Whether you like it old-school or modern, dating is-was-will be a major part of our lives. With attention spans getting smaller, apps bring a new and hip way to date.

If we talk about it today, apps rule the dating spectrum. One of the apps that’s doing just that is Bumble. With an app, comes the various factors relating to development. We’re talking developers, programming languages, frameworks, backend, frontend — all the development jargon.

If you’re looking to develop a dating app, you can aim to go for mobile apps development agency which can help you achieve your dating app goals super-quick.

But have you ever wondered how much it costs to develop a dating app? We’ll be getting to that, but let’s first understand how Bumble became such a huge success:

Bumble’s Success Saga

Bumble became a monumental success because of a wide variety of factors. These include:

Helping people meet and date -
Well, Bumble was developed to do this. Its first and foremost reason was to help people meet, to connect them and to facilitate dating. The app was received well amongst youngsters, all because it catered to a wide variety of audience.

Young, middle-aged, old — everyone can use the application.

Ease of Use -
The application is easy to navigate. It doesn’t require any form of extensive work to sign up. You need to simply create your profile, customize it as much as you’d like and you’re good to go.

It is also available on both the App Store and the Play Store, helping easy access no matter what platform you’re using.

Cross-Platform -
Reiterating what we just said, the app works flawlessly on both the App Store and Play Store.

It has been catered keeping in mind that audiences are spread out on both platforms and aiming at only 1 platform wouldn’t really do the thing.

Women Empowerment -
This is something that effortlessly sets the app apart from other dating apps like Hinge and Tinder. It lets women make the first move, giving women the charge to select who they want to talk to.

For some people, this is the defining factor as to why they prefer using Bumble over the others.

Building a Dating App — Getting into the basics of development

Let’s get into the factors that influence the cost of your dating app:

App Features:
The complexity of your app directly impacts the development cost. An app that’s basic with essential features like profiles, matching and chat will have a lower price tag. An app with advanced features like video calls, personality quizzes or in-depth matching algorithms.

Platform:
Does your app go cross-platform, available for both iOS and Android? Or does it only work on a single platform? Usually, dating apps should go both ways — leaving no platform behind.

Only then can they be in-line with the competition, as almost all dating apps are developed for running flawlessly on both iOS and Android. Or, you can also opt for a cross-platform language like Flutter/React Native.

Design Complexity:
Apps that have got more complex design elements and interfaces require more effort by UI/UX teams.

As a result, developer teams must also put in more hours than normal to achieve a design interface that’s unique and helps attract customers better than any other application.

Back-End Development:
With respect to dating apps, their back end is the engine that powers everything. This includes everything from user accounts to matching algorithms.

A back-end acts as a streamliner of operations, giving you scalability, security and a reliable foundation.

Development Team:
The experience and the location of your development team plays a major role in your development journey. And determining costing is rather simple — skilled developers demand more but also offer more in terms of services.

Usually, businesses outsource development to another region altogether, for example South Asian countries like India, Philippines and Malayasia.

Outsourcing Costs — The main matter

When you outsource app development, you need to hire a team. This team consists usually of the following:

Designers:
Designers usually include UI/UX developers, the ones responsible for the interface that users see. It also includes aspects like app flows, effects, widgets, icons, themes — everything that a user has to interact with.

Hours needed: 180h-200h

Usual hourly rates: $75-$100

Costing: $10K-$13K

Platform Developers:
Developers develop the heart of your app. They’re responsible for writing every line of code, be it backend or frontend. Firstly, you’ll have to decide if you’re building an app for Android or iOS, or for both perhaps (using Flutter). This will greatly impact your development cost. The following includes cost for a single-platform app.

Hours needed: 350h-400h

Usual hourly rates: $40-$60

Costing: $14–16K

Back-End Developers:
Back-End developers are responsible for developing that robust, secure and reliable foundation. This includes server-side development, stuff that the user doesn’t see but it impacts absolutely everything.

Hours needed: 370h-400h

Usual hourly rates: $30-$35

Costing: $13K-$15K

QA Engineers:
QA Engineers make sure that your apps work smoothly. They act as detectives that hunt down bugs and glitches that might cause problems for users. QA is an essential part of development, and it requires qualified engineers as well.

Hours needed: 160h-200h

Usual hourly rates: $30-$50

Costing: $5K-$7K

With these estimates, an ideal dating app would cost about $40-$50K to develop for a single-platform. But, this is a relative figure. There are a lot of factors to consider, some of which we’ve listed above.

Conclusion

Developing dating apps is like developing any other app out there — but with its respective intricacies. Mostly, it depends on how many features you’d like in the app. On the other hand, it also depends on how experienced you want your developers/agency to be.

A dating app like Bumble would require more reach than usual, so go for a cross-platform approach as you develop with Flutter/React Native. This will help you cater to a wider audience.

You can also get your app developed by a mobile apps development company out there, helping you develop without having to manage a bazillion freelancers.

If you also want to develop a dating app like Tinder or Bumble, then you’re at the right place as we can do it for you. Connect with us at Flutter Agency for more details.