Today, we will be going over a very popular question on people’s minds, how much does custom software development cost? The answer is, several factors affect it. Fortunately, we will be able to give you some pointers that will shed some clarity on this question. Below are the various factors that will go into the cost of custom software development.
Table of Contents
Platforms
The first aspect is the number of platforms. This could include desktop, web, iOS, and Android. If you’re developing for iOS and Android, you might need those apps to be on smartphones or tablets, or both. Therefore, you will need to do your research to understand what platforms your users are going to be on and ensure you’re only building on those platforms. It’s also important to look at the potential of building cross-platform. There are technologies out there that will allow you to develop your app once and then deploy your app to the web, iOS, or Android. Cross-platform have their pros and cons, but you still need to consider this when you’re building your application.
App Features
When it comes to app features, you need to think about how many pages there are. For example, if you need a thousand pages within a web app, it will cost you significantly more than if you only need two pages. Hopefully, you will have some economy of scale once you get up to those numbers, but keep your page count in mind.
Furthermore, you will want to consider the complexity in those pages and the functionality that the app does. The more complicated your app is, the longer it’s going to take to build, which will result in a higher cost. You will also have to factor in known and unknowns.
Therefore, look at what has been built before and what hasn’t. Typically, unknowns take longer, and when you have a quote built, the company will likely have a contingency percentage added. Then, if the company has done work similar to your app, they put a low contingency percentage fee.
Timeline
On a basic level, if you’re in hurry and you need to cram a lot of time in a short period, that will cost you more. However, if you’re app is rushed, then sometimes you will have to re-build your app. So, that could increase your costs in the end.
Waterfall/Agile
Waterfall is more traditional when it comes to project management and methodology, where you plan start to finish in what’s called a Gantt chart. This will help you understand how things will be done and in what order. Generally, you get a solid timeline and budget when you start.
The alternative is Agile, which is a more modern way of running projects. This process is broken up into weekly sprints, and all you’re doing is looking at what sprint you’re on, and you’re trying to manage budget across the whole project to ensure you come in on time. The challenge with this is that you’re only focusing on what you need to at the moment, and you may spend too much of the budget by the time you realize you still have a lot of the project that still needs to be completed.
Updates/Maintenance
So once your app has gone live, you will need to consider what updates or maintenance you need. This will also include the kind of server support you will need and any tweaks to be done to the application. Therefore, you will need to look at the project over a year since that will become a high cost down the road.
In Summary
On a final note, it’s essential to understand the process of custom software development. It may seem pretty straightforward at first, but it’s much more complicated than what it may seem at the first point of view. When it comes to software development, many technical and non-tech factors need to be considered before the app process begins.
Lastly, custom software development can be a massive benefit to your company. It offers you the flexibility to do more with your app in the way you want to without limitations of app building software. Ecodelogic is one of the best software companies in Orlando.
