App development cost

January 12, 2024

This article is to reveal the app development cost in Switzerland, Western Europe or in the world – a question we get all the time. It is a bit like asking ”How much does a movie cost?”. If a university student shoots it with a hand-held camera it is $200, if it is a Hollywood movie, then $200 million. It is just as hard to compare the cost of work to develop an app.

How much does an app development cost?

Short answer it is 300-1’000 hours of work to develop an app and you have to multiply by the app developers hourly fee.
Below you will find the details

Number and Type of Platforms for the App Development Cost estimate
iOS or Android – smartphone or tablets? These are all very different things, an iPhone and an Android development have very little in common. Which practically easily doubles the so-called front-end costs (=non-online element). If you need to optimize it for tablets, it adds extra hours on user interface & design.

Does your app have online functionality?
App developments consist of two main elements: front-end and back-end. The front-end is the “visible” part, it is the app’s user interface, the different screens that are displayed. If your app needs an online function. Like refreshing data from a web site, users logging in, users providing data that are stored centrally etc.. Then you also need a back-end, a server solution to develop an app. Most meaningful apps need a back-end. Therefore it adds significant development hours to your budget, so to the app development cost globally. In this case, also an API (application programming interface) is needed which makes the communication between the app and the back-end possible.

Hourly rates depending on who will develop your app
Freelancer, off-shore app agency or a European or Swiss agency.

Freelancers

They are the cheapest, they can be 50% of the regular agency hourly rate in Europe. But have you thought about who will coordinate their work? Without a professional project manager, you will need to synchronise the work of the designers, developers, as well as testers. There is a huge risk, people may disappear, many do it after their full-time jobs. If they can’t all meet the deadlines or provide the needed quality, the whole process can be stuck and it’s all wasted money. This can never happen with a coordinated team of professionals with proven quality solutions.

Indian off-shore agencies

You can choose a development team located outside of Europe, there are a lot of app developers in India. They work approximately 60-70% cheaper than the regular European, Swiss agency hourly rates. Challenges will be no face-to-face interactions, slow and difficult communication, time difference and little oversight on progress and quality. A lot of Clients approach us with a problem that the app doesn’t work and it turns out that it has to be re-developed from scratch.

Digital agencies based in Switzerland / Europe

There is a good selection of quality agencies to develop an app. Please note that a lot of full-service or web agencies claim they develop apps, in reality, they subcontract it to specialists. App developer agencies have a team of iOS, Android front-end developers, back-end developers, designers, as well as, project managers and account managers to ensure high quality and timely app deliveries. Western European agencies might work for 80-90% of Swiss rates.

How long does it take to develop an app?

A good app takes a long time to develop, as it involves phases of concept development, wireframe / user interface, design, coding, testing & uploading to Apple Store and Google Play.

Low complexity app

If it is one platform only (say iOS) and with low complexity, you can count 300-350 hours and 3 months to develop an app.

Medium complexity app

If you count with an iPhone & Android phone app with medium complexity, you can count with 150-200 hours for iOS, 150-200 hours for Android. And 150-200 hours for back-end development. Which gives you a total of 450-600 hours of development and roughly 4 months development time.

High complexity app

If your app has many special features, like in-app payment, user management, complex content management module, integration of 3rd party systems and a complex back-end, then the app development might be 750-1’000 hours as well.

Process and timing:

Creating a new application takes around 3-6 months, this depends on the complexity of the app. Our developer agency uses agile development (2-week sprints with defined development tasks) or the waterfall development method, which consists of 5 key steps:

Specification

2-4 weeks

Specifying the functions needed together with our customer

App design & Wireframe

2-4 weeks

Developing design and wireframe proposals

App development, coding

6-12 weeks

Developing the app after the approved design and wireframe

Testing and bug fixing

2 weeks

No stones unturned

Publishing the app in the App store & Google play

1 week

Mobile App Development References

Watches & Wonders

A complex event app for the biggest B2B watch exhibition

App

SMB

Groupe Mutuel

App for one of the biggest health insurance company

App

Big brand

Mazda

Discover Mazda CX-30 with an AR/VR app

AR/VR

Big brand

Check out the references

Swiss Tomato Digital Agency for your app development project

We have a lot of experience in web and app development. We have worked with NGO and non-profit sector clients, luxury brands, pharma industry, local SMBs or startups among others. Also very proud to be among the Top3 several times at awards like Best of Swiss Apps, Best of Swiss Web from 2015. We are very proud that we have won “Best Mobile App” in 2019 in Switzerland at the Meilleur du Web 2019 Award.

Awards

Proudly recognised as an award-winning mobile app development agency in Switzerland since 2015.

Functionality silver
user engagement bronze
innovation bronze
enterprise bronze
AR/VR Top 5

mobile winner
2× innovation top 4
3× mobile top 4

DEVELOPER OF AN
APPLE FEATURED APP
(TOP 0.2%)

and above all
– loved by clients

Please also visit our References page for more information on the projects and to see the diversity of the industries, type of websites and applications that we are working on.

We would be really happy to talk about any of them in order to be able to identify your needs. And to show you how we can be at your service regardless of the industry or the complicated design and technical requirements.