Are you paying too much for an app developer? (or are you getting a deal?)
Mobile App Development – What trend to watch out for and how much to pay!
Every day, on the ContractIQ platform we get a dozen inquiries from small businesses and startups that are building their first app. The overwhelming emotion is that of caution and nervousness – Am I working with the right app developer? Am I paying right? Do I need such an expensive proposition now?
App Development Pricing need not be a secret. We just took the lid off!
Being a marketplace that tracks over 10000 app development agencies from Los Angeles to Lativa and San Francisco to Singapore, we have unprecedented access to how app development studios price themselves and how developers differ in terms of skills and how that has an impact on their pricing.
With these insights, we publish an annual report on app development trends and pricing intelligence.
Without much ado, let’s jump into the numbers.
How to understand these numbers as a buyer
In every market in the world, app developers fall under 3 categories:
Tier 1: Very Qualified; CTO material; Solves complex technology challenges
Tier 2 : Above Average Developers ; Good at developing to specifications
Tier 3: Below Average; Messy code
The price variance between the Type 1 and Type 3 in any market is 3x. The price variance between the Type 1 in the US and Type 3 in Asia is about 30x.
Not all apps or software products need a Tier 1 app developer. In most cases, with some hands-on involvement from you, a Tier 2 app developer would do well. You’d have to plan for an overhead right at the start, wherein you’d share the requirements in detail. At the end of the project, you’d plan the test coverage and act like a product manager who checks out all the scenarios and directs the bug fixing cycle.
The challenge for you is to find out who is a Tier 1 vendor and who is a Tier 2 vendor. With experience, you could pick a top tier 2 vendor who’d be as good as a Tier 1 vendor but at a price that’s 30% cheaper.
To save you from the lack of experience in picking such app developers, ContractIQ assigns an account manager for you, to understand your context and pick the right developer for that context.
We’ve discussed the pricing trends for all major mobile development platforms, how SDKs are cutting down the need for custom development and many more related trends that would help you make informed decisions.
We also discuss how the market is segmented from the perspective of the app developers and how healthy their businesses are.
You can download the detailed mobile app development report (2015) for these insights.
