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Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are the perfect choice for startups that want to save money on cross-platform app development. They’re also convenient for users, thanks to their offline capabilities and instant loading without installation. But exactly how much does progressive web app development actually cost? Let’s dive in.
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Building a PWA typically costs $30,000–$120,000. It includes the main steps of the entire development pipeline. Here’s how the budget breaks down:
Broadly speaking, PWA development costs will vary depending on the team composition, design, and features.
The design of a progressive web app directly affects its budget. Simpler, more minimalistic interfaces cost less, while custom animations and micro-interactions take more time to develop.
Say you want to give your app a splash of color and add some illustrations. Your outsourcing design agency partner can go about it one of two ways. The first is to find some generic color blobs on a stock image website and use those in your design. The second is to get one of its graphic designers involved to create specific art tailored to your brand. In the latter case, you’ll have to pay more.
A simple PWA with basic pages and contact forms requires minimal programming. However, adding advanced features can increase PWA development costs. By advanced, we mean things like:
Each complex feature needs specialized coding and ongoing maintenance. A restaurant's PWA with just a menu and reservations costs far less to build than a full-featured food delivery app with live order tracking. The more sophisticated the features, the more development resources required.
Keeping the quantity of features at a minimum is a surefire way to bring the costs of development down. 5-7 core features can help you stay budget-friendly, but 15-20 features will make development much more expensive.
If you want to save money on progressive web app development, prioritize features that deliver real value to users. Build essentials first, then expand based on user feedback and business growth. These essentials can include features that relate to payment processing, key screens that help you stand out from the competition, and more.
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NoTab is a smart mobile ecosystem for nightclubs. We developed this app with 5 user roles in mind: from regular clients and waiters to managers and line cooks. Naturally, this increased the cost of development — we had to create different functionality for each of those roles. Our designers worked on many features to bring this project to life: payment processing, APIs, QR code generation, and shopping carts
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Tighter deadlines usually mean higher costs. A standard 3-4 month timeline allows for methodical development at optimal rates. But if you need the PWA in 6 weeks, expect to pay more for overtime developer hours or team expansion.
Pro tip: build buffer time for unexpected delays. Rushed projects often need more post-launch fixes.
Developer rates can vary a lot across regions because of differences in cost of living, market demand, and local economic conditions. For example, developers in high-income regions like North America and Western Europe typically charge $80–$150/hour, while those in Eastern Europe, Asia, or Latin America may range from $25–$60/hour.
If you want to save money on development without sacrificing quality, hiring an offshore team is a great option.
Building a PWA with an in-house team often means paying premium prices for full-time salaries, benefits, and overhead. A typical senior developer in the US costs over $120,000 annually — taxes, bonuses, equipment, and office space notwithstanding.
Outsourcing provides a more cost-effective approach. In this case, you pay only for the work delivered without salaries and employment taxes. Once your project is finished, you can easily part ways without offering severance packages.
Depending on the niche, you’ll have to customize certain features and the logic of the app. Let’s take a look at their differences.
Financial progressive web apps require robust security protocols, real-time data processing, and strict compliance with financial regulations. It’s also important to keep in mind complex features like encrypted transactions, biometric authentication, and seamless API integrations with banking systems.
Fast-loading product catalogs, checkout flows, and integrations with CRM platforms can make e-commerce PWA development a lot more expensive. The same goes for adding features to boost conversions from users to customers: push notifications, wishlists, and personalized recommendations.
To develop a PWA in medtech, you need to comply with HIPAA regulations. That’s additional expertise you have to pay extra for.
Legalities aside, a lot of modern medtech apps use unorthodox technology that is difficult to implement: e.g. telehealth consultations, wearable device synchronization, and AI-powered diagnostics. Adding these features is going to take time and cost more.
Real-time device communication and offline synchronization with sensors require specific skills to execute without bugs. Same goes for security upkeep, as a lot of IoT apps store and process sensitive data. These things can significantly rack up the cost of progressive web app development.
Say you’re trying to build a cargo planning PWA. Making a product that automates supply chain management, plans routes via GPS, and reduces load planning errors is no easy feat. Adding these features means adding thousands of dollars to the progressive web app development costs.
Let's uncover the expenses most businesses miss.
If your app needs to connect with a CMS like WordPress, Shopify, or a custom backend server, integration work can add unexpected costs. Building secure data pipelines and integrating these add-ons can make development much more expensive, even if it seems like “just a plugin.”
Unlike native apps found in familiar app stores, progressive web apps need to be installed directly from a browser. This may seem counterintuitive for many users, and lead to increased customer support inquiries.
To make onboarding easier, entrepreneurs invest in tutorial banners, step-by-step videos, and trained support staff. This can influence the price of your progressive web app, so it’s important to factor those into the total development cost.
Progressive web apps need regular updates like native apps. Applying users’ feedback and rolling out platform updates are essential if you want to maintain a growing active user base. When you add features later, developers have to test them across all browsers, check for glitches, and fix bugs.
Maintenance costs can take up to 50% of development expenses in the first year of releasing the app, so taking it into account as you calculate the budget can help you plan ahead and save money.
Avoiding hidden costs is a good way to make development a bit cheaper, but that’s not the only way to go about it. Here are 3 more life hacks you could use.
The most effective way to control costs? Launch a minimum viable product that includes only essential features. Identify the core functionality that solves your users' primary needs and postpone nice-to-have extras for future updates.
This approach allows you to validate your concept with real users and gather feedback before investing in complex features.
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We’re All Winners is an app with discount coupons and lotteries for the Egyptian market. By the time we finished redesigning the app, our client had already started a marketing campaign, so we had to speed up the development process. To do that, we made the following decisions:
Our team pulled together and worked like a conveyor belt. It took us 4 months to finish a project that was supposed to take 7 months.
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Instead of assembling a developer team from scratch and paying each specialist a hefty salary, you can get in touch with an outsourcing agency and save money. This way, you leave progressive web app development to professionals who’ve done this many times before and focus on metrics.
In the beginning stages of the project, you’ll need to spend some time discussing specifics, deadlines, and your business idea. But then you can stand back and have the outsourcing agency take the wheel — all you’ll have to do is oversee the development process. Whether you want to check on the state of the project or come back when the job is finished, the choice is yours.
A trusted PWA development services partner saves costs through efficiency and expertise. They prevent expensive rework by:
📩 If you’re looking to hire a trusted partner for progressive web applications development, look no further than Purrweb. <a class="blog-modal_opener">Contact us via a form</a> — we’ll schedule a call within 24 hours to discuss project requirements, timelines, and pricing.
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