Looking for tips on how to save on mobile app development? Our latest blog makes sure you don’t a penny over what you have to.
App development costs are known to be sky-high. An average of £22,000 per app, to be exact — which means after developing one for iOS, Android and HTML5, you’ll be well past £60,000 worth of expenses.
For big businesses, this isn’t much of an issue, but for smaller companies — local businesses, for example — the high prices seem to put app development very much out of reach.
In the modern day, though, having an app is an important part of being successful and competitive, promoting many business owners to wrack their brains thinking about how to save money on mobile app development.
Today, mobile app development is actually within easy reach of so many, which is why the percentage of small businesses with apps is constantly rising. The trick to affordability is being smart about how you go about app development.
Here are some of our top tips on how to cut app development costs:
Keep Functionality Simple
When building a mobile app, it’s easy to get carried away with all the features and functions available. With so many options to choose from, it’s hard not to let your imagination run wild with all the possibilities attached to having an app with every programming capability under the sun.
But here’s the problem: for every feature you integrate into your app, there is an added cost. The more functionality it has, the more it will cost to design — and maintain.
When asking yourself how to save money on app development, you should also be asking yourself what features you need and don’t need.
Does your eCommerce site really need social media functionality? Is your local gardening business going to benefit from having push notifications?
Carefully consider exactly what needs to go into your app and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.
Use Pre-made Features
Bespoke is a word that conjures up ideas of quality, grandeur and sophistication. It also conjures the notion of premium pricing.
Bespoke app functionality is sometimes necessary, but it will never come cheap.
But for most small businesses wondering how to save money on app development, bespoke software just isn’t what you need.
At Apps4U, we have a long list of ready-to-go app features that you can apply to almost any business. From loyalty programs to online ordering, our premade functionality allows you to provide the features you want to your customers at prices that don’t require a second mortgage.
Why have an app development company invest hours and hours of time designing and building, say, a dinner reservation system, if you can cut costs by having our premade feature built into your app?
Using premade features doesn’t mean you’ll have a cut-and-paste app that users have seen a million times before. By combining custom design with premade features, you can reduce app development costs while still providing a mobile app experience that’s unique to your brand.
Avoid Big-Brand Sellers
As you hunt for somebody to design software for you, you’ll find app development costs can be totally unaffordable.
This doesn’t mean you’re out of luck, though.
Some app development companies will charge hundreds of thousands for software, whilst more humble businesses like Apps4U will offer services for considerably less.
Big brands in the industry work with big brands in other industries, which means their prices match the quantities of money and resources available to these larger corporations.
Going to one of these big-brand app developers is guaranteed to be a vastly more expensive option than approaching a service aimed at those with smaller budgets.
Small and local businesses have no need to be working with the same app development teams as international brands, so don’t get caught up in the pedigree and pageantry of such developers. Look for some lesser known, but still valuable app developers.
Don’t Do It Yourself
So, app development costs are more than you hoped.
Lightbulb moment: why not build it yourself?
The temptation here is particularly alluring and, on the surface, it makes sense. Coding is something that almost anyone can learn, so given the time and energy, any business could, in theory, build their own app.
The keywords here are in theory.
In theory, anyone could indeed build their own app, but business app development isn’t like coding a game of Pong. First, you need to learn the complex process of coding an app and the functionality you need within it — such as order forms or purchase pages — which will take time, and lots of it. Then, you need to purchase software to actually build it, software that does not come cheap. But this coding software isn’t all you’ll need. You’ll need design software too, unless you want your app to look like a bad HTML website.
Once you’ve got this far, you’ll have to build the app itself, which is another time-consuming process involving many hours of development and testing. Then, you must pay for appropriate fees to have your app uploaded to the right places.
After all that time, energy and financial input, you may certainly end up with an app that fulfils your business goals, but then you face another issue. Coding is very tricky, and it is easy to get things wrong. The wrong line of code in the wrong place can have disastrous consequences.
If you aren’t a professional, it is more than likely you will stumble somewhere. Then you face having an app that does not work properly, and a buggy app does not reflect well on your business.
Considering the value of your time, and the costs incurred, it is unlikely that building your own app is going to be more cost-effective than paying somebody to make it for you.
Especially if they can do it a lot quicker than you.
Designing and building your own software could also have a number of unforeseen app development costs. If the app is built incorrectly — with errors and bugs — the cost of having it fixed could go far beyond the original development price.
Are the usual app development costs just too expensive? Looking for an affordable mobile app development company instead? Apps4U is exactly what you are looking for. We offer reasonably priced app development for small and local businesses, starting from just £690.
