Businesses often turn to a software or web development company when they want to reach more customers through powerful digital solutions. It can be a website, custom software, or a cross-platform mobile application.
But how much are you likely to part with for custom software development? Find out more about the costs of software development in this short guide.
The Short Answer: What is the Average Software Development Cost?
The average software development costs of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which can be viewed as a standard digital solution are around $20,000 to $50,000.
On the other hand, the software costs for a mid-size application range between $50,000 and $500,000. However, a custom digital solution that integrates other functions in an enterprise, such as web app development services can cost up to $1,000,000.
Getting into Details: Main Factors of Software Pricing
How much does software development cost? An accurate software development pricing model considers several factors that contribute to the overall cost. They include:
Type of Software Project
The cost of creating a software application depends on the type of project itself. For instance, building a new system from scratch will cost more than modifying an existing one. Similarly, integrating custom-built tools means a higher budget for software development, as opposed to third-party plugins.
Size of Software Project
Project sizes influence typical app development costs in many ways. Technically, software development projects can be classified as small, medium, large, or enterprise-grade. The bigger the size of the project, the higher the production cost in terms of resources, human capital, tests, and integrations.
Development Team Size
Any simple software project is handled by at least 3 team members, including a dedicated manager, a full-stack developer, and a QA specialist. However, you might need to hire more team members if you want to build faster or integrate various features. The bigger the tea, the higher the costs.
Integration With Other Systems
Although you can create your own app from scratch, you’ll find it necessary to leverage other integrations that complement its performance and utility by customers or employees. Possible integrations can include software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, in-app plugins, or even APIs. The bottom line is that every integration comes with an additional price tag.
Migration of Existing Data
The need to migrate your on-premise data to cloud environments can mean a higher software project cost. This is because you might need to hire a data specialist and spend more time and resources preparing that data for migration.
Design Complexity
Businesses have up to two design options when it comes to software app development, including native and cross-platform. A native design means the app can only be deployed to one platform. On the other hand, a cross-platform design includes a primary source code base that allows the app to be deployed on multiple platforms simultaneously. In that case, native app development costs more as the developer requires to write more than one source code base.
Software Complexity
Building a complex software application costs so much more than a simpler version. The level of complexity in this case refers to the type or number of features included or the type of overall customization. That said, the more features you add the higher the custom software development rates.
How to Estimate Your Software Development Costs
Developing an application for your business is critical if you’re going to stay ahead of the competition and enhance customer experience. Here is how to estimate software development costs before kickstarting your project.
- Explore your software product to determine its features and technology stack
- Evaluate the project’s scope by segmenting the development process into phases
- Determine the number of team members required to code an app, depending on role, budget, tech stack, or timeframe
- Break the project into sprints to estimate the cost of each component independently
- Create a cost breakdown
- Include hidden development costs, such as additional tests
- Calculate the potential budget deviation
Wrapping It Up
Various software cost factors will influence the budget of your project. Start your preparation by researching, “how much does it cost to create software” to get a rough idea of what to expect.
It’s advisable to get your estimates right and allocate the right resources, otherwise, you’ll be looking at a white elephant. That said, compare various cost examples before coming up with the figure.
Also Read: Using Knowledge Management for Software Development: A Simple Solution To Collated Information