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Are you an entrepreneur, startup founder, or investor looking to create an application to streamline your business operations? Then you might wonder how much app development costs in India.
Isnโt that right?
Itโs standard, every business wants to be part of a billion-dollar industry to increase revenue, brand exposure, and customers. And mobile apps have given them that opportunity from it they can expand their business and offer their services and products to a wider audience.
So, what is the cost of making an app in India? How much investment do you need for your app development?
Read this blog to learn about the costs, factors, and tips to reduce development expenses.
App development is the process of creating software programs that can do tasks needed by the business. These programs run on Android, iOS, Desktops, and Web-based platforms. The purpose of app development is to help streamline business operations, improve customer engagement, increase brand recognition, and enhance revenue generation.
App development involves different types of applications: Native apps, hybrid apps, cross-platform apps, and web apps. All these approaches open up various development opportunities for developers. Each type consists of different tools and programming languages that differ from each other.
So, donโt wait, connect with the us and make your dream mobile app in reality. click on the below now!
Here letโs understand each app development type:
01. Native Apps
Native apps are platform-specific applications that can run on certain platforms or operating systems that they were developed for. For example; if the program is built for Android devices, then it wonโt run on other platforms.
The coding structure, programming language, and Kits are completely different and each is used to develop apps for certain platforms.
These applications take full advantage of all the features offered by the respective platform.
Generally, features include the operating systemโs interface, performance enhancement, and other unique elements. Native apps offer next-level user experience but typically require a high level of technical expertise which leads to higher development costs as compared to other types of apps.
02. Hybrid Apps
Hybrid apps are that combine the elements of native and web apps. So, these types of apps are developed for a specific platform (Android or iOS) and a web app (an app that can be accessed via a browser.
Typically, hybrid applications are developed using popular frontend development technologies like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, providing cross-platform functionality.
To create hybrid apps, developers donโt need to create separate codes for Android or iOS. This saves significant development time and cost. However, hybrid apps have some downfalls like they usually donโt provide the exact user experience like native apps.
03. Cross-Platform Apps
Cross-platform apps are similar to hybrid apps in terms of code shareability. This approach allows developers to write the code once for the app and reuse it on different platforms.
Developers can use programming languages they are most familiar with. Cross-platform apps are much faster to create and cost-friendly as well. Also, these types of apps generally provide standard user experience not the best but not poor as well.
04. Web Apps
Web apps are application programs that can be accessed through any type of web browsers. They don't require installation on a device. Users can simply open their preferred browser and access the web app through a URL.
Web apps are typically developed using technologies and programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They offer a consistent experience across different devices and platforms. However, they may be limited in terms of performance and access to device-specific features.
According to the above-mentioned table, it's clear that app costs vary significantly. The type of app you decide to develop determines the cost and time. Letโs dive deeper into how much a minimum viable product costs.
The cost of developing a minimum variable product for the app in India ranges between $6,000 to $12,000 (โน500,000 - โน10,00,000).
Moreover, if you developing an app with large number of features and functionalities for Android and iOS, then the cost can ranges between $30,000 - $70,000 (โน25,18,000 - โน58,00,000) in India.
However, the exact cost or investment you make in your app development project depends on many factors such as:
These factors gradually affect your mobile application development.
Thus, itโs important to consider those factors, what they entail, and how to reduce your app development cost in India.
Letโs understand these factors and how much they influence cost.
App Complexity
App complexity refers to the level of features, functionality, and interactions embedded in the codebase of a mobile application. Itโs a key factor in determining the cost of developing a mobile app, as it directly influences the time, resources, and expertise required to bring the app to life.
The complexity of an app is often associated with the number of features it supports, but it also depends on how challenging those features are to implement. For example, a messaging app might seem simple, but adding real-time updates, end-to-end encryption, and multimedia sharing increases its complexity substantially.
Hereโs a breakdown of app complexity based on three categories:
Basic Apps: These include simple applications with minimal features like a single-purpose app (e.g., a calculator or to-do list). These apps have a straightforward design, limited user interaction, and simple backend requirements.
Average Apps: Apps in this category have moderate functionality, like eCommerce or fitness tracking apps. They may include integrations with third-party services, user profiles, and data storage.
Complex Apps: Complex apps have advanced features like real-time synchronization, AI-powered recommendations, or in-app payments. Examples include social media platforms, ride-sharing apps, or financial services apps with multiple integrations and data security requirements.
The development cost scales up as the complexity increases, primarily due to the extended development time and the higher level of expertise needed.
To give you an idea of how complexity impacts mobile app development costs, hereโs a breakdown:
As complexity increases, so does the need for skilled developers, thorough testing, and ongoing maintenance, which all contribute to the total cost. Understanding your appโs complexity will help you set a realistic budget and timeline for your project.
Operating System
Another considerable factor is platformโs operating system. The OS platform you choose to develop your app for is a factor that impacts your budget.
Generally, there are three popular OS systems worldwide: Android, iOS, and Desktop.
All these operating systems are highly proficient in running any type of apps and software programs.
But what makes it a factor for app development cost?
Applications that are more complex than others are generally more difficult to create. However, creating apps for Android is less hard than creating apps for iOS or Windows.
The bottom line is that choosing the right OS for your mobile app is important for development costs. Currently, Android and iOS dominate the market as they both have an extensive user base. Both come with distinct development requirements and costs.
Android development is often more complex and expensive due to device fragmentation. Optimizing for various devices, screen sizes, and hardware can extend development and testing. iOS development is generally simpler and more cost-effective due to a standardized device range.
For both Android and iOS, you have two development options:
Native development: Building separate apps for each platform using their respective languages (Java/Kotlin for Android, Swift/Objective-C for iOS). This ensures optimal performance and feature access but increases time and costs.
Cross-platform development: Using frameworks like Flutter or React Native to create a single codebase that works on both platforms. This can save time and money but may compromise performance or feature access slightly.
Here's a table detailing cost estimates per app type for an average complexity:
Type of Application
The type of app is connected with the core required features and third-party APIs you will implement.
Both, features and API integrations are cost-defining factors. This is because they both impact on development time, and expertise required.
Here, letโs explore what types of apps are there:
01. Offline Standalone App
These are the apps that work without any internet connection. In simple words, offline standalone apps donโt require an internet connection, user can access its features without having to turn on their mobile data or wifi.
All the data is stored in your local mobile storage. These applications usually contain a large number of folders and resource files, for example;
The estimated cost of creating such apps is between โน32,40,000 to โน40,00,000.
02. Apps Requiring Moderate Internet Connectivity
These types of apps require a moderate internet connection in order to access their features and functionalities.
Still, the app offers a good user experience even after the internet connection is lost or turned off. However, to use more other functionalities or continue using the app an internet is required.
Take Google Maps as an example. Google Maps requires an internet connection to load functionality and track your or other person's position, but it still works even after the internet is off. You can still navigate once the destination is loaded.
Similarly, more apps work the same such as social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, ride-hailing apps, travel apps, podcast apps, etc.
These require an internet connection to load their functionalities once. However, once the content is fully loaded, users can still browse, read, and interact with previously loaded content offline to some endpoint.
Basically, apps that allow you to turn off the internet connection, and still use its functionalities for some period, fit into this category.
The cost of creating such apps is mentioned below in the table:
Through above table, you must have understood the costing of each online moderate application. Also, the features mentioned here are less and it can go up to 50+ within these costs.
03. Chatbot Apps
AI-based apps in which user interacts with AI to solve their problems fall under this category. These apps utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and neural language processing (NLP) to interact with users can respond promptly in a conversational manner.
Many companies utilize these types of apps or extensions in daily work environments to streamline their business operations effectively.
The features, functionality, and capabilities of Chatbot apps can vary widely depending on their requirements and design.
The most common examples of apps in this category are:
Developing a Chatbot app can help your business streamline its operations and provide you with better results. So, making Chatbot apps can cost you between โน500,000 - โน30,00,000 with all the advanced features and functionalities.
Companyโs Location
Country where a software development company operates from is a huge cost-affecting factor. Itโs important to understand that each company has its own development structure and cost.
Take the USA as an example; the average cost of hiring a developer from here is 3X or even 5X more expensive than the cost of app development in India or Asia region.
Hereโs the table showing the cost of app development in different locations/countries:
Development Team
Hiring or working with an internal team is a huge cost-influencing factor to take into account.
Letโs understand this with an illustrative example; letโs assume that you are creating a mobile application with average complexity. But you hired a team on a salary basis rather than working with professional companies who offer services based on your project and provide you with cost accordingly.
So whatโs happening here is now that you have an employee who can build your app, you have to pay them monthly no matter whether you have projects in your hand or not.
That means you are investing your money in nothing. Thatโs the development team you work with is a highly important factor to consider. Here, we have created a table that will give you a clear picture of how the amount it will cost you:
Now that you know how the cost of mobile app development varies from country to country, let's discuss the steps that add up to the total price tag.
So, after understanding the factors, understanding how much is the price tag for each app development stage. Each stage demands cost and by analyzing them you can easily get an basic idea of how much money you will be spending for you app development. So, letโs dive right in the cost breakdown points by each step.
Stage 1
Researching, discovery, and requirement-gathering phase takes (20% of the mobile app development cost). In this stage market analysis, competitorโs analysis, ground work, requirement gathering, and business needs are required.
Stage 2
Next up, the UI/UX designing phase takes (20% of the total mobile app-making cost). This is the stage where the designing part takes a raw face of the actual product. This stage includes creating wireframe, interactive prototyping, and mockups.
Stage 3
Now the hard part is the coding phase which takes (50% of the total cost to make an app in India). This is a complete technical phase in which front-end and backend development is driven. Mobile developers write codes to bring every app feature, functionality button, and icon into working condition.
Stage 4
The final stage. App launch requires (10% of the total mobile application development cost). In this stage, strategies are created to launch the app on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Knowing how much it costs to publish your app in the app store is an important aspect. You should possess top-notch app store optimization techniques and strategies.
Cost efficiency is a top priority when developing mobile applications. Check out these important tips and strategies to help you manage and potentially reduce app development costs.
Scope of the Project
The scope of the project can help you gain a clear and comprehensive understanding of the features and functionality of your application and the problems it is designed to solve. You can write down all the details of your app, including its intended users, key features, and how the theme was created. You can also include video presentations such as phone calls and samples. This will help you avoid future surprises and ensure your project stays on budget.
Choose the Right Mobile App Development Company
Choosing a firm that fits your vision, budget, and schedule can reduce development costs. When choosing an agent, consider their portfolio, customer reviews, and communication skills. If they have experience in developing similar applications, they can reduce errors and speed up development.
Choose a Fixed Payment Contract
Fixed fee contracts can help you control costs because you pay a fixed amount for the entire project. To ensure this, the boundaries of the project must be clearly defined and agreed upon before the contract is signed. However, changes and additions outside of these terms may incur additional charges.
Regular Development
In iterative development, the application is built in stages, collecting user feedback at each stage. This saves money by catching problems early and reducing the cost of major changes later. You can implement iterative development by starting with a minimum viable product (MVP), testing, getting feedback, and improving the product.
Consider Maintenance and Support Costs
App development costs don't stop at launch. Regular maintenance, updates, and user support are essential to keeping your app relevant and functional. You should allocate a portion of your budget for post-launch costs and choose a firm that offers maintenance and support services.
Our meaning of hidden costs is those expenses that at starting are not considered by the founders at the onset of product development.
These expenses remain unnoticed till the app development process is started.
These expenses are crucial to keeping your app up-to-date, creating a robust mobile framework, and making it fully functional for the long term.
Typically, there are two main hidden costs in mobile app development, and they are:
These costs should be considered and estimated within the mobile app project research phase and added to the total budget.
The cost of marketing and maintenance of your app depends on your requirements. There is no set number for it; therefore, these costs vary according to the needs of the business.
If you are interested in creating a mobile application that aligns with your business model and allows you to fulfill the requirements, then you certainly need professional help.
At Orion InfoSolutions, we have an experienced team of mobile app developers that has expertise in creating exceptionally scalable, robust, and resilient mobile app development solutions.
Through our fail-proof project management practices, weโll ensure that we deliver you high-quality and business-oriented solutions within your given timeline. We will help get your business moving and with our services always stay ahead of your competitors.
We have proven expertise in delivering many successful projects to worldwide clients. If doubt that, check out our comprehensive list of project portfolios that we have made and delivered to our clients with 100% acceptance. You can also check out our reviews at Clutch
Need help! Get in touch with us by filling out a simple form on our website with your requirements. Our representative will shortly get back to you with business-driven ideas.
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DC Kumawat is the CEO of Orion InfoSolutions, a leading provider of IT solutions to businesses of all sizes. He has over 14+ years of experience in the IT industry. He is a passionate advocate for the use of technology to improve business performance.