Developing a new app or website might seem exciting at first. There are so many technologies you could use, design options, and unique features you could add to it. Seeing the quickly growing costs of developing the dream app or website can make you quite worried though, especially if you have a limited budget.  

Why do web and mobile app development companies charge so much, and are there any clever ways to develop a fully-functional but still budget-friendly app or website? Of course, there are – quite a few, in fact. 

So if you are looking now for those, read on -we’ll share some of our best tips on how you can bring down the mobile and web development costs.  

How much does a website or mobile app cost on average?

Whenever we meet a new client, the first thing they usually ask is, “So how much will our website or mobile app development project cost.” It’d be great if we could give them a fixed price right away. Given how many factors can influence the final price though, it’s nearly impossible to provide an accurate quote without analyzing the project and meeting with the client.

Based on the several projects we handled in the past though, we can provide you with some ballpark figures. For example, here’s how much an average mobile app project done with us might cost based on the project’s complexity. 

  • Small mobile apps: Those applications usually have only a few screens, use simple features and take up to 3 months to develop. A typical cost for such an app is between $14,000 and $30,000.
  • Medium mobile apps: Depending on how many screens and features the app needs to have and how many elements are customized, those apps can take even up to a year to develop and cost, on average, from $30,000 to $100,000.
  • Large and complicated mobile apps: Mobile apps with several features, custom design, multiple integrations, or advanced security features take the most time to be developed (a year or two even), and as such, they are the most expensive. To build such an app, you might have to spend more than $100,000.

For web development, the situation is even more complicated. Looking at Upwork, building a small business website with 8-16 pages might cost around $2000-$9000. However, an ecommerce website that stores 1000 products might cost $55,000 or above, and database websites can cost anything over $75,000. 

A few online studies on web design and development prices even show that for large and highly customizable websites, the final price might even reach $300,000! That’s quite a wide price range, isn’t it. 

What makes the development costs vary so wildly, though? 

What can influence website development costs?

Understanding what goes into a website or mobile app’s development costs is essential before you can start cutting the costs. 

Otherwise, you might end up with a project that will take twice as long to complete or, worst case, with a poorly designed website or mobile app. 

So before we get to the cost-cutting part, let’s see what exactly goes into the development costs, starting with website development costs.  

The first thing you need to know about web development is that time is (literally) money. The more time web developers spend designing website UI and UX, writing code, implementing all features you need, and then testing the performance, the more it will cost you. 

What can affect how much time they need to build the website for you?

  • Website type: How much time developers need to build and launch a website can vary wildly depending on whether you need a simple landing page, a small business website, or a full-fledged ecommerce website. A small website with only a few pages will obviously take much less time to develop than, let’s say, an e-commerce website for which you will need a payment gateway, dedicated integrations, plus an extra focus on website security. 
  • Design requirements: When it comes to website design, you can either opt for using a ready-made template or ask a Web UI/UX designer to prepare unique designs for you. The first option is much easier and faster to implement, so the costs are obviously much lower – however, those themes might be difficult to customize. A bespoke design meanwhile can reflect your company’s brand identity and have any custom functionality you want, but the design process takes much more time. Any design customizations will also increase the time developers need to finish the project – meaning you will have to pay more. 
  • The number of pages: The more pages the new website needs to have, the longer it will take for the developers to put the entire website together. Keeping this in mind is especially important if you plan to build an ecommerce website, as each product will require a separate page. 
  • How many images or other multimedia do you need to add: Images, animations, or videos take more time to be added to a website as they need to be optimized first, and then the website needs to be tested for performance. So the more images you want on the page, the longer the website process will take – and the more expensive it will be.
  • Custom features: Any custom features added to the website (such as Google Maps integration to mark your company’s location or website accessibility features) will also affect the price, especially if they have to be written exclusively for you.
  • Integrations needed: Same as with custom features, the more integrations with legacy systems or third-party tools you need to be added to the website, the higher the website development cost will be.
  • Size of the team working on the project: A large website or one with a lot of functionality will require more developers working on the project. For a simple, small company website, you might need only one or two developers. A more complex website with multiple features might require you to hire a dedicated team though, and that can significantly up the project costs.

How the website will be built can also significantly impact the final price. For simpler websites, you can use a website builder, template-based CMS like WordPress, or one of the available e-commerce store builders through which you can set up a website quickly. Those platforms can be a great choice when you are on a tight budget or need the website to be launched quickly, their functionality is usually pretty limited, though.

If you want to have a unique design or custom features on the website though then it might be a better idea to hire a dedicated web development company, although that will obviously increase the cost.

What can affect the mobile app development costs?

Mobile app development budget estimation is just as challenging to do as there are dozens of different factors to consider. One of the things that can affect the costs the most is how many features you want the app to have.

For example, if you wanted to create a small app with just a few features and a simple design, then designing, building, and then testing the entire app shouldn’t take too much time. However, if you wanted to add more features to the app, such as in-app purchases, social media integration, push notifications, or camera/microphone/Bluetooth access, that’s when things get tricky – and costly. 

The more features you want the app to have, the more time it will take the mobile app development company to plan, design, implement and test those to ensure everything works smoothly – especially if they need to write the code from scratch.

The cost of a mobile app project can also vary depending on:

  • What operating systems you want the application to run: When it comes to developing mobile apps, choosing the supported mobile phones is actually one of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make. Android and iOS systems have different functionality and use different programming languages, so you’ll have to decide whether to develop an app for only one of the systems or do you need the app to be available for both Android and iOS mobile devices. The smartest move here will be to research what mobile devices your target audience is using most often and for which platform you should design a mobile application in the first order.
  • Which development method (native or cross-platform) will fit the project more: Besides deciding on what operating system the app will be working on, you’ll also need to determine what app development method fits your requirements best. Native applications are known for their tailored design, excellent performance, and support for all device or platform-specific features, but they are quite costly to create.  Cross-platform mobile apps meanwhile are more affordable (especially if you want the application to be available on both app stores), but their functionality is still quite limited.
  • How complex or customized the app UI/UX design should be: When it comes to the app’s design, there are plenty of elements you need to think about: logos, icons, user interface, navigation, and so on. A simple navigation system and only standard system icons can keep your design costs to a minimum. As you keep adding features or customized elements to the app though, the time needed to develop the app will increase – and so will the price.
  • Are there any advanced features you want the app to have: It might feel tempting to add features such as geofencing, augmented reality, or speech recognition to the app to wow your users. However, as those features take much more time to be implemented, you can expect them to significantly increase the mobile app costs as well.
  • What level of app security do you need: Security should be a top priority for all types of apps but especially if the app will be storing user data or having access to business data. Multifactor authentication and biometric recognition are great ways to protect user data, but they are more costly to implement.
  • What is the size of the mobile development team: Even for a simple project, you’ll need at least five app developers working on it: project manager, native or cross-platform developers, those responsible for UI UX design, and quality assurance developer. For a large project though, you might need more people though. For example, if you wanted to build two separate native mobile applications, then you would have to hire both an Android developer and an iOS developer, plus someone to handle the designs and testing for both applications. That way, the costs of the project can quickly rise.

What some prospective app owners forget about is also that they will need to cover the costs of regular maintenance, app updates, and security patches. Depending on how much time mobile app developers need to devote to maintenance tasks and how often it has to be performed, app maintenance can account for a significant chunk of the original development price – even around 15% to 20%. 

Regular app maintenance is essential, though, as lags or other performance  issues can negatively affect the user experience – and then users might simply uninstall the app from their phones. So here, we would recommend you to create a separate budget for covering app maintenance, updates, bug-fixing, and other services that you might need to keep the app in peak condition.

7 practical tips to reduce the cost of development

As you can see, asking any software development company for a fixed price of your new product right at the start doesn’t make much sense – there are just too many things that can influence the budget needed. That’s also why seasoned web and mobile app development companies will first ask you for a project brief and schedule a few meetings with you to talk about the project goals before they can tell you how much they think the project will take.   

Once they have the budget estimation ready though, it might turn out that you can’t exactly afford to develop the website or mobile app the way you planned. What now? 

Don’t worry – there are actually a few things you can do to lower the development costs. We listed below 7 tips you may find useful when figuring out where you can cut costs (and where you shouldn’t). 

 

Research and write down your project requirements

 

The first tip we have is something that can make a huge difference when planning the project and then reaching out to development companies – preparing a detailed project brief.   

Development companies love detailed project specifications as it makes it far easier for them to prepare the right tech stack, estimate the number of hours needed and the cost of the project and then plan the development. With very vague project goals meanwhile, they either will need to spend plenty of their time clarifying what needs to be done or might give you an incorrect pricing range that is far below the actual project cost. 

So that way, having a well-defined project specification can set you up for project success from the get-go.

Adding the following information to your project brief would be especially helpful for website, mobile or software developers:

  • Your vision for the website/web apps/mobile app
  • Business goals you want to achieve with the project
  • Ideas for the design
  • The functionality you wish to offer as a core of the website/app
  • Description of the target audience you want to reach
  • Time and budget available

If you aren’t sure though what functionality the website or app will require, don’t worry. As long as you have your main ideas and objectives for the project written down in the project brief, developers can use those to pick and recommend the features that the app should have.  

Pick the best development partner (for your project)

There are several thousands of development companies out there – and some of them might offer quite attractive hourly rates. So maybe it would be a good idea to lower the development costs just by picking the cheapest mobile and web development company there is?   

That’s actually one of the riskiest things you can do to bring down the project costs though. The golden rule of development services is, “You get what you pay for” – and a low hourly rate often means low-quality work. So if you don’t want to spend extra money on remaking a buggy or barely functional website or app, doing thorough research on the development companies you can reach out though and carefully picking a trusted technology partner is essential.

Moreover, seasoned development companies know their fair share of best practices and tricks that can help you reduce development costs without compromising quality – and will be happy to share those with you. While experienced website or mobile app developer might charge a higher hourly rate, when working with them, you can be sure that you will get a high-quality final product.

How can you choose a development company you can trust with your project? While researching your potential partners, check what technologies the development company is using, their list of completed projects, and what cooperation models they can offer. 

You can also learn quite a bit about their development methods, communication style, customer satisfaction, and track record by reading their reviews on portals such as Clutch. Another thing we can recommend here is to try out mobile and web apps made by a given development company, to see how they look and work – those can also tell you a lot about website or mobile app developer skills and experience.

When you have shortlisted a few website or mobile app development companies closest to what you need, send them a project brief or ask for a quick call with the development team to discuss your expectations. As you’ll be working with the development team for a while, make sure you also discuss how often they’ll contact you about the project progress and who will be in charge of project management to know who you can call with any questions.

 

Choose the right development stack 

 

Figuring out the suitable programming languages, tools, and frameworks for the new project can also help you save a good part of your budget. With the right tech stack, developers will be able to finish the app or website much faster while also ensuring it’s fully functional, secure, and can be easily scaled up in the future. 

There’s a lot of know-how involved in knowing when to use which framework or programming language though – especially since there are dozens of languages, frameworks, and other technologies to choose from.

That’s the second reason why picking the cheapest development agency can be pretty risky though. To keep the project’s cost low, these companies may either use the cheapest tools available or stick to the most basic development techniques without looking at your requirements. Seasoned developers meanwhile will know exactly what tools or frameworks should be used to build native android apps and what to use if you want a fully secure e-commerce website. 

When creating a website or mobile application that uses the latest technologies, it is also important to find developers who have already worked with those, as they will know how to incorporate those technologies into your new product and ensure that everything works as intended.

 

Limit the functionality 

 

Overloading the website or mobile application with several features in hopes of amazing the users is actually one of the most common mistakes, especially when it comes to mobile development. With “all-in-one” mobile apps, many businesses hoped to attract a broader audience and keep them using the app longer. Most users, however, only use a few of the features in the app or get so overwhelmed by the number of features that they uninstall the app and search for one that is easier to use. 

Similarly, a complicated website design might turn away website visitors instead of encouraging them to use it. Plus, the more features you have on the website, the more time the developers will have to spend optimizing the website’s speed and performance, so you’ll end up paying more.  

So if you want to keep the development costs low, simplicity and focus on core business features are key.

 

Build an MVP first

 

How can you find out what features exactly would be the most useful for your website visitors or mobile application users, though? Here’s when it might be a good idea to build mobile or website MVP (minimum viable product) version.

MVP is a simplified version of a digital product with enough core features to make the product usable but nothing more. You can then launch the MVP version to see how your potential users react to it. The biggest benefit of building an MVP version before paying for a full product is that it can help you determine how to plan the development process – and should you even plan it at all. 

If the MVP users give you mostly positive feedback or send plenty of suggestions on how you should improve the full version, then you can carry on with the development process without worrying that the ready website or app won’t be popular and you’ll waste money. 

On the other hand, in case there’s barely any interest in the MVP version, then it will be clear that there’s no point in spending any more time or money on the project. So that way, having an MVP version before a full product can save you and your team a lot of disappointment – and protect the budget as well. 

 

Start with a simple design

 

Having a fully unique website or app design tailored to your brand might sound appealing. The question is, does your website or application really need to have a fully custom design from the beginning?

The more complex and customized the product design needs to be, the more time developers need to prepare the designs, code those and then add them to the website or app. And the more time they spend on the design process, the more you will have to pay. So at the start, it might be best to first go with a simple design and see how the website or app turns out rather than immediately go with a full-custom design.

The second option you might find handy when it comes to saving money on designs is to use ready-made UI kits and libraries. Those can save developers plenty of time as they don’t have to design and implement those from scratch.  Plus, with how many options are now available, there’s a good chance you’ll find ones that will match your app or website design ideas perfectly.

 

Use a pre-made template

 

While we’re on the topic of saving on project designs – using one of the countless ready-made web and mobile app templates can also help you cut development costs. Online, you can find several thousands of customizable templates tailored to nearly every industry or website/app type and with plenty of useful features already available. 

Moreover, the ready-made templates cost a fraction of what a fully custom design would cost you – so they are a great option to have a professional website or app design without straining your budget.  

How can the team at INVO help you with your website or app development project?  

Do you have an idea for a new website or mobile app but don’t know how much time and money it will take? Then, how about scheduling a quick call with our consultant to have a look at your project? During the meeting, you can tell us more about what are your goals and ideas for the new project, and we’ll let you know how we can turn those ideas into a ready product. 

We can also invite you to a few workshop sessions to make sure we are on the same page and ready to work together.

To see with what exactly we can help you out, how about you look at our Web development and Mobile development pages? Besides learning more about our web and mobile application developers team, you can check there a few of our successful project case studies we are especially proud of 🙂   

Feel free to contact us with any project ideas you have, and we’ll be sure to turn them into something you’ll love 🙂

Get on board with a mobile and web development company

Similarly to any custom solutions, tailor-made websites and mobile applications do come with a pretty significant price tag. However, there are a lot of things you can do to bring the end costs lower and have a quality product for a budget-friendly price – starting with doing thorough research on your needs and goals. 

That said though, you need to stay careful not to cut the costs too much and end with a product that doesn’t meet your or your users’ needs. If you are struggling with balancing the budget with the development needs though, how about letting us lend you a hand? Together, we can figure out how to build a website or app the way you want, without breaking the bank.