Social media mobile apps are must-haves for any established social platform or community looking to better engage users. However, developing custom social apps requires a significant investment of time and capital. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll examine the key factors that determine social media app development costs.
Before diving into the costs, it’s worthwhile looking at why social media sites and communities need to invest in custom mobile apps in addition to their web presence:
Increased Engagement - Apps enable push notifications to drive habitual daily usage. Mobile apps have 5x higher user retention rates than websites.
Differentiated Experience - Apps allow delivering UI/UX tailored to mobile that’s smoother than a mobile web version. This improves stickiness.
Access Offline - Apps can work offline and sync data later. This allows usage with limited connectivity. Web relies on constant connectivity.
Tapped Into Native Features - Apps can use full native device capabilities like camera, geolocation, Apple/Google Pay, Siri shortcuts, etc.
Improved Discoverability - Apps appear in major app marketplaces where users actively search for new apps. Easier to discover than just via the web.
User Growth - The typical benchmark is +10% more monthly active users and 2x higher engagement for apps vs just the web.
Monetization - More engaged users and the ability to test in-app purchases, premium tiers, etc leads to higher monetization.
Data Access - Mobile apps provide fuller technical data on user engagement behaviors compared to the web.
Branding - Well-designed apps strengthen brand image and mindshare through valuable real estate on users’ home screens.
For these reasons, social platforms need mobile apps in addition to mobile-optimized websites to fulfill their true potential. But how much should you budget for social media app development?
Social media app development costs can vary widely based on the app's complexity and the features required. Here are the key determinants of the overall cost of building a custom social app:
Supporting both major mobile platforms - iOS and Android - is a must for reaching all users. This requires either building two native apps or a cross-platform app using tools like React Native. Expanding to tablet support raises scope too.
A customer-facing social app for end users is just one part. Many social platforms also need admin/moderation apps, separate apps for content creators, and APIs for third-party integrations: the more app types, the greater the overall complexity.
More UI/UX customization driven by brand requirements raises design time versus using configurable templates and standard UI elements. Custom illustrations and animations also add costs.
Capabilities like advanced analytics, gamification, messaging, groups, friend discovery, multimedia content, AI recommendations, editing tools, etc all add development work beyond basic browsing, liking, and commenting features.
Supporting diverse media like video, audio, images, live streaming, Story copies, and more adds complexity for managing, rendering, embedding, optimizing, and sharing mixed content types.
Highly tailored experiences based on user data and behavior, content recommendations, notifications, deep linking, etc require significant backend logic beyond generic flows.
API integration with other tools for things like analytics, communication, content management, and infrastructure services involves additional development and maintenance.
Measures like role-based access, moderation capabilities, restrictions on data access, and encryption if sensitive info expands an app’s security considerations and testing required.
If new server-side infrastructure is needed to host and deliver social content, comments, digital assets, user data, etc this adds major setup costs beyond just the mobile apps.
Given the variables involved, social media app development costs can range from tens of thousands to millions based on the app's scale and functionality. Some typical cost ranges:
A basic social app with features for creating a profile, posting photos/updates, following other users, and commenting could be built for $30,000 to $70,000.
This assumes 1-2 platforms, relatively simple features, and off-the-shelf infrastructure.
The expanded features and infrastructure for multimedia content raise the costs.
For an organization, university, or workplace building their own large-scale internal social network with custom features aligned to their needs, costs often exceed $150,000+.
Rigorous security controls, custom designs aligned to brand guidelines, and complex integrations influence costs.
For very large public social media apps with millions of users, development budgets can run into the millions. But for most organizations, the above ranges cover common scenarios.
When commissioning social app development, apply the following practices to optimize costs:
Build a minimal viable product (MVP) first with core features only
Use agile process to add functionality iteratively
Carefully prioritize must-have features and defer nice-to-haves
Consider configurable no-code app builders before custom development
Use templated and reusable components over extensive one-off UI code
Evaluate cloud-based app templates that get you 80% there faster
Use platform ecosystems like Apple’s CoreML for prebuilt components
Allocate budget for effective app store optimization (ASO)
Plan for ongoing costs beyond launch: server fees, maintenance, enhancements
Building the perfect social app people love using requires striking the right balance between budget considerations and usability. Focus energy on optimizing the most important user journeys and social interactions at launch, then evolve from there.
Beyond the major technical factors, there are some "hidden" costs that social media platforms often underestimate or overlook when budgeting for app development:
Attracting users to download and consistently use your app requires significant marketing spend for advertising, optimizing app store listings, social promotion, and branding. Allocate at least 15-20% of the development costs for user acquisition.
Extensive real-user testing is required to catch bugs and UX issues before launch. Maintaining apps also requires ongoing resources for fixing issues and monitoring crashes. These personnel costs add up.
App usage will likely exceed initial server capacity estimates. Plan for expanding cloud infrastructure to support growth in users, bandwidth, and data storage needs over time.
Once released, stakeholders will inevitably request enhancements and changes based on user feedback and new initiatives. This continuous improvement process has perpetual costs.
As Apple, Google, and other platforms issue OS updates and API changes, your apps will require updating and testing to maintain compatibility and stay compliant.
Long-term app sustainability requires periodically refactoring code or reframing architectures that have accumulated excessive technical debt. This involves larger investments.
Avoiding these hidden costs is difficult, but anticipating them allows more accurate budget planning. Work closely with development teams to capture all considerations beyond just app builds.
Once a social media app launches and gains traction, ongoing costs accumulate over time:
App store annual fees - $99 for iOS, $25 for Android
Added infrastructure to scale - $200+ monthly
Ongoing developer costs - $5000+ monthly average
New feature enhancements - $1500+ per item
Fixing bugs and issues - $2000+ monthly
API costs like bandwidth usage fees - Variable
Marketing and user acquisition - 15-20% of dev cost
Technical debt paydown - Occasional larger investments
Plan not just for launch costs but also annual budget for improvements and technical upkeep.
While ongoing costs are inevitable, focus on the following areas to optimize expenses over the lifespan of your social apps:
Institute a structured intake process for new feature requests based on product roadmap priorities. Limiting scope creep prevents uncontrolled cost growth.
Monitor traffic, storage, and bandwidth needs diligently each month. Right-size cloud capacity based on actual usage trends rather than guesswork.
Automated testing reduces QA time otherwise spent manually validating new features and upgrades. This optimizes dev team productivity.
Audit if development teams are right-sized for ongoing needs. Scale up or down depending on volume and types of enhancement requests.
Analyze usage metrics constantly for insights to guide UX enhancements and new capabilities that will maximize user value.
With some discipline around smart processes and capacity planning, post-launch social app costs can be managed without sacrificing innovation.
Let’s summarize the main learnings on budgeting for successful social media app development:
Supporting both major mobile platforms increases costs
More custom designs and branding raise development time
Advanced features beyond basics expand the scope significantly
Integrations with third-party tools add complexity
Factor in any needed content infrastructure beyond just mobile apps
Phased rollouts allow launching with critical features first
Ongoing costs beyond launch like enhancements, marketing need planning
"Hidden" costs also need inclusion like testing, infrastructure, technical debt
Social apps can require considerable capital, but increased user engagement invests pays off long-term. Focus on delivering core social interactions first before considering advanced ancillary functionality.
FAQs
What features have the biggest impact on cost?
For social apps, capabilities like gamification, content recommendations, algorithmic feeds, and advanced analytics add the most development time over basic posting/sharing features.
Should we build native apps or cross-platform?
Cross-platform apps built with React Native or Flutter can reduce costs by 25-30% compared to native iOS and Android. But ensure UX fluidity is not compromised.
How much do visual designs affect the cost?
Significant visual customization based on brand guidelines could account for up to 35% of dev time versus configurable templates. Limit custom animations and effects.
What is the typical timeline?
MVP social app development takes 3-5 months. Launching to the app stores adds 1-2 months. Building in phases extends the timeline but allows launching with critical features sooner.
How important is UX design?
Inadequate UX causes social app abandonment. Invest in UX experts for prototype testing and addressing usability issues early, before they require expensive rework.
Should we start with an MVP?
Yes, launch with just the core feature set for your needs before considering advanced functionality. Add capabilities iteratively in future phases based on user feedback.
How much do developers typically charge?
Average social app dev team hourly rates range from $50/hour for simpler apps to $150/hour+ for complex projects, based on experience level.
What ongoing costs are involved?
Plan for app store fees, marketing budgets for user acquisition, monthly server fees, and 15-20% of initial dev cost annually for enhancements and bug fixes.
How can we control long-term costs?
Institute clear processes for requesting new features based on priority. Limit enhancement requests to control scope creep. Monitor server usage monthly and optimize plans.
Is custom development required?
Some configurable no-code app builders like Appian and BettyBlocks allow the creation of social apps without extensive custom coding for simpler needs.
