The Cost of Mobile Application development in Singapore

At this day and age, a mobile application is no longer something new or foreign to Singaporean businesses. It is almost a given that every service provider or product seller that uses some kind of online shopfront would have a mobile application to go along with it. As more people shift from the computer to mobile surfing for everyday tasks such as shopping, social media and leaving reviews, mobile applications are a near must for business survival.

In this Covid-19 period, the need for mobile applications are even more crucial as competition in the online marketplace will only become more and more competitive in the coming future. It is not a surprise to see a rise for people to use more mobile application services for their shopping and dining needs, since Covid-19 has placed a lot of restrictions on being physically shopping in stores and dining in restaurants. Even if we were to dine in restaurants, it is common for restaurants to provide us a digital menu through either a mobile, web application or website to take our orders.

Some businesses which have stuck to traditional ways find it hard to adapt to having a digital shopfront and the likes of using a mobile application to operate day-to-day tasks. Many are forced to change, and only after implementing the digital change, have they realise that it actually bring better business, and much more convenience.

All this being said, it is wise to develop a mobile application amidst this pandemic and tie up loose ends and move your business forward digitally. Having a simple-to-use mobile application, is a great first step. Now that we established the importance of having a mobile application, the next question would naturally be, “How much?”. The cost of mobile application development in Singapore obviously varies on the type of mobile application you want and the complexity of features in it. Another factor that could affect your price range could be the platform you want it to be on, example, for Android or iOS. Below are some guidelines about the types of mobile application and their estimated price range to give you a rough guideline and estimate about your mobile application investment.

1. Basic or Informative Mobile Applications

This is basically like a website, whereby static information is provided for the sole purpose of informing your end users. This is the basic type of mobile application that is great for first-timers and also good for establishing brand presence, by simply having the option of a mobile application for your customers. This would be the most affordable type of mobile application out of all the others. Something like this would range from $10,000 to $30,000 and increase as you add on more features.

2. eCommerce shopfronts

A mobile application that would revolve around your brand and allow for customers to purchase directly from your mobile application would cost you the likes of $12,000 to $50,000. This really depends on the complexity of your UX design and also the application interface. A lot of retailers, be it big or small, would fall into this category and need an eCommerce shopfront in the mobile application.

3. Location tracking Applications

If you need the function of geo-tagging in your mobile application, then it will fall under the category of location tracking applications. This type of application is more pricey than the average application because it has real-time location tracking features which requires access to certain servers. It is hard to put an exact range for this type of applications because it has a wide range of as little as $10,000 to $100,000. An example of a very extended version of this applications is Grab, where you can track different drivers’ location at the same time.

4. Social Media Applications

This is one we are all very familiar with. Example, Instagram and Facebook. Although they are so user-friendly, which is the whole point, they could cost quite a lot to develop. It is estimated that these social media applications could start at $50,000 and gets more expensive as features stack up. The reason for the hefty price is that a lot of users could be using it at the same time and data exchange has to be instantaneous.

5. Games

You might have guessed that this category would be one of the more expensive ones because of the simple fact that games are very complex, both in graphics and program.

To make an interactive game, a team of designers and animators is needed. This would add onto the cost of developing a gaming application which would be about $80,000 on average. Of course, with more detailed features like 3D, it will climb upwards of $100,000.

6. Business workflow management applications

There are mobile applications which bring convenience to employees in a company, and ease manager’s job of overseeing a big part of the business. The whole aim of this type of application is to increase productivity and communication within the company. There are  some fixed ones in the marketplace, as well as custom ones to fit the needs of every company.  The price of this in the market averages about $40,000 for simple manpower management and about $80,000 for document management. With additional features, it will also cost more.

Conclusion

Thankfully, at SGInteractive, we custom-make all our applications, including business workflow management mobile applications. This has the advantage of removing unnecessary functions or features that your business does not need. It would be more worth your every dollar because you essentially pay for only the features and functionalities that you need, as opposed to buying an entire pre-made and fixed workflow management application off the market.

Developing a mobile application takes a lot of time and planning towards it in order to produce an effective and usable application. This process should not be slighted and it is done best with professional advice and consultation. If you have further questions or would like to have a consultation for mobile app development, feel free to drop us your contact in our contact form and we could help you on-board this mobile app development process.