How Much Does Front-End Development Cost?

For the companies planning to build an app, the first logical step is to question how much the development will cost. Unfortunately, there is no fixed price for building a mobile or web application.

The reason is that the cost is based on many factors from the number and complexity of features you want to utilize in your app to design complexity and the number of platforms (iOS, Android, Web).

Therefore, there can be only a rough estimate that you’ll have to rely on when looking for a development team. In this article, we’ll explain what criteria you should look into to understand how much front-end development approximately costs.

1. App Type

Before searching for price lists and front-end development specialists, the first thing you need to do is evaluate the scope of your project and decide on the type of your app and the features you want to include in it. 

The app type depends on where you’re planning to keep your application. It can be a desktop type installed on a computer, a mobile app stored on mobile gadgets, or a web app that runs on a web server. The app type also defines the features that you can include in your app. For example, for a desktop app, you’ll need an installer while for a web app you will need to develop a responsive web design to neatly display it on any device other than a mobile phone. 

Let’s have a closer look at app types and why you may need to choose a particular one to better suit your business objectives:

• A desktop application is a computer-based software program that doesn’t require any internet connection to execute its functions. It can run serious algorithms on the client’s device without any computing support from a server. 
• A mobile application is an app developed for running on small gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, or smartwatches. Mobile apps started as simple assisting programs such as checking email programs, calendars, and others which you could download from App Store for iOS or Google Play Store for Android.

When you consider to develop a mobile app, keep in mind that its cost will depend on the number of platforms you want to deploy it on since each platform will require an independently developed app architecture that suits its properties. 

• Web applications run on web browsers hence they don’t require installation from app stores and users don’t have to update them to get the latest version. Web apps are generally cheaper to develop and launch than mobile apps. What is more, they are accessible from any device and run faster. One more considerable advantage is that their content is included in Google’s search results.

On the other hand, web apps are not as rich in features as mobile apps, they can be dependable on the internet connection as they rely on server support, and have fewer advertising opportunities as they aren’t represented in any app store. 

2. Essential Features 

The essential features you want to include in your website or application determine the final price:

• the number of pages;
• adaptiveness, which means that your website or app will be displayed on different devices differently;
• scalability how well your website can handle the growing number of users;
• design complexity that includes: navigation, animation, graphic design, transitions between pages or blocks, and others.

There is a wide range of UI/UX design elements you can embed into your application. At this point, you should consider which ones are the most essential and allocate costs in the best possible way.

3. Front-End Development Team

Front-end development costs depend heavily on your team that can include a different number of developers with varying proficiency levels. The number of specialists involved in a project depends on its complexity – the more sophisticated the product is, the more specialists you will need.

A junior front-end developer knows the fundamentals of website design such as CSS, HTML, jQuery, and can manage CMS but usually doesn’t possess in-depth knowledge in any of the spheres. Therefore, they won’t be able to build a custom application with rich functionality and will depend on the support of middle and senior developers. On the other hand, juniors handle simple and repetitive operations well, which can be beneficial if you want to cut costs. For example, instead of hiring a seasoned developer to do monotonous work, you could assign it to a less experienced specialist. 

The average hourly rate for front-end development depends on developers’ skills and location. For instance, the cheapest price you can find worldwide starts from $5 per hour in India. They have a competitive software development market that dumps the prices, making them more attractive, however, the product quality may be questionable. The highest rates can be found in the US with $64 per hour and Australia with $47 per hour.

The most attractive option, in this case, is turning to Eastern European countries as they provide the best value for money. An hourly rate for a junior front-end developer starts from $21 per hour. In comparison to India, Africa, or Asian countries, the cultural differences are minor. What is more, IT employees can easily adapt to time zones for the US or Western Europe and have high proficiency in English and strong educational background. 

Middle to senior front-end developers have in-depth knowledge and wide experience of building products of varying complexity. They can analyze business requirements and suggest ways to develop certain features more efficiently. 

As with junior front-end developers, hourly rates for middle to senior front-end developers depend on their location. For example, in the US a middle developer will cost you $77 per hour and a senior one costs $89 per hour. Australian middle developers for $58 per hour and senior for $71 per hour. While in Eastern Europe you can find a middle developer starting from $24 per hour.  

4. Vendor Type

Vendor type is another factor that greatly influences the front-end development cost and, as a result, the cost of an entire product. The thing is that front-end development is a part of the complex app development process that also includes design and back-end development so it doesn’t really make sense to hire a team to do only front-end development. Therefore, you’ll have to choose between establishing an in-house development team and hiring a third-party development company or freelancers. You may ask which vendor type is better. To choose the right option, you should consider your business objectives first.

• In-house software development can be rather costly but it perfectly suits big projects with large budgets that require close communication with the development team.
• Outsourcing to freelancers could be a great solution for those who want to develop an app with simple functions because such apps can be built by one person or a small team. 
• Outsourcing to a software development company is a viable option if you need to build a complex app with rich functionality since they have a full set of roles inside the team including UI/UX designers and back-end developers. These companies usually offer full-cycle development when a client provides business requirements and the development team handles the whole process of app development. 

Conclusion

The cost of software development is the number one thing that businesses need to consider when deciding on building their own business application. However, it’s not that easy to estimate the cost as it depends on lots of factors. These include the business app objectives, the scope of the project, team proficiency, the number of specialists involved, and the type of a vendor you’ll choose to build your app. 

The easiest way to estimate your app cost is to contact software development experts. They will analyze your project and suggest ways to reduce the total development cost.