Is $2,000 to build a simple phone app that compiles a RSS feed a ripoff?

dnaland · 3 months

how many developers have you asked? 2k seems in the range. I would certainly take a look at other apps your developer has made and test their functionality. if they suck or are buggy, yours will be too. I don't develop apps, but I am a web developer and the value of a good developer is overlooked, so find one right the first time or you'll end up paying twice as much to someone else, AFTERWARDS.

Gorbzel · 3 months

App developer here. Some advice and protips based on your question and what people have said here.

From a dev perspective::

• I'd avoid trying to do generic smell tests of "how reasonable X rate is", especially with people who aren't developers. I'm not saying that the only valid input is from coders, but we generally have a pretty good idea of what's involved and we're (typically) not trying to screw our clients. At the very least, if you have a question about something, go ahead and ask the dev for a specific answer, which you can then run by others to see if that explanation makes sense.

• People telling you that $100/hr is a lot, that you can so "get someone to do that for $20", that you can get a starving student to do it, that it shouldn't take more than 3 hours. All bullshit. Fair rates depend on your geographic area, but $100/hr is definitely a typical rate. Assuming that it's not completely out of the park (and your quotes aren't)...second guessing another dev's rate is unprofessional and a sign of an newb.

From an entrepreneur perspective

• Bigger picture, you should be taking most quotes as the beginning of a discussion.

caveat_cogitor · 3 months

For someone to get requirements, write, and test any amount of code that you will then own and make money off of, I think that's a fair starting point.

TimMensch · 3 months

With things like an RSS feed, I might recommend NOT going with a native app developer (I am a native app developer btw), and instead going for an HTML/PhoneGap developer, where they're really creating a "WebApp" that can run on both iOS and Android. Repackaging the same app for both is VERY cheap, so it wouldn't be 2x the cost.

Honestly $2k is still a decent rate for getting a basic app done, but you'd only need to pay it once in that case.

diggum · 3 months

It isn't unreasonable, but you may want to check out buzztouch.com where you can build apps for ios and android very easily. native support for Rss an BBS social network links.

skibunne · 3 months

This seems like a pretty fair price to me, and the double cost for iOS and Android makes perfect sense since the code is not really duplicable; they have to do double the work to make it compatible on both platforms.

TimMensch · 3 months

[deleted]

[deleted] · 3 months

More importantly, can someone on reddit make a referral? Love you site and would be happy to see a mobile app.

carlhuber · 3 months

I am completely basing this off memory but I thought I heard someone on a podcast (Nerdist?) say a while ago that Apple wasn't allowing people to have apps that only aggregated an RSS feed.

I could be 100% wrong on that but it might be worth it if anyone who actually develops apps could verify or deny - I see several people in this thread are that type of developer.

Bridgechina · 3 months

If its that simple I think you could just use one of those build your own app services. They take rss, social, google maps etc. and wrap them in a generic app wrapper. I think you pay a monthly subscription.

Googling just now I found

http://ibuildapp.com/ http://www.createfreeiphoneapps.com/

There's plenty more

Can't vouch for quality. please do some more research.

BigSlowTarget · 3 months

Have you tried Elance or other contracting sites? A quick look at existing RSS proposals there seems to indicate the only way you get below $1500 is to hire from India.

captshady · 3 months

It's pricey, but in the ball park.

mrlepo · 3 months

www.appmakr.com is really good and works based on rss feeds. It's free with adverts or there's a nominal fee without. It's great.

JamesCarlin · 3 months

Make certain to check out their portfolio, as you might normally do with an artist or web designer.

Without a more detailed brief on the project, I can't exactly tell you whether or not that is a reasonable price.

russoedu · 2 months

You can also use Universo (http://universo.mobi) to create free Apps with RSS, Twitter, FLickr, Facebook…

duffmanhb · 3 months

Programmers are pricey, but damn, that's expensive. Just hit up Reddit and get some quotes

nzwasp · 3 months

Think of it this way, thats 100 hours @ $20per hour, do you really think its going to take 100 hours to build that app! I highly doubt it.

J-Appleseed · 3 months

i have literally zero expertise in valuing the work of app programmers, but that sounds like a ripoff.

im sure i could find someone to do that for $500 or less.

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