The cost of app development can vary. It’s difficult to categorize the apps and say how much you need to develop an app as there are other factors beyond the platform, design, and functionality of the app.

Therefore, we offer here a small overview of it, attention must be paid to what if you implement an app project plan.

Base cost – overview:

Hourly price for developers: between 50 and 100 euros. Apple Developer account: $99/year.

Developer account at Google play: registration fee of $25 Percent of all profits remain at Apple and Google: 30%.

If necessary, Server/hosting cost: depends on the server respectively.

Hosting and needed capacities; Applies only if the apps are connected to Web servers.

Different kinds of apps

The app development: Cost very much depend on what you want to develop for an application.

Games are for example usually more expensive than the other types of apps, because they need also versatile programming alongside elaborate graphics.

The cheapest apps are simple app versions of websites, pure information of apps with contact (for such apps, there are also lots of Web tools with which you can create an app itself, usually for a small subscription payment), or apps that serve only a specific purpose, such as calculators or flashlights.

However, if the app would have a connection to the server, user profiles, different user roles, various APIs, payment systems, etc., then it can be relatively expensive.

Questionnaire to the cost of the app development

1. what type of app do you want to develop?

iPhone
iPad
iOS Universal
Android Smartphone
Universal for Android

In general, the development of iOS and Android apps equal costs respectively. under certain circumstances, the Android app can cost more, taking into account the high number of various test devices.

Windows phone development costs usually more because it is more or less a “niche” platform that is still not as widely recognized and on the market, there are fewer qualified developers there who are familiar with this platform.

It is also important to define whether you want to develop an app for smartphones, tablets only, or for both.

The apps that are suitable only for smartphones are cheaper than those that are suitable for both types of devices.

2. who is the design provided by?

You
By the developer

If you are fit in the graphic design, you can save a portion of the costs, by designing the wallpapers, icons, and some other simple graphics yourself and delivering them to the developers; which will reduce the time the developer would spend on your project and will reduce the total cost.

3. what should the design look like?

Default/template
User-defined – new

Custom – adapted to your corporate identity or/and your specifications.

If the design doesn’t particularly matter for your app, you can use ready-made templates and save a lot of costs.

Otherwise, the design must be developed either completely or based on the existing corporate identity.

Alternative B may cost more because a designer will need to invest more time in creative work.

4. Is your app connected with an external data source (z. (B). Web server, database?

Yes
No
If the data from an external source are stored there, the effort also significantly increased.

The developer must define several interfaces for data transfer in addition to the integration of the existing database or building a new database, respectively.

The development of an administration area from which the administrator can manage the data is very important

5. Would you like to have a login system?

Yes, social media & email
Yes, email
No
Of course, the apps with the option A over option B cost more than variant C.

The following points need no explanation in my opinion because it is relatively clear that each of these functions increases the effort.

6. Is the payment system needed to be integrated into the app? (Yes or No)
7 your app needs synchronization of the data across multiple devices? ( Yes or No)
8. If your app includes a review function? (Yes or No)
9 be your users have their profiles? (Yes or No)

10. at what stage is your app?

Idea
Sketch
Finished concept
Prototype

The sooner the stage, the more time a developer or a project manager must invest to develop together with you the idea or the concept to finish. This time costs just as much as pure development time. Keep this in mind!

So, what does it cost to create an app? Alex Ahlund (former CEO AppVee) writes in his guest article at TechCrunch, that based on his survey of 96 app developers, the cost of an average app is $453.

One Article by OS X daily reported that a “small” app costs between 3,000 and 8,000 dollars while more complex applications or apps from well-known brands can cost from $50,000 to $150,000