How much does it cost to develop an app in 2024? cost breakdown

You may be thinking about developing an app, but one of the questions that comes to mind is how much will it cost to develop an app in 2024? This is a very frequent question among those who want to develop a mobile application.Whether you have a company to add services to or you are starting a business.

The price of an app varies depending on many factors such as the technology used in its development (native, multiplatform, web...), functions included, its design, etc.. In order for you to make the best decision, let's take a look at some of these factors.

How much does it cost to develop an app?

Many factors influence the price, depending on the complexity of the application development, at 45 € per hour, an average cost estimate will be:

The application time is determined by the number of sections that the mobile application will contain. A simple application consists of about 10 sections, apps of medium complexity from 10 to 30 sections and the most complex ones from 30 sections and more.

The average hourly cost of an app development team starts at 45 € per hour. There are different profiles within an app development team, by way of estimation we will break down the most relevant to develop an app:

• UX/UI application designer: 45 € per hour.
• Application designer: 35 € per hour.
• Back-end developer: 45 € per hour.
• React Native application engineer: 65 € hour.
• Application Scrum Master: 50 € per hour.
• API connection developer: 60 € per hour.

Each project needs to be studied independently, so each app has its own personal costs. App development teams are composed of 4 to 6 people, working an average of 3 to 6 months. To estimate the costs of your app, contact a team of experts in Android and iOS app development, they will give you the necessary keys to develop your app correctly.

What are the factors that influence the price of an app?

In order to calculate the cost of creating an app, it is necessary that let us take into account some of these factors:

-· Quality: The more detailed the application is, the more work it will take to develop it, so the cost will also be higher, due to the effort involved.

-· Time: depending on the time frame in which the app would be needed, the costs may be higher. If it is needed before a certain date and the developer has to work overtime to have it on time, the price will go up a bit. If you are not in a hurry, and the times can be adjusted to the delivery deadlines, the price will be tighter. The time will largely depend on the amount of sections to be developed within the application and the external connections with other platforms (API connections).

-· FunctionalitiesWhat is our app going to do? For example: It is not the same to enter the app with email and password than with a social network login; or the messaging service (live chat is not the same as sending simple messages).

-· Additional costs: Uploading the application to the app store has a cost. In the Android Play Store there is a one-time payment, while in the iOS App Store there is an annual payment that must be paid to register as a developer and upload the application.

-· Maintenance: an app cannot remain unmaintained and static over time. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace on new devices. So make sure the app is up to date and resolve any bugs that may arise by continuing to collaborate with an app development team. For this we recommend using the technology of app development with React Nativereduce costs by programming apps in a single code for Android and iPhone.

-· Launching costs: if the application is not an internal app, it is necessary to make sure that users find the app. This requires a marketing investment to give it visibility and position it in the app stores.

How much will it cost to create an app depending on the type of development?

There is various options for the development of an appand not all of them have the same cost.

Costs of a Native App

These apps are the ones that are developed for a specific operating system ( iOS, Windows, Android...). This type of native app development offers advantages such as greater speed, better performance, widgets, better user experience and offline operation. In exchange for these benefits, their price is much higher than multiplatform applications, since they are much more complex to develop and require more time to do so.

If you want an app to be native and be on two different operating systems, you have to work on a development for each one of them and also have experts in this. This increases the app budget considerably.

Estimated costs of a native app:

• Basic native app with Android Studio: from 25.000 €.
• Native media app with Android Studio: from 50.000 €.
• Native complex App with Android Studio: from 90.000 €.
• Basic native app with Swift (iOS): from 30.000 €.
• Native media app with Swift (iOS): from 60.000 €.
• Native complex app with Swift (iOS): from 120.000 €.

Cross-platform App

This type of app has a single code and fits different operating systems, i.e., only one development is needed, so we would have an application that works on both iOS and Android.. These usually cost considerably less than native ones, although, we must say that they are also slower. Among the main development frameworks of multiplatform applications we find developers Flutter and React native.

Flutter has been introduced by Google relatively recently.It is still a beginner in this world, but it helps to create applications with great ease and also very colorful and beautiful.

React Native was introduced by Facebook and has native components.This developer is known as the future of hybrid apps. It is difficult to decide between one or the other, since both have their advantages and disadvantages. Flutter, being a newbie, will need a little more time to stabilize compared to React Native.. So starting with the latter is a good option.

Estimated costs of a multiplatform app with React Native:

• Basic App with React Native: from 15.000 €.
• App media with React Native: from 25.000 €.
• Complex App with React Native: from 60.000 €.

Web app

These applications are those used through the web browser, so they also work on various devices.. The user does not need to download them to use them. The development of this type of app is faster and less expensive, but its disadvantage is its limitation in accessing the hardware of the cell phone (GPS or camera).

We can say that the development time will significantly influence the final price of the app development. There is no one option that is more correct than the other, all have their advantages and disadvantages. So your choice should depend on the needs you have and what you want to do with your app. If it is aimed at a specific number of users, we can opt for the multiplatform version, but if we are targeting the general public, it is better to opt for a native app, although we must not forget that it will be more expensive.

Estimated costs of web app development:

• Basic Web App: from 10.000 €.
• App Web media: from 15.000 €.
• Complex Web App: from 20.000 €.

How much does it cost to develop an app depending on its operating system?

Creating an application for iOS, Android or Windows phone has different costs. The same as if we want it to adapt to several operating systems. Although it is always better that an app adapts to different systems, the expense may be somewhat higher, but it will avoid a future cost.

If we decide to adapt only to Android for example, when you want to do it for iOS, the price will be much higher than if you do it from the beginning for both.. Keep in mind that the development of a native app for Android is not worth the same as for iOS, the latter have a higher cost.

These are some of the aspects to consider if you have in mind to create an app. Prices can vary from around 2000 € to 300,000 € or more, depending on the features and everything mentioned above.