How to Build a Successful App Without Breaking the Bank?
September 16, 2024
As a leading app development company, we at Clavax have built apps for budget-conscious clients as well as innovation driven businesses. Each business is unique, and so do their app vision and requirements that no one amount can be standardized for app development.
Talking from experience, app ideas are not the only thing you must know before jumping the bandwagon of mobile app development. No doubt, every project starts with an idea, but businesses must have a clear assessment of their budget and app features before they start app development.
This blog will discuss the effective ways to build an app without harming your finances.
Understand the Various Cost Components
Web or mobile app development has multiple cost elements. As a leading mobile app development company in Australia, we have built apps in a budget as low as $40,000 and as high as $2,00,000. There are a lot of factors that influence the cost of developing an app. Let’s have a detailed look at these cost components.
- Choosing a Platform
With users accessing apps on different devices, a business always stumbles on the decision of choosing the right platform for their app. Whether developing an iOS app or an Android app, we would always suggest going for one platform in the beginning. Performance of an app on one platform will give you a fine understanding of its potential on the other platform. Besides, choosing to launch an app on both platforms at once doubles the cost and risk.
- Choosing the Right Tech Stack
Choosing the latest technology doesn’t ensure the app’s success. Choosing the right tech stack makes all the difference. Integration with third-party software, AI, AR, and blockchain; the more advanced features add cost burden to your app development budget.
- Choosing Development Team
Unless you are an IT consulting company, there’s no point hiring an in-house app development team. Incurring a fixed cost on app development is never a great idea. If you outsource the app development services to a tech partner, there are multiple factors such as team size, location, hours, and delivery deadline that will affect the cost of the development team.
Now when we know what app development cost is made up of. It’s time we discuss the answer every business wants to know.
How to Reduce the App Development Cost without Compromising on the Quality?
Getting excited while developing an app is natural, but one must not lose sight of their budget while finalizing the features. You can add 100 advanced features to your app, but the real question still is—do you really need those features in your app? The following considerations will help you reduce the app development cost significantly.
Stick to the Plan
Do not get too excited by your app idea and forget to map out a solid roadmap; without it, you might find yourself faltering into unexpected delays and cost overruns.
An excellent time to bring in a Product Requirements Document is at this juncture. It’s like having a blueprint for your app. A well-crafted PRD delineates all features, design elements, timelines, and budgets so that everyone is on the same page. Working with either some brilliant in-house developers or outsourcing the project can make a huge difference. A well-defined PRD will ensure the whole development process runs smoothly, and the bottom line also looks healthy.
Get the Prototype Ready
You can build a clickable prototype, which is an interaction design allowing you to access an interactive version of the layout and flow of your app without writing a single line of code. Using Figma or Adobe XD, you could share it with stakeholders or potential end users, refine the experience based on that feedback, and find and correct any major issues at this stage. Prototypes are excellent for incorporating design revisions and gathering feedback before the actual full-scale development, hence saving you costly overhauls down the road.
Go for Outsource App Development Company
An in-house development team at a full-time scale will cost you big bucks, and if your business does not need full-time developers, outsourcing your app development to a reliable third-party team can be very lucrative, offering flexibility in tapping onto a much wider talent pool with zero overheads. Outsourcing can reduce not only your immediate costs but many headaches when it comes to the other potential issues, such as time zone differences and barriers in communication, especially for experienced partners.
Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The minimum viable product is an efficient way to introduce your idea to the market and avoid unnecessary time and resource waste. It’s a stripped-down version of your app, with only core features included, which you determine are necessary for your users. This way, by launching a lean, functional product, you capture that early user feedback and avoid costly over-development. Often, very successful apps launch as a minimum viable product; real users’ feedback shapes the final versions to become the market leaders.
Stay Ready to Cater all Platforms
Instead of having to choose between iOS or Android as your launch platform, target both. Creating a separate native app for each platform is expensive and time-consuming. A more affordable approach, therefore, would be to create a cross-platform application with technologies such as Flutter or React Native. One app lets you create functionality for both platforms, and therefore greater reach to the market with half the cost of development on two different apps.
Don’t Start from the Scratch
Not everything has to be built from scratch when building an app. There are thousands of third-party solutions for messaging, payment processing, or user authentication that can be plugged right into your app. By taking advantage of these pre-built systems, you save development time and money while accessing established, proven technologies. Your team can focus on all the unique features and stuff in your app rather than reinventing the wheel.
Bring Automation for Repetitive Tasks
Automation can highly ease the development of the application. First, the automation of repeated works—testing, for example, or notifications, or updates on the project status—spares important time for your team to carry on with complex tasks. Moreover, the processes will be free of human-made errors, which keeps the entire project running smoothly. It not only increases efficiency but also helps you to keep the budget since there are fewer times when delays occur and since the timeline doesn’t get out of hand.
Partner with Clavax for Cost-Effective App Development
Clavax is a leading mobile app development company in Australia, offering custom web and mobile app development services across the globe. Our expertise lies in recognizing the uniqueness of each project and gauging the project needs efficiently. Our services go beyond project development and delivery. We guide you throughout the project to save you money and time.