Mobile App Development: How to Create a Budget for Your Project

As businesses first approach large-scale investments such as mobile app development, the cost is often one of the most important deciding factors on whether a project can get the proverbial "green light." But, as with other large-scale investments, mobile app development is highly flexible and therefore no one size fits all when it comes to costs. This all depends on what the app promises and what you want to do.

Often, a budget is needed to obtain correct vendor bids while businesses are sourcing vendors for an app development project. As with any other business, the costs of mobile app development are affected by two key factors: the material costs (function and features) and labour costs.

The cost of features for apps is determined by the application and objective, what the users will do with the app and UI level.

The labour costs at this point are based on the claims of talented developers and designers from your chosen development company, including the number of professionals needed to complete your project according to the timeline requested. The more features you want, the greater will be the need for money and expertise.

And how can you bring this budget together? In addition, if you have limited funds, how do you ensure that you can still provide your customers with a positive mobile experience? The post will discuss what variables are critical to developing a budget, understanding where expenses should be cut, and how to do so efficiently so that the success is not put in jeopardy.

Factors to Consider when creating a budget for mobile App Development:

Know What You Want To Build

It's important to agree on its feature set, your timelines for the project, and the resources you need before you build a budget for your future app. The easiest way to do that is to set specific goals.

Below is a checklist of questions which will allow you to set clearly specified objectives:

⇒Who is the target audience? Who would use your App?

⇒Who are the contenders?

⇒Why should your clients download your app, and use it? What is the mobile app's unique selling proposition?

⇒What problem does your mobile app solve?

⇒Which role is your mobile app expected to perform?

⇒What results do you try to produce, both immediately (probably after a week) and 3-6 months afterwards?

You will obtain the following perspectives from the checklist:

⇒A target market and a list of the rivals

⇒A list of features/functionalities the app needs to have

⇒A Clear Plan for Monetisation

⇒Discovery and Design?

Allocate extra funds to cover unforeseen expenses

Developer hours are usually more costly than the designer, and QA hours. It's important to consider the hours that will go through each stage of development before you set out a budget. Holding a development, deployment, publishing, integration, testing and quality control budget aside is the best practice to get an accurate idea of your budget. Keeping a small margin over the exact figures is always a smart move.

Also, bear in mind that while the fixed price model some development firms offer seems reasonable, it leaves little room for modifications unless you agree to pay extra to make the modifications.

Functions and selection of features

Any function or feature added to your app ultimately affects the end-cost. Getting a minimal number of features and at the same time providing great functionality for your users will help you keep up with your expected budget. Prioritizing each of the features you want is critical based on user needs. Of example, a video platform requires an app like Netflix, including a live-streaming feature. Although it is a costly feature to include, it is imperative for its users to have the functionality. Gateway integrations take a lot of coding and resources, but if you're planning to develop an e-commerce app, it doesn't make sense to skip that feature.

Pick A Platform

With iOS and Android holding 97 per cent of global mobile market share, developing and launching for both platforms is the ideal approach to mobile app development. That isn't always possible though – constraints such as time, budget, and resources can prevent you from developing for both OSs at once. Alternatively, you may want to consider first running on one platform and then running a second platform at a later date.

Companies in this role need to collect target market research data to learn which platform does much of your clients use while setting a budget for your mobile app development project. When the data is available, you can easily decide which platform to try first. Along with that, you should first consider building an MVP Version also.

How Design Thinking Can Help You Create A Budget

Many mobile development firms offer design thinking sessions designed to help you define product objectives and business outcomes, prioritize product features and determine what should be included in your Minimum Viable Product. These sessions set the framework for the development of mobile apps, giving you key product features, user take trips, wireframes, mockups and a clickable prototype of the app. Most importantly; however, these sessions will provide you with the insights you need to build and plan a precise budget.

Final Thoughts

While the formation of a budget requires many more considerations than those mentioned above, these factors are often the ones that have the greatest impact on your overall end cost. When you have achieved an acceptable estimate, remember to keep track of total spending and clear details of where the funds will go. When the project progresses, it is also a good idea to monitor the budget regularly to ensure that funds are used accordingly, and eventually to ensure that you have a functioning app on time and on budget.