Consumer App Development Costs

If you're like most companies we work with, you don't just want to develop an app. Nope, that's not your goal.

What you really want is to create an app that has market fit and gains some traction with real people.

Contrary to what most online sources agencies say, our experience is that apps take a few iterations to get right. So, this sheet shows costs based on building an app that actually gets results, allowing for learning, research, iteration and tweaking.

Minimum Viable Product

We mean this in the true sense, not the "cheapest product possible", nor "an app that we can release and be proud of". The cost here is for building out the core features of your app that enable you to test if users get real value from your idea.

As an aside, a lot of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs get lured into building a complete app. They fear that their idea needs to be presented in the best light in order to be appreciated. This is not the case. When we speak to people that have built apps, they often regret being so confident in their idea. The whole point of a Minimum Viable Product is to help people be curious, not confident.

Note that building an MVP doesn't mean you're restricting yourself. Even if you're working in a cross-platform framework such as Flutter, a lot of the time you can prove the concept on a single platform and avoid the costs of testing and launching on both Apple and Google stores.

Full Consumer App

You've built out the basic functionality and you're ready to take your app to the next level. This is where you'll add features like social media integration, premium content, and other ways to engage users. You will also want to make sure your app is working across all popular devices, so expect to invest more in quality control. Similarly, you'll be supporting a growing customer base so we've included costs for that, and also fixing bugs and measuring the performance of the app.

Niche & Mass Market Apps

This is for when you want to target a specific audience or you're ready to take your app to the masses. This includes features like localization, developing specific connectivity to custom hardware, and supporting edge-case phones used by niche audiences.

Ongoing Maintenance

We've assumed a level of app support and maintenance in these estimates. Having an app requires troubleshooting issues as they come up and keeping things running smoothly. You'll also want to keep an eye on how well your app is doing and whether people are using it as you intended. That's what we've factored in here.

Of course, these are ballpark estimates and the actual cost will depend on the specifics of your app. But this should be enough for a sensible guide as you start exploring apps as a strategic possibility for your organisation.

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