A limited budget is one of the main reasons some businesses fail to increase their revenue as fast as they wish to, as they feel they can’t afford to redirect some financial resources towards developing a new project even though the ROI of that project might be higher than any other sales channel they use. This is usually the case with mobile app development – companies tend to think that developing an app is too costly and they end up losing amazing business opportunities. However, there are some tips you can follow in order to reduce the costs of building an app without having to sacrifice the quality – here’s our advice:

Start with must-have features – MVP

The first version of your app should include only those features which are most necessary for the target audience, so make sure that before contacting a mobile app development team you find out what do your customers really need from the app and start developing based on these must-have features – in other words, you’ll create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with a minimal cost that will allow you to attract customers and investors in order to test your idea while helping you collect feedback to improve the product. 

Focusing your efforts on essential features will save a good amount of budget, as well as help you to better communicate with your development team and reduce rework thanks to having a clear understanding of the project requirements – from the app’s goals to its features, timeline and milestones. Don’t worry, you can always implement the nice-to-have features in the following versions of the app. 

Did you know? Foursquare, Uber, and Snapchat are some of the most famous apps which started as MVPs.

Outsource to experts

Although you may think that an in-house app development team might be the solution for reducing the costs of your project, the truth is that if you don’t already have in-house programmers, app UI/UX designers and QA testers, the costs associated with hiring, training and proving them the technical requirements will soon prove to be much higher than just contracting an offshore mobile development company.

Outsourcing to a software development team that has proven experience in your industry, as well as access to the latest technologies, will provide a competitive advantage and will guarantee the delivery of an app that has impeccable user experience while helping you reduce mobile app development costs. 

Pro tip: Choose an Eastern European software development company, as they are well-known for the high-quality services they provide for half the costs as a company from the US or the UK.
Choose your engagement model wisely

If you’ve decided to outsource your mobile app development project, when planning the budget you’ll need to decide on the engagement model that works best for your type of project – usually, there are two main options:

Models based on effort

In this pricing model, you have two options: agree with your offshore app development company on an overall fixed price for building an MVP (which guarantees a predefined budget for your project) or agree on an hourly or monthly rate, case in which you can always change the requirements.

Models based on team organization

If you already have an in-house team of developers but for completing this project you know you’ll need more resources, this model allows you to hire a remote software development team and skip the time-consuming recruitment process.

Choose the platform for your mobile app

Now that you know who will develop your app and what must-have features will offer, you will need to choose the right app development platform, as this highly influences the costs of your mobile app development process. 

In order to choose a platform (Android or iOS), you’ll need to find out which is the preferred one in your target market. Android has a significantly higher market share than iOS but is harder to work with, while iOS users are considered to be wealthier and more eager to make online purchases.

What you can do is ask your nearshore software development agency to build a cross-platform app that is usually 40% cheaper than developing a native app that requires using specific programming languages like Kotlin or Java for Android or Swift and Objective-C for iOS.

Invest in QA

Investing money and attention into the quality assurance process will allow you to launch a bug-free app, avoiding additional costs after the release as well as the brand image risks associated with negative feedback from the early adopters.

There are indeed lots of factors that can impact the costs of developing an app, but you can significantly reduce mobile app development costs if you choose to focus on essential features and start with an MVP. And with the right team of software developers, you will be able to get the most out of your investment without sacrificing quality.