Apps have become fundamental for most businesses over the last year. Companies of all sizes have invested in apps to get their products and services into the hands of their customers. Developing an app can cost anything from £15,000 to £500,000 or more.
The cost of developing an app accumulates many smaller costs. A good quote will break down the overall cost into sections to help you better understand where your investment is going.
The first question prospective clients often ask us is, "how much does it cost to build an app?". This question has an infinite number of answers. Many variables affect the final cost of an app, including time spent, velocity, functionality, location, and complexity; however, we have developed a basic outline that should help you forecast and determine your budget.
Stages
At StackTiger, we break a project down into four key stages, i.e.
- Discovery - feasibility, research, planning
- Design - UI/UX/Technical Specification
- Engineering - implementation/testing/deployment
- Maintenance/Future Work
The Discovery and Design phases typically constitute 10-30% of the final cost. The remaining fees are for implementation (coding), testing, and deployment (making it live). Maintenance and future work is typically done on a separately agreed retainer or via "work packages" as and when needed.
Project Requirements
Getting an accurate quote starts with detailed requirements. The requirements detail the features and specifications of your app and allow the agency to provide a precise quote. Working with an experienced team like StackTiger, who can help you determine your business requirements before kicking off development, will help you avoid any unexpected fees.
The scope of the app required to meet your business requirements will impact what you pay for it. Whether it's as simple as turning your existing website into a mobile-friendly app or offering a complex app with in-app purchases or third-party integrations, the design and code required will account for most of the overall cost.
MVP
At StackTiger, we work with you and your team to understand your needs and scope out an MVP (Minimal Viable Product). An MVP has the minimum functionality possible to provide value to your users, ensuring time-to-market is as low as possible and keeping costs to the essentials.
An MVP allows you to collect valuable user feedback, iterate, and incrementally improve to achieve product-market fit faster.
Following this, we continue to work with our clients on planning and developing better versions of their apps with more advanced functionality.
Complexity
The app development process is critical in the overall cost of building an app. App complexity can include the project's scope - the number of screens within the app, integrations with third-party services, advanced technologies such as Machine Learning, and the required code. Additional features, like advanced graphics and animations, in-app purchases, bank connectivity, or push notifications, can add to the development cost.
Examples
- Simple App - basic functionality including login and up to 5 screens could cost ~£20,000
- Medium App - integrates with third-party services through APIs and could cost between £30,000-£90,000
- Complex App - features in-app purchases, banking, or live messaging, for example, could cost between £75,000-£250,000
- Complex Suite of Applications - features multiple inter-operating applications that could cost you between £250,000 and £500,000+
Experienced team
The experience and skill level of the team commissioned to build your app will affect the overall cost. For instance, a college graduate with little professional experience will charge a smaller fee than an experienced agency.
Development teams with little experience often don't understand your requirements or have the processes in place to stay aligned with project plans, often costing you valuable time and money.
At StackTiger, we are a highly experienced team who have worked together for the best part of a decade on client projects. We've designed, developed, and launched many apps for our own startups and many VC-backed startups in the UK and USA.
Get a Quote
As with most things in life and business, you get precisely what you pay for when it comes to app development. While expensive at first glance, commissioning an agency for your app development project is the surest option for limiting delays, failures, and unexpected costs.
A digital product is never finished and will always require maintenance. At StackTiger, we deliver high-quality, polished products built by a small agile team of experienced engineers at the top of their respective fields, making ongoing maintenance more painless.
It is difficult to answer the question of "how much it costs to make an app?" because each app is and should be different. Pricing depends on the quality of the engineering team commissioned. An agency is not always necessary for app development projects. If you are better suited to working with a freelancer on your project or even opting for a no-code or low-code solution for idea validation, we will tell you that. We are a small team and work on projects where we can have the most significant impact.
If you'd like a quote for your next project, contact us today at hello@stacktiger.co.