Estimating the Cost of Developing an App in 2022

5 min readFeb 10, 2022

Calculating the making cost of the application is a tricky and most important stage. To make your job easier, we’ve covered how to calculate the cost of developing an app from the ground up, taking into account every minute detail. This in-depth article will provide you with a thorough understanding of the specifics and stages involved in calculating the cost of developing an app.

Today’s mobile app development companies are thriving, especially with the advent of digitalization; it’s more important for businesses to transition to mobile apps to increase brand exposure. The mobile app solution is the only thing that comes to mind when it comes to booking a cab, reserving a table, communicating with friends, ordering food, purchasing a ticket, and other countless things because it makes our lives easier.

According to Statista, the number of smartphone users globally is expected to surpass $3.8 billion by the end of 2021, with India accounting for more than $760 million. As the number of smartphone users grows, so will the need for mobile apps. This is a good example of why companies making an extra effort to publish mobile apps to the market.

Let’s take a look at global app downloads and consumer spending over the last few years.

This graph shows that mobile app downloads are predicted to climb rapidly from 149.3 billion in 2016 to 352.9 billion in 2021, representing a 19% CAGR over the 5-year span.

Mobile app revenues are predicted to increase dramatically over the next five years, from $61.8 billion in 2016 to $139.1 billion in 2021, with a CAGR of 18 percent.

Startups are prone to overestimating the cost of app development. When it comes to outsourcing a mobile app development company, organisations look for two things: superior quality and lower costs. The cost of developing a mobile app varies greatly depending on the factory. This is what we’ve learned from our years of experience developing mobile apps for clients ranging from tiny businesses to major corporations.

App Development: Cost Statistics

The popularity of apps and the cost of app development are determined by global mobile development growth.

In-app shops, there are approximately 7 million apps accessible for download.

Statistics about the app development industry and costs in 2022 have been compiled by mobile app development.

Here are some figures to investigate, based on various sources and approaches.

Google Play receives over 100,000 new app submissions every month and Apple App Store receives over 30,000. (Statista).
Free apps secured the majority of the market.
The mobile app market is expected to generate $581.9 billion in sales. If current trends continue, the industry’s sales will reach about $1 trillion by 2023. (Statista).
In the year of 2026, the mobile app development market is estimated to increase by more than 18.4 percent, reaching a market value of $ 407.31 billion (Market Research).
People spend nearly 90% of their time on apps. People will soon spend 4 hours a day on their mobile devices, with 88 percent of the time spent on app activity.
Sixty-six percent of smartphone users install games. At the same time, over 95% of all users download messaging, communication, and online browsers, among other things. (Statista)
The price of app development is highly dependent on the type of app.

Let’s look at what the app costs are based on:

App development costs by type

Another crucial element to think about is the kind of application. The most common types of apps and their average development costs are listed below:

Developing Cost: By Region

The cost of developing an app varies by region.

A high price tag does not always imply a high-quality item. It simply illustrates the differences in programmers’ salaries between countries.

Let’s look at the rates of programmers in different regions:

The region of North America is highlighted as the most expensive segment. iOS mobile app development and android mobile app development charges starting from $50 to 150$ per hour basis.
Australians app development cost starts from $35 to $150 per hour.
The region of South America app development charges varies from $22 to $55 per hour.
Developers from the United Kingdom charge approx $71 per hour.
The European developer's charges are from $25 up to $50 per hour.
Indian developers are relatively inexpensive in terms of app development, with fees starting at $25.

Key Factors Influencing the Mobile Development Cost

Aside from the obvious variables and causes, there are other factors that influence the cost of developing your app discreetly.

Servers, hosting, and domains are examples of app infrastructure services.
User data, photo and video information, and other types of data are stored in databases.
Application management portals or content management systems (CMS);
During development, the following tools and libraries were used:
To transport data, data encryption technology is used;
The ability to transmit video or audio;
Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality, as well as other advanced technologies, are being employed to improve app performance.

This shows how the cost of producing a mobile app is influenced by many factors. To put it another way, the cost of producing an app ranges from $10000 to $300,000. The growing digitalization craze in all industries, however, has the potential to transform app development cost paradigms.

As a result, rather than spending thousands of dollars to clone successful programmes, you should begin modest. After all, today’s popular apps like Uber, Instagram, and Airbnb were previously simple apps with limited capabilities. It’s now up to you whether you want to start small right away or wait until the price reaches its peak.