How much does it cost to develop a Software or Mobile App MVP with an Agency?

The million dollar question: How much money do I need?

When you are clear about your commercial vision and understand the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), the next obstacle is usually the budget. Trying to find out how much it costs to create a web system or mobile app can be frustrating, since technology agencies rarely publish prices. Let's demystify the costs of development in Peru.

The three paths of development

Your budget will vary dramatically depending on who you hire. Each option has risks and benefits:

1. The Economic Freelancer (S/ 2,000 - S/ 5,000): It's tempting because of the low price, but it comes with extreme risk. A single junior programmer rarely masters UX/UI design, database architecture, and server security at the same time. Furthermore, the risk of project abandonment ("Ghosting") is very high.
2. The In-House Team (S/ 10,000+ Monthly): Hire your own team (a frontend programmer, a backend programmer and a designer) on payroll or receipts. Although you have complete control, fixed costs will drown you before you launch the product. A Senior programmer in Peru does not earn less than S/ 6,000 per month.
3. The Technology Agency (S/ 10,000 - S/ 35,000+ for the Complete Project): The sweet spot for the vast majority of Startups and SMEs. You hire a formal company like Wallpay which already has a structured team (Engineers, Designers, Project Managers). A contract is signed for a functional product (Turnkey) with guaranteed delivery times.

What factors make an MVP more expensive?

The cost of your Minimum Viable Product will go up exponentially if you insist on including the following (which, by definition, you should not include in an MVP):

• Severe real-time functionality: Integrated live chat from scratch or hyper-accurate GPS tracking (Uber style).
• Separate 100% Native Applications: Programming in Swift for iOS and then Kotlin for Android multiplies the cost by two. It is better to opt for frameworks like React Native or Flutter, or first launch only an MVP in a Responsive Web version (PWA).
• Hyper-personalized payment gateways: Integrating subscriptions with automatic electronic billing and division of commissions (Split payments) is complex.

Invest in a "Technology Partner"

The average agency will charge you for whatever you ask them to program, regardless of whether it makes business sense. At our development agency, we analyze your business model and function as your external Chief Technology Officer (CTO). We mercilessly cut out the useless functions of your idea to reduce your costs and build a solid, secure technological core injected with Artificial Intelligence.

If you want to quote the development of your application or business software, let's talk. We will build a budget adjusted to the validation phases of your business.