How much does mobile app development cost 2022 ?

How much does mobile app development cost 2022 ?

Do you want to know how much it costs to develop a mobile application? This article will detail the costs of developing a mobile application. We will break down the design steps and give some tips to reduce development costs.

What is the cost of app development? How much does app development cost in 2022? What is the average price of an application in 2022? 

The price of a classic mobile application

When a company wishes to develop a mobile application and uses our services, the question of the price is often one of the first questions. We have noticed that the price of developing a mobile application is often unclear when you are not in the business. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine the costs without knowing the ins and outs of a project; in other words, the price of a mobile application varies a lot depending on the features and data present in the application.

When a client asks me for a price before I have analyzed his project, I often answer: “mmmmmh, I would say between €20,000 and €150,000.”

To be a little more precise, our experience allows us to say that:

• A basic mobile application costs between €20,000 and €35,000. E.g., Indeed
• A moderately complex application (Payment, maps, feed, media, etc.) costs between €35,000 and €60,000. Ex: m-commerce app (or e-commerce on mobile)
• A complex application (many features, APIs, etc.) can cost up to €90,000 (and even more in rare cases). E.g., Fiverr
• A complex application with AI (artificial intelligence) and constant monitoring can cost several hundred thousand euros. E.g., TikTok.

Some exceptions and exceptional cases that can influence the price of a mobile application creation:

1. Applications, including heavy files (such as video), have high data management rates.
2. Applications including additional security systems, such as payment transfer apps (e.g. Lydia)
3. The

To know more precisely the cost of developing your application, you can estimate it by filling out the online quote form.

In this article, you will understand where these numbers come from, what they mean in practice, and what factors can influence the budget of an application.

What is the average cost of developing a mobile application?

If you plan to develop a mobile application, you must first analyze the complexity of a possible cross-platform. Indeed, Android and Apple do not have the same development technologies. To summarize, there are two options:

• Create a code for each platform
• Create a standard code (cross-platform) and adapt some details specific to Android and Apple

How to determine the cost of a mobile application

There are two types of project management: the fixed price method and the agile method. From experience, the agile approach offers much more flexibility, corresponding to 90% of today’s projects. A modern communication agency uses the agile process more these days. Used the agile methodology.

To develop a mobile application using the agile method, the project manager performs an in-depth analysis of the development stages to segment the application project into “sprints”. Sprints are development phases with sub-objectives; the idea is to sequence the development phases to organize the general work and respect the timing constraints. The project manager then defines the duration of the sprints, the number of developers needed to complete the project and the number of development days per sprint (for example, a 3-week sprint with ten development days per sprint).

The project manager will then break down the development into several sub-steps, which will allow him to calculate the cost of a mobile application and provide an estimated delivery date.

How to organize the distribution of mobile development costs for an Agency?

• The developer / Project manager works between 7 and 8 hours a day (in practice, it is often more)
• The developer and the project manager have a daily rate
• The time devoted to project management is determined according to the development time, often between 10-15%.
• The first sprint of a project is always dedicated to the Design
• The designer‘s rate is not daily but fixed according to the service
• Very often, the price decreases according to the duration of the project
• A flat rate is usually applied for testing/debugging the application

Here is an example of a simplified estimate of the price of a mobile application, which we proposed at the beginning of 2022:

Number of days invoice

UX/UI Design – 3.500 €

Flutter Development 45 50*500 = 25.000€

Testing / debug package 4 4*500 = 2.000€

Project leadership 6 6*580 = 3.480€

Total – 33.980 €

Crew 2 developers, one designer, one project manager

Time 15 weeks (6 sprints)

What factors affect the cost of mobile development?

The complexity of the application and the different features/resources required are essential factors that influence the final price of the development of the application. But they are far from the only ones. 

Mobile features and their complexity

As we mentioned earlier, your development team will estimate the time needed to implement your requirements before launching a collaboration. This step is a critical point in the preparation of your project.

The significant factors influencing the development costs are the application’s functionalities, the adaptability to the platforms (Android, apple…), the Design and the personalized effects, and the complexity of the back-end infrastructure. End and API development (we’ll cover that later).

The complexity of the functionalities implemented in the application project is the primary factor influencing the total cost. This represents the business logic needed to translate into the application software and the number of screens, buttons and services used.

Here are some examples of features that significantly affect development costs.

Manage user roles and engagement

The creation of user roles, the tree structure and content management according to the editing role of the account can sometimes be complex; this one represents in particular:

• Account management: Adding features such as password storage and encryption, password recovery, social login (“login with Google – Facebook”), and data and data editing affiliated with the accounts (example: the evolution of the weight for a Fitness application).
• Social interactions: Social sharing (internal or external to the application), creating a Feed, and adding a tagging plan for push and in-app notifications and comments.
• The integration of third-party libraries or data linked to an external database.

In-app purchases

Integrating the purchase in the application requires exceptional management; in addition to synchronizing the store with a back office or third-party management software, it is necessary to add payment and delivery tracking functionalities. Credit cards, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and PayPal are the most popular payment methods in apps. Each payment method will require additional development time.

location-based services

Development times can be lengthy if you want to implement innovative technology with a location service (or even more complex location tracking like GPS). This is also one of the most challenging features. In particular, you should think about the following:

• Request user permission to use their GPS data
• Manage calls to device GPS data
• Ensure long-lasting and precise tracking according to the position of the device, with a good and a bad connection to the network

How much does mobile app development cost 2022 ?

The call to device features

An application can call on the smartphone’s functionalities, such as the camera, NFC charging, payment systems, speakers, etc. Developers often have to use APIs to be able to do this.

The geographical location of the development team

The price of a developer is strongly impacted by his environment, language, and skills. On a large scale, an Indian developer will be nearly five times lower than a French developer. On a smaller scale, a Parisian developer can be twice as expensive as a provincial developer (with equivalent skills).

We always encourage our customers to choose a developer team located in the same country as the company’s headquarters for several reasons:

• Legislation (especially regarding respect for data confidentiality) is not equivalent from one country to another.
• The language barrier can be complex when dealing with a technical subject.
• The “cleanliness” of the code
• Proximity to manage emergencies and improve communication
• The exact time zone for better project management

The choice of the agency and the development team

An agency specializing in mobile development will always be more competent than an internal developer. The agency will be able to respond to its client’s problems; it has experience in all these projects and the necessary in-house skills.

It also has many tools adapted to project development: management, development and communication tools (videoconferencing, messaging, ticket management, etc.).

Besides, the development cost will also depend on the team structure. The size of the team should be adjusted as needed. A typical development team consists of the following:

• An internal contact
• A project manager (or scrum master)
• A designer
• 1 – 3 developer(s)
• Optional: a study manager or Business Analyst

The Business Analyst can significantly help with project development when the project is complex.

How much does mobile app development cost 2022 ?

Development costs

Separate IOS and Android development Number of platforms

We mentioned this subject at the beginning of this article; the choice of the technology used is essential in the budgeting of the project. Is a unique development for each of the platforms necessary? Is cross-platform development suitable? The answer to this question is essential!

In rare cases, cross-platform development is unsuitable, and the code must be singular for IOS and Android. The product has to be done twice (at least), which is more expensive.

Development of native or cross-platform applications

Cross-platform development considerably reduces the cost of the product since most of the code will be familiar to the different platforms. Multi-platform actions are increasingly popular and now offer the best quality/price ratio. Many cross-platform technologies like React native (by Facebook) or Flutter (by Google) exist.

How much does mobile app development cost 2022 ?

Application maintenance

Technologies, consumer and market trends are constantly changing, and it is necessary to keep an application up to date to optimize performance. Maintenance also allows correcting specific bugs or even improving certain elements following user feedback.

We recommend an annual budget of 5 to 15% of the amount of the application.

How to reduce application development costs?

Fortunately, entrepreneurs can reduce mobile app development costs by thinking smartly about the overall project. 

 Create an MVP (minimum viable product)

We often advise defining an MVP in the creation process. The minimum viable product makes it possible to offer an unfinished but functional product. The advantages are numerous:

• Publish the application earlier and get concrete feedback that can influence further development
• Start selling your service before the end of the development
• Have a dynamic image by regularly publishing updates
• Test your product
• Generate the first income

On the other hand, the customer will decide the “gauge” of his MVP, more concretely, the features to be included in the MVP. The minimum viable product is often composed of the simplest elements to develop; in other words:

• A simple design without all the effects provided on the model
• The minimum features for the service to be operational
• Easy-to-implement secondary features

The MVP allows you to prioritize your project and see the app’s development more clearly.

Involve quality control (or quality assurance: QA) from the start

In application development, we always encounter bugs to be corrected. And it’s better to move forward step by step, fixing bugs as the project progresses. This is also one of the advantages of management by sprint!

Errors or incompatibilities can accumulate during the design phase; they must be dealt with as quickly as possible to limit further deployment risk. With this methodology, the development will undoubtedly go slightly slower, but you will identify severe problems before the development phase begins. Therefore, you will save on any redesign costs that may accrue.

Go through an agency.

Going through a specialized agency can be expensive, but it’s an excellent long-term strategy. Hiring a developer will always be more costly in the long run. Of course, depending on the project’s scope and the application’s commercial development, it will eventually be necessary to hire one or more developers. But initially, the support of an agency will be a real added value both in terms of skills and financially.

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How much does mobile app development cost 2022 ?