The time and budget it takes to develop your Ruby on Rails web app
The question I hear the most is ‘how much will it cost to build my app’? The short answer is: It depends. Both design and development are creative processes that are difficult to estimate.
However, you need to know how much time and how big a budget you should have to release your idea to the world. In this article I’ll try to touch on the subject of Ruby on Rails app development cost and timeframe.
Focus on core features
To get to know the costs of development, you should first consider what you want to build. I’ve seen many cases of startup founders having great ideas for their products. The mistake most often made is trying to include too many features for the first release. This way, you can burn your entire budget, just to figure out there’s no demand for your app.
Start with an MVP and validate your idea
An MVP is a lean version of your product that focuses on core functionalities. The main idea behind building an MVP is to release it as fast as possible with the least amount of resources.
It should allow you to test if your idea is indeed as good as you think it is. You can (and should) research the idea first and see if there is a market fit. You will never be sure of your findings until you have users who choose your solution. These early adopters will guide you through the next phase of your startup. You just need to gather their feedback and base your decisions on collected data.
Communicate your vision to the development team
Once you figure out what the core functionalities of your web app, you should describe them as user stories. This helps communicate your vision to the development team. You don’t need to know which technologies are best for your desired features. The dev team will help you out with that once they know what you want to achieve.
The optimal development team size
Each project is unique, so the optimal team size varies. However, based on our experience and Agile practices, the optimal team size is between 2 and 5 developers. The teams usually consist of at least one frontend developer and a couple of backend (in our case Ruby on Rails) developers.
Teams of 2 and more developers can use good practices such as code review, pair programming and discussing appropriate architecture. These help to keep the code quality high. Too many people working on a project usually become less effective as not all tasks can be developed in parallel.
How long does it take to develop an MVP?
Developing an MVP varies depending on complexity and the amount of features. MVPs only focus on core functionalities, so in most cases you can expect your project to go live in around 2 to 5 months. Remember not to rush your team. Spending a bit more time for writing tests, code reviews and other good practices will benefit you in future. With a good code base, the development of new features will definitely be quicker and easier.
How much does it cost to develop an MVP?
The final cost of the MVP for a web application can only be known after it is released. To be flexible in the scope of work and pay for the exact time spent on the project you’ll want to work on time and material.
The projects we have developed usually lasted between 2 and 5 months with a team of 2 to 4 developers, which gives between 4 and 20 man-months. The only thing to add to the equation to get the cost is the hourly rate. Then you just multiply it by the amount of man-hours. You can always contact us to check the current rates.
Other costs you should take into account
I focused solely on the development part of the MVP. There are however, additional costs that you will most likely encounter, such as UX/UI design, hosting, domain registration etc. Make sure to also include them when working on your startup budget.
