Are you thinking of building a web application but have no idea about the costs involved?

Look no further! In this article, we'll explore the main factors that influence the cost of building a web application, from the complexity of the project to the hourly rates of developers. We'll also discuss the post-release expenses you need to consider, such as bug fixing and infrastructure costs. And if you're wondering how much it would cost to build a famous web app like Airbnb, Etsy, or Trello, we've got you covered.

So grab a cup of coffee and let's dive into the world of web application development costs!

What do We Estimate?

Let’s make sure we are on the same page when talking about a web application, as quite often this term gets misused.

Web application, or simply web app, is a program that runs in the browser providing access to authorized users, and stores all the data on the server (rather than within a device like desktop or mobile apps).

Please note that in this article we are considering only custom web application development (because it is what we do). Therefore, we are not talking about websites built with an off-the-shelf CMS like WordPress or Magento.

In addition to that, we are concentrating only on the development cost, excluding custom design and UX from this calculation.

Main Factors Influencing the Cost of Your Web Application

Fundamentally, the cost of creating a web app is composed of the number of work hours put into it, multiplied by the hourly rate of your web development team.

The number of work hours that your team will need to develop your software will mostly depend on its complexity. By complexity, we mainly mean the number of custom features you want and how your app will be used. In addition, you should also keep in mind that there will be post-release expenses.

So in this article, we are talking about these three factors:

  • Complexity
  • Hourly rates
  • Post-release expenses.

1. Complexity

The simplest version of an application is a website where only one person manages content, no online payments are conducted and no integrations are needed. For example, an informational website about a company and its services.

The complexity of a custom web application will increase depending on what you want to have:

  • allow all users to register and add their own content
  • sell online
  • allow others to buy and sell on your website (C2C)
  • integrate your app with other apps
  • localize your website for multiple geographic locations And so on.

So the cost of your app will depend on:

  • Scope of features
  • Usage factors.

Let’s go into details…

Scope of features

Here is a list of the most common app features, all of which can influence the complexity of your web application. To keep things simple, we have divided them into three groups.

eCommerce Features

Social Networks and eLearning

Management and Operational Tools

  • Listings creation

  • Online payments

  • Payout/withdrawal (when users can sell on your website)

  • Online bidding

  • Recommendations (like ‘people also liked..’ or ‘you might also like’)

  • Personal account

  • Interaction between registered users (liking, sharing, commenting, messaging)

  • Scoring system

  • Leaderboard

  • Admin panel

  • Multiple user roles with various access levels

  • The functionality of the apps like planners, automatic email campaigns.
  • Dashboard

  • Statistics and analytics

In a nutshell, the more custom features you’d like to add, the more complex it becomes.

Usage factors

Besides the number of custom features you’d like to add, there are other things to consider.

  • Third-Party Systems Integrations You will need an API configuration for third-party integration if you want to integrate your web application with another website or web service. For example, say you’d like to automatically transfer all client details, orders, and payments data to your company’s ERP or CRM. Sometimes such integrations can take minutes; other times this work can take days. Our job becomes more difficult when, for instance, the third-party system/website we are integrating our client’s website with doesn’t function as it should (has bugs), or when the other app has very poor API documentation so we have to do a lot of guesswork.
  • Web App Performance We need to take special measures if a lot of users have to use your app all at the same time. Each piece of software has its own limit of users it can handle simultaneously and we all know what happens when a system is overloaded. So if we know that your website is going to be used by a lot of people at once, we will optimize it for the high load. This happened when we were developing an event application that we knew would be used by over 1,000 people simultaneously.
  • Real-Time Data Updating If it is critical for your website to update its content every second, then it requires a different approach in development. This means that you will need a different set of technologies (we use JavaScript and Node.js), compared to a website or application that can be updated daily/weekly. Examples of such apps would be stock exchange systems, instant messengers, Google Docs (when working on a document simultaneously with teammates), online games, etc.
    • Increased Security Measures With the right approach to coding, your development team will cover all basic software security requirements by default. However, some applications require additional security measures. This usually goes for types of projects that handle highly sensitive data, like credit card details or other private info. So, the security of your app will be more complex if, for instance, you are going to process online payments, and it will be even more complex if you allow one group of users to sell things to other user groups on your web app.

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2. Hourly rates

Just to give you an idea of the market prices, look at the newest update on the global rates for outsourced developers:

Hourly rates

In our opinion, it is possible to achieve a decent price-quality ratio within a $30–$50 range for web development services (for medium to small projects).

After you have the estimate of your project in hours, you can multiply this amount by the hourly rate to get the final cost. 

However, note that some teams have a single hourly rate that includes the work of the entire team, while others have different hourly rates for different specialists who will be involved in the project. This affects the calculation process and the cost of the project. 

For instance, at Greenice, we have one hourly rate that covers everyone who works on the project:

  • Project Manager
  • UI/UX specialist/Designer
  • Team Lead
  • Front-end and back-end developers
  • Quality Assurance engineer. 

The number of team members and their involvement can vary depending on the tasks and time frames of the project. For example, Team Lead usually participates in the pre-development stage when the architecture is considered and the technology stack is chosen. After that, the Team Lead will coordinate the work of developers and help to overcome problems if they arise. The same is true for the QA engineers who usually get involved in the last stages of the development. Only the product manager accompanies your project through the whole development process to ensure the fulfillment of the requirements. 

3. Post-release expenses

Post-release expenses typically include:

      • Bug fixing
      • Infrastructure.

Post-Release Bug Fixing

Right now, you are probably thinking, “I am already paying for testing, what post-release bugs are you talking about?”

Unfortunately, post-release bugs can happen even if the most brilliant developers and QA engineers are developing your app.

During the testing stage, we often will test an app under the conditions and use scenarios that we previously agreed upon with our client. This means that before getting to testing, we will discuss with our client all possible devices an app will be used on, as well as ways this app can be used by different user groups. And then our QA engineer will develop a testing plan according to these conditions and use scenarios.

However, it is impossible to predict everything that may happen with your app. For example, one of the systems that your app is integrated with might release an upgraded/changed version that can deteriorate your app’s functionality.

It would be wise to preserve a part of your budget for the unforeseen bugs that can show up after launch. Usually, post-release bug fixing requires 10–25% of the app development budget.

Infrastructure Costs

As for the infrastructure costs, they usually involve:

      • Domain name registration – anything from $5 to $50
      • Hosting your web app – ranging from $4 to $500, depending on the storage space and features.

How Much Would AirBnB, Etsy, and Trello Cost?

To further illustrate how development time and cost vary depending on the complexity, our team leaders gave rough estimations of the three well-known websites.

Multi-vendor marketplace (Etsy, Amazon, Aliexpress)   Custom CRM Booking Web App (Airbnb, Booking.com)
  • Product catalog
  • Listing items for sale
  • Advanced search
  • Order management
  • Product recommendations
  • User reviews
  • Online payments
  • Admin section
  • User Management
  • Lead Management
  • Task Management
  • Dashboard
  • Basic Reports
  • Sales Pipeline
  • Invoicing 
  • Integration with Google Apps
  • Lead Scoring
  • Integration with Social Networks
  • Chatbot integration
  • Properties database
  • Advanced search
  • Property listing
  • Property availability management
  • Online payments
  • Reviews
  • Admin section

7-10 months

$65,000 - $105,000

3-7 months

$30,000 - $66,000

7-10 months

$73,000 - $123,000

Conclusion

The list of factors that we’ve covered in this article is not exhaustive, as each project is unique. Nonetheless, we consider these factors to play a major role in determining the cost of your app.

How complex does the first edition of your app need to be? The amount and complexity of features you’d like to see on your website or web app will lead to the number of hours put into your project.

Who will develop your app? Do you want to pay extra for a famous and established vendor? Or, are you willing to take risks with a rising star? The type of outsourcing company you choose and their hourly rate will also have a great influence on the cost of your app.

And don’t forget the costs you will incur after your app is launched. Post-release expenses are inevitable and hard to predict in the early stages.


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Authors

Kateryna Reshetilo

Kateryna’s job is to understand the markets the company is serving, formulate the best offerings for potential clients, and market them in the most effective way. In addition to that, she is also responsible for discovering new market niches and developing competitive strategies to exploit them.

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