How Much Does it Cost to Build an Educational App?[In-Depth Guide]

Introduction

Educational apps have become integral in changing how we learn. More and more companies and universities are interested in creating their e-learning applications. If you’re one of them, the blog will help you understand how to build an educational app and how much it will cost.

We’ll look at the different types of e-learning apps, the key features, and the benefits they offer learners of all ages. Furthermore, the blog covers the detailed steps of e-learning app development, explaining essential concepts and tricks. 

Let’s dive into the process of developing an educational app.

Statistics

• There were about 467 million and 470 million downloads of educational applications from Google Play and Apple’s App Store, respectively, from the first quarter of 2017 to 2020.
• Cision predicts a $289 billion increase in the industry by 2024. 

What is an Educational App?

An educational application is a software that supports remote learning through the internet. E-learning is possible with educational applications for users to self-learn anything, anywhere. These applications help teach multiple subjects to people of all ages, from preschoolers learning the alphabet to working adults looking to further their careers.

Educational apps often include learning management systems and other cutting-edge technology to provide a complete, individualized learning solution. For example- Byju’s, Vedantu, etc.

App TypeExampleLanguage learning apps to learn new languages and vocabulary.Duolingo, Babbel, SpeaklyExam preparation apps help students prepare for standard exams like CAT, NEET, etc.Ready4, ACT Practice Test, MagooshLearning management system(LMS) apps help students, teachers, and admins to teach and track educational progress.Blackboard, Canvas, MoodleCoding and programming apps help developers learn coding and programming.Scratch, Codecademy, UdemyMath learning apps help students learn and practice math with interactive lessons and quizzes.Khan Academy, Photomath

Who can use Educational Apps?

Educational apps are designed for many users, so many people and organizations can use and benefit from them. Let’s take a look at the various user groups and how they put educational apps to work for them:

• Parents and young kids: 

Parents looking to keep their young children occupied with constructive activities may find educational applications a great asset. Educational games, riddles, and interactive lessons that foster early literacy, numeracy, and cognitive development are commonplace in such applications.

• Students and Test Preparation: 

Educational applications are used by students of all ages and academic backgrounds to augment their classroom curriculum and test preparation. Students may improve their comprehension of various disciplines using these applications, which feature study resources, practice exams, and review tools.

• Professionals and Skills Development: 

Professionals wanting to further their careers or earn additional credentials might benefit significantly from educational applications. These applications provide individualized instruction in various fields, from language study to coding to business acumen.

• Lifelong students: 

People with an insatiable appetite for learning and personal development are drawn to educational applications. To broaden their horizons, these independent students use educational applications to research anything from art and history to physics and technology.

• Colleges and Universities: 

Schools, colleges, and universities increasingly use educational applications to meet various students’ requirements. These schools improve instruction, make distance education more accessible, and keep better tabs on student progress by incorporating multiple learning management systems and other educational resources into their app platforms.

• Online Learning Platforms: 

Learning management systems (LMS) rely heavily on educational applications since they provide:

• Students with a streamlined means of accessing course materials.
• Engaging in class discussions.
• Keeping tabs on their progress.

These applications let platforms access a larger audience and advertise their courses to them.

• Educators and teachers: 

Teachers may track their student’s progress, offer homework, and provide supplemental resources, all with the help of educational apps. These applications help teachers save time, get students involved in their education, and provide individualized lessons.

What are the Benefits of using Educational Apps?

The increasing success of educational apps reflects their usefulness for students of all ages. Although the transition from classroom instruction to online learning began a decade ago, the COVID-19 epidemic hastened its spread and increased the importance of educational applications. Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of utilizing apps for learning

• Mobility and portability: 

The convenience of taking educational applications with you everywhere you go is a significant benefit. Students may access course materials from their mobile devices at their convenience. By engaging in constructive learning, they may make the most of their time, regardless of whether they are waiting for something or have a few minutes to kill.

• Enhanced Participation: 

The goal of developing educational applications is to make learning fun and interesting. Learners are more engaged and have a better chance of retaining material using multimedia components like movies, graphics, and gamified exercises.

• Time Effectiveness: 

Learners may save a lot of time with the help of educational applications. Since all course materials are now available online, attending in-person courses is no longer necessary. In addition, students may improve their time management and adaptability by studying at their speed, which is made possible by the constant availability of the material.

• Cost-Effectiveness: 

While some educational applications may demand payment upfront, such as a subscription or one-time purchase, they are often less expensive than alternatives like private tutoring or classroom study. Educational applications may help save money by eliminating the necessity for expensive paper textbooks.

• Diverse Course Options: 

By removing obstacles of distance and time, educational applications make a vast body of information available to students all around the globe. Subjects for study, career advancement, personal interests, and many more are all on the table.

• Constant Access: 

Educational applications provide around-the-clock access to study materials, unlike conventional schools. Because educational resources are always accessible, students may study whenever it is most convenient for them, and they will never miss a teaching moment or lose access to their resources.

• Customized Learning: 

Many modern educational applications use adaptive learning methods to personalize the learning experience for each user. This individualized method improves the educational experience and helps students retain more of their learning.

• Independent learning: 

Learning may occur at the student’s speed with the help of educational applications. This adaptability allows for a wide range of learning methods, boosting the chances that every student will fully understand a subject before moving on.

• Interactive Assessments: 

Interactive quizzes and evaluations are a common feature of educational applications, providing students immediate feedback on their progress. Learners are inspired to do their best and achieve mastery when they can immediately receive and act on feedback about their performance.

• Real-World Instances: 

Learners can put their newfound knowledge to use in realistic contexts because of the incorporation of real-world scenarios and practical activities into many educational applications. A hands-on approach like this helps students better grasp the material and appreciate its usefulness in their daily lives.

• Rewards and Gamification: 

Badges, points, and incentives are just some of the gamified aspects found in educational applications that give students a feeling of pride and encourage them to work harder. Consistent use of the app is prompted by its competitive and rewarding nature.

• Accessibility for people with disabilities: 

Apps for education have the potential to be adapted to meet the requirements of students with a wide range of skills and impairments. Educational applications may better serve a wide range of users by including features like text-to-speech, voice commands, and alternate input modalities.

• Global Collaboration: 

Some of the best learning applications out now provide students with interactive ways to network and work with classmates from around the globe. This helps people become more open-minded about the world, promotes cross-cultural understanding, and facilitates group study.

Finally, educational applications have changed the game, providing many benefits to students of all ages and backgrounds.

How to Develop an educational app?

Building a useful educational app requires expertise in eLearning and mobile app creation. Working with an e-learning mobile app development company is essential to gather specifications regarding the intended users and the educational standards that must be met. Here, therefore, are the stages involved in education mobile app development:

• Research and explore:

Research and concept generation are the initial steps in developing a successful mobile learning app. Gather all the materials needed to run the classes you want to offer in the app. You must analyze the online learning industry comprehensively to set yourself apart from the competition and maintain momentum.

• App design: 

Apps with an intuitive user interface (UI) have a greater chance of success and widespread adoption. The app’s intuitive interface makes it easy to use. Create text and graphics in the user interface around the same size for easy navigation.

• App development:

The development process may begin after the design phase is finished. All aspects of the software are included in this phase. In this stage, we also test the app and repair any bugs. This step also includes testing the app and fixing bugs.

• App deployment:

When you’re satisfied with the app’s readiness, you may release it on the platform of your choice. The application will be built to work correctly on both Android and iOS.

Now that you know what goes into making an educational app, let’s talk about what you need to have in place before you start.

What are the Key Features of an Educational App?

An educational app’s features are crucial to its success and efficacy. Here are some must-have components for every educational app:

• Filters & Search: 

The courses and materials available in educational applications tend to be extensive. When combined with a search bar, filters make it simple for students to select the classes that best suit their needs. A better user experience and more manageable course selection result from filters considering categories, levels, prices, and language.

• User Dashboard and Single-Step Login: 

One-step authentication reduces the required steps to log in, making the app more accessible and saving students time. A user dashboard also allows students to tailor their profiles, monitor their development, and take command of their course enrollments.

• Push Notifications:

To maximize interest and retention, keeping students abreast of course additions, impending content, and due dates is essential. Users are more likely to continue using the app when they get timely reminders through push notifications.

• Payment Methods: 

Payment choices in educational applications should be both safe and straightforward to use. Various payment options, including UPIs, credit cards, and digital wallets, are convenient for students and teachers.

• Session Recordings: 

By recording live sessions, students may review the material whenever it is most convenient. It helps individuals efficiently study material, solidify their comprehension, and prepare for tests. The flipped classroom concept, in which critical information is delivered before face-to-face meetings, is bolstered by session recordings.

• File Sharing:

The ability to easily share files is helpful for students and teachers. Tutors may provide relevant updates, resources, and supplemental stuff to help students. This is an excellent addition since it gives students more resources outside class.

• Administration Panel: 

Administrators and content developers rely heavily on the admin console. It equips them with the means to manage the app’s content easily, roll out new courses, track user behavior, and respond to alerts.

• Integrating Social Media Platforms: 

By incorporating popular social networking sites into the app, students can easily update their friends and family on their academic progress, accomplishments, and preferred courses. This function promotes a feeling of belonging, stimulates communication among users, and provides an opportunity for word-of-mouth promotion of the app within its target demographic.

• Gamification Elements:

Badges, points, and leaderboards, all gamification elements, make it easier to stay interested and motivated while studying. Learners are more likely to remain dedicated to their studies if rewarded for finishing courses or reaching milestones.

• Tracking and analyzing progress: 

Learners may better grasp their strengths and shortcomings when given feedback on their development and performance. Learners can better focus their efforts and make steady progress when they can see where they are about their objectives.

• Offline Access:

By making specific readings and other course materials available to students even when they aren’t online, instructors increase their flexibility as educators. For users in areas with spotty or no internet connection, this function dramatically improves ease of use and guarantees continuous education.

Technology Stack for Developing Educational Mobile Apps

If the incorrect technology stack is selected, developing a robust app with enticing features, growing or changing it will be challenging. In addition, creating your custom plugin is a costly and time-consuming process you’d rather avoid. Consequently, the app’s creation might be slowed down and riddled with bugs. Due to this, we suggest using the following technologies:

• Front-end technologies:

When it comes to building the front end of a website, React is your best bet. It is faster, reusable, and more adaptable than most other technologies today. With React and React Native, developers can build applications that run on several platforms using just one set of source code.

• Back-end technologies:

Because of their high speed and adaptability, Node.js and the NestJs architecture are excellent choices for the back end. They make sense at the minimum viable product stage because you can focus on growth without overwhelming the team with execution.

How long does it take to build an educational App?

The time required to build an app generally takes from 4 to 6 months. The precise time required can be calculated with the details of the exact requirements. How long it will take to build an education app will depend on various factors, including 

• App Complexity
• Tech stack.
• Third-party Integrations

Let us divide the time to build an app based on the various development steps involved. 

Development StageSmall AppMid Size AppBig Size AppPlanning & requirement gathering1-2 weeks2-3 weeks3-4 weeksUI/UX Design2-3 weeks5-6 weeks9-10 weeksDevelopment & Testing6-7 weeks14-15 weeks20-22 weeksBeta Testing & Deployment1 week2 weeks3 weeks

The time required for each step will depend on the size of the app. So, if one wants to build a simple education app, it will take around 10-12 weeks, 23-25 weeks for a mid-sized app, and 35-38 weeks for a large-size complex app.

How much does it cost to make an educational App?

Several variables might affect the final price tag of educational software. Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) typically costs between $15,000 and $50,000. However, depending on the complexity and features of the app, the total cost of development might be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000.

The cost to build an education app varies and depends on several factors

• Idea complexity: 

The cost of creating an app increases in proportion to the complexity of its idea, which includes factors such as the number of jobs, features, integrations, and means of making money. It takes more time to create, analyze, and plan complex concepts.

• App Complexity: 

It takes a lot of work and resources to make an app look good and function well for users. A better interface design and features means happier users and more significant traffic. However, if the design is complex with multiple features, the development cost will rise. 

Basic or MVP$22,000 to $30,000

App ComplexityCostStandard$45,000 to $55,000Advanced$75,000 to $97,000

• Application platforms:

The app development price might rise if it is available on various platforms, such as iOS, Android, and the Web. The education app development cost increases when more platforms need to be supported with their unique technology stack.

ios$25,000 to $55,000

PlatformCostAndroid$25,000 to $65,000Cross-Platform$26,000 to $57,000

• Development Team:

Hiring an in-house development team is more expensive than outsourcing. The location of the team also affects the cost of developing an education app.

USA$100 to $150

CountryCost – Per- HourEastern Europe$90 to $120Ukraine$40 to $80India$20 to $60

In addition, there are certain hidden expenses:

• Maintenance: 

The ongoing expense of updating the software with new features, correcting issues, and adding more servers. Depending on the price of the MVP, annual maintenance expenditures might range from $4,000 to $8,000. This represents 15% to 20% of the total cost of development.

• Marketing and advertising:

Promotion is crucial for an app’s success in reaching its intended users. Promoting an educational app might cost twice as much as developing it.

How to reduce the cost of developing an educational app?

If a company or educational institution wants to produce high-quality, low-priced educational software, it must find ways to reduce development costs. Here are some valuable ways to reduce the cost of education mobile app development:

• Detailed Technical Blueprints: 

Before beginning development, it is essential to have precise technical blueprints. Providing developers with a thorough breakdown of all functional requirements helps them grasp the project’s scope and cuts down on needless back-and-forth. The time and money spent on development may be reduced with the help of clear plans.

• Feature Prioritization: 

Give more weight to the most critical aspects. The program can serve its main job without being bogged down in superfluous details by concentrating on these essential features. Time and money spent on development may be cut in half by simply omitting unnecessary functionality.

• Minimal Features:

The price tag for creating educational software is proportional to the complexity of its features. Keeping the app’s functionality to a minimum while yet achieving its goals might help keep costs down. Keep the app’s primary goals in mind while you develop its features.

• Early mistake detection: 

Errors must be found and fixed as soon as feasible in development. Putting off dealing with a problem until it worsens and becomes more expensive to improve is a bad idea. The development process goes more smoothly and costs less when mistakes are found early on.

• Outsourcing: 

To save expenses, you might outsource the app’s development. By using an outsourcing service, you may hire talented programmers from an e-learning app development company or a country where wages are cheaper. Using this route, you won’t have to spend money recruiting employees or maintaining an office for a new team. 

Conclusion

Educational apps have become essential to modern learning, changing how people learn and share information. The cost of developing an online educational app might vary widely depending on the app’s features and complexity. 

Are you planning to build a custom education app? Do you want to know the exact cost of developing the app? Glasier Inc can help you out. As the leading education app development company, we can provide you with the exact quote on how much it will cost you to build an educational app. You can also hire dedicated mobile app developers to get your dream project developed on time with the assurance of superior quality. Contact us today with your detailed requirements to get a free consultation or the quote.