How Much Does It Cost To Design an App? A Detailed Guide

• UI/UX
• August 2, 2024

by Bhumi Goklani

Designing a mobile app involves navigating a complex landscape of factors that can significantly impact costs. From app complexity and platform choice to geographical location and design tools, every decision shapes your budget. Our comprehensive guide dives into discovering how much does it cost to design an app, cost optimization strategies, and expert insights that will help you budget wisely and invest in a design that stands out in the crowded mobile app market.

So, you have decided to design your mobile app! Let’s guess, what will be your first question? “How to design a mobile app?” Naah! Then? The majority of users would first search (as per Google’s 10K – 100K monthly searches) for “how much does it cost to design an app?”

Based on the generalized overview, you can expect the mobile app design cost to range from $3,000 to $50,000 or even more than that.

Understanding the breakdown of mobile app design costs is important, especially considering that global consumer mobile app spending was around $171 billion in 2023. This study can help in budgeting the app design spend by considering users’ spending behavior.

Be it lesser or higher cost estimation, it all can depend on various affecting factors. Hence, we’ve outlined this blog in a way that helps you get a detailed breakdown of mobile app design cost, ideal investment strategies, and optimization strategies to design an app without scaling your budget.

How Much Does It Cost To Design An App?

The average cost to design a mobile app ranges from $3,000 to $50,000+. However, you cannot overlook the factors affecting the mobile app design cost.

App complexity, research behind the target users, and long-term goals could be some of the many factors.

So, let’s take a closer look at the breakdown of mobile app design costs based on the various associated design factors and considerations.

1. Custom App Design Type

Custom app design includes the requirement of designing app interfaces from scratch. The requirement for the custom app design type can vary on how you’re scoping your design understanding.

With custom mobile app design, you can have control over the design cost by scoping the customization levels. This also gives brands the freedom to customize the design as per their branding guidelines.

On the downside, designers may require to give extra effort for the custom app design, which can be one of the factors of cost inclusion.

For the custom app design project, you may also need to put extra efforts in searching to hire UI/UX designers who can understand the nuances of the custom design and portray what you’ve thought of.

If we differentiate the customization as per complexity;

• A simple app design would include basic functionalities and minimal custom elements.
• Medium complex app design would include more features and custom elements.
• Complex app designs are extensively tailored based on unique demands and require lots of brainstorming as well as some of the difficult design elements.

2. Platform-specific Mobile App Design

This is one more custom category you can include – native app design, as it can vary depending on the platform you’re designing the interface for.

When designing mobile apps, it’s essential to consider how the design will adapt to different platforms, such as iOS and Android. Each platform has its own design guidelines, user expectations, and interaction methods, which influence how the app is perceived and used.

When designing for iOS apps, designers have to emphasize clarity differences and depth. Design elements can include navigation bars, tab bars, and gestures.

When designing for Android apps, designers have to consider Google’s Material Design principles, which focus on bold colors, responsive animations, and grid-based layouts. It encourages touch feedback and emphasizes the use of space.

Mobile apps can also be accessible to tablets, so designers also have to make the design responsive to varying mobile screens and tablet screen sizes.

In UX design terms, mobile app designs are also done based on touch gesture supportability specific to native platforms, offering users interactive elements that are comfortably sized for fingers and give them intuitive gestures.

The navigation structure of the mobile app should be designed considering limited screen space. Common patterns include hamburger menus, bottom navigation bars, and tab bars, which help users access core functionalities quickly.

Hence, based on platform, you can expect mobile app design cost, somewhere between $3,000 – $50,000 or more. Refer the below table to know further cost break ups:

3. App Design Team and Efforts Considerations

Here, app design complexity is divided into multiple factors, including the number of specialists to be associated with the design project, the number of screens to be designed, and the number of features that the design must showcase in the interface. Depending on the complexity of each, the design cost varies. Let’s know how:

Number of Specialists Working On Design

Generally, for a full-fledged mobile app design project, a project manager is assigned to take care of collaboration between the clients and designers. They ensure that the project processes have a smooth flow. To make that happen, you’d need a team working on:

• User persona
• Information architecture
• Wireframing
• Prototyping and then developing appealing user interfaces
• Testing user interface and making adjustments accordingly

If you go on for hiring design specialists individually, you can expect the hourly hiring costs like:

Number of Roles Using the App

For example, an app could have more than one type of audience using it. For example, a video streaming app could have two roles – Adult & Kids; an educational/learning management app could have two roles – Instructor/Teacher and Student; an on-demand app could have three roles – Service Provider, Consumer, and Admin; and so on.

Each role can add up to the cost of designing a mobile app and research done around that.

Such types of apps with multiple user roles can cost in the range of $8,000 – $50,000 or more, depending on the app design complexity.

Number of Screens

Your mobile app design doesn’t end with one screen only. It also requires different screens for specific actions and destinations. Those different app screen design types include:

• App Open With Animation Screen
• Login and Sign Up Screens
• Onboarding Screens
• Welcome Screens
• Menu Screens
• Home Screen
• User Profile Screen
• Error Screens
• Other Screens

With each increasing number of screens in a mobile app and specific design requirements, the design cost can increase significantly.

Designing An App For the Specific Stage

There are cases when you just want to test the app concept by opting for MVP development. There is a case when you have clarity on your app concept and want to proceed with full-fledged mobile app development.

MVP development focuses on designing the app with core features of solving user problems, simplified UI/UX, and user feedback to iterate on the product. Considering all these requirements, MVP app design can cost typically around $10,000+.

On the other hand, full-fledged mobile app design covers comprehensive feature representation, advanced UI/UX design, and extensive UX testing and asks for app scalability plans in the future. Based on these factors, you can expect a full-fledged mobile app design to cost somewhere in the range of $3,000 and $50,000 or more.

4. Design Elements

In the mobile app design elements, buttons, icons, and other branding elements are covered. There are chances your brand may require custom buttons, icons, and graphics and branding elements to match up with your branding theme. Such customization can also add up to the mobile app design cost:

5. As Per Design Team Choice

Now, which design team do you choose, from in-house, freelancing, outsourcing, or offshoring? Also on, what type of business model do you choose, fixed cost or dedicated hiring?

Let’s learn about the how much does app design cost for each team choice category:

In-house Team

This is the team you hire to work only for you by being a part of your internal team. With this team, you have total control over what they will be working on and planning and all.

Alongside this, there are downsides associated as well, some of which include, teams being too limited to one project, burnout to find the right one along with constant investment.

So, the cost to hire an in-house UI/UX designers team ranges from $36,000 to $120,000 or more, depending on the team size, location, and project complexity.

Hire A Local Design Agency

Hiring an agency located in your region can be beneficial in terms of language understanding, market understanding, cultural values, and chances of in-office meetings for project decision-making.

For example, if your business is in the US, you can expect to pay more than $150/hour to hire a local design agency.

Outsourcing

In the battle of in-house vs outsourcing, which do you think will win? Many choose to outsource their mobile app design project for better cost benefits and quality services.

With outsourcing, you can get benefits like access to the best talents, time and resource saving, a round-the-clock workforce, and a unique design perspective to your project.

On the downside, you can face time-zone differences and adjustments, lack of control over the team, and lack of transparency; however, it’s all worth it.

If the lack of control is your concern, you can also opt for its dedicated hiring to manage the team like your in-house one while enabling time-zone alignment (if outsourcing agencies are ready to work as per your timezone).

You can outsource your design project to a mobile app design company from India in the range of $25 – $75/hour.

Freelancers

If you go for freelancing, you can avail cost benefits and as well as access to good talents. But it has downsides like lack of commitment towards work done and sometimes quality issues.

Many do hire freelance UI/UX designers to work on their mobile app design project at the cost of $15 to $200/hour.

6. Geographical Location

Please note that the complexity of the mobile app design requirements and the associated expertise directly affect the rising cost of the overall project.

However, you can still expect lower costs when hiring offshore teams compared to those located in the USA, UK, and Europe.

With access to creative talent at a lower cost, diversity in geographic location matters the most.

Here’s the cost you can expect from different locations for your offshore mobile app design project:

In this, you need to consider your budget, project output quality, and the expertise of the design partner you choose.

Breaking Down Mobile App Design Costs by Phases

Mobile app design is not directly crafted on the canvas; it requires proper planning and execution to get the results the brand is aimed for. Considering the importance of design for better user experience, mobile app design is divided into the following stages:

1. Pre-Design Phase

This is the most important phase, during which designers get a clear idea of what they have to design and consider based on market and user research and mind mapping.

This requires specialized UX research skills to conduct market and user research and create insights based on their analysis that further act as a reference for designers throughout the design process.

Further mind mapping canvas includes analysis, objectives, strategy, action, revision, and solution to have a clear understanding of the mobile app design criteria.

For this work, you have to hire UI/UX experts with certain years of experience (minimum 3-5 years) who would have all the market and product dynamics.

Based on that, you can expect the cost of the pre-design phase to be like this:

2. Design Phase

This is the creative and strategic designing phase in which the idea is brought out into the actual product visual, from multiple stages like information architecture → wireframing → prototyping → mobile app UI/UX design.

Information architecture (IA) involves organizing and structuring the content and features of a mobile app to ensure a logical and user-friendly flow. This IA structure of a mobile app design can cost around $1,000 to $5,000.

Wireframing is the process of creating low-fidelity, static representations of the app’s layout and structure. It costs from $1,000 to $3,000 and involves the creation of simple sketches or outlines of the app’s screens, which are focused on the overall structure and functionality.

Product Prototyping involves creating interactive, high-fidelity models of the app to test user interactions and gather feedback. As it resembles the final product, mobile app prototyping can cost somewhere between $1,000 to $5,000.

Lastly, the final mobile app UI/UX design encompasses the visual and interactive aspects of the app, including the design of screens, buttons, icons, and overall user experience. Considering the intricacies it includes, you can expect it to cost ranging from $2,000 to $15,000 or more, by incorporating custom graphics, animations, and interactions.

3. Post-Design Phase

In the post-design phase, UI animation inclusion, design testing with users, and based on feedback analysis – iterations are done to achieve the final mobile app design that aligns with the business’s vision.

When we say UI animation, it can be included in the form of logo animation when someone opens the app, transitions from one screen to another when clicking on any button, and many other creative ways.

Mobile app design testing helps check the app’s utmost usability through detailed UX audits and testing with beta users. This can take a couple of weeks to complete the design testing.

Apart from app design testing, it’s also imperative to implement the UX feedback into the design to securely fill up the design loophole and make the design wholesome.

Considering the crucial need for UI animation and mobile app UI/UX design testing, you can expect its cost somewhere around:

Additional Mobile App Design Cost Considerations

The core mobile app design cost estimations provided above will guide you in curating the budget for your app design project. However, you might encounter cost estimates that exceed your initial plan due to the inclusion of essential add-ons necessary for your mobile app design.

Let’s explore some additional cost considerations based on your specific requirements for mobile app development services:

1. App Design Maintenance and Updates

Along with keeping the app functionality relevant to the market trends, it is also required to keep the app design up to the mark. Hence, mobile app design maintenance and update costs should be considered at the time of budgeting your project. In this, you have to consider two categories:

2. Ongoing Design Tweaks and Updates

After the initial launch, your mobile app will require regular updates to keep up with user feedback, technological advancements, and market trends. This includes minor tweaks to improve the user interface (UI), adding new features, or fixing bugs.

The cost for these ongoing updates can vary, but it’s crucial to budget for them to ensure your app remains competitive and functional. Typically, you can expect ongoing tweaks and updates to cost between $1,000 and $10,000 per month.

3. Cost of Maintaining Design Consistency Across Updates

Consistency in design plays an essential role to offer a seamless user experience (UX). Each update must align with the existing design language of your app, which might involve additional design work. Maintaining this consistency can incur costs, especially if updates require redesigning parts of the app to fit new functionalities or aesthetic standards.

Considering the need for adhering to established design guidelines, keeping visual elements uniform, and ensuring that new features integrate well with existing designs, you can expect its cost to fall between $2,000 and $5,000 per update.

4. Impact of Third-Party Integrations On Overall Design Cost

Incorporating third-party integrations into a mobile app can significantly affect the overall design costs. The cost for the same can vary depending on factors like the number of integrations, complexity of integrations, existing design, and ongoing maintenance.

To know further, you can expect:

• Simple API Integrations to add 5-10% to overall design costs
• Complex integrations with custom UI to add 15-25% to overall costs
• Integrations requiring major design changes to add 25-50% or more to costs

To avoid extra design costs, you should plan integrations prior to the design process, considering all the required app usability and UX cases.

5. Legal and Compliance

Designing a mobile app that complies with legal standards and accessibility guidelines is essential, especially if your app will be used in regulated industries like healthcare or finance.

Compliance includes adhering to data privacy laws (such as GDPR) and ensuring your app is accessible to users with disabilities, following standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

In short, ensuring compliance can require additional resources for legal consultation, which can add $1,000 to $10,000+ to the design budget, depending on the complexity of the regulations involved and the industry.

How to Reduce Mobile App Design Cost?

As the demand for mobile applications continues to rise, understanding how to manage and reduce costs effectively, can provide a competitive edge. Mobile app design cost reduction strategies help businesses aim to develop high-quality applications without exceeding their budgets:

1. Choosing the Right Design Partner

To reduce cost of mobile app design, you can opt for outsourcing, which allows you to access skilled designers without the overhead associated with an in-house design team.

To find the right outsourcing design partner, you should consider following the right approach to find your best-fit app UI/UX design partner:

• You can evaluate potential partners based on their experience, portfolio, and cost structure
• Consider factors like location, team size, and expertise to find the best value
• Negotiate favorable terms and get a detailed breakdown of costs upfront

Moreover, a design partner with relevant industry experience and strong communication skills can streamline the design process, reduce misunderstandings, and prevent costly revisions. Choose a partner who understands your vision and can effectively collaborate with your team.

2. Leveraging Design Templates and UI Kits

Using pre-built design templates and UI kits can significantly reduce app design costs. These resources provide ready-made design elements and layouts that can be customized to suit your app’s branding and functionality.

Moreover, templates and UI kits speed up the design process, allowing your app to reach the market quickly. This is particularly beneficial for startups and small businesses with tight deadlines. Further, this time benefit also leads businesses to cost savings.

3. Following Agile Design Process

The agile design process involves breaking the project into smaller, manageable tasks and delivering design updates in iterative cycles. This approach allows for continuous feedback and improvements, ensuring the design evolves based on user needs and preferences.

Frequent testing and feedback associated with the agile design helps to identify and address design issues early in the process. This reduces the risk of costly changes and rework later on.

Agile design also enables teams to adapt to changing requirements and market trends quickly. Moreover, with active cross-team collaboration, ensure that everyone is aligned with the project’s goals, minimizing misunderstandings and streamlining the design process. Thus, resulting in optimized timeline and cost benefits.

How MindInventory Can Be Your Ideal Mobile App Design Partner?

Investing in high-quality mobile app design is essential for creating a user-friendly, engaging, and successful app. While it may seem like a significant investment upfront, the long-term benefits of a well-designed app – such as increased user satisfaction, retention, and brand value.

However, to get both design and cost side benefits, you need the right design expertise in your team. That’s where MindInventory comes into the picture.

At MindInventory, we understand the intricacies of mobile app design and offer comprehensive UI/UX design services tailored to your specific needs. We ensure that your app not only meets but exceeds industry standards.
So, ready to partner with us for a seamless, efficient, and cost-effective mobile app design experience that drives your business forward. Contact us today to start your journey toward creating a standout mobile app.

FAQs About Mobile App Design Cost Estimation