one using Android Studio and one using a Javascript framework for the Web.
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Say you want to target Apple's new VisionOS platform, this is the only way.
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Building everything 3 times means it’s going to be very expensive.
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It’s also going to be slow and require a lot of coordination or mistakes occur.
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RECOMMENDED FOR:
Only if a cross platform build cannot provide what you need (which will be less than 0.01% of apps) should you consider a native build. At the moment the only places I see cross platform lacking are in new platforms such as VisionOS, WatchOS and WearOS. So if your app is looking to primarily target these platforms a native build may be necessary.
BUILD COST
$500k - $10m
MAINTENANCE COST
$20k/mo. +
METHOD #2
Cross Platform
Cross platform app development has become the standard approach. It entails building your app with code 1 time, then converting that code into your Android and iOS app. Basically it’s ½ the work of the native option with a couple of limitations.
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Positives
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Negatives
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One codebase. In contrast to native apps you generally build your app one time. So it’s much more efficient.
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Still quite expensive to build
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Very few limitations
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Still quite expensive maintain
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Lots of of programmers and companies around who specialise in this
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Still takes quite a lot of time.
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RECOMMENDED FOR:
If Platfio cant do what you need, cross platform app development is your next best bet. If you have to build your app with code, this is the most efficient way. If it’s good enough for apps like Airbnb and Facebook in 99.99% of cases it will be perfect for your project.
BUILD COST
$100,000 - $2m
MAINTENANCE COST
$10,000/m +
METHOD #3
Platfio Platform Builds
Platfio is a platform that builds apps using standard modules and the power of AI. Instead of building every application from scratch, we believe that most apps can be built on top of a platform. Much like how most websites are built on top of platforms like WordPress or Squarespace.
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Positives
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Negatives
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Significantly less expensive and faster time to market than cross platform.
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Not every functionality is yet supported
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You will get a heap of extra features you probably don't know you need (eg CRM, POS, Marketing Tools, Admin Views, etc)
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Updates and features added regularly at no extra cost.
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Capable of extremely powerful functionality. Includes Android, iOS and PWA
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RECOMMENDED FOR:
Any startup or traditional business with a novel concept for their app that is possible with the Platfio platform. If Platfio can build your app it is likely to save 50-90% on build cost and 90%+ on ongoing maintenance cost without sacrificing functionallity.
BUILD COST
$3k - $75k
MAINTENANCE COST
$1k/mo. +
METHOD #4
Cookie Cutter
In many industries cookie-cutter app solutions are available. Where you can put a ‘skin’ of your own branding over an existing app.
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Positives
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Negatives
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Tried and tested solutions to specific industry problems
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Extremely limited features giving you limited headroom for your business to grow/change
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Your staff often familiar with systems based on previous experience
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Extremely limited user interface options meaning it’s hard to tailor your app to your brand.
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Often slower than you’d expect. Often more expensive than you’d expect if the vendor charges a percentage of sales.
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RECOMMENDED FOR:
Noone. Sorry, in the past these were the best options available to traditional businesses. Now, there are better options. Whilst cookie cutter apps do contain useful features for their respective industry, they lack the flexibility many businesses need to manage their business and represent their brand.
BUILD COST
$0
MAINTENANCE COST
$300/mo. +
METHOD #5
Platfio Starter Templates
If you have a traditional business (eg. gym, clinic, salon, accountant) Platfio has starter templates that can get your app up and running in no time.
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Positives
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Negatives
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Custom apps at cookie cutter app prices.
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Not every functionality is yet supported
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Tried and tested in most industries
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Extensive functionality included out of the box
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RECOMMENDED FOR:
All Traditional Business considering custom applications. Not just because they are more affordable (both upfront and on an ongoing basis) than cross platform builds, but because they also include all of proven insights of a cookie cutter app. Meaning you actually get the best of both worlds, proven features at affordable prices with freedom to easily grow and change in the future.
BUILD COST
$0 - $5k
MAINTENANCE COST
$100/mo. +
FAQ's
While going offshore might seem like a tempting strategy to marginally reduce app development cost, it isn’t without significant risks. Especially if you lack a technically proficient team member to supervise the vital technical decisions that are made early on in the project. As well as an experienced product manager to ensure the right features are being built.
Lower app development cost can often mean compromises on quality, leading to more expense in fixing issues later. Offshore teams may not fully understand your business context or culture, leading to misalignment in expectations and outcomes, despite the lower app development cost. Finally, achieving these marginally lower costs is often done by removing functionality from the app which you will later find out you need. For example, admin screens that are necessary to manage the app.
Thus, while it might look like you’re saving on the app development cost initially, without technical supervision, you might end up paying more in the long run due to unforeseen complications and miscommunications. Or, more often that you would expect, the app development cost stays low, because the project is never satisfactorily completed.
Even though a mobile responsive website is beneficial, having a dedicated app can enhance user experience significantly, driving customer engagement and retention. Apps can offer faster navigation, push notifications, and offline access, creating more interactive and personalized experiences for users.
The most compelling evidence that apps provide a better customer experience than mobile responsive websites is that all the biggest companies in the world use them. For example, do you spend more time on the Facebook app, or the Mobile responsive Facebook website? When app development cost is not a concern, such as in these large companies, apps are clearly a preferred option.
While typically, the app development cost might be high, with Platfio, you can leverage these advantages at a cost any business can afford. This makes supplementing your mobile-responsive website with an app an extremely advantageous move, both in terms of user experience and app development cost.
While Progressive Web Apps (PWA’s) offer some benefits of a mobile app, they don’t provide the full capabilities. Native apps enable superior performance, user experience, and more seamless access to specific smartphone features such as push notifications, GPS, and camera. PWA’s also do not have the same appeal in the eyes of customers. The credibility created for the business having a mobile app is generally far superior.
Typically, the app development cost for native apps might be higher, but with Platfio, you get the superior benefits of native apps without the usually associated high app development cost. This makes opting for a dedicated app a beneficial decision, both in terms of app features and managing app development cost.
Did I mention that every Platfio app also includes a PWA as well. So you get the best of both a PWA and native apps.
A Progressive Web App, or PWA, is a type of website, built using common web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It’s designed to work on any platform with a compatible web browser. While a PWA can mimic some app features, it doesn’t offer the full capabilities of native Android and iOS apps. Native apps generally deliver a smoother, faster, and more responsive user experience.
That said, PWA’s do have their unique benefits. They can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux and hey are not beholden to the onerous rules of the Appstore and Playstore. For this reason every Platfio app also includes a PWA. So you get the best of both a PWA and native apps.
Conclusions
Nowadays it’s almost universally agreed upon that for your website, if you can, it’s much better to use a platform like WordPress, rather than to build from scratch with code.
Why?
Because it can do everything most businesses need.
It’ll get it done quickly and affordably. It’s easy to maintain and it’ll empower non-technical members of your team to contribute to your website. Like marketers and administration.
We see custom Android and iOS applications going the same way.
As Platfio gets more and more powerful, particularly aided by ai, it won’t make sense in most cases to pay 10x as much for the same app built with code unless you are doing something obscure that can’t be done using Platfio.
Especially when you consider that by doing so you are also committing yourself to a lifetime of expensive maintenance.
Similarly, why would you accept a cookie cutter app with massive limitations if Platfio is more powerful and in many cases costs less!
That said, if Platfio cant yet do what you need, cross platform is your best option. In the 0.01% of cases where cross platform cannot do what you need, only then would I consider native.
Next Steps
If you’re a traditional business, checkout the Platfio starter templates. If you’re a startup check Platfio Platform builds. If you’re not sure, enquire today. If Platfio cant help you we’re happy to provide some recommendations to cross platform and native app developers who we know and trust.