How Much Does It Cost to Maintain an App? The Right Estimate

It takes time, effort, and a financial investment to maintain an app. The typical expense for app maintenance is about 15-20% of the overall development costs each year. This, however, may fluctuate based on app complexity, platform preference, and updates needed. 

The true cost of an app is hardly limited to the moment you upload it to the app store, it can change as your app grows.

So, let’s take a look at all the important factors that you need to know with regard to maintaining an app

Why Is App Maintenance Important?

App maintenance is an essential process to keep your app delivering value, satisfying customers, and maintaining a secure environment. 

It’s a crucial part of keeping the app functioning smoothly and making sure your app is staying relevant in the ever-changing tech world.

There are a few major reasons why maintaining apps is so vital:

1. User Experience & Retention: The majority of users leave an app if it crashes or freezes. Smooth running avoids user abandonment and makes users more willing to stay.
2. Competition: The market for apps is crowded, and an out-of-date app can easily become irrelevant. Frequent updates, bug fixes, and feature improvements ensure that your app is not only relevant and appealing, thus attracting new users, but also retains the current ones.
3. Security & Data Protection: Cyber threats continue to change and transform. Apps require regular security patches to keep user data safe from compromise and to protect their privacy. Periodic updates also patch up weaknesses and protect sensitive information.
4. Savings in the Long-Run: This will allow potential issues to be caught and rectified early. Maintenance can save a lot of money over the life of the system by preventing failures. It is much cheaper to correct small issues before they become costly technical debts.
5. Compliance & Regulations: Many sectors demand apps to be compliant with strict security and data privacy laws like the GDPR, PCI-DSS, or HIPAA. Keeping up-to-date with the legislation, your app will become law-abiding, keeping you safe from fines, legal risks, and reputational harm.

Factors That Influence App Maintenance Costs

The price of maintaining an app is not constant. It depends on a number of factors like its difficulty, features, user base, etc. Let’s break it down so you can see it more clearly:

App Complexity and Features

A more complicated app, in terms of code and its interface, requires more resources to maintain. 

For example, apps relying on AI, machine learning, and AR will need periodic updates to function in the most effective way and be compatible with new technology.

App Complexity	Example	Cost
Simple MVP	calculators, to-do lists	$5,000 to $15,000 per year
Medium complexity apps	fitness tracker, news app	$15,000 – $50,000 per year
High complexity apps	E-commerce, AI-powered apps	$50,000 – $200,000+/year

Platform (iOS, Android, Cross-Platform)

The platform on which your app is developed can significantly influence your maintenance expenses.

iOS apps have lower update frequency and are relatively less difficult to maintain due to the closed system in Apple’s platform.

A lot of testing and updates are needed with Android apps, since you have so many different phones out there running various versions of the OS.

Cross-platform apps can require unique updates for each platform (iOS & Android), thus increasing the maintenance burden.

App Complexity	Cost
iOS	$3,000–$10,000 per year
Android	$5,000–$15,000 per year
Cross-Platform	$4,000–$12,000 per year

Frequency of Updates

Regular updates associated with the app are made in order to keep them relevant to the current demands and to ensure their workability over time. Conventionally, apps are updated regularly to fix bugs, improve performance, patch security problems, and add new features of a smaller size.

Update Type	Frequency	Cost
Occasional updates	2-3 per year	$5,000 – $10,000
Regular updates	Every 2-3 months	$15,000 – $50,000
Frequent updates	monthly/bi-weekly	$50,000 – $100,000

Number of Users

The size of your user base significantly influences the cost. More users could also mean more server costs, frequent bug fixes, customer support, and scaling to meet increased demand. Optimizations to accommodate the load as traffic scales up may also be needed and raising the overall maintenance cost.

User Base	Estimated Users	Cost
Small User Base	Up to 10,000 users	$5,000 to $15,000/year
Medium User Base	10,000 – 100,000 users	$15,000 and $50,000/year
Large User Base	100,000+ users	$50,000 to $200,000+/year

Hosting & Server Costs

The backend infrastructure of the app also has a great impact on maintenance costs. You have to keep checking and renewing the hosting, server, and database management fees. These expenses are usually recurring, so it is important to budget for them.

Hosting & Server Costs	Example	Cost
Shared hosting	small apps	$1,000 – $5,000/year
Cloud hosting	AWS, Google Cloud, Azure	$5,000 – $30,000/year
Dedicated servers	enterprise-level apps	$30,000 – $100,000/year

Third-Party Integrations

Apps usually use third-party services, like payment portals, analytic tools, or social media integrations. The cost of supporting these integrations is determined by the price of the third-party service plus how often they come out with updates. If the third-party services update or change their APIs, your app may require adjustments, leading to additional maintenance costs.

Integration	Example	Cost
Payment gateways	Stripe, PayPal	Transaction fees + $30/month
Analytics tools	Google Analytics, Mixpanel	$1,000 – $15,000/year
Push notification services	Firebase, OneSignal	Free – $5,000/year

Security & Compliance

Cyber threats are increasing; there can be no compromise on securing your app. Routine security updates, vulnerability patches, and adherence to laws (whether GDPR or HIPAA) are a must in preventing breaches. This contributes to the maintenance costs but is essential for safeguarding user-owned data.

App Type	Security & Compliance	Cost
E-commerce	PCI-DSS compliance	$5,000 – $30,000/year
Healthcare	HIPAA security compliance	$10,000 – $50,000/year
Finance	GDPR, PSD2 compliance	$20,000 – $100,000/year

Customer Support

Providing customer support for your app is one aspect of maintenance. With an increasing number of users, more and more support is required, further increasing operational costs. This might be in the form of in-app customer service tools, social media interaction, or targeted support teams.

Customer Support Activity	Cost
Basic email support	$2,000 – $5,000/year
Live chat & ticketing system	$10,000 – $50,000/year
AI-powered chatbot support	$50,000 – $200,000/year

Marketing & Retention

To stay ahead, it’s essential to follow app marketing and user retention strategies. That might be in the form of in-app promotional activities, email campaigns, or ASO optimizations. They also need regular updating and testing to keep them effective and entertaining.

Marketing & Retention Strategies	Activities under each strategy	Cost
ASO	keyword optimization, screenshots, reviews	$5,000 – $20,000/year
Social media & paid ads	–	$10,000 – $50,000/year
Retargeting campaigns	email & SMS	$5,000 – $30,000/year

Development Team Location

Where your development team is based also affects maintenance costs. The overall cost of maintenance could be saved by outsourcing to cheaper labor regions. But you can’t ignore quality and communication, especially if your developers are scattered around the globe, especially if you choose offshore software development.

Country	Average cost for maintenance
India	$20 – $50
South America	$30 – $80
Eastern Europe	$25 – $80
North America	$50 – $150
Australia	$40 – $100
Western Europe	$40 – $100

Typical App Maintenance Cost Breakdown

Here is a quick overview of a few estimated cost factors for app maintenance:

• Bug Fixes: 15-20% of total maintenance cost
  
• Security Updates: 10-15% of total maintenance cost
  
• Server & Hosting Fees: 20% to 25% of the overall maintenance expenditure.
  
• Feature Enhancements: 20-30% of total maintenance cost
  
• Customer Support: 10-15% of total maintenance cost
  
• Marketing & User Retention: 5-10% of total maintenance cost

How to Reduce App Maintenance Costs

Below are some short tips on how you can save money when it comes to keeping your app up:

1. Invest in Cross-Platform Development

Use one codebase for iOS and Android instead of two, saving time and money on maintenance, updates across both platforms.

2. Focus on Building an MVP First

Begin with an MVP, which is a light version of an app with core functionality, and save on the initial stage of development while collecting the most useful user reviews.

3. Implement Agile Development Methodology

Deliver updates in short iterations so you don’t have major overhauls and ensure optimal usage of your resources.

4. Use Scalable Architecture

Build your app to capitalise on future growth without costly work overruns, planning for capacity in advance.

5. Optimize Code Quality

Develop clean, modular code to keep the application flexible enough for future changes and lower the time to debug and the effort to make the application high-performance.

6. Automate Testing & Monitoring

Use automated program analysis to find bugs early and avoid expensive testing and debugging costs.

7. Utilize Cloud-Based Solutions

Cloud hosting means you no longer owe a capital expense, as a cloud hosting provider can offer you scalable solutions so you only pay for what you use.

8. Regularly Review & Remove Unused Features

Remove the outdated or unnecessary features to simplify and have less work to keep your app maintained.

9. Discuss Strategy with Your Development Partner

Collaborate with your development partner to spot hidden costs and streamline maintenance so you don’t overpay in the long run.

10. Offshore Outsourcing

With the help of offshore software development outsourcing, you can save a considerable amount of money due to lower developer costs, along with many other benefits. 

11. Proper Testing of the App

Regular mobile app testing reduces maintenance costs by identifying bugs early, optimizing performance, ensuring compatibility, and preventing costly security issues.

Through these approaches, you can significantly decrease the cost of maintaining an app without sacrificing the user experience.

In-House vs Outsourcing App Maintenance

Choosing between in-house and outsourcing app maintenance depends on your resources, budget, and long-term goals.

• In-House Maintenance: Provides greater control over app updates and fixes, ensuring seamless communication and alignment with company goals. However, it can be more expensive due to salaries, overhead costs, and infrastructure.
  
• Outsourcing: Many Custom Software Development Service providers today offer Software Maintenance Services both as a separate service or a part of their app development package. It typically reduces costs by hiring specialized experts on demand for tasks like bug fixes, security patches, or feature enhancements. However, it may come with communication challenges and less control over the overall process, impacting flexibility.

Conclusion

The actual cost of maintaining an app depends on numerous factors like the complexity of the app, the platform on which the app is going to work, how often it will be updated, and number of users, the amount of traffic, databases, server-side or backend infrastructure in use, etc. 

Typically, the annual cost of app maintenance will range from 15% to 20% of the original development expense. Strategizing how you manage app maintenance is essential to make sure you’re not spending thousands of dollars on app maintenance when it could be avoided

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