What we’ll cover…
- How much app development costs
- The basic app
- Store Publishing
- Extras and business logic
- Dynamic Information
- Secure User Access
- Games, maps, lists, photo sharing
- AR and AI for your app
How much does the average app cost?
How much does an app cost is the burning question and not one that is easily answered. Let’s break down app development and see what goes into your typical mid-priced 20,000 euro app.
Basic App Development: €1500 – €2500
We consider basic app development to be creating a small number of screens showing enough to warrant being on the App Store or Google Play. This is your way of putting your business out there in the mobile world and letting customers see what you have to offer in a mobile-friendly fashion.
Why get this basic app made?
At the moment, over 92% of our website visitors come from mobile. This sharply increased in 2022 from just over 70% in the previous year.
More people than ever are finding your business throw a mobile browser and a mobile app, if you can incentivise users to download, will serve your customers better and make it easier for customers to keep using your service.
What’s included
4 Main Screens
This varies from business to business but essentially it would be about 4 main screens with other screens for each product/service listed.
There would usually also be a bottom bar for navigation between them and a top bar to see the title of each screen and go back to the previous screen.
About you
Most businesses choose a screen which tells users about what they do, another screen that shows a basic list of products or services, a detailed screen for each product, an about us screen to tell their story and a map screen showing their location and/or contact detail.
How much?
With Glitterbug this app would cost around 2500 euros to create including the work of adding content for a reasonably sized list of products/services.
Without the product/services detail screen, the same app would cost around 1500 euros.
App Publishing: €500 – €1000
Your app needs to go through a formal publishing process to appear on Google Play or the App Store. This takes time and knowledge of the process and if you do this yourself you will also need to pay a once off fee to Google and a yearly fee of 100 US dollars to Apple.
App development companies like Glitterbug will do this for you, adding your details or creating ASO-calibrated (SSO for apps) listing information, digitally sign and upload your apps and maintaining them in the stores.
Usually this costs around €500 for Google, €700 for Apple and €1000 for both.
Business Logic: €2000 – €6000
If you have a startup or you want to do something new or specific with your app, you will probably want the app to calculate different things based on inputted user information and show results. This is known as business logic. It can be simple or complex.
The price for adding this code as well as the input and results screens associated with it and the supplementary stuff like hierarchies of groups, users, events and so on, can really vary in cost. The price for this can be anything from 2000 euros to 6000 euros depending on what logic is involved and how many screens are needed.
Maps and Lists: €2000 – €7000
Maps and lists of items can be a great addition to your app. You might want to show users maps of your businesses, an internal map of your particular business or sports ground, or simply add maps with different items shown in them as a way to attract users by creating treasure hunts or amenities lists.
For example, if you run a vegan clothing shop, you might want to release an app that lists vegan eateries and shops in order to gather a group of customers who are interested in buying vegan products – your ideal customer base – then you can use your app to promote your store with screens all about your store, images of your clothing, the ability to order your clothing, etc.
But perhaps the first step is simply making the app with a map on it and a small amount of about info to attract your potential customers?
How much?
A map with specialised markers and a list view of the items on the map as well as detail screens for items can cost between 2000 and 7000 euros. The upper end of the scale will usually include things like videos or photo galleries too.
Admin Panel Control: €2000 – €5000
Static Info
If your app is something you intend to update once every 6 months or so, the cheapest and easiest way is to provide your app development company with the information they need.
The company will add it to the app, usually hard coded within the app itself. This means that your app can often work offline and you don’t need to add the information yourself.
How often do you want to update your info?
You can pay the app development company another fee for ‘extra content addition’ after 6 months or so to freshen up your content if needs be. The upside to this is that it’s simpler, cheaper, easier, faster and your app works offline. It works well for many businesses.
Do you need dynamic info?
However, an essential question to ask is this – will you want to update your content more regularly? Will your need to add new photos, share news, update product or service listings, add special offers or create events?
If so, you will need a way to add information to your app and have this information sent to all your users as you add it. This will require your app to have a place on the cloud to securely store the information and a way for your to add information without coding.
At Glitterbug we provide the option of dynamic information through a self service admin panel. We build the web-based/app-based admin panel for you. We add the different screens related to information you want to add and provide you with secure login as well to stop other people from disrupting your business by breaking into your admin panel.
Augmented Reality: €5000 – €20000
What is AR?
Augmented Reality involves 3D models which are superimposed on a camera view. Your customers can see 3D objects through their phone or table placed in the world around them. Augmented Reality can look awesome when done well and really helps your app to stand out from the crowd.
What is AR used for?
There are tons of uses for Augmented Reality including tours, games, shopping, education and industry processes( helpful things like allowing users to visualise a process for training). Augmented Reality can set you back about 5000 – 20000 euros depending on whether you want simple or complex designs, how many designs you need, how they are anchored to the screen and how your users will interact with them.
Artificial Intelligence: €5000 – €20000
What is AI?
Much like AR, Artificial Intelligence has become a buzz word. But essentially this is a process known as machine learning where your app can adapt to users and personalise their experience. Perhaps your app will use your customer’s history which is built up while they use the app to better assist them by sorting their options, predicting their text input or providing suggestions.
How AI Works
Usually, AI is centred around personalising a product for a user, suggesting features of an app, content hosted on the app or products/services sold to a user based on their previous history and/or preferences or something like auto-completing text, understanding text, etc. There are also features like bar-code scanning, facial recognition and text recognition based on the camera input.
User authentication: €2000 – €5000
When do you need this?
If you want user input that is shared with the user details attached or you wish to engage in over and back communications with specific users or groups of users, you will need to ensure that your customers can securely register and login to their app.
How this works
We handle this through a cloud based security process that uses email verification as a way to ensure that user is who they say they are. We also use handy social login features like Google & Apple login to make things quicker and easier for customers. We normally add an auto-login process for users with an explicit logout feature. At Glitterbug, we charge between 2000 and 5000 for this depending on what complexity is required.
Photos & Community: €700 – €1500
Little extras like allowing your customers to share their photos on a wall, photo sharing in customer groups, allowing customers to add reviews or supply comments and feedback can really enhance your app’s effectiveness.
You can make users feel empowered while simultaneously gathering useful feedback and vital customer experience knowledge to help decide on new features for your app, products or services for your business or anything else!
Instant Chat Messaging: €500 – €1000
Adding instant chat features for your customers is a great boon to your business. when a customer is using your app, they will be able to talk to you instantly, without having to leave the app and you can offer them real time advice and help them to use your services, make an appointment or buy a product or answer any questions they may have.
Gamification & Loyalty: €500 – €2000
Another useful feature is a loyalty program with points, levels and badges and, of course, discounts. Finally, a must-have is instant message chat. This can help you effectively resolve any issues, help convert potential customers and more.
In order to create a buzz about your new app and get users to download it, why not get sponsors, advertisers or your own company to provide a prize draw which users enter via the app?
This is a great way to get over the hurdle of having users download your app.
Next Steps
So now that you have seen some details on how much each part of an app can cost, you will have a better idea of what you want, need and can afford right now for your app.
At Glitterbug, you can have an app developed in parts. We can work on a basic app for you, you pay for that work and we release your app. At a later date you can return and have more features developed.
