Reducing Fintech App Development Cost: Tips and Software Solutions

Since the start of the pandemic and the crypto craze that followed, fintech apps have gained popularity globally. Consumers now rely on different fintech applications for handling payments, banking, investments, and insurance. 

In the same vein, fintech companies are investing in new technologies for developing consumer-facing apps. Based on this increasing rate of development, experts estimate that the market for fintech apps will reach $305 billion by 2025.

However, building a profitable app for financial services is a gamble—unless you employ the right approach to reduce costs and maximize profits in the highly-competitive market.  

This article covers how much it costs to develop a fintech app that will generate massive profits and address consumer needs.

What are the types of fintech apps? 

Financial technology apps differ based on what consumers use them for. We’ve narrowed them down to the following categories:

• Personal finances — Finch, Mint, Spendee.
• Digital banking apps — Nubank, Chase, Revolut, Starling.
• Lending apps — ZestFinance , Earnin, PaySense.
• Regulatory technology apps — PassFort, 6 Clicks.
• Insurance apps — Geico, Lemonade.
• Payment apps — Stripe, PayPal, Square, Wise.
• Investment apps — Robinhood, FXPro, Wealthbase.
• Cryptocurrency apps — Binance, Coinbase, TrustWallet.

What are the key factors that influence a fintech app development budget?

You now know different types of fintech apps, but how much does it cost to build a fintech app? Let’s go through the cost drivers that impact your budget.

#1. Product requirements

The product you are building determines the features you need to add to it, which also affects the overall development cost. 

For instance, building a personal finance or money transfer app costs less than developing a fully-fledged digital application for investment analysis. 

Personal finance apps contain basic features like login dashboards which don’t cost a lot to build from scratch. Conversely, complex banking and investment applications containing multiple features, servers, and APIs will cost more to build.

#2. Available tools

Fintech development companies use different tools for designing, developing, testing, and deploying applications. You can build and deploy a basic spending management app with modern no-code solutions. However, you’ll need back-end technologies like Swagger to use and test APIs, as well as server-side frameworks like Django and Flask for building servers.

#3. Your team size

The size of the development team affects the fintech app budget. You will need a team of designers, developers, architects, QA engineers, and DevOps engineers to design, build, test, and deploy the app. The higher the number of highly-experienced individuals on the team, the higher the development cost.

#4. Development methodology

Software development methodologies like Lean and Agile reduce the cost of development by concentrating the resources on adding features in sprints. In contrast, the rigidity of the Waterfall approach can lead to additional costs incurred due to repetitive development stages. In general, you need to choose the best approach for your team to produce optimum results at the lowest possible cost.

#5. Urgency (deadlines and engagement models)

Time frames, urgency, and payment models affect the cost of building a fintech product. If you pay your employees per hour, long-term production timelines will put tremendous pressure on the financial resources available to the development team. And in cases of errors and additional sprints, the overall cost of production will increase.

What makes fintech development cost estimation so difficult?

Estimating fintech development costs is not an exact science because many factors and moving parts are involved in the process. Here are some things that add to the difficulty:

Custom development

Every fintech app development process is unique. Clients have different needs and features they want to include in their applications. And as a result, you’d need to adjust your time frames and human resources to meet those specific demands for every project.

To get a better grasp of the estimate of custom fintech app development, use a time-material model for apps within the same category.

Complexity

Generating estimates for fintech projects is difficult because you have to consider the complexity and available resources. Even if you know how much a payment app will cost, you can’t apply the same thinking to your investment platform because they are apples and oranges. 

Frequent changes

Clients often change their minds about the product. Sometimes, the initial specifications and requirements could change mid-project—or due to unprecedented socio-economic changes. In such cases, nailing down cost estimation for fintech development could become challenging.

To avoid this problem, use a flexible development approach that factors in unforeseen circumstances. And most importantly, always agree on project deliverables before you start building the app.

How to reduce the cost of fintech app development?

Now that you are familiar with the fintech app development cost, it’s time to consider ways of reducing the price you pay to get your app built.

Identify the indispensable features and skip the rest

Every feature in your app increases the overall development cost. With that in mind, the best way to stay within the initial budget is by stripping down the requirements to essentials. Narrow down the development to only the features you need in the app instead of adding tools that add nothing to the overall user experience.

Consider using a white-label solution

Use a white-label solution like the SDK.finance SaaS platform to save time and money when developing a fintech or banking app. This white-label solution also follow all compliance standards required when building a fintech app. And most importantly, you can get the source code license to modify the code to meet your specific business needs. 

Choose the right development partner

Outsourcing your solution to a fintech development company with hands-on experience will help you save money. These companies already have a team of experts with industry experience in building fintech apps. At the same time, you will also get the chance to select a cooperation model that suits your budget for the fintech application.

Use the right development approach

Most fintech development teams use the Agile methodology because it allows constant iterations and sprint-based development. If you want to meet delivery time frames and reduce the chances of errors creeping into the product, you need to find a project manager with experience in Agile, SCRUM, Lean, and other methodologies.

Conclusion

Determining the cost of developing a fintech app is a challenging task that requires careful consideration of several factors. You have to figure out the type of app you want to create as well as the target audience. Then you can focus on the development approach and technologies needed to deliver the product within the stipulated timeline. To reduce costs, you might need to employ a hybrid Lean-Agile development model to strip the development stages and requirements to essentials. 

SDK.finance is the vendor offering a payment platform available in two formats — an affordable SaaS version available on subscription and a source code version, which gives you total independence from the vendor for a one-time flat fee.

Our 15+ years of experience in fintech development makes us a proven partner for building future-proof digital banking and payment products. Get in touch to discuss your payment product requirements and find out how our platform can help launch it. 

References

• Fintech Industry Report 2020-2025 – Trends, Developments and Growth Deviations Arising from the COVID-19 Pandemic 
• Why is Software Project Estimation so Difficult? | Share IT Solutions 
• Cost to Develop a Fintech App in 2021 [Major Cost Drivers] 
• The Difficulty with Estimating – A Case for Understanding Business Requirements | Zirous 
• 7 Practical Ways to Reduce App Development Costs (Step-by-Step Guide)