Breakdown and Estimation of web application development cost in 2023

Breakdown and Estimation of web application development cost in 2023

TABLE OF CONTENT

Question 1: What contributes to web application development costs?

Question 2: Web app development cost estimation

Question 3: Solutions to optimize web app development cost?

Conclusion

Question 1: What contributes to web application development costs?

As the figure shows above, there are several steps of web application and cost generating along the way.

Business Requirements and Business Analytics:

Do you know that 42% of product launches failed due to misleading business requirements and technical deliveries? The business owner may focus on something other than translating ideas into physical and workable documents for developers. That’s when the business analytics comes in.

In this step, we list our requirements and specifications for the developers. Each function and part of the web application must be clear and agreed upon on the definition of done. The main cost for this critical phase is also for conducting requirement documentation for development, which goes from 1,000 to 10,000 USD. 

Architecture & UI/UX Design

The second line of web application development cost goes to the price of architecture and UI/UX design. This web application development cost is attributed to the market research and formulating ideas cost. We all need to research our customer’s target, find out their tastes in digital experience, and bring it into the web design.

Then, we need to draw out the website’s wireframe, choosing the right technologies stack and the workflows of the web application. Some of the basic workflows in web app development conclude:

  • Sign-in and Sign Up
  • User onboarding
  • Product and Service Listing
  • Subscriptions
  • Cart and Purchase Check-in
  • Check-out Payment
  • Send and Receive Complaint
  • Loyalty Campaign

Most of our projects range from 1.000-20.000 USD for architecture design. The Undeniable Law is that the more complex your website application is, the more workflows that need to be designed and the more they add to your web application development cost. However, in this part, the significant cost goes to payment of the solution architecture or the chief technology officer of the project.

Project management

With a low web app development cost of under 20,000 USD and simple requirements, according to our experience, the business owner or account manager can define milestones and ensure delivery on time. On the contrary, with complex and large projects, there is a higher chance that you can only succeed with a project manager. They will schedule the timeline and person in charge of each function. Meanwhile, project management ensures the quality criteria and rules inserted into the product and works on the team’s productivity and communications.

Development

About ½ the total web application development cost falls into the development cost. It’s the value that changes according to the requirement’s complexity and the project’s urgency. You can hire full stack developers or frontend and backend developers, ranging from 15 USD to 60 USD per hour. It is highly recommended that start-ups and medium-sized companies use professional website development companies. In the other cases, website and app development costs must include the recruitment and operation fee. These charges add about 10-30% more to the total cost for development phases.

Testing 

You must test before you let your product go to customers. We aim to apply automation testing and continuous delivery for most projects related to website and app development costs. This is necessary because today’s digital products must constantly update new versions and bring new interpretations to users as soon as possible. The cost of testing automation in 2023 will be 15 USD -50 USD per hour.

Go live cost

  • Cloud Cost: This cost would go to your domain and server cloud provider, about 100- 2.000 USD per month charged into your website and app development cost. Popular cloud service providers are AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
  • CMS: or Content Management Systems, this cost goes to the platform your business uses to manage content and IT admin.
  • Development Platform & Tools Cost: Some coding programs and development platform is not free, and you also need to pay for those tools—top web development platform in 2023.
  • Security & Law Application: Some third parties will charge money to audit and ensure your web application meets basic security standards. Otherwise, you cannot put it on the Internet and reach customers.

Question 2: Web app development cost estimation

So, here is the reference cost estimation table for your business that I have compiled:

website-and-app-development-cost-estimation-table

Are there any hidden costs?

The process of web application development cost breakdown is transparent. However, some factors can affect website and app development costs. Change requests are one of those variants made by higher management levels. It would take additional time and effort to adapt to the new proposal, sometimes, pending the development process and re-schedule plans and double the cost of web application development. So, changing requests are not present and recommended in most website and app development projects. 

What is the average payment for developers in Southeast Asia?

Software engineers in Southeast Asia (SEA) are increasingly demonstrating their capabilities and experience at a global level. Therefore, you should expect a reasonable price. It could be inexperienced and low-quality developers. The popular payment level 2023 is from 15-50 USD, a price still competitive with the US and EU markets.

What are the differences between the backend, frontend, and full stack developers?

Using backend, frontend, or full stack depends mainly on your system design, quality, and time requirements. You can ask refer to from analysis team to better understand when building your web app development team.

What is the redesign web application development cost?

Custom web application development cost is the cost to develop and optimize a website application according to an existing sample or product. This can be understood as a unique project used in cases where the customer already has a template or a pre-built product and only wants to change certain features.

How much does custom web application development cost?

This cost depends on the complexity of the feature. This customization needs consulting services to ensure effectiveness and feasibility. The figure can range from 20,000 USD to 150,000 USD, or even more if the system must be applicable in enterprise platforms such as Oracle, SAP…

Website and app development costs of some products for your reference:

  • Netflix: Streaming website costs about 70.000- 100.000 USD to launch (https://usmsystems.com).
  • Udemy: Online video training platform costs from 76.500 to 120.000 USD to launch (https://www.vlinkinfo.com/ )
  • Amazon: The E-commerce portal is more complex and would cost over 80,000 USD to go live with the first version.

Question 3: Solutions to optimize web app development cost?

MVP Package

website-and-app-development-cost-Minimum-Viable-Product-MVP

MVP is short for Minimum Viable Product. MVP package is the version that has minimum features that are only enough to serve early adopters or users. The purpose of MVP development is to limit the web app development cost, shorten the time to market, and test the concept of the product with target customers. MVP development costs only as much as 10 to 50% of the whole web and application development cost and lasts under six months. At last, a business owner can research and understand their customers by MVP packages and continuously improve the product until it reaches its full potential.

End-to-end ITO Partner 

IT Outsourcing is popular among start-ups and SMEs today because of the low cost. You can save up about 70% of the development budget if partnering with ITO agencies in developing countries such as Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, etc. Middle developers in the United States are outsourcing at the average rate of 125 USD per hour, while the same level ones in Asia only cost about 18-42 USD per hour.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, website and app development cost consists of multiple parts and can account for a large amount of your business investment. So, it is hard to use the money wisely and well-prepared. Yet, you should remember that the important factor is money, on-time delivery, and stable performance- Which I would like to explain in another article.

AHT Tech is a young and dynamic technology ITO in Vietnam with more than 15 years of experience in website development for SMEs and Start-ups. Let us help you with website and application development services.