How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Financial App in 2023?

A fintech app development estimate depends on calculating the ratio of several factors. These factors can be purely technical — such as the chosen programming language – or more dependent on the specifics of the fintech segment. After all, creating a simple app for a food delivery service is different than developing a full-fledged banking service for your customers. Therefore, our article will analyze the key factors that influence the development estimate and tell you what you can expect.

Some factors

Just like any businessman, you are probably interested in how much it costs to develop a fintech app, as well as how long it can take. If you’ve been able to build a stable business in a field as unstable as finance, you know exactly what your money is worth. So, it’s to your advantage to think ahead and discover the possible scenarios.

First, a lot depends on the type of software you create. You can find in the fintech sector:

• Banking systems
• Applications for traders and brokers
• Systems for personal or business finance management
• Blockchain applications
• Applications for accounting, tracking, and paying taxes, and many other options

Why is this factor so important? Each type of software requires different time and skill levels of employees who will perform development tasks. And this brings us to another important factor.

What platforms should the application be customized for, and what programming language should it be written in?

Some applications are tailored exclusively for one platform — for example, Android or iOS. Some websites have a mobile version — or, if you prefer, do not have one (which would reduce the development time but significantly worsen the customer experience). However, the best option is currently considered to be a cross-platform application. Such applications are designed to run on different operating systems. They can be developed as two separate entities — for example, for iOS and separately for Android. Or they can be developed as one closely connected entity with a common database and CRM system. This is considered a faster, but much more complex option, which means it will cost more.

Another significant factor is whether you already have a development team in place.

You can:

• Hire developers, designers, analysts, and other specialists in-house.
• Find a contractor who will take over the work.

The first option makes sense if you plan to constantly add new features to the system or expand beyond just one application for your company. An in-house team is usually more controlled than outsourced contractors. They are constantly aware of news and updates within your business, which can sometimes be extremely important.

But working with an in-house contractor also has many benefits. Often, in the long run, when you consider how much it costs to build a fintech app, you will realize that one significant payment for a project can still be much more profitable than paying smaller amounts to an in-house team regularly. In addition, by hiring an outsourced team, you don’t have to spend time recruiting each team member, which saves you time and effort.

The next factor that affects the cost is the deadline you need to meet and the number of features you need to implement. These two concepts are often inextricably linked. If you want quality and many features, you may have to wait longer and pay more. However, it will be worth it!

How much does it cost?

So, how much does it cost to launch a fintech app? The exact figures depend on your needs and the specifics of your business. But on average, the market offers a price range from 30 to 300 thousand dollars for software. Moreover, the most expensive are apps for companies that provide lending services — the price ranges from $50 to $300 thousand, while apps for banking or insurance services can be obtained for $40-80 thousand.

However, the amount can be more than $300 thousand and less than $30 thousand (although the latter is unlikely). The price may increase if you plan to develop a state-of-the-art application for blockchain or professional trading, especially if you plan to implement advanced AI and machine learning capabilities.

What are the stages of software development for a fintech company?

So we have figured out how much it costs to build a fintech app. Usually, the development process can take from 3 months to a year, depending on the task’s complexity and the project’s scale. Therefore, you should be prepared for what stages of the process you will go through during this time:

1. Choosing a contractor or hiring an in-house team.
2. Competitor analysis, user tests and surveys, and creating an information architecture for future applications.
3. The prototypes, UI/UX design, and the formation of a backlog of tasks for developers.
4. Development and testing: writing the code and checking it by the relevant specialists.
5. If necessary, implement MVP and retesting.
6. Implementation of the full-fledged application.

After that, you can start using advertising and marketing tools to popularize the app and attract more users. It’s important to understand that some of the stages in this list may be swapped, repeated, or completely removed from the process. Again, it all depends very much on the needs of your business, the type of software you choose, and who will be working on the project. By the way, this should be approached very carefully. The choice of specialists for an in-house team or the search for a contractor is a crucial stage, the result of which will affect the outcome of the development in general.

What are the subtleties to look for when choosing a contractor?

Aside from the obvious things like team members’ experience and work samples, we’d also recommend looking at the following:

• How does the team work? For example, the SCRAM methodology allows you to optimize working time and divides the work process into sprints. This makes it much easier to track progress.
• Are you offered to hire a team that has already worked together? Experience has shown that the longer people have been able to work together, the more effective their work will be.
• Does the contractor offer post-release support services? This is also important because even the most perfect software can crash and overload from time to time. In such cases, you will need the help of programmers who can bring your software back to life.

What can increase your costs?

• A wrong choice of contractor is always comparable to a shot in the knee. After all, an irresponsible contractor may intentionally or accidentally delay the development process and, as a result, ask for additional funds for its implementation.
• New ideas and additional features that were not mentioned in the original contract. This is a standard practice because not only are technologies developing exceptionally quickly but also, in the course of work, things may arise that you may have forgotten about at the stages of preparing the work plan.
• Additional services. For example, data is best stored in cloud environments, which can cost you money.

Where is it profitable to order an app development for a fintech company?

Considering the above, we recommend that you contact Fintatech. Our main priority and line of business is the development of applications and other software for companies in the fintech sector. Therefore, we have a significant level of expertise and will be able to choose the best available solutions for your software.

We will be happy to discuss your project at a consultation, which you can schedule at any time. We will be happy to help you!