Almost everyone, at some point in their lives, has considered developing an app themselves. Whether it’s a revolutionary daily service app that will make your everyday routine better or a game that will take the market by storm, the romance of the idea of creating an app has gripped everyone. Typically, this fun idea has fizzled out and the person has stopped at the dreaming phase. If you’re here, reading this article, you’re more serious than most – but there is still one more obstacle to overcome: the budget.
Building an app is no small task, you’ll need knowledge on how to do it, the skill required to design the app, and a budget that enables you to fund it. You might be able to build an app by yourself, but it’s likely that a phase in the process will stump you and you’ll need to outsource a task or two. Perhaps you’ll need to purchase a software necessary for designing the GUI of the app. Throughout the process, these small purchases can build, and you’ll find yourself looking at a hefty bill.
The process of iOS app development can be rather costly, especially if you’re looking to make a service app that’s designed for commercial use. This is where the real cost begins to accumulate. When designing an app for commercial use, there will be many behind the GUI steps you’ll need to take which will cost you. Whether it’s for contracts, licenses, or software programs that will boost your security, you’ll need a large budget to build the app.
Building the App Yourself
The cost of the app will vary based on your concepts and hopes for the final product. The complexity and what features you’re looking to include will either make the cost grow or stagnate. For someone looking to make a free to play the game with artwork and coding they designed themselves, chances are the cost will be relatively low or even nothing. You can work on free coding platforms, free artwork services, and combine it all together for an easy and cost-free app.
For those of you who are looking for a more substantial app that will be used commercially or offers a service to those who use it, costs will be much greater. Recent estimates about app development have placed the overall cost at around $25,000 for a medium-sized app. With more features and more security benefits, you could be looking at six figures for the final cost of developing the app on your own. With marketing, testing, and constant updates, the cost of developing a serious app will stack rather quickly.
It might seem like you, an independent developer, creating a small app by yourself, wouldn’t have to pay as much to develop an app as a large corporation. You won’t, you’ll have to pay more in some cases. The reason for this is that you won’t have as many resources available to you as a business or company that has developed before. They have teams and processes already in place that will make good and efficient use of their time. You’re on your own and the cost will have to be footed by you alone.
One of the biggest costs you’ll encounter as an individual developer is a mistake that you’ll need to fix. Because you’re alone in the process, chances are you’ll accidentally implement some false coding, or a few bugs will slip by. A larger company will have multiple people constantly testing and working out bugs, you won’t have the time or even the ability to catch everything.
Developing an app by yourself can sound rather romantic, but unfortunately, it’s simply not cost-efficient. There are a few tips for saving money if you’re determined to create your app.
Tips for Saving Money
The best way to save money is to make efficient use of your time. Time is money, especially when building an app for commercial use. The longer you take to make your app, the longer it will be before you see a return on your investment. The overall goal of any commercial app is to make a return on the investment they put into the development and the longer the development process, the more money you’ll need to make back in the end.
The second tip is something that should be done before the development process begins. Ask yourself, “why am I making this app?” What problem does your potential future app solve? If your app doesn’t solve a problem, no one will want it and you will have spent $25,000 for nothing and no return. By keeping in mind, the problem you’re solving, you will avoid adding unnecessary features that won’t aid the process of solving the problem. More features mean more money, and unnecessary features mean unnecessary spending.
Know who you’re up against and what features worked and failed for them. It doesn’t hurt to have a reference for when you’re developing an app and there’s no use in implementing the same features that didn’t work for them. Your competition is going through the same process as you and using them as a reference point for your work is beneficial to you.
You also don’t want to saturate the market. If the market you’re looking to enter already has countless options available, you’ll just be another fish in the ocean, and not as many people will value your service.
Picking the Right Company to Work With
If you’re going to develop an app, you might want to consider hiring a company with experience and the tools necessary to do it for you. Outsourcing your work to an app development company will be significantly more affordable than doing it yourself. They have the resources available to complete the process at a much lower cost than it would be if you enacted the development yourself.
Finding the right company to work with is all about knowing what you’re looking for in your app. Choose a company that offers a view into the development process and utilizes the latest technology to provide you with a dependable and quality final product.
