Building a web application for your business requires doing a lot of up front research to define the scope and type of application you need in order to avoid unexpected costs. There are many factors that go into this from the complexity of the app to who you get to develop said app. Below, we talk about some of the factors that determine the price of development for a web application.
The Type of Web App You Want to Develop
One of the biggest influences on the overall development time and cost of your web application is the type of app it is. There are static and dynamic apps, and single page or multi page apps.
Static/single page web application
An app with limited backend functionality and static content to serve will always be cheaper than a more complex one. Think of it like a static website- it shows the same content to every visitor and doesn’t need to change anything based on how the visitor interacts with it.
One thing that can complicate an app is authentication. While strictly speaking the user might be authenticating their access to static content, this is usually paired with user profile specific content. This is starting to approach the dynamic web app territory.
Dynamic Apps and Multi Page Apps
Dynamic apps may, for example, need to fetch data from a server based on the user and their inputs. If you need an app that deals with a serious amount of data or traffic, especially anything that requires custom work to that end, expect to pay a lot more up front and later keep it running.
You should also expect to pay more for apps that accept payment, especially on a recurring basis. For example, if your app is meant to manage a customer’s subscription, you’ll likely need an authentication system, user profile management, a product page, and a subscription management page at minimum.
The Complexity of your Web App
Complexity has a cost, both now and later. You need to carefully weigh the importance of every feature you add to the scope of work and whether you actually need it in your app. Sometimes what may seem like the simplest of features may require a lot more work than you’d realize.
This is, of course, where a good consultant or the developers themselves can often help you make the right decisions. If you pick the right firm, they are more interested in matching you with something that will be better suited for you than something that will result in their own short term profit via billable development time.
The real bread and butter of a firm that serves enterprise clients is long term support and maintenance as well as repeat clients. Building something unnecessarily complex that doesn’t serve the client’s needs well may be a problem for the developer for the next 10 years! Not to mention simply giving realistic expectations and being honest about what is likely not a good idea will allow a development firm to provide a better product and have a happier client.
Who You Hire to Develop Your App
Going with freelance developers may often be the cheapest option depending on who you pick and from where, but you lack the support of an organization. It’s also a lot more complicated to use freelancers when it comes to a typical enterprise sized project, and you may be stuck spending a lot of time vetting individual freelancers to build a team.
When it comes to onshore development, you have a choice between hiring an outside firm or hiring internally. Hiring internally is the most expensive and time consuming out of all of the options, but may have some benefits. An internal team is likely the best choice for a business centered around their tech presence or their app in the long term, however it’s not out of the question to start with an outside firm and transition to an internal team later for maintenance or updates. This gives you time to get your house in order while your app is already being made.
Hiring a development firm is often the easy answer, and means you’re likely to have a development process that is managed for you neatly from start to finish. However hiring a development firm, especially one in the US, will cost much more than the alternatives. If communication and quality are key for your project, it’s not a bad option, but don’t discount other hiring options- there’s plenty of quality developers overseas as well.
This is where offshore firms are a good balance. You get the cost savings of offshore developers, but the support of an organization with their reputation on the line. You can get access to things that you normally would not with freelancers- project managers, QA professionals, and entire purpose built teams that have already worked together, no need to assemble a team yourself.
For individual offshore developers, while it is possible to hire remotely, you generally want to avoid the headache of internal hiring and employment laws and leave it to an offshore firm, especially one that has a small presence in your country. If you still choose to go the route of hiring offshore developers without a firm, you’ll want to look towards assembling a freelance team from upwork or other freelancing websites over hiring directly.
Developers’ Skills
You’re likely going to pay more for a more skilled developer, even if they don’t use those extra skills to make your app. You likely wouldn’t bother hiring a full stack developer to just turn a design into HTML, and the same goes for app developers. Sometimes developers with a wider skill set are definitely needed, especially in cases where you are hiring freelancers that may not have the support of a team, however there are plenty of occasions when certain developers are simply overqualified for the job. You wouldn’t hire a master chef to be a line cook at a cheap restaurant.
This applies to teams as well. You need a well balanced team that is tailored to the type of skills you need to develop your app, and it’s ok to have some developers on that team with a more narrow skillset. In fact, it’s likely that it would save you a lot of money.
Other Typical Costs
One of the things you’ll need to be on the lookout for is unexpected ongoing costs. This could be in the form of plugins or services needed to build your app, or are simply more cost effective to build your app in the short term. It’s not uncommon to pay hundreds a month for small, relatively simple in functionality plugins provided as a service. This is especially true in the ecommerce industry.
Perhaps an API your app needs to use has high fees associated with it. Sometimes these costs cannot be avoided entirely, but you need to learn what they are and factor them into your overall plan and cost-benefit analysis for how you want to go about making your app. Does your app really need that Google Maps integration?
Ongoing Maintenance Costs
The more complex the app you build the more likely it is that you’ll need a maintenance plan, and it may affect the cost of it as well. A simple one page, static app will likely seldom break even with mobile OS updates, and you’d likely just have the ongoing cost of hosting if it is a progressive web application.
If you’ve built an app with authentication and user-specific features, you’re likely to run into issues that require emergency support from a professional developer. Considering your app’s purpose against the ongoing cost of maintenance is a key part of the decision making process of what level of app to make, if any app at all.
Conclusion
The cost of developing a web application is a combination of factors tied to your choices. The type of application you build, what your long term support goals are, every layer of complexity you add, and who you choose to develop it. If you carefully define your scope, choose cost effective developers, and build something easy to maintain, you can come away with a cost-effective mobile app for your business.