Cost of mobile app development in Nigeria – The exponential increase in the number of users who access the internet via their mobile devices has forced businesses to explore new dimensions and become more flexible in their business approach. The question has moved from “Do we need a mobile app for our business?” to “How quickly can we have a mobile app and benefit from the many advantages that come with it?

Without delving into the benefits of having a mobile app for your business, this article will attempt to give a rough estimate of the cost required to have a mobile app in Nigeria. As you will come to realize in subsequent paragraphs, the cost of developing an app is at best a range. The final cost is determined by the interplay of variables and infrastructures we will discuss soon.

1. Package Name:

While it is entirely possible to run apps on android or apple phones without downloading them from their respective store, this option is not for business owners willing to scale with mobile apps. To have your app listed on Google’s Play Store, you will be required to pay a one-time fee of $25 (or its equivalent in Nigerian currency) to procure a package ID. For Apple’s iOS, the yearly fee for your app is $99.

2. Hosting service

Except you intend to have a mobile app that doesn’t require users to log in or interact with your business, you will need the services of a hosting firm to give value to your clients from your mobile app. Depending on the projected traffic, business owners with a functional website (which is a must-have for modern-day businesses) do not need to worry about the additional hosting fee. The mobile app can be tweaked to use the hosting services of your website.

For business owners without a website (which is not a good idea), the available hosting options are similar to that used by websites.

• Shared Hosting:

Most website owners start on a shared hosting server. It is the cheapest and most popular hosting plan. For business owners without a projection for significant traffic surge, this plan might be all you need to host your mobile app. Depending on your specification and the hosting firm; the projected annual fee should be from $60 – $170.

• VPS Hosting:

While the portion of small to medium business being hosted by Shared hosting is still the highest, a significant portion of business owners are being forced to migrate to a VPS hosting due to a significant surge in traffic. Depending on your specification, the cost of VPS hosting ranges from $240 – $1000 annually.

• Dedicating Hosting:

This plan is for business owners who are guaranteed a regular surge in traffic. As the name implies, you are paying for your servers. The annual cost ranges from $1000 – $10,000.

• Cloud Hosting:

This is one of the hosting services with the lowest downtime. Regardless of your traffic projection, there is a cloud hosting plan for you. The annual price range is from $600 – $3000.

3. The UI designer’s Fee:

Aesthetics and ease of access play a huge role in making a mobile app usable by your target audience. The professionals in charge of making sure that you have a good looking app are UI designers. They charge based on their experience and credibility. Depending on the dexterity of the designer, the cost of a good UI design is from ₦50,000 to ₦200,000.

4. The Developers Fee:

In determining the cost of building a mobile app, the app developer holds the biggest swing. Statistically, mobile app developers charge higher than web developers since they are not as readily available as the latter.

In addition to the above, their fee is heavily influenced by the under listed factors:

• The functionalities of the App:

The effort required to build a simple app like a Sudoku game can’t be compared to that required to build an e-commerce app or a FinTech app. While a simple app can be developed by an individual, some apps (e-commerce and ride-sharing apps for example) require joint effort to complete. The addition of other features like a payment gateway (which ranges from ₦50,000 upwards), in-app messenger and personalized homepage also factors in the total cost of building a mobile app in Nigeria.

• The experience of the developer:

A junior developer, mid-level developer and a senior developer will charge you differently for the same task. While the charges of junior developers are usually lower, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will do a bad job. They might just take longer time to spot bugs and in so doing, delay the deployment date.

You wouldn’t have to worry about the experience level of an app developer when working with a mobile app development firm. At a firm like Lead Web Praxis, mobile apps are developed by a team of professionals headed by a senior developer. This ensures that bugs are almost non-existent in the app and they are properly tested before they are being deployed to production.

• Cross-platform apps:

The idea of having a single app that works across different OS is appealing and cheaper. However, it isn’t always the best practice. In situations where you will have to build an app per OS, you will pay more.

Considering the fact that the developer’s fee is affected by several factors, the minimum amount you should budget here is a ₦100,000.

5. Recurrent cost:

App development isn’t a one-time expense. To deliver the best performance at all times, you can’t stop spending on your app. Among the recurrent expenses are annual hosting fee (for business owners without a website), a yearly fee of $99 for listing your app on Apple store and maintenance fee to keep your app updated at all times.

From the above, we can easily deduce that the cost of developing a mobile app in Nigeria is at best a variable. Your best chance at having the exact estimate of the required cost is by consulting a mobile app development firm. At Lead Web Praxis, we will give you a tailor-made estimate that will take into account what your business needs for optimal growth.

You can contact us via any of the channel contained on our contact page.