Mobile apps are far more expensive than web pages and online applications. This is a well-known truth among those working in technology-related professions. For the rest of us, it's still a mystery why smartphone applications are so expensive.
A simple search for the prices of the earliest versions of the world's most successful applications reveals that each of them costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce the initial version (MVP). The precise figures may be found in this article by Codementor: link.
So, why are mobile applications more expensive?!
1. They are completely customised.
Mobile applications MUST be built from the ground up. Your ideas and the team's ingenuity that works with you are the only limits to mobile applications. Unlike a web app/website, you cannot get a dependable open-source mobile app code that will perform precisely what you need it to accomplish without substantially altering it, unlike a web app/website. Mobile applications have no limitations regarding what they can do, how they appear, or how they behave.
The possibilities of the majority of websites are limited - unless they are built entirely bespoke. When a website is completely customised, it becomes a web application that costs less than a mobile application - read why below.
2. Mobile applications can perform functions that websites and web applications cannot.
Mobile applications can control complex functionality on your phone, another person's phone, and nearly any other piece of hardware. That is something that websites will never be able to do.
3. There is no code reuse in mobile apps.
When a website needs a pre-built functionality that can be readily added to any website, plugins are the answer. Because website plugins have been around for a long time and are reliable and will not crash. Plugins for websites have tens of thousands of reviews to back them up as well.
Plugins for mobile apps tend to be less well-known and have fewer reviews than plugins for websites. If a developer doesn't spend much time designing mobile app plugins, they might quickly crash.
Line by line, a mobile app is built to custom. There is no way we could ever reuse the code even if we made a comparable app. Customising an existing piece of code, even if the two applications are quite similar, is almost as time-consuming as writing the code from scratch.
4. The cost of hiring a mobile app developer is higher.
Compared to high-quality mobile app developers, web developers are far simpler to find and much more economical to employ. One of the reasons for this is that skilled web developers can create a whole website by themselves. On the other hand, a mobile developer is unlikely to be an expert in every technology required to construct a mobile app. In other words, a project requires collaboration between front-end and back-end engineers.
As a result of the pandemic, the average cost of an experienced mobile app developer has increased.
5. Mobile Apps need much more work than websites.
Every piece of technology has a front-end and back-end. The front-end is the portion of the application which the end-user interacts with. The back-end is the portion of the application that handles and manipulates data. Both reside on the same plane/level of a website/web app, and they frequently need similar technology. The front-end and back-end technology in a mobile app, on the other hand, are fundamentally distinct. Each one requires a professional who devotes a significant amount of work to personalising that aspect of the app.
As a result, there is a third component in mobile apps: the API (Application Programming Interface), which is a software middleman that enables the front-end to communicate with the back-end. Every front-end feature of a mobile app requires an API code to link it to the back-end where the action is performed. APIs aren't required for most websites and web applications, except rare circumstances.
API can be considered a "runner" that controls the activities on the mobile app and then takes the data from each action and sends it to the back-end, where it is stored and modified before being sent back to the mobile app to display the final result.
The front-end element is, for example, the button you push on a mobile app when you check in with your email or social network account. Your email and password are then sent to the back-end using a special API code. A bespoke piece of code at the back-end interacts with one or more databases to confirm your login information, then sends it back to the mobile app over the same API code to get you in.
6. Branding and design for a mobile app are far more time-consuming.
To make your brand's colours and logos seem beautiful on every single individual screen of the app, you'll need to do a lot more designing and customising on a mobile app. Since mobile applications perform uniquely, each piece takes time to appear beautiful and fit the colour scheme.
7. Custom admin functions.
Owners of mobile applications have a wide range of choices for controlling their apps. Optional features that aren't generally offered on websites. Options such as user monitoring by location, observing what a user does with their phone while using the app, and much more are available. It takes time to build these functionalities.
If you have any questions about the pricing of your mobile app, please get in touch with us.
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