How much does it cost to develop an app?
Table of Contents
Types of Apps
App Development Process
Development Costs
Design Costs
Total Costs
Free iPhone App Quote
Overview
In the past two years, the app market has exploded. In under 9 months the Apple store reported over a billion downloads, and then doubled that number in half the time. The app craze has spread to Android, Blackberry, and every other mobile market under the sun.
And for good reason. Having an app for your business or promotion or whatever it may be can be a game changingmarketing tool to drive traffic and revenue. On the highest end of the spectrum, you see Angry Birds making $50M off a simple game. Then you also see people who put out basic free apps and still get thousands of downloads for doing nothing. A lot of conversations I’ve had in the past year don’t even talk about apps because the client thinks it’s clearly going to be too expensive and they have no idea where to even start.
The good news? It’s not as expensive as you think and it’s really not hard to start.
Let’s talk about what goes into getting an app developed.
Types of Apps You Can Develop
There are many different kinds of apps you can develop. This goes beyond the categories that Apple groups the apps into – food, lifestyle, sports, etc, and into the architecture of different types of apps. Speaking in broad strokes, the basic buckets of app types you can create are:
- Basic table functionality – think about this as a hierarchy: opening screen has big topics and you click one and you now have a set of new lists to click on. The email in the iPhone is a good example of this. Definitely the easiest to build and design and a good option for businesses who want a “simple” app that displays basic information. It’s very possible to make table based apps work with a good iphone app designer.
- Database driven custom functionality – Yes, I know that this is not a very specific bucket, but it is the best way I can describe creatively parsing out content. Imagine you have a whole load of content that you want to utilize. An example would be having hundreds of dog breeds that you want to organize and display differently. This can be done beyond the basic table format to make the app really work. Development on this gets more complex and starts to get into whether or not you want the data housed “native” (built into the app) or “dynamic” (built into an online web services). We’ll talk about that later.
- Games – These have the largest range of complexity, starting with something as simple as a PONG type functionality (imagine Atari) all the way up to a 3D physics engine that does high speed air racing. Scoring points, incorporating the user experience through the physical movement of the device, and hooking into Game Center are all possible.
- Enhancement or Modification of the device firmware or hardware – This means that you take certain functions of the phone, such as the alarm, camera, or flash, and make it better. One of my favorite examples of this is the Camera+ app that adds filters to any pictures you take on your phone.
- Fully dynamic apps – Similar to the database driven apps, these apps are the kind that rely purely on external information – Twitter, Weather Channel, Flipboard.
- Custom utilities - These are apps that are geared towards allowing the user to input content in a specific way. Examples are Pages, Adobe Ideas, and Numbers.
- Everything else – I’m sure there are some apps out there that are completely unique, but I would say the list above covers 95% of what’s in the store today.
The type of app you want to develop may change based on how much content you have and how much control you want to have over the entire process. It’s important to realize that you can get apps done very quickly and cheaply if you know what type of app you want to develop – going into the process without being open to another option could cost you big time.
App Development Process
The app development process can be broken out into four major parts – idea, layout and planning, design, and going live.
1. The Idea
This is the first genesis of where the app will be going and one step after “I want an app.” Looking the app store, there are dozens of different directions you can go – simple information, a game, interactive, etc. You can imagine that the more complicated it is, the more it’s going to cost – but also a higher chance at getting a return on investment. Games are complicated, but can go viral easily. Simple apps don’t do much, but they are cheap and easy to build. The first step of the process if to find your sweet spot of budget and marketing effort.
2. Functionality Layout
It’s not enough to paint the broad strokes for a programmer, because they’re not going to deliver what you want. You need to either invest a lot of your own time to go through the details or find someone who can translate Programmer to Civilian and vice versa. This will pay off big time in the end. This step involves going through every single screen and understanding how all parts of the app interact with each other – If I press this button, what happens? You will be amazed how many steps and scenarios there are for even the simplest app. The amount of functionality that needs to be defined and built will also play a part in the cost of your app.
3. Design
Unlike websites where you can often get someone who can design and code at once, apps usually require a team of people to complete. The nice thing about this is that the designer can be graphics, print, web, or whatever – the deliverables to the programmer will be images that he just pops into the appropriate areas. The design comes in typically once the programming and functionality have been defined – the designer gets a full list of what needs to be created. Design can make or break an app, plain and simple, so don’t skimp on this. You need a great icon, splash screens, tab icons, and dozens of other assets that need to be tied together.
4. Going Live
Once you have the app built in xCode (the program that apps are built in for Apple), your developer can help you get the app in the store (iTunes for this example). This requires setting up an iTunes Connect account ($99/year) and then filling out all the information necessary for the app – icons, descriptions, pricing, etc. Most of this is pretty intuitive one you get the files loaded, and a lot of it can be done by your technical team. The setup is also a one time thing, so if you decide to develop another app later on, you already have an account you can dump it into.
Once you have the app up in the store, you can monitor all the analytics on the back side of it through iTunes Connect – how many downloads, how much $$ you are making, etc. There are lots of different ways to drive revenue with apps, including advertisements inside the app and being able to purchase additional information through the app (in-app purchases). You can see everything happening. You can also have someone monitor this account the way you would have someone monitor your PPC or SEO campaigns so that you are always maximizing your traffic and revenue.
iPhone App Development Costs
Development for iPhone apps deals with the programming side of the process. With most projects, an app development firm is going to roll up the design into the entire project since it’s a bear to try and piecemeal images into an app unless you build the entire thing dynamic and through XML via online databases. One thing to note is that these costs can vary depending on what devices you are developing for. Make sure you ask your developer what you are developing for – basic iPhone, iPhone 4, iPad or all of the above. I’ll see what I can do break out typical development costs for different example projects.
- Simple, table based app - $1,000-4,000 - you provide all the content, clear direction, and example apps of what you want it to do. If you know your way around Photoshop, you can probably supply the graphics which will cap this project at $1,500. The additional costs are when you want to GPS locators, Social media integration or bells and whistles like that.
- Database App (native) – $8,000-$50,000 – Again, you provide every piece of content, image, writing, sound, etc. The cost is going to come from creating the logic within the app and architecting all the usability and/or game play. The content will usually be dropped in and then parsed accordingly. These projects tend to be front heavy since the data is what’s driving the entire game and the framework is so important.
- Games – $10,000-$250,000 – The hardest to ballpark. As a benchmark – I’ve heard Angry Birds cost anywhere from $125K-$180K to develop (although they were pioneers). Talking to some developers who are into the hardcore game source code (render, sound, maths, physics, etc), many of the racing games will that use the gyroscope will be $125,000 without even blinking – and that’s just for the code. Even if you try to keep it hyper simple, games get complicated quickly. Hooking into game center, having top scores, and integrating with an online community can be tricky. The benefit of a game is that they download in much greater number. As a marketer, there is nothing more viral than a fun game, which is something to keep in mind for your ROI. Ask yourself: how much do I need to spend to make a “fun” game? That’s only something you can answer.
- Additional Includes – See below - here’s a quick list of additional functions you may want to add into your current app:
- In-App Purchasing – $1,000-$3,000 – this allows for users to buy new content or full versions of the apps. The cost spread comes from the amount of in-app purchasing, the complexity, and whether or not you build it all into the first app or if you are doing it from a server.
- Web Services – $1,000-$5,000 – This is taking the content to a remote access point so that you can update your app with an XML files instead of raw code changes. The degree to what you need varies but I would recommend having this conversation with your developer before getting too deep – it can save you HUGE headaches down the road.
- Game Center – $1,000 – Apple’s done a good job at making this integration easy with the SDK. As long as you keep the numbers clean, you should be able to integrate easily.
- Share Capabilities – $500-$1,500 – This is mostly for social media (twitter, facebook) and emailing, but there can be other integrations. WordPress websites, for example, may be one. Lots of options and most of these platforms have robust APIs to make it work well.
iPhone App Design Costs
The design of your app is going to make a huge difference in your overall ROI and user experience. The design will help convert viewers to downloads from the screenshots you decide to upload and will help people using your app feel more engaged. Investing in a good design is easily the best way to increase your margins on a 2 year timeline. You can use a web designer, but often your best bet is going to be finding a mobile app designer who understands user flow and the space restrictions.
App designs usually come in packages, much the same way development does – you will buy a “suite” of .png and PSD files that fulfill all your needs. This includes all necessary screens and icons. You will be surprised at how many different pieces there are, the icon alone needs about 4 different sizings for a universal app (iPhone and iPad). Here’s a rough breakdown of costs:
- iPhone only (usually the base line is not done for the retina display, as seen in the iPhone 4 as they require higher resolution files) – $500-10,000 – This will get you a base level design that you can send over to the developer who will be able to add these images into the code. HELPFUL TIP: ask the developer what they want the files named and do that for them before sending. It will save you both lots of time and headaches.
- iPhone 4 Compatible – Add 25% to above cost - these images will be sized at 960 x 640px height (twice the 480×320 for the regular iPhone)
- iPad – Add 50% to above cost – this is assuming that the layout is very similar and user flow is also similar. In many cases you will have to create alternate functionality to accommodate for the iPad size and speed, which requires new designs.
The icons should be included in this entire package and you can probably ask for screen shots if you want to have some that are better than doing a simple screen grab of your phone. I’ll say it again – don’t skimp on design….you’ll have a MUCH harder time making your money back.
Total App Costs
There really aren’t any hidden fees except the the $99 Apple will charge you per year and the 30% cut they take for each sale you make. Everything else will be in development, design, and IT architecture (hosting, servers, etc). The total cost of an app can vary based on all the different variables from above.
You can definitely find all-inclusive firms that will do everything for you for $1,000 or so, just be wary of the quality and how much control you will have over the process. Just like anything in web marketing, low costs means they have to make it up in volume and the client feels that the hardest. Think less about the cost and more about what strategy will have the biggest ROI before pulling out your checkbook. Even if you let the app sit in the store for a year, putting some light marketing and analytics attention on it can easily help pay for your investment. I’ve seen apps that cost $3,000 drive about 2K new users to a website a month, with an average time on site that is 400% higher than web visitors. You can get very creative in how you market these visits.
Please note that the above numbers are highly variable and can range lower or higher depending on lots of factors. As the market increases in competition, you’ll see the cost come down, but just be wary of the 19 year old high schooler who can built you Angry Birds for $1,000. Similarly, there are companies paying $250K for one simple database app to be developed, which is like paying someone half a million dollars for a website. Just corporate bloat – if you’re going spend that some money, you better be getting something incredible.
Leave a Comment and Download My Ebook to Get More Information
I’ve developed a few apps for fun and I would recommend anyone thinking about it to have a discussion about it, no obligation at all. The web’s next big market is going to be mobile – both phone and tablet. You’re either in or out. If you want more info, fill out a comment below and I’ll help you however I can – introductions, prices, even project management. All I ask is that you Like this page on Facebook, Retweet this article, or link to me from your site. Please note that I get about 10-15 emails a day from people asking for advice on apps, so if I don’t get to you immediately, don’t take it personally 
Also make sure you sign up for my newsletter on the right hand column of the website and download the ebook. It walks you through the entire process of creating and making money with iPhone apps and often answers 90% of the questions people have.
If you want to read more - check out the other blog posts about app development or click on the Recent Posts to the left. Please feel free to reach out and comment below, I will do my best to respond promptly. If you like this article, please link to me and share this article! Thanks for reading, see you next time.
Carter
About the author
Carter Thomas is the voice behind Bluecloud, blogging and consulting in the iphone app marketing world.
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How do i go about finding a app designer for a game or concept.
Hi Carter,
I am looking to develop an app about environment trivia which can work with facebook and twitter. I need some guidance.
Since this is my first venture my budget is limited any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jay Dias
Jay – glad you reached out. There are going to be two parts to this that you need to address – functionality and budget. Something I have had success with is to find 3 or 4 apps that you can reference in terms of what you want. Being able to go to a developer and say “I want this” and then showing them on a functioning app is worth 10 hours of email/phone call descriptions. Create a suite of apps then prepare a one-sheeter of what you like and walk through the user experience, then call a developer. This will save you lots of time and money in the long run, and will make the developer much more willing to help because it is straight forward and the deliverables are defined.
I hope this helps. The more work you can do up front and be able to go to a developer with clear end goals will drop your cost considerably. The reason apps can cost so much is because people walk in the door and say, “I’ve got the BEST idea for an app!” Yikes.
Carter
Carter,
Can you contact me at my e-mail address so I can get an estimate for getting an app made for students to access our lecture notes through the app?
Thanks!
Kathy
Hello Carter,
I have an idea for an app that would, really just integrate Google maps and a user built database with pin points on the maps. Basic 5 star rating function. hyper link to either online email forum for Suggesting new Pin points or Bugs.
I’m brand new to this and only have basic idea of how this stuff would work.
I need an idea of Cost, time of development, and best idea of Pricing. Obviously for Confidentiality issues, I can’t say specifics, but would love some guidance, and you seem to have the best knowledge I’ve found on this topic on the web.
Thanks in advance,
Jason
Jason –
Thanks for reaching out. The good news is that with today’s market momentum, a lot of the functionality is becoming main stream and can be built into a lot of apps. The hurdle is going to be integrating a database which will most likely require server space. Not a huge deal, but it will be a cost, probably done so monthly and based on the size of your data set.
Let’s do this. I’ll email you today and put you in touch with a developer I work with who can answer all your questions in detail. Him and I can both sign an NDA if you would like to make sure your idea stays in your pocket. This will allow you have open communication and answers to any questions you would like.
Thanks,
Carter
Carter,
Loved the article. I am currently finishing up a website that will target college students allowing them too see what’s going on around their campus. The business idea would also make for a great app, which I would soon like to hire a developer for to get the ball rolling. The app would be linked to the website (containing the same content) but much more mobile friendly of course. I was wondering if it is less expensive to develop an app if it is just another model of the website (similar to how ESPN’s App contains the same content as ESPN.com). Please shoot me an e-mail back when you get a chance. Thanks!
Brent,
Sounds like a killer idea. My developer and I once developed an app called “Where the Party At?” that measured where the parties on campus were, along with the guy/girl ratio. Sadly, that project got sidelined by more realistic endeavors. I digress.
You have a few options with your current model. With Xcode’s new functionality and mobile CSS for websites, you can do some pretty easy integrations of a website’s content, much the same way an iframe works on the web. You would essentially be displaying the website on the app through a lens (called “WebView” in the iPhone SDK). The cons are that it can look a little clunky since it is not as seamless and building in functionality directly to the app, but it can keep your costs WAY lower.
The other option is going to be to use the database your website is pulling from and write some new SQL (or whatever) pulls for the app itself. Therein lies some new functionality architecture which a developer can help with – you would essentially be re-creating the user experience from the website but doing it in a way that follows app best practices and overall flow. This gives a much more customized and professional look, but can be a larger project.
My advice is to look at the overall business model of your current project and be honest about where your revenue is coming from. Is this a website driven model that can use some extra fire power? Or is this is a fully dynamic and interactive online tool? The first would lend itself to a killer website that has an app to supplement. The second would be to have a custom app built to rise the overall tide of the company, as opposed to just giving a traffic injection to the website.
Hope that helps. Thanks for reading!
Carter,
I am looking for an app developer that is willing to partner with me for a cut (i.e…% of the business, cut of profits) after hearing the idea. I have started to try to learn to do some coding but it will take me a year to code something someone else can code in a month. I have many app ideas but one that is foremost. I am looking for someone that I can build a relationship with. I know I sound like everyone else but I think the app can make a lot of money. I already own the domain and have a graphic artist making the icon. I have the app planed out but am willing to take advice. If you know anyone that is interested pleas send me an e-mail.
Thanks,
SSgt Anthony Robertson
Hi Carter,
, please if you somebody to recommend to SSgt Anthony Robertson, please do the same for me.
“I know I sound like everyone else”
Thanks a lot!
For both SSgt Richardson and AD (and anyone else in the same position), here’s where I can help. Honestly, I could put you in touch with a dozen developers if you would like, but that’s probably not going to get you anywhere except wasting a lot of time. Here’s why:
Developers are smart people. They work hard and they have a very unique skill set, one that is becoming more and more attractive to the markets. For the past 10 years, developers have been getting asked to build X, Y, and Z for non-developers in the form of websites, apps, and databases. In exchange, the developers are promised a cut of future success. Herein lies the fundamental problem: there is no future without success….and most non-developers don’t know how to CREATE that future without an app or developer. But it’s possible.
As someone who has had countless Sales guys telling me they’ve got a $50K contract right on the goal line and just need me to put together a 3 page marketing deck for them, I understand both sides of the coin. Developers think you are full of it, and you need a developer to even get into the game. Here’s how you appeal to developers and get the type of relationship you are talking about above.
Go out and prove that this app will be successful. If you think that a “good idea” is going to make you more than $5K just because it’s in the store you are out of your mind. The only way apps explode is through aggressive marketing and partnerships. I put a free app out on the market just to see how it would perform as a supplement to a website and it does about 10-15 downloads a day. Most developers know this too – and most non-developers don’t. It’s VERY hard to make money with just a great idea, but it’s NOT hard to make lots of money if you have a great strategy. If you can architect that strategy with hard action plans and inked partnerships, any developer would jump at that sort of joint venture. For ideas, check out my latest blog post on “How to Make Money With Apps”
How do you prove that an app will be successful? Market research, out reach, networking, etc. Go out into the market as if you have it and pitch it to people. Hire a designer to get you a mockup that you can introduce via conversation. Take all the responsibility for the success into your own hands. THEN go to a the developer and show them WHY it’s going to be successful. You’ll have a much better chance at doing so.
So – my advice to you both is – if your app is going to be so awesome, prove it.
Carter
Hi,
just read your article and you said to shoot a question if we had one, I do. I have an idea for an app for parents I think would be great. I’ve read a little about the process but because I only have the idea and no skills to program the app…how do I present it to a developer? Is there a way to just become partners with one I give the idea they create in exchange for 50% split of profits? This is of course if they feel the idea would earn a profit. I need to find out if the idea would even work I’m not sure if the technology exists. If it does I need to get it developed without a ton of out of pocket expense. Any suggestions/ advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank you for your response.
Lisa
Lisa,
You are asking all the right questions. It can be overwhelming to think about getting from an idea all the way to a finished product and breaking it down as you have above is exactly the way to approach it.
I would recommend starting with your last point – finding out if the idea would even work and if the technology exists. If you’ve seen it before, or something similar, then chances are it does. It’s more a question of how much it costs and how long it will take. For example, some developers will write 3D graphics apps in Unity, while others write in Flash based technologies – both get the job done but are pulling from various types of coding platforms. My point is that I can almost guarantee that the technology is there, unless of course you are talking about an app that will filter tap water or walk your dog for you. I digress.
Many developers will be willing to sit down with you for a “free quote” type consultation and give you a straight answer on what you can expect for your project. This will determine basic functionality, timeline, and cost. This is actually very helpful because it forces you, the client with the idea, to think through every part of the project. Often the best ideas tend to be the simplest to explain, but the hardest to program. If a developer is unwilling to give you this free quote time, that’s probably a red flag off the bat. Shop around online and you’ll see some firms that will readily give you online consultations or speak on the phone.
Something you can do in the meantime is start researching the app store for similar apps. You’ll probably run across a few that have similar functionality and themes, which you can relay to the developer. This will also give you a gauge to the popularity. If you need help with the research, you can always hire someone to do that research for you (try http://www.elance.com), but doing it yourself may be a good exercise anyway so that you know what it is you want.
There is no silver bullet with approaching a developer about a business idea, but the more you can prove to them, then better. Show them apps that are doing well, with websites that support those apps, marketing strategies, social media, etc. If you can show a path to success, your chances of getting a partner increase.
Also remember that If you can’t convince someone else that it’s a winning idea, it might not be
Best of luck,
Carter
Hello,
Could you please direct me toward some revenue models for APPS/?
I see free, 99 cents, 4.99, etc. with prices of many being adjusted over time. How are development costs folded into the equation? I hear about development costs ranging from $30,000.00 to hundreds of thousands, yet the price at the APP store is minimal. How many of these are actually making money?
Thanks,
V
Vincenzo,
Your question covers many different topics of discussion and I’m going to do my best to touch them as best I can. In terms of directing you to a revenue model for apps, that’s a hard question to answer. Financial forecasting off of the app market is incredibly hard to do, but becomes more feasible with more actionable strategies. What I mean by this is your “app revenue model” is most likely going to be directly correlated to your marketing plan. If you don’t have a marketing plan and still want to do a revenue model off the app, you’re at the mercy of the general population, viral spreading, and other factors that are volatile in nature and can create a data model nightmare.
In terms of pricing, the best market research I’ve seen has show an inverted exponential graph for price jumps. You’ve seen it before – downloads are very high when it’s free, then it jumps down at 99 cents (considerably – to the measure of almost 90% in many cases), then continues to be depressed with increased cost.
BUT – the quality of those downloads is very different. If you look through the app store, you will notice that higher priced apps tend to have more reviews that contain better information and deeper insight. You can extrapolate that the higher the price, the larger the ratio of downloads to reviews. Reviews are a great way to get more downloads, which need to be factored into the overall price structure.
Without question, the best revenue model is to integrate in-app purchases to a free app. Free app download numbers are vastly higher than paid app numbers and can give you much more valuable data to work with. Depending on the architecture of your app, the in-app purchase allows users to purchase full versions or more content – a free app suddenly becomes worth $4 or $5. The conversion on this sort of psychology is much more powerful than having to go back to the app store and buy the full version.
Another strategy when pricing your app is to cycle your pricing. This can be done through your iTunes Connect account as often as you would like. You’ll see how things change and what creates the best ROI for your app. One thing I’ve seen that works is to go from Free to $.99 and then back to Free and watch what happens. An interesting development in the app market is the surge of app review sites and app aggregators which pull in the “latest free” or “latest $.99″ apps, so you get a bump in downloads simply because you’re back to the top of those lists.
In terms of creating an ROI on your app, it’s not easy. It could take a year or two, but is going to be DIRECTLY correlated to your marketing. Having a great app is terrific and will spread through natural paths, but you need to have an aggressive marketing strategy to spike downloads. Also remember that apps don’t necessarily need to be the full revenue driver – if you create an app that sends people to another place where they can supply value (email marketing, fb likes, etc), you can generate a series of assets that will help your bottom line on a 5 year scale.
Hope this helps. Please comment back if you have any further questions.
Carter
Thank you, Carter, for sharing your thoughtful insights with me.
I am going to spend some time studying them.
V.
5k for an app will not get you much
its estimated that the initial investment for angry birds was 100,000 Euros($143,110) ,not including updates. And from a developers standpoint thats not a complicated game
Steven,
You’re right. Concurrent with the speed of the app market, the pricing has changed accordingly. I do competitive pricing every few weeks on freelancing websites just to see what the cost change is – my usual technique is to send them an existing app, tell them I will take care of all design and content, and the price has virtually tripled since when I wrote this article originally. $5K was designed to be a cost if you want to go baseline, off-shore templated app. There are plenty of companies around the country these days that provide those types of services, often DIY, and make their money on the monthly hosting of your app. To create a custom app, the cost skyrockets. To create a game, I would say don’t even call a developer unless you have $25K.
Thanks for the comment.
Carter
I am still skeptical about the prices that we have to pay to get this app developed. Im afraid if I pay the price to get it developed, like 3K or so, I won’t be able to make it back. What do I do?
Hi Anna,
This is a great question and it’s very important to address this issue before spending your hard earned money. There are a few ways to make sure you re-coup your costs which I will outline below. The good news is that, on a 700 day timeline, I can almost guarantee you that you will make the money back. But, it’s more than just “set it and forget it.”
• Create a very loose business model that is essentially a revenue/marketing strategy. The best way to tackle this is to create a hierarchical flow that breaks down the end goal ($4,285 – which is what you will have to sell to have $3,000 since Apple takes 30% of all profit) into realistic and tangible actions. An example would be a work path that goes something like: $4,285 -> 4000 downloads -> 1000 downloads from custom website -> 5,000 visits in 2 years -> Build website, optimized for traffic. This then points you saying “I need to build a simple website and do basic SEO on it to account for 25% of what I want to accomplish. The other channels will follow similar modeling and show you what’s working and what’s not.
• Be very aggressive in your marketing. Without question, the best way to get downloads is through partnerships. As an individual, it may be a challenge to team up with companies unless you are benefiting them, so reaching out to other individuals who can leverage their follower base (bloggers, writers, etc) is a great place to start. Offer them incentives with free downloads and target them specifically. Even a few who agree with be a complete game changer for you.
• Be realistic about how much time you are willing to put in. If $3K is a stretch for you, having a marketing budget might be out of the question, meaning you are going to have to do a lot of the leg work yourself. A lot of this work is going to be front-heavy, meaning you’ll have to invest a lot of hours up front to get the momentum going. You’ll definitely get downloads just from being in the store, but that makes you a passive actor in the process and does nothing to ensure the ROI.
• Test different dollar amounts. Change your app from Free to Paid and move from $0.99 to $4.99. See what works best for you and your ROI goals.
• Get as many reviews as you can. You can do this with friends and family, along with inviting people to get the app for free if they do a review. You could also hire firms to do this for you, but that can be a little dicey.
• Invest in the marketing copy on your app page. Create conversion driving text and calls to action so that when people see your app in the store, they are more inclined to download.
In summary – without knowing anything about your app, I am almost certain you could make your money back in a few years. It just requires some marketing plans. Check out my other blog post on How to Make Money with Apps for some more ideas.
Hope this helps!
Thank you! I will work on it. And please if you see a good developer who makes iPhone apps, please contact me.
Anna
Carter,
I’d appreciate it if you were to email me. I have some questions regarding the cost of app development.
Thanks, Travis.
Hello Carter,
I enjoyed the article and comments. Found it to be insightful. Good information for everyone out there on both the App development and App Investment sides. As an Android developer, we get a lot of negative response to the cost of building a game. Folks want “the next Angry Birds but with more levels” for under $1000 or a “percentage of profit”. I believe one thing that has occurred, with the main streaming of Apps, is that software development is not hidden behind the curtain to the general public. Initially with websites and now Apps, people from all different sectors are coming face to face with software development costs for there business or idea. I do enjoy the Angry Birds comparisons still. Another fun fact on the dev cost of Angry Birds is that it was made in a country where the average workers salaries are roughly 60% of their US counterparts. Bottom line, it’s fun to play! … dang pigs.
Travis – email coming your way.
Carter
Carter,
I stumbled upon this article, and have some questions for you. I have an idea for an app and have even tested it out with a rough version of it as a mobile website, and the feedback was amazing. If you could take the time, please email me, I would love to talk about what I have. Thanks!
-Mike
Mike – awesome to hear from you. I’m sending you an email now.
Carter
Carter,
Very informative blog, thanks! I currently have a game in development with a team in Texas and I do belive it has the potential to be “The next Angry Birds”. My question is do big companies (soft drinks, clothing, etc) sponser games before release to help cover some of the development costs? I just think getting the game attached to a well-known company would be epic marketing equaling huge profit. Thanks in advance for your input.
Waylon
Waylon,
Thanks for the note. I wonder if the team you are developing with is one that I have relationships with. It would be fun to catch up via email after this. RE: sponsors covering costs: the answer is very rarely will they shell out money while it’s in the development phase. Larger companies are still about two years behind the 8 ball on understanding what’s an investment vs what’ a sunk cost. I actually pitched the New Jersey Devils on getting into the app market 3 years ago and they said they wouldn’t even think about defraying the cost of one billboard spend to pay for the app. Now they are barely starting to get serious about spending more than $40K.
Here’s what you can do, though. Check out AppBackr – http://www.appbackr.com – for some ideas. This is exactly what you are looking for, but done through crowdsourcing instead of corporate alliance. In my opinion, stay away from corporate money as much as you can for paying for the development and use them as a marketing partner. Their value is their user base and credibility. AppBackr should allow you to get money up front in exchange for selling futures on your apps. If your app is going to be this popular, the NPV (net present value) of money is higher now than it is in the future.
Another option is less about covering development costs and focusing on how to maximize your revenue model for the biggest impact possible. There are SO many different ways to promote and make money off your app that 95% of people don’t know about. It requires time and some money, but the overall impact will easily pay for itself many times over. I offer these publishing services if you ever want to explore that road. It’s all free of charge, just done with a revenue share of the app for a certain period of time. Totally up to you.
Finally, I would look into technology grants and private investment. For technology grants, this is typically on a state by state basis, but I know here in Maine, it’s possible to get up to $30K in start up grants for projects like app development. Contact your local Small Business Association and ask. For private investment, I had a meeting with a wealth management company last week to pitch them on a business model of app development/app publishing. I showed them all the metrics, marketing and revenue model, yearly ROI, exit strategy, everything. They were floored and were extremely interested. I would recommend that road if you are looking for big money quick.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions – we can keep talking via email.
Carter
Carter,
Thanks a lot for your response/reply regarding sponsorship. I was thinking that myself about finding a marketing partner rather than development cost. The development company were willing to take a loss to have their name associated with my game. Instead of the initial $80k, they’re getting the ball rolling for $20k. This game without a doubt has huge potential. Perhaps I need to find a company such as Monster Energy as a partner….HUGE advertising web! Haha. Thanks again for your helpful suggestions. What is your e-mail address? I have a couple questions about suggested artists and copyright.
Waylon
Hi Carter,
Stumbled upon your blog and found it incredibly informative. I am looking to engage a developer for an app idea that i have. Appreciate if you could drop me a mail to discuss some of the questions i have.
Thanks
David
David – you got it. Email coming at you now.
Carter
Hey I just got hit with an idea regarding what could be the next biggest social networking app and I wanted to know if you have some insight as to how much an app like twitter cost to develop. I feel like that would be the closest relative idea to what im looking to do.
Hi,
I have an idea for an app. I think it will cost to develop it approximately as it cost to develop the game “sushi go round” by miniclip.
So, how much do you think it cost? And how do you think it will increase the cost if I will add an option for the players to chat to each other? (approximately of course)
Thanks for all the great information, Carter! I don’t know if it’s information you’re willing to divulge, but I really want to learn how to develop and program for applications, but I don’t know where to start or what path to take. I know some basic HTML, but that’s it. Any advice or direction would be massively appreciated!
Jason,
You’re in the same spot I was about a year ago – HTML/CSS knowledge, but little development experience. The entire process of going from idea to published app can be overwhelming, but here is some advice on how to make it happen for someone in your position:
1. If you want to learn from the ground up, your best bet is to download the tutorials from Apple developer center. Once you sign up, you’ll have access to these. This is a good way to learn how the frameworks function and how all the different elements in Xcode can be used together. The first few are pretty simple and you’ll be building table-style apps in no time. The provisioning process is a bit more complicated, but they do a good job at walking through it.
2. Your second option is to find some open source iOS apps that are out there in the web and download them as examples. You can tear them apart and find out how it all works. This is more of a learning style decision (I learn much better from examples than from reading a textbook) and skips a lot of the baby steps in the Apple tutorials. It’s all up to how you want to do it.
3. Outsource your work. I can read Xcode pretty well and understand what needs to be done, etc, but I couldn’t build an app much more than what Apple gives out in their tutorials. I do, however, know what developers need to hear to make things happen, which is perfect for outsourcing. I have two suggestions:
• Check out elance.com for the most kick ass network of developers and designers. I like to peruse the posted jobs section to find out what people are looking for and get ideas on how to present my idea to a development team.
• Read this book – How to Make iPhone Apps with No Programming Experience. It’s probably the best $100 you can spend if you want to get an app built and it outlines everything extremely well. I only promote products that I have had big success with, and this is one. The reason I prefer this route is because trying to learn everything yourself is going to take thousands of hours to get to a point where you can really whip out some good stuff.
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes!
Carter
I’m looking for an app developer for an app with gps locator, social media share, and interactive graphics (such as taking a picture with your iPhone and drawing a picture on it with the touch screen). I would really like to have someone who would do the coding so that I can apply the same coding to different locations for multiple apps. I know more info would be needed, but can you give me a rough estimate from this info. I read in your article that you could do the app development or direct us to someone who could do this.
Looking for a Developer,
John
John,
Hmm…hard to say for a rough estimate based on that alone, but I would ballpark $30K. All the pieces you talked about are not overly complicated, but putting them together in a logical user experience is going to be complex. The $30K is going to cover all that work + project management + design if you did it in a relatively straightforward way and will be built in a way that can be templated across multiple apps. Again, this cost could swing drastically after a project plan is put together.
I can introduce you to a few firms if you would like – one international and one domestic. I received your email so I have that, just let me know if you want the intros.
Thanks,
Carter
Hello,
I’ve had an idea for a game fro a few weeks now but I’ve had no idea what to do with it as I have no experience in game development, programming or artistic design. The idea keeps coming back to me though so I’m doing my best to see it to fruition. I’ve been looking for a developer to talk to and finally found your site!
My idea revolves around a TV show that has been airing for a few years and I always remember wishing I could replicate what was happening on the shows with the toys that were sold. Unfortunately, due to physics and reality, it simply was not possible. But today, when we can use the iPhone or iPads gyroscope to replicate the movements its seems like that replication could be possible. The show I’m talking of is Beyblade. I would like to share my more specific ideas with you with the wish that I can get assistance or an estimate at what it would take to move this along but I am unsure if an NDA is necessary.
Regards,
Tiko Nelson
Hey Tiko,
It is a lot to go from an idea to app published in the store, especially for a game like Beyblade. What I can offer is some advice on how to break this down into digestible and actionable parts.
Your first step is going to be to take the game and your idea and map it out on a piece of paper or on your computer. You need to go through as many steps as possible as a potential user and draw out exactly what someone would experience when playing the game. This is going to be the foundation that determines how the app is built because it’s going to architect how complex the app will be. Just looking at the videos on Beyblade’s website, it’s going to be pretty complex, I suspect.
In terms of the physics, one thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that the physics of user actions are not nearly as hard to program as the 3D physics of what happens after the action is done. The RENDERING of physics is where you get hit on cost and complexity. An example would be a game where you make a throwing motion with the phone to throw a ball for a dog to go fetch (I actually think this is an awesome idea for an app, by the way, SOMEONE PLEASE STEAL THIS IDEA). The developers could easily build the throw-to-ball physics integration, but the visual dog running away from you would cost way more. Kind of counter intuitive, but that’s how it goes.
The final piece is going to be to determine how deep the game goes. How many characters/levels/bonuses/power ups? How does the point system work? This is more for the design side of things because once the level and and character game play is established, it just becomes a liner model (more levels = copy and paste).
Cost is hard to say. If I were going to broadly quote this, I’d say you’re looking at spending at least $150K and 8-12 months. That number is probably on the low side of things, too. If I were you, I’d look through the store and find a few games that are close enough to what you want and copy them – literally write down exactly how the game is built and then talk to some developers about your project in that sense. You should also talk to a designer who can make this happen – I’ve got a team who kills graphics in the Anime world, but you’re going to need to provide a detailed list of what they need to do, otherwise you’re going to be spending most of your time managing them instead of getting products.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Carter
Hi,
Thanks for the great article!
I want to develop a news app for my blog, something like Engadget’s or New York Times’ app. How much would that cost?
Thank you.
Leo
Hey Leo,
Thanks for reading, I appreciate it.
A news style app is actually going to be pretty cheap. First and foremost, you should install a mobile version of the app (if it’s on Wordpress, you can do this with a free plugin) and get that dialed in. If you want to get into building a custom blog app, invest your money in the design. Most blogs are going to have XML feeds that integrate nicely into Xcode so the development will be pretty straightforward. If you want to get cute with different functionality, you may pay a bit more but it won’t be too much. I wouldn’t spend more than $2K on the development of that, and another $2K on a sweet design. Keep it really simple to start and integrate something like email signup or feedburner so that you can make money off of it – otherwise just stick to the mobile site for now.
IMPORTANT**** – Apple is going to reject your app unless the functionality is distinctly different that an HTML5 web app (mobile site, basically). Make sure you’re prepared for this, because they’ve been cracking down a lot. Usually they’ll let it slide if it’s designed well, but keep it in mind before spending any money.
Good luck,
Carter
I’m hoping to get an estimate of an App for a university that offers an email notification feature, campus map (possibly with GPS), library catalogues and features that lets students pay library fines and top up printer credits.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Interesting idea and I’ve actually talked to a few people about something similar. The key here is going to be the database that the current system is running off of already, like the software that you would use on a daily basis to manage the payments and all that. The app is going to have to hook into that somehow and that’s going to dictate your costs.
Let’s assume that there isn’t anything overly complex about the current database and you hire a firm to come in, normalize the data and then parse it out to the app which would display it very nicely for the student. Chances are you’ll spend about $75K – most of which will go into the data integration and the design. The Xcode probably wouldn’t be too difficult if all the data was served up the way the developers needed it.
Your best bet is to find a development shop that will do what’s called a “discovery phase” where they will take $10K (or % of a projected cost) and spend a month figuring out exactly how they would do this and deliver you a formal strategy document. If you decide to go ahead, you can roll that discovery cost into the final cost and they go full steam ahead. Otherwise, you can say no and you still have a full strategy if you want to explore it later or shop around for new developers.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Carter
Im working on a project for school where people can use a mobile App to tag (with GPS coordinates) a pothole (or otehr road condition, ice, downed tree etc.). Other than the GPS tag, there would be a form for some other basic information related to the condition being reported. From there, the township/municipality that the tag was made in, needs to be able to load the data from teh tag and the form into their GIS or some sort of database. Is this possible and if so can you give me some rough estimates for costs?
Thanks!
Hey Tim,
This is an awesome idea and I would be thrilled if a local government would invest in this. GPS is probably going to be your best bet, maybe even tie in the camera so that you send a picture of the pothole with the coordinates.
Instead of hooking into the governing body’s GIS system, I would probably keep this independent. You may even be able to do this all through Google Maps and their API and display it on an independent website, which could then be served up to a dispatcher or something. The reason I say this is because trying to take GPS data and integrate it into an established system is a) going to cost a lot and b) going to take about 5x longer (if it ever gets done). God bless America but my goodness is it hard to get anything done with a governing body (at least in terms of solutions).
So – let’s say you have this system where people could identify potholes, tag it, and upload to a server which would parse out to a map on your site. Your costs are going to be in the app and in the Google API integration (which is basically an app development cost). If I had to ballpark this, I’d say about $50K to get it up and running, and another $25K to add some bells and whistles. Definitely stay away from the township’s GIS systems at all costs
Hope this helps. Good luck with your school project and keep asking questions!
Carter
Very very informative I have an idea to create an app
Here in the uk could you e-mail me so I can send over NDA
I already have a lot of ideas for add ons as well
Chris
Hey Chris,
I’ll send you an email right now. Catch you soon!
Carter
Hi Carter, a great and informative read.
I’m looking to create a drinks menu app for my family restaurant. We have a website and infrastructure, including a MySQL database where parts of our website and our menu live.
I want to create an app where customers would browse the menu by drink type. This means a home screen, a drink profile screen, and a search screen. The biggest obstacle I see is how to connect to an external database and display the data.
What would you quote me for a project of this sort? Looking for a ballpark figure, assuming: 1) we provide the product photos, 2) around 50 drink types.
It would be nice if you could give me a ballpark figure broken into design and development cost.
Cheers!
Hey Mohamad,
Right on – I’m actually spearheading a project that’s very similar to this. Basically we take specialty cocktail recipes for a liquor brand and create a digital platform for them – mobile being a large part of that.
Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to be able to leverage your current database in a way that’s plug and play, but it’s not a huge deal since you’re probably not working with thousands of drinks. Realistically you COULD but it’s going to be a way bigger project than you want to take on.
Your first option is to simply create a web app or slick mobile website for your existing content. This will give you the most flexibility and “mission control” type business logic when it comes to updates. The cost of a mobile site can fluctuate greatly – if your site is on Wordpress you can do it for free, or you can have someone build out a slick CSS for $15K.
I actually just built an app that runs off of a central database of cocktails in order to create game play for a bartending game (you pick the ingredients to make the drink and get tips for it). The end goal is to have a database on a server somewhere that dynamically feeds the app and website, thus only has to be updated once. But, for now, we had the developer build a native database that lives in the app. If we want to edit recipes or add recipes, it’s going to be an update and not just automatic. Pros and cons to that.
My point is that unless you’re dealing with an enormous amount of data, you should focus on taking your existing database and building something on top of that. Invest in design, not functionality. I don’t know what your plans are, but it’s going to be really hard to make your money back if you try to do much more with a family restaurant app.
So – if you built an app that does what you wanted with the home screen, profile, search, etc, and you have all the data in a nice excel spreadsheet (including image files, probably), you shouldn’t pay more than 2-3K and should probably outsource it. You should find an app in the store that does exactly what you want and have someone copy it, then you provide all the data for them.
In fact, I had a firm create a copy of the Martha Stewart Cocktail App for iPhone and iPad in order to display content like this beautifully. I paid about 5% of what the original cost and all the work is just in the content.
For design, you should pay about the same 2-3K, which will include icon, screen shots, and the app designs. The reason this is so low is because you’re really not asking for much more than a template. Check out this website
http://www.appdesignvault.com for an idea of what you should be asking for – literally a PSD suite that you can layer into the app.
If you’re serious about this, find an app to copy, then put a bid on an outsourcing website, then hire a designer. Get the design done before the development on an app like this. Then make sure all your content is totally dialed in and organized as best you can.
I hope this helps. I’m not sure if you’re versed well in Xcode, but if you ever wanted to talk about licensing that framework I have, let me know. You can check the heliski app blog post for a rough idea – I would only recommend it if you have really good photography.
See ya!
Carter
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