One of the most common questions in our line of work is: How much does an App Cost?
This is similar to asking a car dealer how much a car costs? The answer to the question is very dependent on what kind of car and features you are interested in. Are you going to buy a Porsche, Lexus or a Ford Focus? What are the features of the car? Does it have heated seats? Does it have air conditioning? Do you want custom painting or any other custom features? All these questions are built into the price of a car and need to be answered before a price estimate can be given.
This is the same way it works with apps. Questions such as “Does it have air conditioning ” are replaced with: “How many screens does your app have?” “Are there any complicated animations or interactions?” “Does your app support multiple platforms such as iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone?” “Is there a server component to your app?” – These questions are equivalent to the ones above about the car and answers are needed before a price can be determined.
Apps can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 or more and depends on how complex and involved the app is. With a typical range in the $20-40K range. It’s also important to remember small touches can sometimes be expensive.
When considering app features it is always important to consider the Minimum Viable Product, or MVP. Your MVP is a product which contains the smallest and most common set of features your users will find useful. Often times you can go through the process of discovering exactly what your customers want by putting out an MVP and then building out based on customer feedback. That is how iUsask was developed as well as the Coop app and many of our more successful apps. So the question of “What does an app cost?” really comes down to what features and properties are necessary for your app in its MVP phase.
A related question we get is how long an app take to develop? Again it depends on the answers given to the above questions. Apps can be built in a few days to six months or longer with the typical timeframe being 2-3 months. But again always keep your MVP in mind as it helps drive long term success of your app.
If you want us to help you find your Minimal Viable Product, don’t hesitate to contact us: 1-800-298-7081
