Calculating the amount of money you need to develop a Flutter application is tricky. There are numerous factors that can affect the total cost of development, such as the size and complexity of the app, the number of features, the level of customization, and more. In addition, the cost of developing a Flutter app can vary depending on the region where the developers are located. For example, developers in the US or UK will typically charge more than developers in other parts of the world.
Moreover, determining the cost of your flutter app will depend, in part, on the resources you have within your development team. If you are hiring a third-party Flutter development agency, they should be able to give you a rough estimate of how much it will cost to develop your flutter app. To calculate the cost of developing a flutter app, you need to consider the cost of the app’s design, development, and deployment.
We are going to discuss all these factors in a bit more detail but first, let us get an idea of why Flutter is the first choice for cross-platform app development.
What makes Flutter special?
Flutter is a free and open-source mobile UI framework created by Google and released in 2018. Flutter allows developers to write one codebase and use it to create iOS, Android, web, and desktop apps. Moreover, Flutter apps are written in the Dart programming language and run on the Dart VM.
But Flutter is a popular choice for building cross-platform apps due to its fast development cycle, expressive and flexible UI, and native performance. Consequently, you can reap benefits such as;
- Seamlessly render the same UI and business logic across platforms;
- Hot reload and ready-to-use widgets enable high customization, reducing the development time;
- Flutter does not rely on intermediate code representations, eliminating performance bugs in the interpretation process;
- You can customize anything you see, even animated UI, irrespective of complexity;
- Ready-to-use plugin baked by Google to integrate OS-level features, such as Bluetooth, GPS, Camera, etc.
What is the Flutter development cost composed of?
Developing your app with Flutter does reduce development time and effort and, thus, cost. However, for efficient budgeting, you need to understand basic things, constituting the Flutter app development cost just like normal app development.
Intricacy of your App
In addition to the number of features, developers’ rate, and supported platforms, other factors decide the complexity level and, thereby, the app development cost, such as:
- Admin Panel Development
- Deployment Architecture Model
- Third-Party Integration
- Integration with the Enterprise.
Your app can then be categorized as simple, medium, or highly complex, depending on your app requirements concerning these factors. Ultimately, based on the standard Flutter development rate:
- If your app requires simple features, such as a search option, notifications, and chat support, you can expect the cost to be around $25000 to $35000;
- And if your app requires a bit complex functions, such as user login, payment gateways, and in-app messenger, it can cost you anywhere between $35000 to $50000;
- But if you want to develop a Flutter app driven by cutting-edge technology like AI, ML & IoT with customized and dynamic UI/UX, you better be ready for the cost ranging from $50000 to $70000 or more.
Hardware connection
While the cost of developing an app will vary depending on a number of factors, one important factor to consider is the hardware features of the app. Certain hardware features, such as a camera or GPS, can impact the overall cost of developing an app. This is because these features require additional time and effort to integrate into the app.
So, if you are planning to develop an app that uses hardware features, it is essential to factor this into your overall budget. Otherwise, you may be surprised by the final cost of your app.
Category your app belongs to
Social media apps like Instagram differ from mobile healthcare apps, and just like these apps, their features and functionality vary depending on their type. That makes the type of app a significant influencing factor for the app development cost. Because your app may need special features as per your industry-specific target audience and the problem it aims to solve. After listing out your app features, you can reflect on the app complexity level and allocate the budget accordingly.
App Designing
App designing contains everything you see and can interact with on the app. And Flutter offers a barrel of customizable widgets, allowing you to design the utmost user-friendly and easy-to-navigate app with minimal effort. Yet, you will need to hire experienced Flutter developers with a knack for using this UI framework in your favor. Though it is faster to experiment with Flutter, you require to conduct a couple of iterations and usability testing. Not to mention, user research and creating a clickable prototype also add up the cost.
Technology advantage
More and more, businesses are requiring their apps to have features like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and AI. While these features can undoubtedly add value to an app, they also come with a high price tag.
AR, VR, and AI are all cutting-edge technologies and are very expensive to implement. At least for startup apps. If you want to include any of these features in your app, you should be prepared to spend a significant amount of money on development.
In addition to the cost, there are also maintenance and support costs associated with such technology-based features. As these technologies evolve, you will need to keep your app up-to-date.
Maintenance
App development is not a one-shot solution, and neither is the cost. In other words, there will be many development-related tasks even after launching your app, such as;
- App updates at periodic intervals
- Updating and modifying app design
- Fixing app bugs and optimizing performance
We call it app maintenance to sustain high performance and keep up with industry trends. Investment in-app maintenance yields more users, conversions, and revenue.
Calculating an average cost of Flutter app development
To calculate the cost of developing a Flutter app, all you need is to take the hourly rate of a developer and multiply it by the number of hours they will work on your project. The average hourly rate for a Flutter developer is $20/hour. So if you have a project that will take 100 hours to complete, then the cost of developing your app will be $5,000.
Now, let us drill down the Flutter app development cost, considering the average hourly rate.
Flutter App Development Cost For Transport Apps
Features:
- Sign up
- Sign in (by email and Facebook)
- User profile
- Payment system
- Push notifications
- Ride booking
- Ride payment + coupons
- Driver’s side
Average time taken – 462 – 632 hours
Average Cost ($20/h) $20,000 – $31,600
Cost to build a Flutter Video Streaming Apps
Basic features:
- Sign up
- Sign in (by email and Facebook)
- Personal profile
- Player integration
- Stream management (launch/shutdown, set bitrate)
- Search system
- Streaming protocols
- Payment gateway
- Channel management
- Push notifications
Average time take – 760 – 914 hours
Average Cost ($20/h) – $25,000 – $45,700
Cost of Flutter Messenger App development
Basic Features
- Registration
- Log in
- Chatting
- Sending media files, i.e., photos, videos, documents
- Voice Messages
- Group chats
- Camera and microphone for voice & video calls
- Real-time Notifications
- Theme customization
Average time taken – 699 – 950 hours
Average Cost ($20/h) – $20,000 – $47,500
Hey, there is no real app developed with these features and at these costs. The calculation was just to help you understand the concept practically. But you can list out necessary features like this and consult with Flutter developers to get a more accurate estimation.
Say yes to cost-effective Flutter!
So, that’s the Flutter app development cost decoding, which is pretty much similar to any other app development. However, with Flutter, you have the added advantage of creating faster and more personalized apps than any other cross-platform framework.
Moreover, with every update, Flutter makes building multiple apps from a single codebase more effortless and accurate. So, if you build the Flutter app today, you will be able to exploit all its new features just by updating your app without losing any functionality or performance.
The demand for hiring Flutter developers is snowballing as Flutter cross-platform SDK is rising. So, you better start hunting your Flutter development team today before your rival snatches them.
