Kathie,      Aug 31 2020 10:16AM

The True Cost Of Mobile App Development

It seems like everybody and their Grandmother is working on an app nowadays. And everybody’s got a cousin, friend, brother, or sister that can program. However, building a solid app is not as always as easy as it seems. Furthermore, the real price of app building is not always accounted for at first glance. When you account for development services, building a mobile app can increase the overall cost of your project.

For example, in 2015 a mobile app development company, Savvy Apps priced their development services between $150,000 to $450,000! Take a look at survey results for median cost range for app development stages (assuming a $150/hour rate):




What’s really interesting and important about the results of this survey is that the main cost drivers are not app features, but involve the infrastructure required to get the app of the ground. These features include:

  • Data storage
  • Scaleability
  • Basic controls
  • 3rd party integration
  • Access to enterprise data
  • Data encryption
Now of course, the demands and cost for these infrastructure components will vary from project to project. But the take away is that the true cost of mobile app development is not only contained in the app itself, but is connected to infrastructure required to appropriately scale the app and bring it to market.

Did we just crush your app dreams? Don’t worry folks – the above-listed infrastructure costs apply to larger mobile app projects (so depending on the scale of your project, pricing will vary). The important thing to remember is that you want to do your research before jumping into a mobile project, to make sure that you’ve adequately budgeted for infrastructure and app rollout.