How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Mobile App?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8437217

by chiragshivalker • 12 years ago

2 10 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

How Much Does it Cost to Develop A Mobile App?

nielpiter• 12 years ago

A lot

andyhart• 12 years ago

How long is a piece of string?...

bbissoon2• 12 years ago

well played.

jpoesen• 12 years ago

How much does it cost to build a house?

homarp• 12 years ago

About the cost of A PC and an Android phone or a Mac, an Android Phone, an IOS Phone and $100 per year. And some time.

chrisBob• 12 years ago

And once you get started, the marginal cost is almost nothing but time if you can do the full thing.

I am a hobby iOS developer, and it is the appearance that suffers the most on my low-end products. If you can do your own artwork then you can get by for about $0+your time.

bbissoon2• 12 years ago

It depends on the features needed. We can all agree that Cordova (http://cordova.apache.org) has placed the power of app building into the hands of every common web designer.

If you have to ask how much without a laundry list to go from, chances are you can use Cordova to get your app going. In Houston, basic apps using it can go from $1K - $5K.

mga226• 12 years ago

See this submission from yesterday for your answer.

https://raddevelopment.io/blog/want-to-ask-a-developer-how-m...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8435046

Someone1234• 12 years ago

Assuming you have nothing (except food and shelter):

- A PC or Mac ($300 Vs. $700)

- Internet access (???)

- A developer account ($35 one off, or $99/year)

- A business address (PO Box for one year, approx $62/year)

- Electricity

- Minimum wage at whatever number of hours your app takes to make

- Business licence (if required? see local laws)

- Cost of an accountant (if required?)

- Marketing/SEO costs

- Hosting, domain renew, SSL certificate renew, email, et al.

- Other external resources (e.g. graphics, sounds, et al).

I'd say if you had nothing but a roof over your head and food in your belly you could do it for $600-1K a year including getting a new low end developer machine annual (or other equipment, like second monitors in subsequent years).

$600-1K might sound like a lot, but all the little things add up quickly. This also only covers the cost for a VERY simple basic app. For "AAA" style apps we're talking millions or more.

cotsog• 12 years ago

You can have a look at this nicely done calculator: http://howmuchtomakeanapp.com/