What's the price of developing a PWA application? This question we get asked quite frequently. As we all know, everything has a price. You might ask Google: 'How much does it cost to make a PWA?' with a follow-up question 'What does the price depend on?'.
When it comes to creating PWA applications, it all really depends on how you see the app itself. The functionality, styling, and in general, how many design and development hours were put in the works while creating the PWA application, which raises more questions than answers. No worries we will answer all of them in this article:
- Cost to Develop a PWA in different Countries
- Cost of PWA development based on Development Stages
- Outsourcing or Local Development: What to Choose?
- What Affects Progressive Web App Costs?
- Cost of PWA Maintenance.
- How Much to Develop a Progressive Web App: Total Price
On Google, you may find blogs aimed to answer some of these questions, but they are nothing more than a marketing move to get your attention with short answers to your questions, calling you to action by submitting the form or contacting them through other communication channels. You won't see anything of it here, only real valuable information.
In a nutshell, prices of PWA product development can range from $1,500-$300,000. Quite a big gap, isn't it? Let's dive into it.
Cost to Develop a PWA in different Countries
The studys from the Web points out that the average cost of a simple Progressive Web App (PWA) is between $1 000 to $10 000. The average complexity app cost is between $10 000 and $25 000. A complex and feature-rich progressive web app may cost from $25 000 to $50 000 and more.
Thus, giving a rough estimation to h ow much does it cost to develop a PWA (we use the rate of $30 per hour as average): a basic application will cost around $5,000. The development of an average complexity progressive web app is around $20,000 and $40,000. The cost of complex PWA with tricky functionality usually jumps over $40,000.
Hundred or even thousands of companies around the world proclaim themselves to be the best progressive web app developers and promise to deliver the best solution. Time tested or newly founded software development companies, local or foreign, big or small, expensive or affordable so many criteria to consider. It is not surprising, so many options may confuse not only startupers but also entrepreneurs with a lot of experience behind their backs.
The most typical mistake of entrepreneurs and startupers is they think: "high cost = good quality" or "growing companies have not enough experience to deliver." That type of mindset can lead to failures or unwanted expenses. Now let's return to the real and unbiased review of PWA developing costs. First, let's look at the cost of PWA creation by hourly rates.
As you may already know, the costs of progressive web app development ranges depending on location. Let's get a closer look at the stats.
Regional hourly PWA development rates:- The USA and Canada. Those regions are recognized as the most pricey. PWA development from $60 to $150 per hour
- Australian developers - $50-120 per hour
- South-American PWA development - $20 to $110
- UK PWA developers - $40 to $160 / hour
- Developers in India - $10-75
- In Indonesia, the highest cost is $20 an hour
Cost of PWA development based on Development Stages
In most cases, the PWA development process contains of 5 stages:
- PWA project requirements validation
- Conversion driven design
- Time and cost savings
- Risk awareness
- Product owner synchronization with PWA vendor
With the discovery stage, you receive clear project documentation, which answers the question: "How much does it cost to create a progressive web app". You'll get an accurate PWA development cost estimation with an official project deadline and all related milestones.
Once cooperation starts, a dedicated team is assigned to the PWA project. The team may consist of a project manager, senior developer, UI/UX designer, etc.
PWA Discovery Stage could also include:
- UX/UI design
- Product concept
- Product backlog
- Structure plan
The average amount needed to pay for PWA discovery ranges from USD 1,000 to USD 10,000, depending on the vendor with a time-frame of 1-5 weeks.
It is important to have visuals (a concept of the product design, wireframes) of the PWA before the development stage. The price for PWA design directly relates to the number of screens/pages. Features and complexity affect the cost of PWA product development. Standard features such as user account, notifications, search cost less. Integration with third-party apps and connection with a CMS (content management system, or custom admin panel), adding video, audio streaming and social capabilities, is considered as complex and thus would be more pricey.
A complete PWA solution never goes without a testing stage, which is an absolute must to guaranty a properly working PWA. Bug testing usually takes around 20% of the PWA cost spent on development.
Outsourcing or hiring a Local company?
When you are planning on establishing a Progressive Web Application, you'd need to consider hiring a team of cross experienced talent. If you don't have the staff to make it work, you are probably in a market to hire someone to execute your PWA project. So now what to choose: outsourcing or a local company. If outsourcing - which country is the best choice for my expectations and budget. Is it Ukraine, India, Poland or other?
The only real reason in favor of a local company is the convenience of the office location, which allegedly simplifies the communication with the team. Surely it is more comfortable to explain your PWA project requirements in person. On the other hand, outsourcing PWA development is not as difficult as it may look. Communication with your offshore or nearshore team might seem hard, but companies that provide remote teams usually are experts in virtual assistance and digital project management.
With the expertise of specific programming languages and development tools, developers from Eastern Europe could perform a lot better compared to local ones charging less for services. In case you doubt if you can find a reliable vendor outside your country, no worries. Just make sure to check client testimonials and speak with the company representative to make sure that you both have the same vision of the product.
What Influences the Cost of PWA Development?
When deciding to develop a PWA product or a platform, you should know that for software vendors, it's difficult right off the bat to answer how much it will cost and provide a precise number. Everything depends on various factors. Surely before being charged, the implementation team estimates hours (development/design/project management) that must go into implementing your specifications. The noteworthy factors affecting average PWA development costs are:
- Features and functionality
- Customization of visual design
- PWA Administration (Admin panel)
- The seniority level of a development team
- Vendors geographical location
The total cost of PWA development
How much is it to develop a Progressive Web App at IT Prosteer? Here you get full-cycle development services in these stages:
- Project technical documentation
- UI UX Design (wireframing, prototyping)
- Development stage
- QA testing
- PWA deployment
Depending on the complexity of the Progressive Web App project, the team structure can be flexible if needed. Adding and removing developers, designers, managers at different stages to create an efficient workflow is what we prioritize when setting up the cooperation process.
By making a rough estimate of your idea, we determine the number of hours needed to execute the project. Having got your approval, next, we move to create detailed technical documentation, the concept of the application, describing PWA logic, wireframes, design elements and more.
Here is the final cost breakdown.
Based on average, Ukraine's avarage hourly development rates - $30-50.
PWA cost breakdown:
- Basic - from $2 000
- Average - from $20 000
- Complex - from $50 000
I hope we answered your question on "How much it is to develop a Progressive Web Application".