It requires a lot of time and money to develop high-quality mobile applications for different platforms, including iOS and Android. This is the reason why more enterprises are investing heavily in cross-platform application development, as it not only saves time and money but also helps them to widen the reach of their business.
React Native is certainly the most sought-after mobile app development framework in the world. It has revolutionized the cross-platform app development scenario completely.
You will be surprised to know that 14.85% of the most popular applications in the USA are built using React Native. It is the third most popular mobile app development framework in the USA, after Kotlin and Android Architecture Components.
In this blog, we will explore some glaring insights into React Native app development, development cost, and various factors affecting React Native-aided mobile app development.
React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework developed by Facebook. It enables developers to build native and cross-platform mobile applications. Usually, one needs Swift/Obj-C or Java to develop a mobile application for iOS and Android platforms respectively.
However, React Native eliminates that requirement, which allows developers to use a single coding language and codebase to develop fully functional apps on both platforms.
Facebook launched ReactJS as an open-source solution for mobile app and web development. It was initially designed to ensure fast prototyping of new solutions as well as the upgradation of existing features.
It has been built on top of the existing React framework, which enables developers to reuse the code they have already written for web apps for mobile application development.
An app development process demands thorough planning and hiring a dedicated team of app developers and architects. From hiring a development team to selecting the custom features, here are some critical factors that influence the overall cost of developing a React Native application.
Application complexity– Every application available in app marketplaces can be segregated into three broad categories based on their complexity – Low Complexity, Medium Complexity, and High Complexity. The cost of app development is directly proportional to the level of app complexity.
Integration with the Legacy Systems– Sometimes it is required to integrate the apps with existing legacy or in-house legacy systems. Such apps must have backward compatibility to work with the existing apps or systems. Such apps fall under the medium to high complexity category, and thus we need more cost and effort to develop them.
Application Deployment Architecture Model– Businesses use BaaS or Customer approach to developing the app backend. In BaaS, they can implement and use a ready-made backend architecture, while in the case of the Custom approach, you can design a bespoke mobile application architecture from a scratch. The custom approach demands more cost and effort.
Use of Phone’s In-Built Features– Modern smartphones and other handheld devices come with numerous features such as a camera, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, Barometers, and various other sensors. All these in-built features must be integrated with the application for better performance.
Third-Party Integration– Modern mobile applications interact with various third-party plugins and apps to offer an enhanced user experience. It is always better to integrate functions such as payment gateway or user login, instead of writing them from the scratch. These third-party integrations increase the app’s complexity, thus increasing the app development cost.
Admin Panel Development – It is an important aspect of any mobile app, which allows app owners and administrators to manage the app efficiently. It allows app owners to track app activity, analyze mobile payment statistics, and update the content whenever required. If you need a more feature-laden admin panel, then it will increase the app complexity, thus will increase the app cost.
In-App Purchase: A large number of mobile application offers in-app purchase functionality to improve their revenue and also allow users to explore embedded services. However, the inclusion of such an in-app purchase function is not so easy, which leads to app development cost escalation.
In general, it may cost $25,000-$60,000 to develop a React Native mobile application. The actual cost of app development can differ according to the application’s complexity, features required, technology stack, hourly rates of developers, time is taken to write the code, application distribution platforms, etc.
Apart from that, the location of the React Native app development company can also influence the overall cost of app development.
Let’s explore the various aspect of the app development cost:-
Development Cost:- Hourly rates of Developers – These are the hourly charges you have to pay to the developers. You can see how geographic location influences the developer charges.
| Location | Junior Developer Charges | Senior Developer Charges |
| North America | $40 to $80 | $100 to $150 |
| Latin America | $30 to $50 | $50 to $80 |
| Australia | $50 to $70 | $70 to $95 |
| India | $18 to $40 | $40 to $80 |
| Europe | $40 to $60 | $60 to $100 |
Development Cost:- Team Size – This will give you a fair idea of development cost based on the type of resource or team you may hire.
| Team Size | Average Cost |
| Hiring Freelance Developer | $5,000-$10,000 |
| Hiring a Small Team of Developers | $10,000-$80,000 |
| Hiring a Development Company | $20,000-$1,20,000 |
Development Cost:- Phase-wise – The mobile app development process is divided into various phases, where each phase demands a different set of tasks, efforts, and costs.
| Development Stage | Estimated Cost |
| Requirement Gathering and Planning | $ 2,000- $5,000 |
| App Design and Development | $10,000- $25,000 |
| App Testing | $ 5,000 – $15,000 |
| Marketing and Maintenance | $ 5,000 – $10,000 |
Development Cost:- Application Type – We have different types of applications available in the market. You can choose the application type and determine the estimated app development cost for your application type.
| Application Type | Average Cost | Development Time |
| E-commerce App | $50,000-$1,60,000 | 1200 hours |
| Gaming App | $50,000-$1,60,000 | 1200 hours |
| Learning App | $30,000-$1,20,000 | 800 hours |
| Restaurant App | $30,000-$1,20,000 | 800 hours |
| Business App | $60,000-$1,80,000 | 1400 hours |
| Food Delivering App | $30,000-$1,20,000 | 800 hours |
| Healthcare App | $50,000-$1,50,000 | 1000 hours |
Development Cost:- Application Complexity – This cost is based on the complexity of the mobile application. Here we have a simple thumb rule, the more complex application will require higher development costs.
| React Native App Type | Estimated Cost | Estimate Timeframe |
| Simple | $15,000 to $35,000 | 3-6 months |
| Medium Complex | $35,000 to $80,000 | 6-9 months |
| Complex | $80,000 to $300,000 | 9-12 months |
Here we will talk about a few aspects which make it a win-win proposition for a business to choose React native for your next mobile app development. React Native not only reduces the cost of mobile app development but also enables them to maximize their ROI.
Let’s explore some reasons, which make React Native a defacto choice for businesses:
Synced development– React Native offers perfect synchronization of development services at the backend and on the targeted operating systems in real-time. This not only decreases the app development time but also cuts down the react app native application cost.
Use of existing Frameworks– React Native enables the developers to leverage the existing app development frameworks to accelerate the app development efforts. Developers can use the skeleton framework to design the app with minimum time and effort.
Reusable code– It allows developers to use reusable codes to develop mobile apps with almost half of their efforts. Mobile app developers can work on shared codes and develop iOS and Android versions of apps at the same time.
Single team– React Native app development requires a single team to develop a mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms. This is in contrast to the earlier arrangement where you need two separate teams to develop an app for both platforms.
Ready-Made Libraries and Solutions – React Native is an open-source framework, which allows the use of various ready-made libraries and solutions for handling development-specific problems. These libraries and solutions could be accessed via the developer community, and they enable developers to make bug-free code and incorporate additional capabilities.
Low Maintenance Costs– React Native applications incur maintenance costs, when you perform app upgrades, fix bugs, and make any changes in the app design. As React Native allows a single codebase for multiple platforms, it reduces your maintenance overheads and app development cost to a great extent.
Flawless Third-party Integration– You can easily build a scaled and customer-centric app using React Native with minimum effort and cost, as it allows you to integrate third-party components without any hassles. If you are choosing React Native, then you can seamlessly integrate third-party plugins to avail exceptional functionalities for your mobile app.
Availability of component libraries– React Native supports various component libraries such as Lottie, Teaset, Xamarin, and many more. These libraries allow developers to develop and deploy applications in less time, which ultimately reduces the cost of app development.
As we are moving ahead in 2023, we must analyze a few factors that not only influence but also escalate the React Native mobile app development cost. If you understand these factors, then you can better optimize the cost and development process, while not compromising on the app’s scalability, security, and robustness.
1- Performance Optimization– Performance is certainly the most important difference between Native and React Native applications. The native applications hold an edge as they are capable of leveraging the device features and allowing seamless integration of third-party components to offer enhanced user experience. If you want to achieve the Native application standards with React Native approach, then be ready to shell out more funds.
2- Add-ons– Modern applications require the incorporation of multiple Add-ons to gain additional capabilities and provide a better customer experience. You must integrate your app with social media platforms to ease the customer login process. However, to implement custom add-ons, you must be ready to spend more cost in that regard.
3- App Design– Mobile app design comprises both the UI (user interface) and UI (user experience) aspects. A successful mobile app is one that, targets the intended user groups, allows them to perform related tasks, and keeps them engaged constructively. Users appreciate the apps with smooth transitions, well-timed animation, and efficient user flow, but all that comes at an additional cost.
4- Crossing UI limitations– You may use a standard code for the development of both the iOS and Android versions of a mobile app, but it can hamper the performance of your application. Increased usage of the shared codebase increases the app’s complexity, and at the same time, it also makes your app similar on different platforms, which reduces the novelty of your app.
5- User Authorization– If you are developing an app that doesn’t require user authorization and authentication, then the cost of your app will be relatively less. However, most modern applications are equipped with these abilities and require role-based authentication to control app usage. To implement effective user authorization, you need constant efforts from the app development team and enterprise system development team, which ultimately increases the app development cost.
6- Investment needed for new frameworks– The biggest advantage of React Native is that it offers a very low learnability curve, but it requires a lot of time to understand the various other components this framework offers. Your developers must invest additional time to learn and perfect the emerging frameworks and other emerging components.
7- Application distribution Channels– You can deploy your mobile application on multiple distribution channels, but every channel or platform has a fixed or dynamic set of pricing. Popular marketplaces such as Google Play store and Apple App Store may charge you approx—$ 100 for developer license charges. Your app also needs appropriate user permissions to ensure adequate security policies and standards are met.
8- Location of App development organization– The location of the app development organization plays a critical role in the overall cost of building an app. The cost of hiring React Native app developers is comparatively very less in Eastern countries and specifically in India. It is indeed a brilliant idea to outsource your mobile app project to reduce the overall development cost.
9- Security assurance– If we compare with the Native apps, the React Native applications provide less security, which makes these apps highly vulnerable to any potential security breach, which leads to data theft, security incident, and even app failure. You must invest in hiring a team of quality assurance experts, who can perform cross-platform testing and maintenance tasks.
Know more: How Much Does Mobile App Development Cost?
Enterprises across the world look at mobile application development as the most viable solution to increase their productivity, efficiency, and long-term growth. However, most businesses face an age-old dilemma of selecting between a native or cross-platform app to fulfill their requirements.
React Native framework enables businesses to develop mobile applications using a single programming language, i.e., JavaScript. React Native allows developers to leverage the benefits of cross-platform app development without compromising the app’s security and performance.
Such kind of business enhancement is possible, only if you bring a qualified and experienced react native app development company on board.
Arka Softwares is a renowned and reliable react native app development company that can assist you to put things into the correct perspective and provide a fair idea of the overall cost of mobile app development. If you have a unique business idea, then get in touch with our experts now!
It is an open-source JavaScript framework, which is used to develop applications for multiple platforms such as Android, Android TV, iOS, macOS, tvOS, Windows, Web, and UWP. It enables developers to use the common code base for a wide variety of platforms and applications.
React Native has established itself as a “hybrid” framework used for mobile application development. It has proven its efficiency as a perfect cross-platform companion, which has been highly popular among developers for its ability to save time and money. It enables developers to build mobile and web apps quickly and maintain them easily as they grow over time.
React Native certainly has the brightest possible future as far as mobile app development is concerned. It offers enhanced app performance, captivating user experience, robust community support, the ability to use a shared codebase, and unmatched flexibility.
In most cases, React Native uses Hermes, which is an open-source JavaScript engine augmented for React Native. In a situation where Hermes is disabled, React Native uses JavaScriptCore, which is another highly capable JavaScript engine that empowers Safari.
The React Native renderer uses three types of threads:
• JavaScript thread: It is responsible for the execution of React’s render phase.
• UI/Main thread: This thread can handle the host views.
• Background thread: This thread is dedicated to layout rendering.
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