Social media app is a sure way to high profits and top places in the app charts. For example, in the year 2022, about 434 million users in North America alone. And this digit is beaten up by social media app users in Southern, Eastern, and Southeastern Asia. In 2021 alone, 27.6 billion apps were downloaded from Google Play.
So, if you’re interested in social network application development, profits can be one of the strongest motives for you and your investors. The growth in this domain is immense, and the only thing that could be stopping you is the ultimate cost of such an app. So, let’s find out how to create a successful social media app in a cost-effective and time-saving way.
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What can affect the cost of social media app development
Usually, the most important factors for the social media app development cost are the features, UI, and third-party services you choose to implement. Looking at this in more detail, you’ll see that the more complex your social media app gets, the more expensive is its development.
Here are the major factors that you should consider while planning out your budget for social media app development:
- Operating system.
Your decision to create your app on Android or iOS might shift the prices dramatically. For example, hourly rates for Kotlin developers are typically higher than for those who code in Objective-C. Digit for Kotlin developers varies in the range of $62 per hour, while Objective-C developers’ hourly rate is typically around $60. Since Kotlin is mainly used for Android development and Objective-C for iOS, those extra $2 will affect your price tag.
Aside from this, iOS has less variation in screens, hence a lesser need for extra work with screen compatibility. Less work, as always, means a smaller budget.
- Application size.
The size of an application makes a difference in social media app development price. For example, if you require a small-size app with a limited set of features and no API integration, it will be much less expensive than a medium-sized app with standard payment features, or a large-scale app with multilingual support and a wide set of features.
Your typical small-size app is something like a basic WhatsApp version, a medium-size would look more like Apple TV, and a large-scale app is something like Uber or Amazon.
- UI/UX.
The user interfaces determine how your app looks and feels when your end customer uses it. It affects social media app engagement and addictiveness, and if you don’t invest in it, your application might come out not quite what you expected.
However, the UI might be a life savior, as sometimes we cherish applications more for how they look rather than their functionality. If it’s easy to use your application, you should be safe. However, if you’re set to cut costs on UI you should consider the platform you’re developing.
If your social media app is developed for Android, go for more unique design choices and interesting, smooth animation. The iOS public is usually older and has a preference for minimalistic applications.
How to save budget on social media app development
There are different tips to make social media app development cheaper, and some of them you can learn from this article. So, let’s find out how to make social media app development as budget-friendly as possible.
- Start with a minimum viable product
If you consider your business more of a startup, then you definitely should start with an MVP. Add only the crucial features to your app and save costs on everything else, launch the application, and gather some feedback.
As a result, you’ll be able to see what your audience needs and spend money only on the solutions that will work. Aside from this, you’ll find investors faster with something to demonstrate.
- Try cross-platform development
At first, it might sound terrifying, but as a result, you’ll be able to have two applications for one. Cross-platform development allows you to get both iOS and Android versions of your social media app (or web and mobile), that way you won’t have to go through the same processes twice.
As a result, you’ll get more with a shorter time of development, and hence – lesser money.
- Work with outsource developers
US developers have high hourly rates and might be a little more than you could afford. So, you might search for people to work with in other countries.
For example, Easter Europe countries, such as Ukraine, offer smaller rates with the same volume of quality. The Voypost company as one of the software vendors representing the country has years of hands-on experience with startups, you can check them up here. The CEO, Nikita Sviridenko, has about 12 years of experience in software development and can gladly answer your questions.
