Breakdown of Hybrid vs. Native Mobile Development Cost

​In the early days, mobile development was focussed on either creating a mobile website that adapted to different mobile devices or by creating a native application using the tools available on iOS or Android or other mobile options. In the earlier times, native apps used programs such as Objective C for iOS, Java for Android, or C# for Windows Phone. Now, hybrid apps are developed using web technology such as JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS for mobile websites. 

Even though there are several factors that impact the cost of the app – the technology that the app is based on makes the most impact as it decides the:

• Platform
• Back-end services
• Type of app development firm
• After development costs

Let’s take a look at the development costs for both, native and hybrid apps along with their advantages and disadvantages.
​
Native App Developments

As of 2018, there are an estimated 6.5 million apps available for download in the world's leading app stores.

• 58% - Google Play Store
• 30% - the App Store
• 10% - the Windows Store

Source: Statistica
Native apps are known for their speed and responsiveness which make them interactive, intuitive and offer a better overall user experience.
Native could get expensive while developing because you will need to use two platforms (iOS and Android) and use different codebases for both. But these are easier to maintain because you are not depending on a cross platform tool such as Xamarin or Cordova – this also means fewer bugs and less post maintenance cost.

Native App Advantages

• Ace performance and apps are fast
• Better configured
• Better access to device features
• Most hardware features and services are directly accessible via well-documented API's
• Easy to collect data from internal hardware as well as provide differing features based on what hardware and services are available
• Great tools for development and debugging – the native IDE's (whether XCode, Android Studio, Eclipse, or Visual Studio) offer powerful tools for debugging, profiling, and quick access to documentation directly inside the IDE
• Compiled code, which forces a developer to write terser, generally better code than what might be acceptable in an interpreted language like JavaScript

Native App Disadvantages

• Cost of development increases as they need to be coded on two different platforms
• Need specific developer skills to write codes
• Objective C / Swift, Java, and C# and all of the accompanying knowledge of both IDE's and API's makes developing these types of applications nontrivial for those who don't have much past experience with them
• App development time increases since you need to find different developers or one developer who knows how to code on both platforms
• Requires that you focus on one platform at a time or have many programmers available to develop each app in parallel

​Hybrid Apps

Hybrid app development can essentially do everything HTML5 does, except it also incorporates native app features. A wrapper acts as a bridge between platforms to access the native features. A hybrid app consists of two parts:

• Back-end code built using languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript
• Native shell that is downloadable and loads the code using Webview.

Developing only one app across all platforms makes it a cheaper option plus, you can roll it out in the market quicker. One of the issues you face is that you cannot customise the app and if you do then the cost of development becomes more expensive than a native app.
Hybrid apps are slower in comparison because they access the hardware through a bridge which could disappoint the user.

​Hybrid App Advantages
There are many appealing advantages to hybrid app development. You can target a huge number of potential users with one code base that is shared between your website and your app.
This also means most of the code can be written by web developers rather than dedicated mobile developers—which means this is often one of your cheapest options for developing an app.
Most of the tools necessary for hybrid development are also open source and free. Also, one shared code base means that your code is easier to maintain, and you can quickly prototype for many platforms at once.

​Hybrid App Disadvantages

• Look and feel of the app will be consistent among all platforms
• Apps might not look like pure Android or iOS app as they are not made for that particular platform. They will not perform as well as native apps.
• Do not have good documentation
• Post development cost is higher

Conclusion
While deciding which type of app you wish to make, you need to keep in mind your user base and their demands. There are upsides and downsides of developments costs for hybrid and native apps. Native apps are costlier for early development whereas, hybrid apps have more post maintenance cost. Here are different scenarios for building apps in hybrid or native:
Hybrid Apps:

• For limited budget, hybrid app may be a better choice.
• If there is a need to quickly develop the app, hybrid app is a better choice.
• If the app is simple, does not have large animations, does not have lots of clicks and does not require lots of native user interaction, hybrid will be a better choice.

Native Apps:

• If the requirement is to create the best user experience, native development is a better choice.
• For companies with sufficient allocated budget that are planning to build and maintain large app projects and do not want to worry about limitations for implementing new technologies and support, native is a better choice.

If you need more information on native or hybrid applications, you can contact the App Scoop mobile app developers: https://www.app-scoop.com/contact-us.html