How Much Does It Really Cost to Make an Instagram-like App?

In the very first place, we would like to ponder over the question that why is there the increasing necessity of creating an app like Instagram? Then we will leap to the question of what can be the cost to make an app like Instagram?

Instagram has transformed into a well-liked platform for interaction and sending messages. There are over 2.35 billion active users who are using Instagram today. The impressive growth of this app has shown the high standard of social media platforms. Thus, today, many businesses like to use this popular platform for various types of business requirements.

The contributing factors for cost are the app’s features, design, complexity, hourly rates to hire mobile app developer, etc.

With the intention of making an Instagram-like app and become successful, you must take care of several vital factors, along with choosing the best app designers for hire.

All About The Evolution Of Instagram

Today, Instagram has become widely popular as one of the most important platforms for interaction and message sharing. It was launched in 2010 and now has become quite successful due to some of its fantastic features. Some of those include intuitive design, unique features, along the unique ability to cope with changing user preferences.

The active users of Instagram will hit the mark of 1.44 billion in next 4 years. As compared to the earlier version, presently after several upgrades and constant evolution, this app has turned out to be highly efficient and popular.

Now, you may wonder what the unique features are that an Intagram-like app must have, right? So, let’s discuss those features below.

The Success Of Instagram: What Are The Reasons?

Simplicity

Instagram is, no doubt, a very easy-to-use as well as quite simple app that any individual can use with ease. Also, its user interface is designed to be quite easy to use and navigate. Thus, all users can easily find the important features. Moreover, this app gets continuous updates with several improvements and new features, eventually becoming more user-friendly than before.

Due to this, today, Instagram has become a perfect platform for companies of all sizes to interact with their target audience.

Utility

We all know that, after its launch, Instagram has evolved quite a lot. Hence, now it has become one of the most popular social media platforms. Today, it is quite famous a unique and robust tool for branding, marketing, and even communication. It can not only share photos and videos but also helps companies to promote their products and services, along with connecting with potential clients.

Nowadays, many companies use Instagram to run various marketing campaigns. Some of those are giveaways, product promotions, and contests. Moreover, Instagram can help companies by offering insights and analytics that those companies can use to measure the performance of their posts and understand the engagement of followers.

User Experience

Instagram is now quite a popular photo-sharing app that can help numerous users post and edit their images. Also, they can follow the posts of other users. Unlike some other popular apps like Facebook and Snapchat, Instagram has several unique features that make it really unique.

For instance, Instagram users can easily apply different filters to their images and even change the feel and appearance of their photos. Moreover, this app offers some photo editing tools with which users can crop, adjust, and even rotate the contrast and brightness of an image.

Also, this app can provide a comprehensive search option that can make it easy to find photos, depending on location and hashtags. Hence, users can enjoy a unique user experience while using Instagram.

So, after discussing the unique features of Instagram, it is now time to know the factors that may affect cost to make an app like Instagram. So, let’s check out below.

The Cost To Create an App Like Instagram: What Can Be the Important Parameters?

In most situations, the cost to create an app like Instagram may vary a lot because it gets highly affected by several vital factors. Some of those can be its VR/AR capabilities, complexity, location, overall look, and rates of developers, etc.

If you dream about developing an app that can offer a unique user experience to the users and operates a lot like Instagram, then, the cost may reach around $500,000 USD. So, let us discuss some vital qualities that may affect the cost to build a social media app that is quite similar to Instagram.

The entire process to develop a mobile application includes many important elements. Some of those are discussed below:

• Native Mobile App Development
• Product management
• Quality assurance
• Functionality
• Mobile app design
• Quality assurance, etc.

Factors That May Affect The Overall Cost Of an Instagram-Like App

Here are some unique yet essential features that usually decide the cost of developing an Instagram-like app. Let’s check out:

App Platform

When you need to create an Instagram-like app, the total expenses may vary based on the platform on which you are building it. For instance, building an app for iOS usually costs less than building one for Android. The reason behind this is the different design guidelines and technical specifications. 

So, you may start with Android app development due to the more extensive user base of this platform.

UX/UI Design

If you wish to build an app like Instagram, then a very important step is its design. Due to this, its overall building cost depends a lot on the UX/UI design. A design that is interesting and pleasing to the eye can easily promote user engagement. Hence, it can retain them on the app with ease. An app with an attractive design has to undergo several complex procedures, and hence, its overall cost may vary as per those stages.

Tech Stack

Another important element that can affect the overall cost of developing an efficient Instagram-like app is its technology stack. This vital element can give your app some interesting and innovative qualities and hence can attract numerous customers. Thus, the more unique and complex features you wish to integrate into the app, the more the cost will increase.

Important Features That An Instagram-Like App Must Have

In order to know the overall cost to make an app like Instagram, you need to look closely at each important segment.

1. Profile Creation

One of the most vital features that your social media app must have is creating and editing a profile. With this feature, users will be able to change their personal data with ease. Those data include a profile picture, website name, bio, etc.

2. User Authorization

While talking about authorization, Instagram can offer its users two options that are usually seen in photo-sharing applications. Those are as follows:

• The creation of a new account
• Login with existing social media account

Moreover, it must include retrieving the lost password through email or phone number.

3. Uploading Video and Image 

Another vital feature that an app like Instagram must have is uploading videos or images. Thus, users can take photos and even upload existing ones.

Conclusion

Today, we are living in a world of digitization and technology, where social media apps play quite a vital role. So, to give your business a scope to interact with the audience of the entire world, you must create an Instagram-like app.

Just by making a social media app, you can communicate with hundreds and thousands of customers at once and stand out in this competitive market. If you wish to create a highly efficient social media app, then, you must opt for some unique mobile app development services. However, to do this, you must know the overall cost to make an app like Instagram, along with choosing some significant Mobile App Ideas for Startups.