Want to develop an app like Uber? Know the costs and other details
The success of Uber’s business model has motivated many budding entrepreneurs to develop an Uber like app for their own business. If you have an idea which can fit into the ‘Uber for X’ category, then you might be eager to know the cost to develop an app similar to Uber, for your business. But before getting to an answer, it is essential to know the various components in so called On-Demand apps, as you might not want all those components in your app or maybe you might like to have some additional ones if your business model is somewhat different from Uber.
A lot of Uber like apps have already been developed. So, Let’s move ahead to answer your question taking into consideration the following variables:
A) Is your business model exactly like Uber?
Uber for X has become a popular way of describing the business models of platforms taking a full cycle approach aiming to disrupt different inefficient industry value chains across different verticals. It is described as a platform looking to deliver/service practically everything on demand with demand being aggregated online and serviced offline. But there are so many variations that can come up when we start analysing different implementations in this field.
When we talk about an app like Uber:
- I am assuming — supply is loosely bound to the platform and we are merely aggregating the supply.
- Demand is not scheduling the product/service for a time in the future and everything is instantaneous.
- Demand is not choosing the service provider and he is being allocated the one based on his choice and other variables.
- Service/product that we are talking about has a standardised flow and doesn’t involve a selection about lot of options.
For detailed analysis about the business model and how it can be successful, here is the detailed story on Venturebeat — On-demand startup in mind? Success depends on these planning factors.
If you are serious about your startup and need to understand the on-demand business model, download this free eBook that talks about how to finalize the business model of your On Demand Startup — Ebook: Understanding the On Demand Business Model
B) What is the business vertical you are trying to target?
Is it ground transportation or something else. It is not at all necessary that all apps like Uber are taxi companies. But we assume that if you are talking about Uber, you might be interested in transportation.
When we are talking about a ground transportation business that is trying to create a platform to face Uber’s competition or replicate its success in a certain geography there are many companies providing SAAS based solution that help you with the business model loosely based on above assumptions.
We have also created a product called TaxiHawk that is already powering around 25 businesses all over the world. TaxiHawk — Taxi Booking App & Cab Dispatch System
But if we are talking about a more involved business model, it’s difficult to find a script based approach that works.
We have been grappling with this problem for the last 15 months and have come up with a top down approach as a solution. The basis is that there are certain modules — matching, scheduling, tracking, payments, reviews, notifications, aggregation and signup that form the backbone of any such solutions. So we have created backend code blocks that are structured to take care of most of the use cases that can be thrown by an On Demand Business Model.
For more on this approach — On Demand Success Blueprint
But despite this approach the front end in most cases needs to be custom developed.
C) Evolution of OnDemand apps
When we talk about an app similar to Uber, you need to go through this evolution model. It is a fact that all business apps like or unlike Uber have to go through the 4 stages mentioned below.
Are we looking to validate the business model that is doing less than 1000 transactions a day or are we talking about a system that has already scaled to multiple geographies built on top of a highly optimised logistics framework.
Any Uber like platform goes through multiple stages — discovery, validation, efficiency and finally scale.
Total cost of developing an on-demand app like Uber:
By now you might be clear that the cost of developing an Uber like app depends on numerous factors. But here’s a good cost estimate.
The cost for an Uber like platform that is being launched from a single geographic location and is capable to scale upto 500–1000 transactions a day can be between $100 to $200K. The variation accounts for the platforms and different business models.
The cost of $100 to $200K assumes that the development is taking place from scratch in US and other countries that come in this bracket.
With Juggernaut’s modular approach that takes advantage of pre-built IP that ensures you are not spending time on reinventing the wheel we are able to reduce the time and cost involved by around 40%. In addition, the fact that our product team sits out of the USA, we are able to pass on those benefits and ensure that the costs come down to as low as $30 to $80k.
Want to get an accurate cost for your own idea? Get in touch with us now!
Hope you enjoyed reading this article here at “Uber for X” publication on Medium. This publication channel is being managed by Juggernaut — World’s #1 Company powering on-demand apps.
