Is a thought of how much it costs to build an app always on your mind? I’ll bet that you have a brilliant idea while being on a tight budget. Many startups and early-stage companies face this problem. On the one hand, an application can bring sizable income and open a great variety of new opportunities. On the other hand, app development requires initial capital and vast investments. So, what to do in this situation? Different resources recommend raising capital through venture capital firms, angel investors, or partnerships. In our article, we will focus on the low cost app development and share with you some tips on how you can cut down expenses while developing your application. So, let’s get started.
- Thorough market research
Market research is a rather time-consuming and effortful but still necessary stage of your app development. Yes, this process may seem to be quite boring, but you should not ignore it. Proper research provides you with valuable information and enables you to detect market gaps, study and evaluate similar apps, and identify burning problems, needs, and expectations of your future users. Knowledge is power. With these insights, you can accurately assess how innovative and useful your app concept is and tweak it if needed. Besides, you can identify your target auditory and its needs and accordingly develop your application. It is essential to understand what your users want in order not to waste money on useless things.
- Focusing on the core features
There is no need to develop an app with a ton of various features and options, especially if you are not sure whether it will be well-received and profitable. Instead, you should focus on the exact service you intend to provide. An overabundance of features can confuse your users and will cost you a fortune. First of all, implement the core features, and in case of success, continuously enrich your app with more features that will be useful for your users.
- Cross-platform app development
If you have found out that your target audience uses either the iOS or Android platform, there is no need to develop two separate app versions for each platform and pay more. In this case, cross-platform app development can be the cost-effective and best way to build an app. Cross-platform apps require fewer staff-hours and are accessible to major platforms while working and looking like native apps.
- App development company
Your decision on which app development company to hire also makes a difference in the overall app development cost.
A freelancer’s development services may cost you less, but eventually, you will need to deal with all the hidden costs and associated challenges. Partnership with a reliable app development company may cost you more, but you will face less hassle and risks.
In this situation, you should carefully consider all cons and pros and make your decision. However, It might be better to hire one of the best offshore app development companies. For example, the services of development companies from Eastern Europe usually cost less while their quality is not worse.
- Continuous Testing
Even being on a tight budget, it is not recommended to cut corners on manual testing services. Moreover, your app should be continuously tested from the early stages of software development till its end. The decision to start your app testing at the end of the development process can cost you quality and money, as in this case, it is more difficult and expensive to fix bugs. Continuous app testing during all software development stages enables you to cut down development expenses in the long term and deliver an app of high quality. That is why look for an app development company that tests software at each development stage.
- The agile methodology of software development
The agile methodology enables a fast development process, compliance with project requirements, and budget control. Due to the iterative nature of this methodology, you can, first of all, develop the core functionality of your app and then gradually add the secondary features. This approach helps reduce either time or cost.
- Minimum custom graphics and processes
If you want to customize a user interface and animations for your application, it will cost a pretty penny. So, to save some money, opt for a standard interface and animations. However, you can still develop some custom elements if they are indeed necessary.
As you see, a meager budget is not a reason to postpone your app development. There are some tricks that can help you save some money without loss of quality. So, consider our pieces of advice on how to create mobile app and start to turn your dream into reality.
